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

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Just another example showing that many companies spend no more than they must; they do the least that they can get away with.

I would bet that many of those same people who rely upon their ISP to take care of them (such naivete) also just see this unreliable performance as normal. I am amused when people assume that their experience is everyone's experience.

Still, if I am going to tell someone that they need good, or better, equipment, it would be helpful to offer some specific recommendations.

In the Tech Industry equipment changes so fast that something good today is obsolete tomorrow. In the Hardware Thread they are going crazy, they don't know which way to turn. When Oppo stop making Blu-ray Players it turned them all up side down, now they are trying to modify them. Now the Oppo's are going for $3000+, and some are modifying the board to try and keep up with the new Technology. So I say stick with Panasonic and Sony, they have good Streaming Apps and you will have the best of both worlds!

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by alchav21

In the Tech Industry equipment changes so fast that something good today is obsolete tomorrow. In the Hardware Thread they are going crazy, they don't know which way to turn. When Oppo stop making Blu-ray Players it turned them all up side down, now they are trying to modify them. Now the Oppo's are going for $3000+, and some are modifying the board to try and keep up with the new Technology. So I say stick with Panasonic and Sony, they have good Streaming Apps and you will have the best of both worlds!

Until I want to watch Dumbo uncut!

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by alchav21

In the Tech Industry equipment changes so fast that something good today is obsolete tomorrow. In the Hardware Thread they are going crazy, they don't know which way to turn. When Oppo stop making Blu-ray Players it turned them all up side down, now they are trying to modify them. Now the Oppo's are going for $3000+, and some are modifying the board to try and keep up with the new Technology. So I say stick with Panasonic and Sony, they have good Streaming Apps and you will have the best of both worlds!

Modems and routers do not change all that fast and certainly not so fast that most consumers will need to replace them very frequently. I have been using my DOCSIS 3.0 modem for several years now and there is no urgency to upgrade it to a 3.1 model.

People are modifying their Oppos to make them region free players; nothing more involved than that. It has nothing to do with "keeping up with technology." It is quite easy to do and very inexpensive. The modification can be applied internally or externally as desired. I did the external installation as it was the easiest to do and I did not have to open up my player.

Just as a reminder "region free" and "universal" are not the same thing. "Universal" means that the disc player will play almost every video and audio disc format; it does not circumvent region locks.

The internal installation is simple enough, but the only reason to do it is for the aesthetics of it. There is no performance advantage in doing an internal install. The internal installation is more complicated on the Oppo 205 as an internal circuit board must be removed to connect the mod kit and then it must be reconnected where it had been.

The external installation on any of the Oppos involves connecting this tiny little circuit board about the size of a match book cover to the RS 232 port and to USB port 2 on the player's rear panel.

Once installed, you can change regions with your remote control by entering the appropriate code. Additionally, Oppo has said that installing this mod kit yourself, internally or externally, will NOT void the warranty as it is that simple to do.

This simple little mod kit works with older Oppo blu-ray players as well. I have one installed on my Oppo 93 even.

You can also make an Oppo region free for DVDs only by burning a piece of software, called Super_disk, as an ISO image to a CD-R disc (has to be a CD-R) and then simply loading this disc into the player. The player will "reject" it signifying that the install was completed. You can combine this with the mod kit described above, the advantage being that you do not have to use the remote to set a DVD region anymore, just the desired blu-ray region.

Streaming apps are not necessary on a disc player; all new 4K TVs already have streaming apps included. Having the same apps on both TV and disc player is redundant. If you want that redundancy, great, but it is not necessary.

People that want a really diverse array of streaming apps use dedicated streaming devices, anyway, such as a Roku or other brand. These are inexpensive solutions with far more apps than any TV or disc player comes with pre-installed.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by avs commenter

This is the problem a lot of people I know have. They rely on the crap equipment their internet provider gives/sells them.

I noticed a huge difference when I bought my own router and modem. I can stream UHD all day without any difficulty or buffering.

Where I'm located, if you buy high speed service (like Gigabit), you can't use your own router and modem - you have to use the modem and router supplied by the provider. That's true for all three providers who are available to me. Some will let you buy the equipment instead of renting it every month, but it still has to be their equipment.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

Where I'm located, if you buy high speed service (like Gigabit), you can't use your own router and modem - you have to use the modem and router supplied by the provider. That's true for all three providers who are available to me. Some will let you buy the equipment instead of renting it every month, but it still has to be their equipment.

Same here with my ISP. If I want their gigabit plan, I have to rent their equipment. They provide no option to buy it from them, either.

[avs commenter]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I can stream all levels of content reliably from every source that I have tried except for Amazon Prime.

With Amazon Prime streaming, the video almost always freezes up and disintegrates into a mosaic mess while the audio keeps going forward. This happens no matter the time of day or night that I attempt to watch them. I have to pause and wait for the buffering to catch up before I can resume. It happens with my wired and my wireless connections alike. It happens with my modem and router and it also happens with a different modem and router provided by my ISP; I swapped for a brief period to see if their equipment performed any better than mine and it made no difference.

Netflix, Vudu, and Youtube stream reliably; Amazon Prime disappoints continually, which is a shame because I like their selection better than that of Netflix.

Amazon Prime also gives me more issues than anything else. Though it's gotten better. Still, Netflix blows it away in stream quality. The app is also not very user friendly and I notice the performance can vary by device it's used on.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by avs commenter

Amazon Prime also gives me more issues than anything else. Though it's gotten better. Still, Netflix blows it away in stream quality. The app is also not very user friendly and I notice the performance can vary by device it's used on.

I don't have any problems with any Streaming Providers including Amazon Prime. I only use the Android Apps on my Sony UHD TV, that is Hard Wired to my Fiber Feed Switch.

[dublinbluray108]

App support on smart TV's & Blu-ray players from various manufacturers are known to be terrible. If you're highly dependent on using them for streaming; you will be relying on an unreliable method of streaming. Using a separate streaming device like a PC or tablet for streaming services would be more useful.

[Wendell R. Breland]

For streamers, what hardware do you use to get Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision and HDR10 from Amazon Video, Google Play, iTunes, Netflix and Vudu?

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by dublinbluray108

App support on smart TV's & Blu-ray players from various manufacturers are known to be terrible. If you're highly dependent on using them for streaming; you will be relying on an unreliable method of streaming. Using a separate streaming device like a PC or tablet for streaming services would be more useful.

Sony is very good about updating the Android Apps, I just got an update not too long ago. My Sony TV is Hard Wired, so the notifications are automatic and all I have to do in okay the update.

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Not happy with interactive crap, Netflix now want to split movies into a mini series. The first one will be The Hateful Eight.

Quentin Tarantino personally oversaw that change and added 25 minutes of material back that was originally cut. If the director agrees and is involved in the changes I see no problem with it.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/django-u...directors-cut/

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I can stream all levels of content reliably from every source that I have tried except for Amazon Prime.

With Amazon Prime streaming, the video almost always freezes up and disintegrates into a mosaic mess while the audio keeps going forward. This happens no matter the time of day or night that I attempt to watch them. I have to pause and wait for the buffering to catch up before I can resume. It happens with my wired and my wireless connections alike. It happens with my modem and router and it also happens with a different modem and router provided by my ISP; I swapped for a brief period to see if their equipment performed any better than mine and it made no difference.

Netflix, Vudu, and Youtube stream reliably; Amazon Prime disappoints continually, which is a shame because I like their selection better than that of Netflix.

Same here. I have consistent issues with amazon prime whether it won't buffer, freezing, connection won't convert to HD, disconnects in the middle of something or just won't even load in general. It is an absolute nightmare. I swear, if streaming takes over physical media I will seriously lose my mind.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by alchav21

You're right with the control is different, but if you have something in your Collection they will not take it away. That "Stark Raving Dad" is gone to add to your Collection, but it's still there if you had it. I have "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" 1991 in my Collection. Your fears are almost like Steedeels, fabricated in your minds!

how about
https://twitter.com/drandersgs/statu...70646243414016


I know, that does not count ...

There is always an excuse for why someone that is PO that the content he paid for is taken away.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

The thing is though, social media formats like vertical and square will 100% make their way to non social media services, be it mobile focussed new video services, YouTube or whatever. What then? We have a split. Old school widescreen, new age mobile obsessed youngsters vertical and square. Something has to give. Even the likes of Netflix will probably have to edit their formats for mobile/TV.

what does it matter? academy was 4:3 and was used for every film for a long time, Napoleon is 4:1... there is a plethora of AR used in film, film used to be B&W and "silent" (with externals music).

The industry keeps evolving. If someone makes "the Blair millennial project" and it is filmed to look like a phone in portrait mode, who cares. What is important is to be able to watch content in the appropriate AR and not loosing out on some of the image.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by avs commenter

The pro disc/non streamers sure do get passionate about altered digital versions of content they will never view

I am also passionate about my home, my car my ... if I did not care about something I would not waste my money on it. Isn't a better question why do some people waste their money on things they don't care about?

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by avs commenter

But these are very rare cases so the risk is pretty small.

You can try and downplay it as much as you want and maybe the risk is "pretty small"

But don't you think it is best for people to be well informed and let them decide if the risk is worth taking even if they don't quite understand it.

There are sacrifices you make in going physical as well.

curious what sacrifices you see?

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by octagon

Is that really a principle or is that more of a preference?

For all the 'don't thread on me' talk about freedom and preservation are there really important principles at stake if consumers lose access to the version of T2 with their preferred color timing?

Sure, we talk about things like DNR and aspect ratio and color timing as if crucial matters of artistic freedom and preservation are at stake but is that really what motivates us?

Or do we just want what we want the way we want it when we want it?

Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of wanting what I want the way I want it when I want it.

But I try not kid myself about whether my desires are matters of principle cause, well, they're usually not.

Some are very much not.

I don't know if they are important but

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/principle

A fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behaviour or for a chain of reasoning.

I think " I spent my money on it and so I should be able to watch it where and when I want" to fit the definition above.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by avs commenter

I tested it out the other day. I'm no audio expert, but it sounded good and was a noticeable improvement from before

funny how before it was good enough and you could not tell the difference

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by dublinbluray108

App support on smart TV's & Blu-ray players from various manufacturers are known to be terrible. If you're highly dependent on using them for streaming; you will be relying on an unreliable method of streaming. Using a separate streaming device like a PC or tablet for streaming services would be more useful.

That is a short term problem. Over the next few years, we will see three main operating systems and streaming interfaces built into TVs. Roku, Android and Apple (yes, Apple.) They will handle the software, with the tv manufacturers handling hardware. According to my friend (lives in Atlanta) the Roku interface has been very reliable for streaming Netflix, Amazon etc..

Amazon may be another big bet in the tv interface war, but personally, I think they will do a deal with Roku.

[avs commenter]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

funny how before it was good enough and you could not tell the difference

Yeah I don’t think I’ve ever posted about Netflix audio before so not sure what post you are talking about

If I’m comparing disc and digital I’m using Vudu or ITunes