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

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

If they dissolve in less than a minute, sure. I have a wet vac handy.

Oh, it will take some destroying!

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by flyry

I've rarely seen more than 3 4k copies of a catalog movie on a shelf at BB so that's not saying much

Is that the max they keep or have they simply sold down to that level? Surely they would have as much or more than my small mountain town Walmart does.

[Show spoiler]

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Is that the max they keep or have they simply sold down to that level? Surely they would have as much or more than my small mountain town Walmart does.

[Show spoiler]

When you say "small mountain town Walmart" I hear this:



and I see this:

[The_Donster]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

I own a few myself but in my opinion, the audio is a little flat and lacks feeling.

I still prefer CD and Vinyl.

Preference is fine, but let’s not pretend the format used makes or breaks the enjoyment of the music itself

Originally Posted by Steedeel

You wouldn’t put much stock in anything that contradicts your digital bias.

Originally Posted by Vilya

[Show spoiler]Are you channeling your inner De Niro?

The Donster's been busy, so I'm taking up the GIF slack a little here. Anyone have a problem with that?

[Show spoiler]

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by octagon

Oh will it now. Will my seat tingle?

I was about 10 when "The Tingler" got to my neighborhood theater. I was already going to the movies by myself, but I was unsophisticated about the difference between the first run theaters on Broadway in NYC and the facilities in neighborhood theaters.

From either newspaper reports or Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, I knew that the Tingler was being released with seat "tinglers". So when I got to my neighborhood RKO theater, I checked under all the seats to try and find one with a vibrator. But in that theater, NONE were wired. I was very disappointed.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

I will disagree with you on iTunes downloads. I own quite a few. Many are 'Mastered For iTunes' tagged which come from 24-bit masters and often times sound better than the available CD, even at 256kbps AAC which actually does sound pretty close to a CD even on a top notch system. I generally only want one or two songs when I buy music so it's cheaper to get it from iTunes. If I want the whole album then I usually get the CD or FLAC download and stick it on my server.

Which supposedly come from 24-bit masters. But I have my doubts on a lot of material, especially older material. My bet is a lot of this material is a 16 bit CD master that was copied to 24 bit, but that would provide absolutely no increase in quality whatsoever. If it's newer material, much of it would already be 24 bit. However, especially on heavily level-compressed audio, which almost everything is today, a higher bit rate isn't going to accomplish much since there aren't subtle level distinctions. Even if the label did originally make 24-bit masters, let's not forget that a lot of original multitrack and masters were destroyed in the Universal and Atlantic fires of some years ago. It wouldn't surprise me if some of this material was re-mastered from a commercial CD.

When "The Right Stuff" was released on Blu, I think it was supposed to have a 96Khz audio track, but it was accidentally released with a 48Khz track. But they re-released it with the 96KHz track and if you requested it, they sent it to you. I was very excited to receive it until I listened and could hear absolutely no difference between the two versions (and I have a pretty decent system). Now bit rate is different than sampling rate, but the point is that higher sampling and bit rates don't necessarily lead to higher end quality. In the case of sampling rate, it would have only made a difference if there were frequencies on the track above 24Khz and that's highly unlikely in a movie soundtrack and beyond the range of human hearing anyway.

I don't use digital files much - I use them mainly on my phone for when I go bike riding or for long walks. I transfer everything using AAC so the quality is slightly better and with my Grado ear buds, I think the quality is amazingly good (and I'm an ex-recording engineer). I've also been pleasantly surprised lately at how good some radio streaming sounds. It wasn't that long ago that anything I recorded from a stream was basically unlistenable. The compression algorithms have really gotten good. Some public radio station streamed the entire 38 CD Rhino Woodstock festival about a week ago and I was really impressed with how good the stream sounded, especially considering that those weren't the best recordings.

[Steedeel]

Donster, of course the format affects the experience of listening to music. On the right setup ,with the right format, you can FEEL the music, you can hear discreet sections of a track, certain instruments enhance the track etc..

Sorry, but that’s just a daft thing to say. Of course it makes or breaks the enjoyment of music.

At this point, you are becoming a digital apologist who takes the opposite stance to anyone who appreciates quality. Just stop.

[The_Donster]

No, if anyone needs to stop in this discussion it is you. Because you don’t know how to have a conversation without causing a confrontation first. Hell, you didn’t even bother to read the post above yours. The only time anyone is going to hear a dip in quality is if they’re looking for it. I sit down and listen to music. The same way I sit down and watch a movie or show. I don’t pull out my stethoscope or magnifying glass listening or looking for imperfection. Which is why I don’t get caught up with anyone else’s preferences

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by The_Donster

No, if anyone needs to stop in this discussion it is you. Because you don’t know how to have a conversation without causing a confrontation first. Hell, you didn’t even bother to read the post above yours. The only time anyone is going to hear a dip in quality is if they’re looking for it. I sit down and listen to music. The same way I sit down and watch a movie or show. I don’t pull out my stethoscope or magnifying glass listening or looking for imperfection. Which is why I don’t get caught up with anyone else’s preferences

What can’t you grasp about this? If your ear is trained to appreciate differences in audio, subtle or not, it is not about nit picking or one not being able to Enjoy the music. The thing is, you can hear the difference! music resonates with us because it provokes emotion from us. It can take us back to certain times. The richer the quality, the stronger the connection. Do you even own separates?

It’s th3 same with Blu-ray. You and other misinformed posters think hardcore quality fans sit there and study every frame. The opposite is true. We can just get in with watching the film because there are no major picture problems like dancing blocks of colour (macroblocking) or poorly compressed camera pans.
I have visions of you nodding to your beat headphones.
As for confrontation, we were having a bit of fun and a joke and you come along with two quotes of mine and your usual gifs. Like I have said before, you are obsessed with me.

[The_Donster]

...about you or anyone else’s opinions that are bias

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Like I have said before, you are obsessed with me.

Well, he can't have you. You, and your clones, belong to ME.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

When "The Right Stuff" was released on Blu, I think it was supposed to have a 96Khz audio track, but it was accidentally released with a 48Khz track. But they re-released it with the 96KHz track and if you requested it, they sent it to you. I was very excited to receive it until I listened and could hear absolutely no difference between the two versions (and I have a pretty decent system). Now bit rate is different than sampling rate, but the point is that higher sampling and bit rates don't necessarily lead to higher end quality. In the case of sampling rate, it would have only made a difference if there were frequencies on the track above 24Khz and that's highly unlikely in a movie soundtrack and beyond the range of human hearing anyway.

I remember the disc exchange program for The Right Stuff on blu-ray and it was for the missing 96 Khz audio track that had been promised on the original release. I had the pre-paid return shipping label from Warner Bros. to return my disc with the 48 Khz audio, but I ultimately decided not to bother.

Between the toll my age and my railroad career has had upon my hearing acuity, I did not think I would be able to discern any difference between 48 Khz audio and 96 Khz audio. Exchanging the disc for a difference that I likely could not even perceive seemed academic at best and wasteful at worst, so I just threw the pre-paid shipping label away.

[The_Donster]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Well, he can't have you. You, and your clones, belong to ME.

The only thing I’m obsessed with is the amount of misinformation that assault my eyes whenever I read one of his posts

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by The_Donster

The only thing I’m obsessed with is the amount of misinformation that assault my eyes whenever I read one of his posts

How can it possibly be misinformation? If you can’t tell a difference, fine. To say I can’t is just a nonsense, even for you.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Avengers: Endgame’ Dominates Disc Sales

Blu-ray Disc formats accounted for 80% of first-week Endgame sales, with a whopping 25% of its total unit sales coming from 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc.

Is this a new record for UHD BD?

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by The_Donster

The only thing I’m obsessed with is the amount of misinformation that assault my eyes whenever I read one of his posts

You're visiting an internet forum; you need a strong immune system to play here.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by The_Donster

...about you or anyone else’s opinions that are bias

Sure you don’t care about my posts. Sure you don’t!

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Avengers: Endgame’ Dominates Disc Sales

Is this a new record for UHD BD?

It may well be. Great results for a 4K disc and one that costs $80 at that.

I'm importing the 3D edition; that 4K price is too steep even for me!

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Avengers: Endgame’ Dominates Disc Sales

Is this a new record for UHD BD?

Great stuff. Spiderman still to come also.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Between the toll my age and my railroad career has had upon my hearing acuity, I did not think I would be able to discern any difference between 48 Khz audio and 96 Khz audio.

Has anyone been able to prove they could with ABX testing? Even 44.1 KHz (CD) can provide a flat frequency response to 19 to 20 KHz. Several years ago the AES* published a report on peoples ability to hear high frequencies. The majority could not hear anything above 15 KHz, those that could were quite young or young, trained folks working in the field of audio.

At one time I could hear 17 to 18 KHz pretty well, the 15.734 KHz whine from some CRT TV's used to drive me crazy. In the 80's I took a hearing test at a Brüel & Kjaer test booth and remember the B&K engineer shaking his head in disbelief at my hearing ability. Unfortunately, birthday's can take their toll on ones hearing.

I can generate all kinds of audio test tones if anyone has a special request.

* I was a full member for many years.