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

[Blu-Benny]

Do dc's have the hd-audio?? I don't have a computer hooked up to my HT so I've never tried.

I've also learned that I hate watching a movie on a small screen like my iPod, even if it's for a short time.

[BlakkMajik3000]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

I buy the movies I want on Blu Ray first. Once I own the Blu Ray, it's mine forever. Period. There is no question.

However, once I've bought it on Blu Ray, I add it to Vudu, too. If it doesn't come with an Ultraviolet copy, most of them are available disc to digital on Vudu. At $1 per transfer (when doing 10 or more at home, which I always do), it's like paying just a little more tax on the disc, so it's completely worth it.

I'd say a good third of the movies I buy now come with Ultraviolet copies. And overall, about 80-85% of the movies I buy are available on Vudu through Ultraviolet. So, I really don't have to make a decision.

The ones that aren't available digitally, like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc...I'll be buying the Viva Elite cases so I can throw them in my backpack to take with me. If I end up in the hospital with a broken leg, or something, I'll have my laptop and LG external Blu Ray burner, so I can play wherever I go.

Indiana Jones films are indeed available digitally, although sadly they are not UV. It's a weird situation. Disney owns the franchise, but Paramount is the distributor. So, I imagine that Disney can't add them to DMA because they don't have the distribution rights, but Paramount can't add them to UV because they don't have the rights to the actual film. In other words, it's stupid.

Star Wars is an entirely different dumpster fire between Fox and Disney. Sadly, it will be a long time, if ever, before we see a digital release of I-VI.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Evil

It's coming, mock all you lke.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by huskerbear

Hey, will that thing play movies? I want one of those!

Not at the moment. Three or four generations on, most certainly. (No whips required lol) it's coming.

[armyjon99]

Physical copies before digital for me.

The one thing really makes me back away from digital is you don't know if your collection will be there tomorrow. UV can get hacked or just your personal account can get hacked and then what. Phone calls back and fourth trying to restore your collection. No thanks.

[gueeds]

I used to be all disc based due to superior AV quality plus extras, but for me, having the space to store all those cases starts to be an issue and moving them is a hassle. I've made the switch to digital recently and love it.

Don't get trailers, yet. Have my full collection available at my fingertips when I travel. Plus, they now have most or all of the extras on newer releases. True, I don't have guaranteed access to my purchases well into the future, but we'll see what happens.

I'll probably start downloading my collection so it is available locally. I get discs on movies I really love, but everything else is going to be digital for me.

[Quake1028]

Physical = stuff I care about owning due to movie, or pq/aq concerns, or packaging, etc.

Digital = stuff I just want to see but don't necessarily need to own a physical copy of.

[Me-Hostage]

I have been strictly physical media only when I started buying Blu-rays. After a few years I've decided to make the switch to digital. I already have a lot in Vudu that I also have on disc, and always go to digital to watch it. I have never had an issue with quality, only when my internet was screwed up for a week. Instant viewing with no warnings, and some movies are released early is a big plus for me. Not having to dig through my shelf to find something when I can just click and watch.

I know lots won't switch because they say stuff can "vanish". I have not had that issue at all, and if it were to ever happen I would be on support's ass. I also see people saying digital will die out and everything will go under. Imagine if the large digital retailers just decided to stop and shut everything down, and take away everyone's movies. Imagine the lawsuits, and there would be many. I don't see digital going anywhere, and with even better quality coming to digital, it's my time.

I'm wanting to D2D the titles I can through Vudu. Does anyone know a decent external Blu-ray player? I know there a thread here before, but can't seem to find it now.

[Seth F.]

I like both. As long as the digital is included free, or a dollar or two.


Physical first, digital as a backup. Never know when a disc will go bad.

Plus with UV, I've been able to keep my family from using me as a rental store. Got everyone in my family linked to my UV library. So that's helpful.

[JackKnightStarman]

I have a VUDU account, I like it, but I am old school. I love having a physical copy. I had a large VHS collection. Loved the use of poster art on them. Started buying widescreen VHS when they became available, slowly in the '90s. Never got into Laserdisc, purely because prices were crazy for 1,2,3, and sometimes 4 disc sets.

Loved DVD early on. Extras made or ported over from LD, were just packed on discs early in the format. Back then that was a big selling point.

I love Blu-ray. HD is awesome. If it is available on Blu, I will own it. I currently take the DVD releases of movies that don't have their extras ported over to Blu, and make multi disc sets. King Kong 2005 is in a 6 disc case, Blu and two disc theatrical DVD and three disc extended DVD.

[Smackos]

"Physical copies or Digital". Definitely in the BOTH camp now a days. New releases I'll pick up digitally on iTunes. They tend to be slightly cheaper anyway but using iTunes vouchers you can lower the price quite a bit on top of that. If the title ends up being genuinely top notch and worthy of a full BD, then that price difference means I can always add it back onto a price tracker and grab it when it goes cheap on BD down the road. Catalog titles can be physical or digital, but because preowned BD prices are generally much lower I tend to end up with physical copies more often than not. They all end up on the same server anyway..

[harpolini]

Quick question for those who watch digital often. Are the transfers they use ever upgraded? Say a catalog title that looks terrible one year but over time, it gets upgraded or a new remastered version comes out.

[Me-Hostage]

Originally Posted by harpolini

Quick question for those who watch digital often. Are the transfers they use ever upgraded? Say a catalog title that looks terrible one year but over time, it gets upgraded or a new remastered version comes out.

For me no, as I haven't dealt with any buys that were horrible. A lot of what I how on Vudu I still haven't watched. However, I have seen posts on the Vudu forums where people would complain about a master having issues, and Vudu would contact the studio for a newer or better copy transfer to replace their current one.

[Greyman]

Originally Posted by harpolini

Quick question for those who watch digital often. Are the transfers they use ever upgraded? Say a catalog title that looks terrible one year but over time, it gets upgraded or a new remastered version comes out.

From what I have seen on the Vudu forums; occasionally, but it doesn't seem to be that often.

[Smackos]

The problem digitally, particularly with titles that went up early on in Vudu's history I've found are that there are way too many titles that have only stereo audio available to them. We aren't talking no-name titles here either, things like The Matrix or V for Vendetta being perfect examples. People have requested these be swapped out for 5.1 audio versions but even where Vudu have stated they will put the request in I haven't seen any changes even a few years later. I don't hold out a lot of hope of seeing many changes with content online, with the exception of new releases where encoding issues are obviously.

[KMan2100]

Physical disc all the way for me. I like having the physical copy of the movie in my collection. I still like my digital collection, but if I'm at home I'll still 99% of the time stick the disc in rather than watch the digital version if I have both. The only exception I make are for TV shows that aren't available on Blu-Ray. I'll buy the digital seasons of those on VUDU. But otherwise I want the disc.

[alchav21]

I love Digital, and my VUDU Collection is up to 250+ all HDX, but I still have Physical of my Classics. I started doing my own Digital Back-Ups 20 years ago, and even played around with putting them on my Home Server to Stream to my HDTV. So when Streaming Providers came around I was ready. Guys this is the Future, Digital Streaming will only get better and I can't tell the difference between HDX and Blu-ray. Get ready for First Run Movies as soon as they come out!

[JackKnightStarman]

Originally Posted by harpolini

Quick question for those who watch digital often. Are the transfers they use ever upgraded? Say a catalog title that looks terrible one year but over time, it gets upgraded or a new remastered version comes out.

Originally Posted by Me-Hostage

For me no, as I haven't dealt with any buys that were horrible. A lot of what I how on Vudu I still haven't watched. However, I have seen posts on the Vudu forums where people would complain about a master having issues, and Vudu would contact the studio for a newer or better copy transfer to replace their current one.

Originally Posted by Greyman

From what I have seen on the Vudu forums; occasionally, but it doesn't seem to be that often.

Check the Goodfellas anniversary thread from this year. I believe it was there that I saw that the new transfer was replacing VUDU's original from Warner, on all previously redeemed digi copies.

[Lsalas76]

Both for me! I have a huge blu-ray collection and also a huge Vudu digital collection. Since I have most of my blu-ray collection on Vudu, I hardly ever put in a disc now even tho its probably better quality than hdx. I also like to be able to have my entertainment be it music, movies, or videos accessible to me wherever I go. I used to like to have physical copies but it just takes up too much space.

[filmmusic]

I can't understand why in this era of HD and UHD later where we want the best, there are loads of people that still want digital copies, which are of inferior quality!!
I never cared for them, and I'll never will..