Blu-ray is dying…

[Dialectic]

Is BD/DVD digital decay a serious concern?

I've had digital decay occur with a handful of redbook CDs from the '80s out of a collection well over 10,000....

 

[wwenze]

I've had pressed CDs metal layers rot

I've had burned CDs measure totally fine after decades

Build quality is important

 

[EJ3]

Well if copying a digital disc of any sort it's generally called a rip IME. MKV is a container that is often used in copying bluray, which is one of the better copy protected formats....not sure what you meant now.

So what is a container? (Please remember that I lived on small Islands in the Western Pacific & Indian Ocean from 2001-2018, so I missed learning all of this computer stuff, as only the very wealthy had cell phones and the more wealthy also had computers).

 

[EJ3]

8k has never been a necessity, more like a buzzword to see who comes first. at normal viewing distance you will be hard pressed to tell bluray and 4k bluray apart (easier if you pause), less alone 4k vs 8k.
what we need is higher bandwidth 4k. streaming services are still too aggressive on encoding ...

I would say that for great 3D, 8K is necessary.

 

[Petrushka]

So what is a container? (Please remember that I lived on small Islands in the Western Pacific & Indian Ocean from 2001-2018, so I missed learning all of this computer stuff, as only the very wealthy had cell phones and the more wealthy also had computers).

A digital container is a bit like the preface to a book that tells you what it’s about. In this case it tells the media player about how the file is coded.

I think.

 

[EJ3]

that's exactly why i got a burner
not really for movies (eventho it's flashable to uhd) but for hardcopies, especially music, since i had an almost full 5TB mechanical external drive die on me which had a copy of all my music collection (from whole discographies to dsd rips and even some 128k mp3' of really old rarities i just can't get anymore, anywhere)
sure, the equivalent would be 500 100GB discs which aren't cheap but until my house burns down they should be safe in jewel cases (which i still have a few hudred of) and won't die of mechanical (hdd) or electronic (ssd/nvme) failure

All 4 of my large terabyte movie hard drives (with very little use) died. Maybe from riding around on ships with me for many years (salt air?). I did not take but one at a time with me on planes (& it was painfully obvious that 2 of them were broken by customs between Guam & Saipan [1 each on separate occasions]).

 

[Chrispy]

So what is a container? (Please remember that I lived on small Islands in the Western Pacific & Indian Ocean from 2001-2018, so I missed learning all of this computer stuff, as only the very wealthy had cell phones and the more wealthy also had computers).

A container like MKV.

 

[EJ3]

A container like MKV.

Thanks, I found it:

MakeMKV​

About MKV file format​

MKV stands for "Matroska Video". Matroska is a container file format, capable of holding unlimited number of video, audio and subtitile tracks, along with any metadata. Practically this means that it is possible to put entire movie with multiple sound and subtitle tracks, chapters information and movie thumbnail into single file. Being open and patent-free Matroska gained broad support recently and quickly becomes de-facto standard for storing movies. More information can be found at Wikipedia article.

Why MKV​

Matroska file format (and Matroska video in particular) has a number of advantages.

• MKV is open and free. No one holds patents or licenses and anyone can implement it freely. As a result nearly every software player and many hardware devices support it. The best software players out there ( VLC, MPlayer ) have full MKV support and are absolutely free.
• MKV files do not have evil features attached.
  • You can play them on any capable hardware. No need for HDCP-certified video card or any "trusted" environment.
  • You can copy them to your laptop and watch anytime, even if your laptop lacks DVD or Blu-ray drive, or any drive whatsoever.
  • One file is one title. If you don't want to watch dozen trailers before the movie, you don't have to. And fast forward button always works, too.
  • There are no restrictions where to play the file. There are no region-based restrictions. You have control over the content you've paid for.
• MKV files are easy to change. Want to remove unneeded audio track from the file? Thought about converting MPEG-2 video into H264 to make the file 5 times smaller? All of it can be easily done with free software.
• MKV files are compact. For exactly the same content MKV files are about 10% smaller than DVD files and roughly 40% smaller than Blu-ray files.

While MKV is a good storage format not always it can be played directly. Playing MKV files on a computer is not an issue - there are many players and codec packs that enable MKV playback on any platform, be it Windows, Mac or Linux. However many hardware players do not play MKV directly - for that MKV files need to be transcoded into format that particular hardware player understands. Since all meta information is preserved in MKV and compressed media data (video, audio, subtitles) is not changed in any way it is always possible to transcode MKV files into original format. For example, MKV files produced from a Blu-ray disc may be transcoded back to a Bly-ray image or set of M2TS files without any losses by freeware transcoding tools[1].

Playing MKV files​

Freeware players that support MKV natively:

• Videolan VLC is a free and very good player for Windows, Mac and Linux that supports MKV directly.
• MPlayer is another free player with MKV support.
• CCCP is a free codec pack for Windows that will enable MKV playback in Windows Media Player and all other DirectShow-based players.

Transcoding tools:

• tsMuxeR is a free tool that can transcode MKV file produced from DVD or Blu-ray back into Blu-ray disc or M2TS file[1].

note​

1. Please note that commercial blu-ray discs are proteced by technologial measures preventing unauthorized duplication (including, but not limited to, "Cinavia" technology). MakeMKV doesn't remove such measures, so MKV file produced from a commercial blu-ray disc will not play on a blu-ray player, even when converted back to M2TS format.

Download MakeMKV for Windows​

​

Copyright © 2008-2025 GuinpinSoft inc

What about the part under 'note' or does that NOT apply to when the "movie" has been transferred to a drive?

 

[beefkabob]

My favorite media player for Windows and all types of files is the K-Lite Codec Pack. The Normal version is great. https://www.codecguide.com/

I've used VLC, MPlayer, CCCP, and others. I keep going back to K-Lite.

 

[JSmith]

My favorite media player for Windows and all types of files is the K-Lite Codec Pack.

That's a codec pack only... not a media player. However some pack downloads come with the Media Player Classic - Home Cinema bundled.


JSmith

 

[beefkabob]

That's a codec pack only... not a media player. However some pack downloads come with the Media Player Classic - Home Cinema bundled.


JSmith

The codecs and player work together.

 

[wwenze]

MPC-HC alone is enough for my needs, no need k-lite. K-lite (or ffmpeg whatever) codecs get called via Windows Directshow or their current equivalent which is a method long depreciated by players with internal codecs.

This method, however, is still relevant if you want to use an old player like WMP-classic to play new content. A questionable decision but sure.

 

[wwenze]

What about the part under 'note' or does that NOT apply to when the "movie" has been transferred to a drive?

CD/DVD/BD disc reproduction is another topic worthy of its own topic.

But any disc or file that is playable on a computer, it will be playable on a computer.

 

[JSmith]

The codecs and player work together.

Nah mate, it's a codec pack... will work with media players like VLC etc., the codecs work system wide meaning they can be used by all compatible media players on your Windows computer, not just one specific player.

The standard codec pack version does not include a player, the pack bundled with a player includes MPC-HC.


JSmith

 

[beefkabob]

Nah mate, it's a codec pack... will work with media players like VLC etc., the codecs work system wide meaning they can be used by all compatible media players on your Windows computer, not just one specific player.

The standard codec pack version does not include a player, the pack bundled with a player includes MPC-HC.


JSmith

Standard​

Small but extremely powerful package for audio and video playback This contains everything you need to play all common audio and video file formats. Supports playback of for example: AVI, MKV, MP4, FLV, MPEG, MOV, TS, M2TS, WMV, RM, RMVB, OGM, WebM MP3, FLAC, M4A, AAC, OGG, 3GP, AMR, APE, MKA, Opus, Wavpack, Musepack DVD and Blu-ray (after decryption) and many more audio and video formats! Provides lots of useful functionality, such as: HDR video playback Subtitle display Hardware accelerated video decoding Audio bitstreaming Video thumbnails in Explorer File association options Broken codec detection and much more! This package includes Media Player Classic Home Cinema (MPC-HC). This is a very advanced player for high quality playback. It provides many options and useful features. We recommend that you use this player. Installation of the player is of course optional, just like every other component in the installer can be disabled if desired. So you can also use the K-Lite Codec Pack with any other player that is compatible with DirectShow codecs.

 

[JSmith]

Standard​

Small but extremely powerful package for audio and video playback This contains everything you need to play all common audio and video file formats. Supports playback of for example: AVI, MKV, MP4, FLV, MPEG, MOV, TS, M2TS, WMV, RM, RMVB, OGM, WebM MP3, FLAC, M4A, AAC, OGG, 3GP, AMR, APE, MKA, Opus, Wavpack, Musepack DVD and Blu-ray (after decryption) and many more audio and video formats! Provides lots of useful functionality, such as: HDR video playback Subtitle display Hardware accelerated video decoding Audio bitstreaming Video thumbnails in Explorer File association options Broken codec detection and much more! This package includes Media Player Classic Home Cinema (MPC-HC). This is a very advanced player for high quality playback. It provides many options and useful features. We recommend that you use this player. Installation of the player is of course optional, just like every other component in the installer can be disabled if desired. So you can also use the K-Lite Codec Pack with any other player that is compatible with DirectShow codecs.

Download K-Lite Codec Pack

Download links for the K-Lite Codec Pack. A free software bundle for high quality audio and video playback.

codecguide.com

The Basic version does not include a player.

Download K-Lite Codec Pack Full

K-Lite Codec Pack is a free software bundle for playing all your audio and video files. It is very flexible, easy to use, and provides high quality playback.

codecguide.com

Download K-Lite Codec Pack Standard

K-Lite Codec Pack is a free software bundle for playing all your audio and video files. It supports all common file formats, such as AVI, MP4, MKV, and FLV.

codecguide.com

The player is a separate thing to the codecs. A codec decodes for a player... I use VLC, yet without the required codecs it won't play certain video files, with it will as the correct codec is then available in Windows.


JSmith

 

[Sal1950]

All 4 of my large terabyte movie hard drives (with very little use) died. Maybe from riding around on ships with me for many years (salt air?). I did not take but one at a time with me on planes (& it was painfully obvious that 2 of them were broken by customs between Guam & Saipan [1 each on separate occasions]).

Salt air could definitely been a contributing factor. Also the bouncing and vibration/

 

[BigVU's]

So what has the best video delivery format? A bit confused. I thought UHD or 4K Blu ray offered the best. When I ask AI it says it does.

"MPEG-4 (like H.264/AVC) is a versatile, efficient codec (compression technology) excellent for streaming (like MP4 files), but standard Blu-ray (and especially 4K UHD Blu-ray) is a physical format that uses even more advanced codecs (MPEG-4 AVC, HEVC/H.265) with massively higher bitrates, delivering superior, near-lossless video and lossless audio that beats typical streaming/MP4 quality for ultimate home viewing. So, MPEG-4 is great for portability and streaming, but Blu-ray offers peak quality due to higher data capacity and better audio/visual specs"

Also it seems apparent to me that convenience is the biggest change catalyst. The simple fact I don't have to get up and put a disc in is remarkable. I just say "Alexa play Aliens" and voila! How cool is that brothers and sisters! So you give up a little on videophile/audiophile type detail. Most folks don't care too much. So stream away and compress the crap out of it or something like that.

I am getting into UHD 4K Blu Rays. Just like I rediscovered Vinyl. There is just a personal connection to the medium. Don't get me wrong there is a place for streaming as well. It is just not the same intimate experience for me.

Long live the circle discs! lol

 

[Rick63]

Physical media remains my sole source for music and movies, and will never die here! 4K UHD discs rule!

And if/when the NFL goes to streaming games only, that'll be the day I stop watching...

 

[voodooless]

When I ask AI it says it does.

"MPEG-4 (like H.264/AVC) is a versatile, efficient codec (compression technology) excellent for streaming (like MP4 files), but standard Blu-ray (and especially 4K UHD Blu-ray) is a physical format that uses even more advanced codecs (MPEG-4 AVC, HEVC/H.265) with massively higher bitrates, delivering superior, near-lossless video and lossless audio that beats typical streaming/MP4 quality for ultimate home viewing. So, MPEG-4 is great for portability and streaming, but Blu-ray offers peak quality due to higher data capacity and better audio/visual specs"

Yes, BluRay simply has a much higher bitrate than the streaming services, where traditionally Apple gives the highest bitrate at 40Mbps using H265.

Netflix increasingly moves to AV1, which offers better compression than even H265. Still the gap to BluRay will remain for a while.

I for one, find the high quality streaming quite good most of the time. I don’t really miss the added quality BluRay is supposed to give.