Physical & Digital EST: The Future of Home Video Discussion Thread

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

wish it goes well.

[bad joke] admit it, you are under cover and it is a wire [/bad joke]

No reason why it can not be both.

[Steedeel]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...3#post22964633

What do you make of this guys?

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...3#post22964633

What do you make of this guys?

I don't own any Criterion titles, but so far I haven't encountered any problems at all with blu-rays from other distributors, although admittedly my collection is considerably smaller than some other members here own. I have had some issues with old DVD's, but that's it. To be honest mate, I'm not going to lose any sleep at the moment, however I can think of someone who will probably crack open a bottle of champagne.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by CV19

I don't own any Criterion titles, but so far I haven't encountered any problems at all with blu-rays from other distributors, although admittedly my collection is considerably smaller than some other members here own. I have had some issues with old DVD's, but that's it. To be honest mate, I'm not going to lose any sleep at the moment, however I can think of someone who will probably crack open a bottle of champagne.

I have just checked Apocalypto which is one of the earliest and it is fine.

[Anthony P]

IMHO

issues can be due to

1) fabrication issues
2) storage issues
3) a bit of both

2) &3) all I can say is take better care of them
1) is completely out of your control, but this is the problem that makes discussion tricky, not all copies of a film will be produced at the same time on the same assembly line. so a list of films becomes more or less useless. You would need a batch number.

[cheez avenger]

Watched Electric State yesterday and it's truly horrid.

I also watched Deep Blue Sea and it was reference material in the video and audio department.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...3#post22964633

What do you make of this guys?

I make nothing of it.

These "reports" pop-up periodically and often just recycle similar stories that came before them.

If a specific edition of a given movie on disc has a high failure rate, you will see complaints to that effect in that title's dedicated thread.

Ultimately, if you find a failed disc you either replace it or trash it. Not a lot of choices here.

If the disc is still in print you can almost always get it replaced at a net cost of zero dollars or very close to it. In short, failed discs are a very infrequent nuisance, but hardly an insurmountable problem.

If these kind of reports really worry you, you could do the home server thing and rip all of your discs to numerous hard drives. Then you can trade worrying about the failing of a single movie on a single disc to worrying about failing hard drives filled with movies.

You can also just make back up copies of discs with known high failure rates to either a blank optical disc or to a hard drive if your source disc is still playable. I usually do the former. What I don't do is fret about this stuff; life carries few guarantees.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by cheez avenger

Watched Electric State yesterday and it's truly horrid.

I also watched Deep Blue Sea and it was reference material in the video and audio department.

I watched The Royal Hotel, a very enjoyable thriller.

[the-pi-guy]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...3#post22964633

What do you make of this guys?

I wouldn't worry too much about it, if you aren't seeing any actual decay.

When I was collecting the Futurama sets a few years ago - I think I had received two sets that had visible decay. One of them was very mild and still playable and I was even able to rip it just fine. (It'll also depend on where on the disc it's rotting).

The other one was really bad, and I had to replace it.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

What do you make of this guys?

Defects in manufactured product is a way of life. In terms of media I had several warped 33⅓ LP’s & LD, a very few defective CD’s, a couple of Blu-ray,s and so on. Recently received my copy of Uncharted UHD Blu-ray and it had issues. Returned and ordered another copy and it was fine.

My 2015 Chrysler Town & Country with a 105K miles is in the shop with the cam shafts and rocker arms being replaced. There was a big storm system that moved across the US and this morning one of my big white pines is laying across my driveway, lucky in it only caused a little damage to the house. Had it been 15° more CCW it would have caved in my garage and smashed my Nissan Rogue.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by the-pi-guy

I wouldn't worry too much about it, if you aren't seeing any actual decay.

When I was collecting the Futurama sets a few years ago - I think I had received two sets that had visible decay. One of them was very mild and still playable and I was even able to rip it just fine. (It'll also depend on where on the disc it's rotting).

The other one was really bad, and I had to replace it.

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Defects in manufactured product is a way of life. In terms of media I had several warped 33⅓ LP’s & LD, a very few defective CD’s, a couple of Blu-ray,s and so on. Recently received my copy of Uncharted UHD Blu-ray and it had issues. Returned and ordered another copy and it was fine.

My 2015 Chrysler Town & Country with a 105K miles is in the shop with the cam shafts and rocker arms being replaced. There was a big storm system that moved across the US and this morning one of my big white pines is laying across my driveway, lucky in it only caused a little damage to the house. Had it been 15° more CCW it would have caved in my garage and smashed my Nissan Rogue.

Had it once in my 26 years of collecting.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Had it once in my 26 years of collecting.

I would believe there have been many millions of CD, DVD, Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray pressed. Of those many millions I would wager the actual number of defective disc would be a small %.

[ij72]

I was able to snag a Zidoo Z9X 8K from Amazon over the weekend when they were briefly in stock, with it arriving tomorrow. Reading the reports on various forums about the just released firmware, though, I'm going into this with low expectations.

They really seem to be having problems with the new series. It's why I waited to snag one from Amazon; if it's a mess compared to the Dune... easy returns.

R_volution UI looks really slick (and Noctua fans on the flagship!), but their prior history and the price tag (for a Dune w/ slicker software) is a bit offputting...

[deatheats]

Originally Posted by ij72

I was able to snag a Zidoo Z9X 8K from Amazon over the weekend when they were briefly in stock, with it arriving tomorrow. Reading the reports on various forums about the just released firmware, though, I'm going into this with low expectations.

They really seem to be having problems with the new series. It's why I waited to snag one from Amazon; if it's a mess compared to the Dune... easy returns.

R_volution UI looks really slick (and Noctua fans on the flagship!), but their prior history and the price tag (for a Dune w/ slicker software) is a bit offputting...

I am curious what people’s thoughts are in regards to the best media player for the buck. Zidoo, Dune, Shield, custom Windows or Linux players. Previous Zidoo line (3d support is a must) favorites?

[bhampton]

OG Zidoo Z9X is great

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by deatheats

I am curious what people’s thoughts are in regards to the best media player for the buck. Zidoo, Dune, Shield, custom Windows or Linux players. Previous Zidoo line (3d support is a must) favorites?

The Zidoo Z9X has been a workhorse for many users, still have mine but seldom used. I got the Zidoo UHD5000 mainly for the large front panel display, split HDMI Outputs, 19" EIA rack size friendly and internal drive bays. Have all my concert videos on SSD’s.

Just be aware the newer players (Dune, R_volution, Zidoo, etc.) with AMLogic SoC’s do not play frame packed 3D. Apparently there is playback problems with VC-1 encoded content as well.

For test graphics the MediaTek SoC (Oppo, Sony) and Apple TV4K work best. The Realtek SoC (Zidoo) work almost as good with the AMLogic SoC even less so. One of these days I need to see what my Nvidia Shield Pro (2019) does with this graphic.

The test graphic, it is in BMP format on the source site, used MS Office Picture Manager to export to PNG format.

[Show spoiler]

[crutzulee]

If I could only have one box,it would be the NVIDIA SHIELD as it does the most things in one box. My upstairs box gets daily use for streaming and for my cable provider's TV app.

The SHIELD in my HT hasn't been used in a couple of years as streaming duties are largely relegated to my cable provider's box and an ATV4K...The OG ZIDOO Z9X gets the lion's share of the usage in the HT as it is the superior option for my local content ( full bitrate DV/HDR UHD rips/ frame packed 3D etc)

My viewing habits are about to undergo a bit of a change..Netflix will be cancelled by the end of the month so my physical purchases have recently had an increase in what I perceive to be "TV" fare to be added to the new JELLYFIN server. We're not currently ordering anything from the US so we're learning the ropes of ordering UK stuff directly... I'm slow on the uptake, so it's taken me awhile to clue in why there had been such a drastic decrease in packages and packing material to recycle when I get home..lol..
There are rumblings in the household about cancelling AMAZON altogether but until then, I'll probably not notice much of a difference shifting my phone watching from NETFLIX to PRIME for docs and comedy specials until the JELLYFIN server offerings improve ..lol... as things move slowly across the pond..

[deatheats]

Thanks for the advice, gents!

Ordered the last Zidoo Z9X Pro Amazon had in stock, should be here Thursday.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by deatheats

Ordered the last Zidoo Z9X Pro Amazon had in stock, should be here Thursday.

If you encounter any problems then check what the firmware version. Some have problems with 1.0.95 (latest). My UHD5000 is still on 1.0.75 and I will not install a newer version till one is available that has few known bugs.

Just in case you are not familiar with Zidoo forums, here is the one for HDD Media player(RTD 1619BPD).

[Vilya]

I added these two upgrades today:



I am so damn tired.

[Show spoiler]Tomorrow I have to be up at 4 AM to get ready to leave by 6 AM for another road trip and busy day at the hospital in St. Louis. I have 7 hours of treatment and tests tomorrow.

I have my monoclonal antibody drug trial infusion, 2 ECG tests (one before and one after the infusion), vials of blood to give for testing (15 at one time is not unusual), an exam by one of my four cardiologists, pages and pages of "how do I feel questionnaires" to fill out, and then I have to walk, or be wheelchaired to, another location three buildings away for an echocardiogram. After all of that, it is a 2.5 hour drive to get home. It will be about 6:30 PM when I expect to get back.

Thursday, I have to be up at 5:45 AM to see my newest and 14th doctor (a dermatologist) at 7:45 AM. The appointment is a rare local one at least.

Next, I get a break all the way until Monday the 24th when I return to the road for still more adventures in medicine.