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

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

I revisited Rocky on Blu-ray last night and it dawned on me that no streaming service could give us this type of transfer. A decades old film with a heavy grain structure, handled beautifully with inky blacks and sharp detail that made the film look as good as when I first saw it at the cinema.

When did you first see it at the cinema? It came out in 1976, so you would have been like a year old at that point (based on you stating that you are 43). Did you see a re-release later on or something?

Don't get me wrong, I agree that Blu-Ray is the best available presentation of the film and likely the closest you can get to the actual theatrical presentation, but that statement just made me curious.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Vilya

All facts, no magic.

Be careful, his next reply is that fiber wiring is factually magical.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

When did you first see it at the cinema? It came out in 1976, so you would have been like a year old at that point (based on you stating that you are 43). Did you see a re-release later on or something?

Don't get me wrong, I agree that Blu-Ray is the best available presentation of the film and likely the closest you can get to the actual theatrical presentation, but that statement just made me curious.

Yeah, About 15 years ago.

The Rocky boxset is a mixed bag. Obviously the first one looks superb but the next four are older transfers I think. Balboa looks great however. It’s still well worth owning as I get different levels of enjoyment from all the films.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

Be careful, his next reply is that fiber wiring is factually magical.

And that you need a home network wired with unshielded and outdated Cat 5e ethernet cable. The cable being unshielded allows the magical energies from the faerie realm to absorb into the cables and infuse the network.

Or he will say all 5 citations are outdated and/ or made-up and that some customer service rep. told him different.

And we will now get another sermon about how 16 Mbps streams over a wired network look better than a 16 Mbps stream over a wireless one. The data is magically delicious when it comes over a wire.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Yeah, About 15 years ago.

The Rocky boxset is a mixed bag. Obviously the first one looks superb but the next four are older transfers I think. Balboa looks great however. It’s still well worth owning as I get different levels of enjoyment from all the films.

Shamefully, I have never seen anything but clips from any of the Rocky movies despite owning them. Stallone sometimes gets on my nerves and I have just never got around to these. The tiger in my eye has created a blindspot.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Shamefully, I have never seen anything but clips from any of the Rocky movies despite owning them. Stallone sometimes gets on my nerves and I have just never got around to these. The tiger in my eye has created a blindspot.

That is shameful.

[gotmule]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Shamefully, I have never seen anything but clips from any of the Rocky movies despite owning them. Stallone sometimes gets on my nerves and I have just never got around to these. The tiger in my eye has created a blindspot.

Just curious, but what percentage of your impressive collection would you say you have you not watched yet?

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by gotmule

Just curious, but what percentage of your impressive collection would you say you have you not watched yet?

That person could watch a different movie EVERY night for almost 20 years without repeating.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by gotmule

Just curious, but what percentage of your impressive collection would you say you have you not watched yet?

It would have to be a guess, but I would say probably about 20% if by not watched you mean titles that I have never seen at all, at the theater or from some other source.

Not only do I purchase movies that I want to see right away, I also make purchases that are opportunistic in nature, such as during a major sales event. I make some impulsive blind buys and I sometimes buy based off of the recommendations of others: from family, from friends, and from our fellow forum members. I learn about the existence of a lot of movies from our fellow members.

I also buy films that are considered to important in cinematic history even if my personal interest in them varies widely. I made a point to buy all of the Oscar Best Picture winners, for example, even though I am not enamored to all of them. These purchases sometimes get shelved and overlooked for awhile.

Even with all of my free time, it is difficult to allocate it across all of my hobbies. If only I could forego sleep and just play all day.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

That person could watch a different movie EVERY night for almost 20 years without repeating.

It is nice having a large library where I probably could watch something different every night for a generation without repeating. It is a great feeling to know that what I want to watch is ready and waiting for me. No need to worry about how the internet is doing or how well the servers are working. If I have power, I have entertainment.

According to my collection statistics compiled on this website, the run time of my blu-ray collection is 394 days, 18 hours and 22 minutes. My DVD collection has a runtime of about 391.5 days. Then there are my other formats, laserdiscs, a few tapes, a tiny number of HD-DVDs, and some "burns." My blu-rays and dvd runtimes equate to about 786.25 days of total runtime. If I watched for 8 hours a day, it would take me approx. 6.5 years to watch them all.

When I do watch movies, I try to get a least two watched, so maybe I only have a 13 year long buffer? I will have to extend my collection in order to have more of a cushion.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Vilya

^And for the hundredth time, rtings.com updates their articles when NEEDED. If that isn't obvious enough for you, note that the ISP speed recommendations for ALL of these services are unchanged as well and vary from just 11 Mbps for Vudu, 15-20 Mbps for Sony Ultra, and 25 Mbps for Netflix- same as it was last year, same as it is NOW.

All facts, no magic.

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Why do you even comment on these subjects when you don’t have a clue what the data rates are from your providers? As of now, ONLY Netflix provides a method of checking internet speeds with test files and a test within their app. They offer a month of no cost trial, why have you not taken advantage of this just to use their testing?

For reference, I did a couple of spot checks of Van Helsing UHD BD last night and the video bit rates would go as high as 80 Mbps and the DTS:X audio was continuous 5 Mbps with some bump up in speeds.

You guys dwell on minimum Bitrates, I was talking about how it actually looks to people. Because you're right, Streaming Providers have minimums and maximums for the Quality of their Video and Sound. Those Bitrates keep changing according to Codec and Bandwidth. So I say the people that see Degradation in PQ and Sound, who is their ISP and Speed, what Streaming Provider, and how are they set up. Then we can make some comparisons, and maybe find something in common. I don't find any problems with my Streaming Providers, Streaming HD or 4K. I just finished watching the Series The Romanoffs on Amazon Prime, and it came in Fantastic with no problems!

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by alchav21

You guys dwell on minimum Bitrates, I was talking about how it actually looks to people. Because you're right, Streaming Providers have minimums and maximums for the Quality of their Video and Sound. Those Bitrates keep changing according to Codec and Bandwidth. So I say the people that see Degradation in PQ and Sound, who is their ISP and Speed, what Streaming Provider, and how are they set up. Then we can make some comparisons, and maybe find something in common. I don't find any problems with my Streaming Providers, Streaming HD or 4K. I just finished watching the Series The Romanoffs on Amazon Prime, and it came in Fantastic with no problems!

Those 16 Mbps bitrates are MAXIMUMS. Adaptive streaming only gets you to at most 16 Mbps because that is the most that they ever offer. Vudu only gets you to 11 Mbps.

What change? Bitrates have not changed, at least not upwards, and we know this from one simple fact alone and that is that none of the streaming providers have revised their speed recommendations in over a year. Had their bitrates gone up, so would have their internet speed recommendations. That's simple, logical, common sense. Try it... you might like it.

What part of this author's statement is unclear to you?:

"The max I could ever get Netflix to pull down was 16000 kbps (right at 7 GB per hour), which is the max they publish in the “high” setting."

https://www.howtogeek.com/338983/how...s-netflix-use/

Why are you so persistently oblivious to facts? Any one of those five citations given earlier explain all of this clearly.

As to the perceived quality of streaming, I am reminded of the title of an old Rod Stewart album: A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse.

[flyry]

I really wish this would be moved back to the digital subforum.

There's only one person in the thread that talks about the future.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by flyry

I really wish this would be moved back to the digital subforum.

There's only one person in the thread that talks about the future.

Well, there's two at least.

One who insists that discs are doomed and the other who foretells the end of movies and TVs altogether. You want to talk more about that? Careful what you ask for.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by alchav21

You guys dwell on minimum Bitrates

As usual, you have it backwards. Vilya and myself mostly refer to the maximum bit rates from streaming providers.

Tell you what, I will procure a Netflix gift card and give you the redeeming code so you can see first hand the streaming info they provide. After the gift card expires you can continue to be a sub or cancel. It is real easy to do this on their site. So, what do you say?

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

As usual, you have it backwards. Vilya and myself mostly refer to the maximum bit rates from streaming providers.

Tell you what, I will procure a Netflix gift card and give you the redeeming code so you can see first hand the streaming info they provide. After the gift card expires you can continue to be a sub or cancel. It is real easy to do this on their site. So, what do you say?

Wow! If being obstinate gets you free gifts now, how come I don't get more presents?

You sure you want to reward this kind of behavior? It may encourage even more.

A generous offer all the same.

[gotmule]

Originally Posted by Vilya

It would have to be a guess, but I would say probably about 20% if by not watched you mean titles that I have never seen at all, at the theater or from some other source.

Not only do I purchase movies that I want to see right away, I also make purchases that are opportunistic in nature, such as during a major sales event. I make some impulsive blind buys and I sometimes buy based off of the recommendations of others: from family, from friends, and from our fellow forum members. I learn about the existence a lot of movies from our fellow members.

I also buy films that are considered to important in cinematic history even if my personal interest in them varies widely. I made a point to buy all of the Oscar Best Picture winners, for example, even though I am not enamored to all of them. These purchases sometimes get shelved and overlooked for awhile.

Even with all of my free time, it is difficult to allocate it across all of my hobbies. If only I could forego sleep and just play all day.

I had an idea it was a big number from your posts, so thank you for sharing. And once again, damn impressive.

[Forestt]

Originally Posted by Vilya

It is nice having a large library where I probably could watch something different every night for a generation without repeating. It is a great feeling to know that what I want to watch is ready and waiting for me. No need to worry about how the internet is doing or how well the servers are working. If I have power, I have entertainment.

According to my collection statistics compiled on this website, the run time of my blu-ray collection is 394 days, 18 hours and 22 minutes. My DVD collection has a runtime of about 391.5 days. Then there are my other formats, laserdiscs, a few tapes, a tiny number of HD-DVDs, and some "burns." My blu-rays and dvd runtimes equate to about 786.25 days of total runtime. If I watched for 8 hours a day, it would take me approx. 6.5 years to watch them all.

When I do watch movies, I try to get a least two watched, so maybe I only have a 13 year long buffer? I will have to extend my collection in order to have more of a cushion.

What about the special features? Do you watch them all? Do you also rewatch movies with commentaries on? If so, this will add a LOT to your total playtime.

Or do you skip them easily because you have plenty other films to watch?

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Forestt

What about the special features? Do you watch them all? Do you also rewatch movies with commentaries on? If so, this will add a LOT to your total playtime.

Or do you skip them easily because you have plenty other films to watch?

I watch some of the special features, deleted and alternate scenes in particular, the trailers, and anything that delves more into the story itself such as supplemental documentaries, but I have not listened to the feature length audio commentaries. I will sometimes watch interviews with the creative talent and I do enjoy the silly little gag reels when they are offered. I do not watch the technical special features that often, how the movie was filmed, etc., unless there was something amazingly challenging about making the movie. Knowing too much about how the movie was made can dispel the mystique surrounding it.

If I disliked the movie, then I will likely skip the special features, but it is pretty rare that I blind buy something that I wind up hating.

Watching the special features that I do choose certainly does add a lot to that runtime. I gotta find that Fountain of Youth that Ponce de Leon went on about and buy myself some more time.

[kfbkfb]

https://reel-librarians.com/2017/02/...in-rollerball/

Possible future (with movies only on central servers):

That movie has been summarized (not politically correct content removed)
by the Computer.

Kirk Bayne