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

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I think I am past being frustrated and I am instead beginning to enjoy the absurdity and the comedic aspects of this ordeal. It appears there is nothing left to do but laugh about it, anyway. The more I am unable to use the internet, the more time I have to watch my movie collection. I can do that as my movies require no internet to enjoy them.

Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say.
You have my admiration for seeing the funny side of this, but it has to be very frustrating for you. After all Vilya, you're paying for a service and at the very least, you should expect to get a stable connection. I really hope they sort it out for you this time round.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by CV19

After all Vilya, you're paying for a service and at the very least, you should expect to get a stable connection.

I'm not paying much this month; my bill has been credited down to just $12.92 for the month of May. I don't think they deserve even that much considering all of the headaches they have caused me.

A "stable connection" has been such a rarity here that I think you speak of fairy tales and magical wonders that only exist in the realm of the imagination.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I'm not paying much this month; my bill has been credited down to just $12.92 for the month of May. I don't think they deserve even that much considering all of the headaches they have caused me.

It would be nice, once they've fixed the problem, if they were to let you have free internet for the entire period you have been having issues with it. I know that's unlikely to happen, but it wouldn't hurt them.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Vilya

As I want to keep everyone updated on my "internet woes," my service only lasted 71 hours before another outage occurred this morning. That's 24 outages since May 11th! And that 5th tech visit has been scheduled. Each new tech visit comes with a new story, but the one constant is that the outages continue. Soon, I will have met every tech that Mediacom has in their employ.

When you say you are down, is that Hard, no Internet, no Signal at all? That picture shows it outside, is your house close? Do the Techs take readings there, and also where it connects to your Modem? How far is that Box from your areas Node? If it's going down Hard something is loose. The Techs should be able to tell you more than stories. Have you taken a look at that DSLReports? You should Post something there.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by alchav21

When you say you are down, is that Hard, no Internet, no Signal at all? That picture shows it outside, is your house close? Do the Techs take readings there, and also where it connects to your Modem? How far is that Box from your areas Node? If it's going down Hard something is loose. The Techs should be able to tell you more than stories. Have you taken a look at that DSLReports? You should Post something there.

When I'm down, I am way, way down, man. It's a total downer.

No signal (as far as I can tell). No connection (that I most definitely can tell). Nothing by hardwire and nothing by wireless. Nil and nada.

I am told there is lots of noise on the line, but intermittently.

When I have had service, between outages, I have taken screenshots of my speed test results and I have had very abnormal readings. Specifically, my ping, my jitter, and my upload results are way off. My download speed is fairly constant. My ping is normally 17 ms; it often comes in at 38 ms of late. My jitter is usually 2-4 ms; it has come in as high as 3,523 ms. My upload speed is normally 10.5 Mbps; it has fallen, at times, to 0.1 Mbps.

That picture is part of my neighbor's backyard, literally one house over. I don't know where the node is located. It might be classified intel.

The techs take readings inside my home and at that disassembled box in the picture. And possibly other places, too, as they wander around outside with their handheld doohickey device.

I looked at your link and I see no particular need to post there when I can just keep hijacking this thread away from what flyry prefers to not discuss. How I am going to get The Matrix 4K UHD ordered with my internet going in and out?

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Vilya

When I'm down, I am way, way down, man. It's a total downer.

No signal (as far as I can tell). No connection (that I most definitely can tell). Nothing by hardwire and nothing by wireless. Nil and nada.

I am told there is lots of noise on the line, but intermittently.

When I have had service, between outages, I have taken screenshots of my speed test results and I have had very abnormal readings. Specifically, my ping, my jitter, and my upload results are way off. My download speed is fairly constant. My ping is normally 17 ms; it often comes in at 38 ms of late. My jitter is usually 2-4 ms; it has come in as high as 3,523 ms. My upload speed is normally 10.5 Mbps; it has fallen, at times, to 0.1 Mbps.

That picture is part of my neighbor's backyard, literally one house over. I don't know where the node is located. It might be classified intel.

Like I said, you should Post on DSLReports they have a Mediacom Rep, MediacomChad that looks into problems. There's this Posting from this guy in Streator, IL with Slow Internet. They have a lot of readings, but one is a SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) and his is in the mid 30's dB. I think that has a lot to do with distance. They can put Signal Boosters, but I think there is a limit where it just amplifies the noise. I guess you and your neighbor share that Box. Does his Internet go down like yours? Here is a Link to that guy in Streato

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31...inois?group=IL

I was in Lisle back in 1987 going to a AT&T 5ESS School, good area I enjoyed the School and visiting Chicago.

[Steedeel]

See, I couldn’t be bothered with all this crap. I just like popping the disc in and I’m good to go. Yet another reason to stick with disc!

[dcx4610]

For me to go digital for movies, there would have to be a bunch of retirements met.

- Quality would have to be equal or better than UHD discs
- The ability to download and save the movie file without DRM like an MP3 or FLAC file (I can't see this ever happening)
- Price would have to be cheaper than the physical copy
- Internet bandwidth caps cannot exist

With movies, I do take pride in owning physical copies and it's fun to display them. Ultimately though, I do feel it's a waste of space and if I had digital copies that I had 100% control over, I would probably make the switch. I just can't see movie studios giving up that control though like the music industry did with MP3 files.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

See, I couldn’t be bothered with all this crap. I just like popping the disc in and I’m good to go. Yet another reason to stick with disc!

I certainly picked a good month to suspend my Netflix service. I am uncertain if I will reactivate it considering the ongoing ISP fiasco I am entangled in.

Switching gears, I received an email from Sony Rewards yesterday. Effective July 1st, Sony will no longer allow people to redeem their "movie buff" passes for a physical disc. Starting July 1st, all redemptions will be for digital codes only.

These "movie buff" passes required you to enter five codes from an eligible Sony blu-ray or 4K UHD title. Once you did that, you could pick a free disc from a very limited selection of titles. There was a limit on how many of these "movie buffs" you could earn. I have already hit my limit and I have redeemed them all for discs- some of them for titles I would never have purchased. The selection offered was pretty lame.

But I also accrued points with each redemption and these points could be used to get free CDs, DVDs, and blu-rays from an entirely different list. I am unclear if this option, too, ends on July 1st. It looks like I may have to order some other odd title while I still can.

On the one hand, Sony promotes the new 4K UHD disc format while on the other hand they remove discs from their reward options. They seem to be a little conflicted on the whole disc and/or digital formats question. It seems a bit counter intuitive to "reward" a disc customer with a digital code. If I wanted codes, I would have bought them in the first place.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I certainly picked a good month to suspend my Netflix service. I am uncertain if I will reactivate it considering the ongoing ISP fiasco I am entangled in.

Switching gears, I received an email from Sony Rewards yesterday. Effective July 1st, Sony will no longer allow people to redeem their "movie buff" passes for a physical disc. Starting July 1st, all redemptions will be for digital codes only.

These "movie buff" passes required you to enter five codes from an eligible Sony blu-ray or 4K UHD title. Once you did that, you could pick a free disc from a very limited selection of titles. There was a limit on how many of these "movie buffs" you could earn. I have already hit my limit and I have redeemed them all for discs- some of them for titles I would never have purchased. The selection offered was pretty lame.

But I also accrued points with each redemption and these points could be used to get free CDs, DVDs, and blu-rays from an entirely different list. I am unclear if this option, too, ends on July 1st. It looks like I may have to order some other odd title while I still can.

On the one hand, Sony promotes the new 4K UHD disc format while on the other hand they remove discs from their reward options. They seem to be a little conflicted on the whole disc and/or digital formats question.

Yeah, Sony reminds me (imo) of Microsoft a few years ago in the sense that they seem to be on the fringes of the latest trends and struggling to keep up. They have access to around 70 million people with their movie and tv storefront but they don’t seem to be able to do anything with it in my opinion. Somewhere there is potential for game/film/Digital/Disc deals there, I’m sure of it.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Like I said, you should Post on DSLReports they have a Mediacom Rep, MediacomChad that looks into problems. T I guess you and your neighbor share that Box. Does his Internet go down like yours?

I was in Lisle back in 1987 going to a AT&T 5ESS School, good area I enjoyed the School and visiting Chicago.

I just don't see the need to involve yet more Mediacom techs. Between the 20+ phone calls to tech support and the four tech visits, with a 5th coming, just how many of these techs do I need to fix my internet? I have managers calling me now, too, but all they do is make promises that remain unfulfilled.

The "box" in that picture serves at least 7 households. I do not know if all of them have had problems like I have had, but some share my pain.

I lived in Lisle from 1990-1996; it was a nice, safe, dull, cookie cutter upper middle class suburb west of Chicago. I miss the pizza available in the greater Chicago region. I have never had anything to match it.

I now reside in the southern end of the state and it is nothing like the heavily populated Du Page and Cook counties. A single apartment complex there has many more residents than does my entire village.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I just don't see the need to involve yet more Mediacom techs. Between the 20+ phone calls to tech support and the four tech visits, with a 5th coming, just how many of these techs do I need to fix my internet? I have managers calling me now, too, but all they do is make promises that remain unfulfilled.

The "box" in that picture serves at least 7 households. I do not know if all of them have had problems like I have had, but some share my pain.

I lived in Lisle from 1990-1996; it was a nice, safe, dull, cookie cutter upper middle class suburb west of Chicago. I miss the pizza available in the greater Chicago region. I have never had anything to match it.

I now reside in the southern end of the state and it is nothing like the heavily populated Du Page and Cook counties. A single apartment complex there has many more residents than does my entire village.

Having a problem is not fun, but it has to be Isolated and Fixed. The Techs say they are getting intermitten noise, that source has to be found. That Orange Cable looks like Fiber, so that must be the Feed for that Node. Noise is Analog, Errors are Digital or Optical. So yes a good Tech is needed to back track the problem to the source. So when that fifth Tech shows, ask him it that's Fiber, and find out if all 7 are getting intermitten noise. So yes, they are getting Errors in that Feed or something in the Box is the problem. To me this is interesting, I use to do this all the time Isolating Trouble.

[dcx4610]

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

I'd also add the ability to resell your digital copies. Without that nothing will be available to new buyers after the studios stop offering it. People shouldn't be unable to watch a movie just because they didn't happen to buy it when it was popular.

I think the concept of digital distribution is fantastic but the greed of those in control will prevent it from ever reaching its potential. The laws need to drastically change to prevent the studios and distributors from controlling everything.

I definitely don't see this happening. With physical media, you're not selling the movie per se, it's the disc and packaging that's being sold. If it's just the file, you're never going to technically own the rights to distribute that file. If you bought an MP3 music file, you own the rights to that file but you're not allowed to re-sell it.

Ideally for me, you'd have something like an iTunes where you can stream the movie, or you can download the movie to your hard drive and watch it offline. I just don't want the DRM on it. I want to be able to watch that movie anywhere at anytime and transfer it back and forth to as many devices as I want just like MP3 files.

As for selling digital content, the big issue is that a "used' digital copy is no different from a "new" digital copy. Why would you ever buy a new digital copy?

The only way I could see this working would be going back to the iTunes example, you buy a digital copy of X movie. Part of that purchase is the right to sell the copy 1 time. If someone buys that version, they don't then have the right to re-sell the copy. Part of the sale would go to you, the rest would go to the movie company.

I think this would keep everyone happy. It would add value to your digital purchase but at the same time, keep people from abusing it.

[Groot]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

See, I couldn’t be bothered with all this crap. I just like popping the disc in and I’m good to go. Yet another reason to stick with disc!

Disc or no disc, my business is online and if I was down/had outages like this it'd be destroying my ability to make a living. It's unacceptable to repeatedly have outages, but this isn't a +1 on the side of discs as I'd have a hell of a lot more to be concerned about than media if I went dark every couple of hours/days like this.

[Groot]

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

I'd also add the ability to resell your digital copies. Without that nothing will be available to new buyers after the studios stop offering it. People shouldn't be unable to watch a movie just because they didn't happen to buy it when it was popular.

I think the concept of digital distribution is fantastic but the greed of those in control will prevent it from ever reaching its potential. The laws need to drastically change to prevent the studios and distributors from controlling everything.

The only thing that really needs to change is removing the content from an account. You offer the ability to "send" a digital file to another account and within the original account the content is completely removed, you've created a successful secondary market for those who wish to buy and sell purchases.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Groot

Disc or no disc, my business is online and if I was down/had outages like this it'd be destroying my ability to make a living. It's unacceptable to repeatedly have outages, but this isn't a +1 on the side of discs as I'd have a hell of a lot more to be concerned about than media if I went dark every couple of hours/days like this.

Yeah, I meant from a film viewing perspective.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by dcx4610

I definitely don't see this happening. With physical media, you're not selling the movie per se, it's the disc and packaging that's being sold. If it's just the file, you're never going to technically own the rights to distribute that file. If you bought an MP3 music file, you own the rights to that file but you're not allowed to re-sell it.

Ideally for me, you'd have something like an iTunes where you can stream the movie, or you can download the movie to your hard drive and watch it offline. I just don't want the DRM on it. I want to be able to watch that movie anywhere at anytime and transfer it back and forth to as many devices as I want just like MP3 files.

As for selling digital content, the big issue is that a "used' digital copy is no different from a "new" digital copy. Why would you ever buy a new digital copy?

The only way I could see this working would be going back to the iTunes example, you buy a digital copy of X movie. Part of that purchase is the right to sell the copy 1 time. If someone buys that version, they don't then have the right to re-sell the copy. Part of the sale would go to you, the rest would go to the movie company.

I think this would keep everyone happy. It would add value to your digital purchase but at the same time, keep people from abusing it.

Won’t Blockchain afford people the ability to easilly sell unwanted digital items? Or is it just snake oil?

[Groot]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Yeah, I meant from a film viewing perspective.

Yeah. I was just stating that in this day and age any time of outage, at least at the level being experienced by the user here, is an outlier and shouldn't be acceptable. People depend heavily on the internet now and outside of maintenance (which is usually very late/early morning) this shouldn't be happening on any sort of regular basis. Unless the power goes out or there's system upgrades every few months, my internet doesn't go out.

That company should not find it acceptable at all to have those kind of issues constantly.

[Vilya]

I have had two outages again today, so far. The latest theory is that there is a "signal leak" in my neighborhood that needs to be found. I am told that it is not a matter for the techs to solve, but for the maintenance crews.

But I get a 5th tech visit, anyway. I guess it is supposed to comfort me in some way.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I have had two outages again today, so far. The latest theory is that there is a "signal leak" in my neighborhood that needs to be found. I am told that it is not a matter for the techs to solve, but for the maintenance crews.

But I get a 5th tech visit, anyway. I guess it is supposed to comfort me in some way.

Yes I agree with Groot and Steedeel, Internet is essential now and these outages should not be taken lightly. It does sound like no one wants to take the lead on this problem. I guess that is why Mediacom is way down on the Customer Service List. In order to fix something you have to know how it works. It sounds like even Repair is making flaky excuses, "Signal Leak" nice. So now the Tech coming has a good out, he will refer the problem to the Maintenance Crew. Maintenance Crews just have Routines they run, I doubt they work on troubles. They could come back and tell you, the Maintenance Crew has referred your trouble to Engineering. I see with this kind of Service you guys need your Discs. Talking about Sony, their Support told me they are going Digital and Disc is History!