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Blu-ray is dying…

that the Blu-Ray would refuse to play because of the "protections" built into the format made it a lame duck from the outset.
I have never had a BluRay fail to play, unlike DVDs which need a region free player to play them all.
 
I have never had a BluRay fail to play, unlike DVDs which need a region free player to play them all.
There are 3 BD regions... A, B & C. Players are generally locked at the hardware level... unless you physically mod the player or use 3rd party firmware (not all and can be wiped when legit firmware updates are applied).

If a BD disc is encoded as region A, it will not play on a region B player.

That said many BD's don't have region coding, but many also do. The back cover will often indicate A, B or C.

UHD BD's are regionless... atm anyway.

Being in the UK though, I guess you would never have had to buy a title from OS and have always had region B discs.

Most DVD players can be set in menu options to region 0, which is all regions for DVD's.


JSmith
 
I'm guessing the downfall of the format is the same as the downfall of CDs - people were happy to stream instead, not deal with the space taken up by the physical format.
Not sure about the "downfall of CDs"... I have four different CD players that I listen to all of the time. Also, I do not stream. There are a ton of CDs available for cheap out there so it is also quite economical and a lot of us still enjoy owning the physical medium.

It seems that we always think only of the latest trend when we talk about things and we forget that there are some things out there that last for decades. CDs are on of those things because it was and still is a good format...

If I ever start worrying about having too many discs laying around then I simply go down to the used record store and offload some for a few bucks. Then when I get home I hop on Ebay and buy a new one that I have wanted because I heard something from it on internet radio.
 
And dammit, I am one of those who actually misses 3-D! 3-D movies were a total in my Home Theatre. Gravity was like being there.
So am I.
I actually don't watch many films at all and subscription streaming is expensive with several companies if I only watch a film 4 or 5 times per year from each.

Any film I wanted to buy I always bought 3D if available.

We have a box of 3D nature films with David Attenborough that I enjoy with my grandchildren and I always get the BBC nature collections, like Blue Planet, in the highest spec available.

I have a Sony projector, BluRay player and Oppo DVD player and if streaming mainly just watch BBC iPlayer or broadcast TV and old stuff on what used to be Britbox (RIP), now ITV X here.

There has never been anything on Netflix or Disney which made me consider a subscription.
 
What about various cheap streaming devices. Roku, Amazon sticks, Apple TV, Nvidia Shield etc. Seems if they offer the same digital signal the results should be the same. I know some have better/bigger memory for buffering, but is there any difference in the resulting image?
 
What about various cheap streaming devices. Roku, Amazon sticks, Apple TV, Nvidia Shield etc. Seems if they offer the same digital signal the results should be the same. I know some have better/bigger memory for buffering, but is there any difference in the resulting image?
Why would there be a difference? These devices can handle high-bitrate streams and the needed codecs just fine. Even my TV handles a 50GB file streamed to it’s internal player just fine.
 
Why would there be a difference? These devices can handle high-bitrate streams and the needed codecs just fine. Even my TV handles a 50GB file streamed to it’s internal player just fine.
I couldn't think of anything I was just wondering if there were things involved that had not occurred to me.
 
There has never been anything on Netflix or Disney which made me consider a subscription.
Andor is superb. Get the physical media if you can.

Why would there be a difference? These devices can handle high-bitrate streams and the needed codecs just fine. Even my TV handles a 50GB file streamed to it’s internal player just fine.
The hardware is fine, but the companies streaming like to cut corners to save money/maximize profits.


I loved Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 2 and bought the UHD disc for collectibility. The video and audio are stunning. The audio was a big surprise. The DTS HD mix compared to the streaming mix has a big difference in terms of bass and perceived channel separation.

Hopefully UHD discs exist in the same way that you have collectible toys or figurines.

At some point you don’t need mass market success if there is a core audience that can sustain the production.

Things like Bravia Core and Kaleidscape will eventually replace UHD discs, but they are still predominantly purchase libraries rather than streaming services (Bravia Core has streaming but not a lot of content).
 
The hardware is fine, but the companies streaming like to cut corners to save money/maximize profits.
Sure, but the question was about the hardware, wasn't it? If you rip the BD and stream it to these devices, it will look exactly the same as on a native player.

It's not surprising Apple TV is deemed to have the best video quality. It offers the highest bitrate by quite a margin, but it is limited a bit by H.265, where Netflix has already switched to AV1 (on platforms that support it), giving it more quality for the same bitrate.
 
Andor is superb. Get the physical media if you can.
My son got me the Mandalorian last Christmas, I have watched a bit of it but not all - I forgot I had it...

My preference is for non-fiction about the natural world and comedy. I can watch them over and over, Blackadder and Blandings are favourites :)
 
"Video killed radio star" Glad I got my pre-Hays Code Max Fliescher cartoons with topless Betty Boop on DVD. Like having the media. Have not looked for it on a stream and I'll bet its hard to come by but I could be wrong.
Edit: some pre Hays code stuff on DVD including Bamboo Isle. Need Vol 1 2 & 3 to get it all. 1 & 3 have the best stuff

The Essential Collection, Volume 1​

Isn't most of this stuff available on good old YouTube now? Hardly needs high resolution, after all...
 
Bummer. I am a longtime Home Theatre enthusiast. I still even have my HD DVD player and HD DVD collection! (along with a Blu-ray player and Blu-ray collection).

Fortunately, I still have an oppo 1080p player, as well as their last 4K UHD player (unopened!… wow are those things expensive secondhand now).

For various reasons, I haven’t managed to set up the UHD player yet, but I think I’m probably headed towards a kaleidescape system. I’m not into collecting physical movies these days but would also like 4K UHD in high-quality.
"as well as their last 4K UHD player (unopened!… wow are those things expensive secondhand now). "

Wow, i'm ever so slightly jealous now:(
You'd better hang on to them tooth and nail ;)
 
Yes, becoming a problem.

What's worse where I am is Disney and all affiliates have stopped selling BD's altogether... so I either have to stream a lower quality without extras, or pay through the nose to but the title from OS. So title like Indiana Jones and Deadpool & Wolverine are simply not available here. Even worse is if the film is shown by a local streaming provider, it's not available on the international platforms like Prime.

As a BD collector, this is most egregious.

I have thousands of DVD/BD/UHD discs and I wish to continue to add to my collection and not be at the behest of streaming services.

My major concern is steaming services tend to list what is popular only... thus old movies are falling by the wayside. In some ways this is a kind of censorship...

I also need BD players that allow region change... originally had a BDP-83, not on my 3rd locally made player which does allow native region change for BD's (as we don't believe in that shite here).

What most don't seem to grasp is streaming services are never up to the same PQ standard as BD's... there is always some further compression. Audio... mixed bag and all over the shop. Plus you don't get extras like deleted scenes, the making of etc.

Modded players are double the price. Smithy is getting angry... :mad:



JSmith
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Agent Smithy angry

Yes, I do agree with you that streaming content tend to have the latest/popular movies. I tried to find Die Hard 1 last week on our local streaming service but it was not available. Luckily I have its BD and was able to play it. Nostalgia as it's nearing the holiday season and I wanted to hear Beethoven's 9th , hohoho
 
The squezing of common ppl´s wallet never ends, and im f'''''alot tired of it.
??? I hear a lot of that but no ones really got a conspiracy to fleece you.
Its just the way of technology constantly moving forward. You could still be watching a 12" B&W CRT TV with only a couple VHS channels to watch, and a "HiFi with only mono 78 shellac records, or a crankup mechanical Victrola etc etc. Yes staying on the leading edge of tech can be expensive but no one puts a gun to your head to buy it. Personally I'm thrilled with what I have today compared to what I had in the 1950s. Sure many companies are looking to make the next big thing that will be attractive to you, that's how they stay in business.

From memory Sony went down this road where the PS4 wont play Red book CD's, only Blu-ray.
Really? That's very surprising, the same hasn't happened to the transport market?

But BD-R is a much smaller market than commercial BD for media consumption…
Infinitely smaller. The market that supported disc record-able media is deader than the CD LOL
And due to it's small market size, the cost of those discs never fell like CD/DVDs
Then with easily re-recordable huge USB thumb drives costing peanuts today times have changed.

My son got me the Mandalorian last Christmas, I have watched a bit of it but not all - I forgot I had it...
I loved the Mandalorian series, also the Boba Fett ones.
ST-SNW was mostly good till they came along with the musical episodes, etc. Probably a big reason why it hasn't continued yet.
 
Will there be services where you can buy single movies digitally instead of streaming? That's the only way we could still get access to very high quality ones. This of course means they will go upwards of 100 GB per file and will no doubt be expensive.
 
Will there be services where you can buy single movies digitally instead of streaming? That's the only way we could still get access to very high quality ones. This of course means they will go upwards of 100 GB per file and will no doubt be expensive.
There is the already mentioned kaleidescape service but the needed gear is still quite expensive.
OTOH the movies relatively cheap.
 
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Why would there be a difference? These devices can handle high-bitrate streams and the needed codecs just fine. Even my TV handles a 50GB file streamed to it’s internal player just fine.
First you have to (in my case) move somewhere that one would NEVER want to move to in order to have a streaming signal.
I'm quite happy living somewhere (right on a river), where I grow my own food & fish & hunt for my own meats & attend farmers markets for my other food desires.
I eat & drink much healthier than most people & at 68 years of age, while slightly overweight, need ZERO meds according to my Dr.s.
I'll stay healthy & enjoy my CD's, DVD's, Blu Rays & 4K's in all their glory. & 3D's (which would have been real cool on 4K [or better yet: 3D on 8K that has been around for quite a number of years but has never made it main stream]. (I have had something on 8 K for more than 20 years [but no way to play it on it's 8 K settings]).
I do want do start transferring all this stuff to a big 'ol' NAS one day (when it rains for a week or so and I have nothing else better to do).
But get rid of the disks? (Maybe the very few that I don't care for for one reason or another). The rest: No way! I want all the quality & features (subtitles in my wife's native language are nice, too: If not available, even the subtitles in English helps a lot.
If not busy doing what I enjoy doing:
Sometimes I sits & thinks, sometimes I just sits.
 
Infinitely smaller. The market that supported disc record-able media is deader than the CD LOL
And due to it's small market size, the cost of those discs never fell like CD/DVDs
Then with easily re-recordable huge USB thumb drives costing peanuts today times have changed.
In the USA, the recording DRM killed the massive BLU-Ray medium for recording>
A whole several years of a TV series could be put one one disk in other markets.
Those in charge of our markets in the USA (to the detriment of us) did it to themselves (and consequently, world wide).
With their anti freedom of allowing people to copy what they OWN to other formats (I know that there was sometimes "limited" easy ways of doing a copy.
But they turned a lot of folks into Pirates for their own stuff, which, for many, seemed to make it OK to just pirate the stuff from the get go.
The crazed, over-controlling executives & agreeable controlling politicians created their own markets demise.
To para-phrase someone: Greed has consequences, I guess.
 
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