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Are blu-ray players still worth buying?

And perhaps the cost of Blu-ray discs (1080p HD and 4K UHD) will go down.
So another good reason to buy BR players like in post #61 just above for few dollars.
Good score!
 
Screw Netflix anyway, for the most part all they offer is a bunch of garbage for my $17 a month.
 
I have been moving to Plex with all my owned media. However, I keep everything in MKV which is the same quality as disc. I also understand that you can also maintain Atmos/DTSX of you want now as well.

That said, i dont have a Blu-ray drive in my pc yet and wont get one until im done with all the dvds
 
madbrayniak said:
That said, i dont have a Blu-ray drive in my pc yet and wont get one until im done with all the dvds
Click to expand...
??? Blu Ray drives read/write DVD's too. You can get a great internal drive for way under $100
 
It depends I have an OPPO UDP 205 that delivers by far the best video I have ever seen on a properly produced UHD Blu Ray. The Planet Earth series is simply jaw dropping stunningly good. At $2,000plus its a lot of money and perhaps will be beat by 8k in a few years but for right now that one is amazing. Just not sure how much material is out there or if I want to buy UHD Blu Ray movies to watch one time.
 
madbrayniak said:
I have been moving to Plex with all my owned media.
Click to expand...

Plex is made for video but it's mediocre for music. The issues I've run into are that it is a big hassle to fix improperly tagged files, and it is flat out doesn't work with CUE files. Both of these have been known issues for years.
 
Blu ray players are worth it if you get them for cheap or find them heavily discounted. My father managed to get me a Sony ubp-x800 for $85 at a best buy xmas sale. I have the DSEE HX set on but I feel like its just a fancy EQ setting.
 
Prana Ferox said:
Plex is made for video but it's mediocre for music. The issues I've run into are that it is a big hassle to fix improperly tagged files, and it is flat out doesn't work with CUE files. Both of these have been known issues for years.
Click to expand...
Dont use it for music.

I actually dont own any digital music. I just stream it or listen to my turntable
 
madbrayniak said:
I bought the DVD drive about 10 years ago.

Ill upgrade when I get to the blurays.
Click to expand...

Its a great time to buy a Blu-ray drive, you can find them under $30 used these days online.
 
ThatM1key said:
Its a great time to buy a Blu-ray drive, you can find them under $30 used these days online.
Click to expand...


Im probably going to do an ultraslim one with an Icydock hotswap for some SSDs.

Im converting my desktop into a server with Gaming VMs and storage for media/games.

Will probably run files with ZFS and if set uo properly i wont have an issue saturating a 10G connection.

All my gaming is done via streaming these days via Parsec, Moonlight/Gamestream, or Steam in Home
 
Sal1950 said:
Screw Netflix anyway, for the most part all they offer is a bunch of garbage for my $17 a month.
Click to expand...

As long as you keep paying, they'll eat the insults to your dying breath if need be.
 
madbrayniak said:
Im probably going to do an ultraslim one with an Icydock hotswap for some SSDs.

Im converting my desktop into a server with Gaming VMs and storage for media/games.

Will probably run files with ZFS and if set uo properly i wont have an issue saturating a 10G connection.

All my gaming is done via streaming these days via Parsec, Moonlight/Gamestream, or Steam in Home
Click to expand...

I hope that goes well. I always had troubles with VMs, the drivers never seem to work for me.

Tks said:
As long as you keep paying, they'll eat the insults to your dying breath if need be.
Click to expand...

Thats Why I don't like Netflix,They make stupid decisions these days.
 
Neddy said:
So, the one area that's causing me to keep mine is multichannel surround decoding; if your smart TV isn't that smart, a BR player that does do it (and has analog multichannel outputs, if needed) is handy to have (also for BR audio discs).
Click to expand...

I just setup an ATMOS system in my media room and I have been buying DTS and ATMOS bluray media. I do have sampler media files also to play for demonstrations. Some streaming services only offer Digital Plus encoding, so the sound is not as intense as with physical media. From https://developer.dolby.com: Dolby Atmos audio in Dolby Digital Plus is typically encoded at bitrates between 384 and 768 kbps. Dolby TrueHD bitrates average around 6,000 kbps for Dolby Atmos at 48 kHz with peak data rates up to a maximum of 18,000 kbps for high sampling rate multichannel content.

I have plenty of ripped media and use Plex which is convenient but doesn't do ATMOS, I also use a 2012 Popcorn Hour Media Player for my ripped media and ISO files which does ATMOS but not 4K. Plex doesn't play ISO at all and the OPPO doesn't play ISO over the network. So what I guess I am getting at is that no one media player/app does everything and does it well.

All my physical media has digital certificates for VUDU or MoviesAynwhere. On VUDU these are broadcast in ATMOS and 4K, although I don't think the picture comes close to physical media in appearance, although close.. So, there are many different ways to watch a movie, I'll keep buying physical media where 4K/ATMOS/DTS is concerned, maybe at one point I will buy direct from VUDU or MoviesAynwhere for my media, but not yet.
 
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dmh2000 said:
I just setup an ATMOS system in my media room and I have been buying DTS and ATMOS bluray media.
Click to expand...
Welcome to ASR @dmh2000 ! I see from your sig we have very similar HT/MCH systems.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/sals-system.614/
For movies I've found that well done Atmos soundtracks to be a very worthwhile upgrade to a multich system.. I don't watch any movies "on the go", only while sitting in front of my 75X940D, so BluRays and 4k discs rule the day here and will for the foreseeable future. I luckily have a number of Redbox rental boxes within a few blocks from which I can rent BluRays for $2.00 a day or less. Redbox has a slowly expanding base of rental locations that are including 4k disc rentals, nothing here yet but I'm hoping to see one soon. I don't notice a big difference in the video but sadly many movies are only including the Atmos soundtrack on the 4k discs.
I hope you also enjoy the wide world of multich music on your rig. Listening to well mixed 5.1 music albums provides an amazing immersive improvement over plain ole 2 channel stereo.
cent' anni,
Sal
 
I’ve been getting DSD digital music from HDtracks and other sites. I also owned a SACD disks from years ago that I transferred to 5.1 & 2.0 DSD files. I like my set up very much, I’m not an audiophile by any stretch, but I have experienced on this new system that all media has its own sound and appreciate each whether it is hi-def digital or analog vinyl.
 
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