Are blu-ray players still worth buying?

[Chrispy]

If the Apple digital download is like the digital copy download you often get with a bluray, it's not the same as having a bluray. Just look at the file size differences.....

 

[North_Sky]

If they still sell them it's worth buying for them.

 

[JeffS7444]

Do you lose on quality if you play a ripped blu-ray film on USB through Smart TV?

I think that would depend on what file formats your smart TV supports, and whether features like surround sound are supported. I'm guessing that the feature was really intended to allow playback of videos shot on mobile devices where subtitles, alternative soundtracks and surround audio are not considerations.

 

[JeffS7444]

Anyone know if 4K disk players will downsample to 1080P? Prices of movies on 4K disk are pretty competitive now, and my Marantz receiver is new, but my TV set isn't, and I'm in no hurry to replace it.

 

[North_Sky]

And some better than others. Panasonic 4K BR players are best @ that.

 

[Deleted member 6802]

I don't buy anything from the major distributors for anime in north america just based on principle. Funimation, Aniplex, Right Stuf, Sunrise media. A typical 15 episode OVA will cost, in Japan, the same as any other show here in North America, maybe $30-40. In North America, you can expect the same show to retail for over $200.

Because there is this, I don't know, ingrained dislike of letting foreigners access to their media and artistic library, the Japanese see fit to charge exorbitant licensing fees to the aforementioned companies, and the prices suffer as a result. I honestly think it's just out of spite, its a never ending toxic snowball effect. The fans suffer the most, and I have opted to vote with my wallet and I refuse to support this distasteful practice.

It's doubly bad taste, because Funimation routinely fumbles their digital transfer process. Not only do the studios that own the rights for the anime NOT let the distributors access to the original digital transfers, they make them do their own transfers themselves. All in all, it's honestly just depressing. I had to pay $90 plus tax for each disc disc of Sunrise Media's release of the Gundam franchise. I dropped over $750 after tax for just 3 series, about 80 episodes total, so technically under $10 an episode, but compared to the JP cost, it was about 6 or 7x the price. Bad business, just bad business practices. I don't see how anyone can be ok with this. I guess the fans for the show are more passionite than me. I think the saddest part is I would totally be down to buying a lot more anime if it were priced appropriately.

Sorry for the bit of a rant, nothing brings my blood to a boil more then shady, stupid, and bad licensing deals where I can't get my hands on something easily. I could and should also talk about eone entertainment, but that's a topic for another day.

I am an anime viewer as well so i understand you totally on this point. Although i live in Europe so lucky for me UK delivers plenty of normal prices (30-40 pund) anime blu-rays. Now UK is leaving the EU so rip my cheap source of anime blu-rays with english subs.

With the prices you mentioned it could pay off for you to order from UK with the import and tax costs? If yes then i can recommend https://www.anime-on-line.com. Just dont order from Amazon.co.uk as they dont package the blu-rays secure enough. I once ordered Fullmetal Alchemist brotherhood in blu-ray and the blu-ray case crumbled into small pieces right after i opened it. Year later i order Psycho-Pass same story. They refund me and send me a new copy which came in better shape but still with few damages.

 

[Deleted member 6802]

Get 'em while you can? Just how much longer will blurays even be available is another way of looking at it. Oppo left the building for a reason. Some new movies aren't even getting a bluray version released, just dvd. I prefer having a disc to play, altho have done the mkv thing but its somewhat a pain and doesn't always play nice but I really haven't invested in that as I still need the disc to rip from (and of course wouldn't consider ripping from a rental ).

Hehehehe in Denmark renting cost half the price of the actual disk in my local renting store.... but i like the idea Luckliy for me "A BUDY OF MY" (Joe Rogan reference) knows internet well enough to get a lot of content in high quality through there.

 

[Deleted member 6802]

If the Apple digital download is like the digital copy download you often get with a bluray, it's not the same as having a bluray. Just look at the file size differences.....

Could the file size difference be caused by them having only english audio track and subtitles?

 

[Chrispy]

Hehehehe in Denmark renting cost half the price of the actual disk in my local renting store.... but i like the idea Luckliy for me "A BUDY OF MY" (Joe Rogan reference) knows internet well enough to get a lot of content in high quality through there.

I have a Netflix subscription for 3 discs out at a time for $20/month. Usually works out to around a dozen films a month....

Could the file size difference be caused by them having only english audio track and subtitles?

When I looked at the "digital copy" file size it wasn't near the size of even the main bluray movie's file afaict. Been a while but I think it was 4-7 gigs for a digital file and think that basic movie in a bluray is more like 5 times that....but probably limiting the languages/soundtrack and some compression etc....

 

[Deleted member 6802]

I my self own a blu-ray player (LG UBK80) connected to a Philips PUS 8303 and a Yamaha RX-V781 which is connected to the TV. In my setup i am all about making everything as simple as possible so i was wondering if i could get rid of my blu-ray player and play everything from my TV via USB port. No servers, streaming just plug and play regardless of the internet connection.

In the past days i experimented a bit with a Anime movie called Redline and what caught my attention was the lag in animations in few scenes when playing the movie from my TV USB 3.0. There is a scene where a character walks and part of his face is in front of the character. But when i play the same movie through the USB on my blu-ray player this dosnt happened. On my tv i used the in build media player and the MX player. Any ideas what could be the cause? My USB is a 128 GB Patriot supersonic rage 2

The pictures in the post are to show my setup and my collection of blu-rays to give a picture of how little it is. And yeah the reason there is no subwoofer on the pic is because i cant afford one yet, life happened and the purchase need to be put on hold for now

 

[Deleted member 6802]

I have a Netflix subscription for 3 discs out at a time for $20/month. Usually works out to around a dozen films a month....



When I looked at the "digital copy" file size it wasn't near the size of even the main bluray movie's file afaict. Been a while but I think it was 4-7 gigs for a digital file and think that basic movie in a bluray is more like 5 times that....but probably limiting the languages/soundtrack and some compression etc....

Ouch that compression is just sad, are there other website where you can purchase a digital blu-ray copy that is not compressed. Im just curious now ^_^

 

[Chrispy]

Ouch that compression is just sad, are there other website where you can purchase a digital blu-ray copy that is not compressed. Im just curious now ^_^

Where can you buy a digital bluray copy? Haven't seen that. Torrenting maybe....

 

[Frank Dernie]

I’d have bought an Oppo 205 but they command silly prices on the second hand market due to the “hype” factor built up around them.

I had Oppo 95 and 105 players neither of which played all discs glitch free, and some stopped part way though which is very frustrating.
I got a Sony 4k player chucked in with a Sony projector which is more reliable playing discs than either Oppo were, but doesn't contain the multiple DACs for surround analogue outputs.
I may have neen unlucky but Oppo was the least reliable disc player I ever owned.

 

[Chrispy]

I had Oppo 95 and 105 players neither of which played all discs glitch free, and some stopped part way though which is very frustrating.
I got a Sony 4k player chucked in with a Sony projector which is more reliable playing discs than either Oppo were, but doesn't contain the multiple DACs for surround analogue outputs.
I may have neen unlucky but Oppo was the least reliable disc player I ever owned.

Wow that's the worst Oppo story I've heard. I bought the 203 when they announced shutting down, been very reliable on every disc I've put in on it, no glitches. My Sony BR players (two S5100s and an S6700 generally play discs as well, though). My Samsung br player a few years back was the worst I had....it was horrible in every respect.

 

[Chrispy]

I my self own a blu-ray player (LG UBK80) connected to a Philips PUS 8303 and a Yamaha RX-V781 which is connected to the TV. In my setup i am all about making everything as simple as possible so i was wondering if i could get rid of my blu-ray player and play everything from my TV via USB port. No servers, streaming just plug and play regardless of the internet connection.

In the past days i experimented a bit with a Anime movie called Redline and what caught my attention was the lag in animations in few scenes when playing the movie from my TV USB 3.0. There is a scene where a character walks and part of his face is in front of the character. But when i play the same movie through the USB on my blu-ray player this dosnt happened. On my tv i used the in build media player and the MX player. Any ideas what could be the cause? My USB is a 128 GB Patriot supersonic rage 2

The pictures in the post are to show my setup and my collection of blu-rays to give a picture of how little it is. And yeah the reason there is no subwoofer on the pic is because i cant afford one yet, life happened and the purchase need to be put on hold for now

No idea, just a difference in abilities to read/process the usb drive I'd assume....

 

[JeffS7444]

Where can you buy a digital bluray copy? Haven't seen that. Torrenting maybe....

Some "deluxe" disk sets include a coupon for an officially-sanctioned downloadable version of the movie which may not be 1080P or offer anything but a 2-channel soundtrack, it's simply intended as a bonus that can be viewed on mobile devices and PCs, and you can bet that it incorporates DRM and a means of identifying you.

 

[Chrispy]

Some "deluxe" disk sets include a coupon for an officially-sanctioned downloadable version of the movie which may not be 1080P or offer anything but a 2-channel soundtrack, it's simply intended as a bonus that can be viewed on mobile devices and PCs, and you can bet that it incorporates DRM and a means of identifying you.

That's the type of digital copy I was referring to earlier in the thread, just not the same as the bluray. I just wonder what Reksos is referring to as a "bluray" download....

 

[Deleted member 6802]

I was just asking if there was a website where you could buy a blu-ray digital copy of a movie like you can buy a flac song

 

[LightninBoy]

I mean blu-rays players are what ... $80-100? So yeah - still worth buying. Personally I still prefer to own physical media so I'm not as dependent on my internet connection and the whims of giant global corporations.

 

[HammerSandwich]

It's legal where I live. It should also be legal in USA. I don't know why else you would be ripping the disc if you didn't own it.

AFAIK, IANAL, etc. USA's DMCA made circumvention of copy-protection a federal felony; regardless of ownership, reason (e.g., fair-use backup), etc. IOW, the only legal method of unlocking encryption is for normal playback. Now, if you open a BD normally but it remains unlocked after you stop your player software...