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

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

The number of times that certain posters repeat exactly the same arguments is absurd, IMO and that's aside from the off-topic digressions.

That is quite coming from you, considering the number of repeats you have made.

You really need to learn:

Physical sales = EST, Physical sales ≠ SVOD or AVOD

SVOD = Pay TV

= means equal to, ≠ means not equal to.

[The_Donster]

A couple of days ago my son’s 360 went sideways. So I switched it out and replaced it with my Gears of War 360 console. Which left a gap. So I hooked up an extra Sony BD player to make it easier for when they want to watch a movie in the front room. Anyway, I’d received a notice from Amazon Prime wasn’t going to be supported on my player a few weeks back.

No surprise, given the age of the player, but I noticed Hulu will no longer be supported either. So the question is, are the manufacturers or streaming services getting away from being part of a smart device (Flatscreen/BD/UHD Player) and moving to Roku/Firesticks, etc or is it more inline with upgrading your equipment more frequently?

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by The_Donster

Anyway, I’d received a notice from Amazon Prime wasn’t going to be supported on my player a few weeks back.

Amazon did the same a few years back for my LG BP540 BD players (4 of them). I have a Vizio smart TV that is several years old and some of the apps are no longer supported on it. No matter, I have a Sony UDP-X800 connected to it and the apps on it operate much faster than the built in apps. My later TV's are dumb versions, I just use external BD players with apps.

I have a Sony BDP-S6700 (discontinued ?) and the apps on it operate almost as fast as my BDP-X800 and BDP-X1000ES do.

If you are thinking of a new box click here for this persons comparisons.

[The_Donster]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

[Show spoiler]Amazon did the same a few years back for my LG BP540 BD players (4 of them). I have a Vizio smart TV that is several years old and some of the apps are no longer supported on it. No matter, I have a Sony UDP-X800 connected to it and the apps on it operate much faster than the built in apps. My later TV's are dumb versions, I just use external BD players with apps.

I have a Sony BDP-S6700 (discontinued ?) and the apps on it operate almost as fast as my BDP-X800 and BDP-X1000ES do.

If you are thinking of a new box click here for this persons comparisons.

You mean game console? We’re both pretty content for the moment. Although he doesn’t like that he’s starting from scratch on all his games. I’m still debating on if I’m pulling out the old hard drive and getting a transfer cord to move everything to my console.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by The_Donster

You mean game console?

That list has game consoles, media players, streaming boxes and disc players. Makes it fairly easy to compare all the features of each.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by The_Donster

So the question is, are the manufacturers or a)streaming services getting away from being part of a smart device (Flatscreen/BD/UHD Player) and moving to Roku/Firesticks, etc or
b) is it more inline with upgrading your equipment more frequently?

I think it is a bit of B), but also a bit of
c) streaming fan boys like to think physical media can't evolve while streaming is always getting better but the truth is that physical or streaming changes have a cost. It might not fully be useless planned obsolescence but natural obsolescence as well. Where it is more trouble then it is worth to continue support for something old for just a few people.
and
d) contracts. I don't know if it is TV/BD player.... manufacturers that asked and got it included so they can say "we offer X" on the box or the streaming service providers that wanted it so they can say "look how easy it is to use our service, it is much better" but contracts tend to have end dates and when those come and there is no extensions or renewals then the service can be dropped.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by The_Donster

So the question is, are the manufacturers or streaming services getting away from being part of a smart device (Flatscreen/BD/UHD Player) and moving to Roku/Firesticks, etc or is it more inline with upgrading your equipment more frequently?

The Manufactures always go with what sells their equipment, and I think the Apps on the Displays are a big seller. With a good Display with dependable Apps, and a good Processor nothing else is needed. You can access anything you want, and the only thing to hook up is a decent Sound System.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by alchav21

The Manufactures always go with what sells their equipment, and I think the Apps on the Displays are a big seller. With a good Display with dependable Apps, and a good Processor nothing else is needed. You can access anything you want, and the only thing to hook up is a decent Sound System.

You can not access "anything" that you want just with the streaming apps on your TV. Subscription streaming does not even come close to offering the variety that physical media does. Digital sellers also lack a vast number of titles.

Netflix offered only 5599 titles as of January 2018 in their U.S. library. 22,755 titles have been released on blu-ray up to the 1st quarter of 2019 and 220,745 titles have been released on dvd. Netflix doesn't even come close to offering the selection that physical media does.

http://www.dvdandblurayreleasereport.com/pdf/28.pdf

See page 13 for DVD and page 34 for blu-ray

"As of January 2018, Netflix has nearly 15,400 titles across all of its regional libraries."

"Netflix’s U.S. library size is slightly larger in 2018 than in past years. As of January 2018, Netflix had 5,599 titles. In March 2016, the service had 5,532. The 2018 number is still a large decrease from 2014, when Netflix had over 8,000 titles in the U.S. content library.

https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn...facts-figures/

In order to truly have the best possible selection, you need access to both streaming and physical media; the former alone lacks a huge number of movies and TV shows.

[sapiendut]

And only a tiny fraction of that in Canuckistan

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by The_Donster

A couple of days ago my son’s 360 went sideways. So I switched it out and replaced it with my Gears of War 360 console. Which left a gap. So I hooked up an extra Sony BD player to make it easier for when they want to watch a movie in the front room. Anyway, I’d received a notice from Amazon Prime wasn’t going to be supported on my player a few weeks back.

No surprise, given the age of the player, but I noticed Hulu will no longer be supported either. So the question is, are the manufacturers or streaming services getting away from being part of a smart device (Flatscreen/BD/UHD Player) and moving to Roku/Firesticks, etc or is it more inline with upgrading your equipment more frequently?

It’s all part of the reason why less and less people will own TVs. Not many will happily pay £1,000 for a tv that will become useless after 3 years or less.

[The_Donster]

[octagon]

[Steedeel]

Simple maths Donster. They only have to find a way to stop the streaming sticks and boom! Want to watch any or all streaming apps? Buy a new tv every three years or go with a iPad, cellphone. They can close the gap as they please. Make apps useless after two years even and force a cellphone like contract deal.

Android, Roku and Apple will control the smart tv interface. That’s all we need to know right there.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

It’s all part of the reason why less and less people will own TVs. Not many will happily pay £1,000 for a tv that will become useless after 3 years or less.

Apps no longer being supported on older disc players is nothing new and have nothing to do with the apps on a TV. Further, a simple and affordable dedicated streaming device would extend the streaming capability, anyway.

Most TVs allow you to add additional internal storage via a USB drive making your TV able to accommodate updates for far longer than they could otherwise. If necessary a TV manufacturer could also add more internal storage to future models very easily and at little extra cost.

None of this lessens people's interest in owning a TV because TVs are not affected, only disc players have been. TV sales are up, for the 1000th time; they are not in decline.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Apps no longer being supported on older disc players is nothing new and have nothing to do with the apps on a TV. Further, a simple and affordable dedicated streaming device would extend the streaming capability, anyway.

Most TVs allow you to add additional internal storage via a USB drive making your TV able to accommodate updates for far longer than they could otherwise. If necessary a TV manufacturer could also add more internal storage to future models very easily and at little extra cost.

None of this lessens people's interest in owning a TV because TVs are not affected, only disc players have been. TV sales are up, for the 1000th time; they are not in decline.

You miss the point. Forced upgrading would be a way to push people to upgrade their tv far earlier than they normally would. It’s not just Blu-ray players that are affected. Some people with TVs bought before 2014 now no longer have access to Amazon and Hulu through their tv. That five year gap could easily become 4 years, then three..............

[Vilya]

It's A Wonderful Life is getting released on 4K disc on October 29th making it the oldest film yet to be released on the new format.

This title was one that certain digital advocates bragged about being exclusive to digital, but not for much longer. I have every confidence that the 4K disc release will best its digital counterpart in every way.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

You miss the point. Forced upgrading would be a way to push people to upgrade their tv far earlier than they normally would. It’s not just Blu-ray players that are affected. Some people with TVs bought before 2014 now no longer have access to Amazon and Hulu through their tv. That five year gap could easily become 4 years, then three..............

I did not miss your point because you do not have one. I ignored your string of "ifs" because none of them have any basis in reality. No one is forcing anyone to upgrade anything.

A dedicated streaming device that costs less than $50 would allow that pre 2014 TV to stream not just Amazon and Hulu, but also offer far more streaming choices than their outdated TV ever could if said TV owner even cared about the loss of either app. Spending less than $50 would fix the problem if they even saw it as a problem.

If their TVs are pushing 6 years of age and older, they will likely soon be in the market for a newer better model, anyway.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I did not miss your point because you do not have one. I ignored your string of "ifs" because none of them have any basis in reality. No one is forcing anyone to upgrade anything.

A dedicated streaming device that costs less than $50 would allow that pre 2014 TV to stream not just Amazon and Hulu, but also offer far more streaming choices than their outdated TV ever could if said TV owner even cared about the loss of either app. Spending less than $50 would fix the problem if they even saw it as a problem.

If their TVs are pushing 6 years of age and older, they will likely soon be in the market for a newer better model, anyway.

My suggestion could easily happen. If Roku, Apple, Amazon or Google wanted to end streaming stick support, they could do so rapidly. This would be in their interest as their smart tv interface could be the only route to streaming tv apps.

[Steedeel]

On s different note, I see the delightful Mr Trump is once again blaming violence in media for the shootings in the USA. Looks like games, Movies and tv are going to get it in the neck.

[sapiendut]

Sorry, a string of “if” or “could happen” doesn’t make them facts. I could be free of Leukaemia, doesn’t mean I will. I could win the lottery doesn’t mean I will.