DVD Suggestions?

[Canelek]

Dude, you are really going to have to get over the Wii. Most of use recognize it as a fun party utility. You seem to view it as some sort of usurper to your vast quasi-knowledge of entertainment vessels. Just take a deep breath. Think of it as guitar hero or something. While it is a blast and a half to play with a group of people, most of us would never mess with it alone.

[valryte]

Guess the train has jumped tracks again

Dude, you are really going to have to get over the Wii. Most of use recognize it as a fun party utility. You seem to view it as some sort of usurper to your vast quasi-knowledge of entertainment vessels. Just take a deep breath. Think of it as guitar hero or something. While it is a blast and a half to play with a group of people, most of us would never mess with it alone.

Yup, I have a Wii and an XBox 360. The Wii I usually only touch when friends come over, especially females. The XBox on the other hand is what I play when it's just me. I had bought the Wii first and that got me back into playing consoles, but of course after a while of watching the crappy graphics, I just had to get an XBox.

[miir]

Pretty much the same situation for me.

The Wii is the best for multiplayer and party type games... 360/PS3 are best for serious gaming.

[Winnow]

It's no fun hating what everyone else hates. 360/PS3/Wii talk on this board passes time.

The Creative/Apple threads were a blast.

[Aardor]

You can download a fairly good 1080p copy of a movie that's about 10 GB in size, 7-8 GB for 720P. That's still too large but has a better chance of being manageable in the near future than uncompressed 25GB Blu-Ray images for net downloads.

Fuck that compressed bullshit. I mean, if a TV station is sending you any sort of HD signal, they're also compressing it, so a broadcast of an HD movie is going to be noticeably worse than watching it straight from the DVD.

Anyway, I think what you said is rather worthless in this argument which appears to boil down to: Is the future Blu-Ray, or some other HD distribution service. I call it worthless because those movies have had all the extras stripped away, and all the audio tracks, except possibly the 5.1 (normally that is there, when I downloaded these it was occasionally not). For the best viewing experience, the noticeably worse video quality, and that lack of an audio format that was made after 1995 would not come close to cutting it.

[Winnow]

wtf are you talking about? I'm not arguing for anything. Blu-Ray is best format for watching movies.

If you want to watch a downloaded movie. the 10 GB well done compressed Blu-Ray movies on the newsgroups are excellent quality (better than OTA HD on DirectV for example). I could give a shit about extras. I barely have time to watch the actual movie.

[Aardor]

wtf are you talking about? I'm not arguing for anything. Blu-Ray is best format for watching movies.

If you want to watch a downloaded movie. the 10 GB well done compressed Blu-Ray movies on the newsgroups are excellent quality (better than OTA HD on DirectV for example). I could give a shit about extras. I barely have time to watch the actual movie.

I'm not saying you argued anything, I'm saying that the input you have provided on this thread is worthless.

[Winnow]

It's not. As I've pointed out with your "know it all" retorts on other tech issues, you have a Best Buy employee level knowledge of technology and try to spew that out on these forums as if you know something more than the common sales lines heard there.

edit: not saying i know a lot, but I do research what I'm interested in

[Aardor]

It's not. As I've pointed out with your "know it all" retorts on other tech issues, you have a Best Buy employee level knowledge of technology and try to spew that out on these forums as if you know something more than the common sales lines heard there.

And i've repeatedly shot down your extremely poor attempts to do what you said above. No one here respects you or your view on technology, Winnow.

[Winnow]

Actually, you haven't. You've given low grade responses and I've followed up on them to clear things up after you type out the sales pitches found in electronic store employee training manuals.

[Aardor]

Actually, you haven't. You've given low grade responses and I've followed up on them to clear things up after you type out the sales pitches found in electronic store employee training manuals.

Nah, I have shut you down pretty hardcore on all the arguments regarding technology here. And what I said about no one respecting your views/opinion on technology still stands, but you can keep spewing your useless and incorrect info here, and people like miir will keep shooting you down since you can't see facts over your ego.

[Winnow]

Nice dreamworld you live in there! You don't need a PC to play fantasy alternate reality games. You play them in your head already!

[Spang]

Winnow knows more about technology than Jessica Simpson knows about football.

[Winnow]

Andy BTW, on Aardor's only minor point about net movies being stripped down, it's possible to preserve the entire DVD using Rat DVD type technology so everything is included. It's up to the industry as to whether they want to use it or not and how much compression is used pending bandwidth advancements, and increased bandwidth over time is a given.

[Aardor]

Andy BTW, on Aardor's only minor point about net movies being stripped down, it's possible to preserve the entire DVD using Rat DVD type technology so everything is included. It's up to the industry as to whether they want to use it or not and how much compression is used pending bandwidth advancements, and increased bandwidth over time is a given.

RatDVD seems to do an amazing job of decrypting and ripping Bluray discs...oh wait...

Again, thanks for the useless information that doesn't even hit on the debate of broadcast HD vs hard HD-media.

[Winnow]

You have zero forward thinking ability. Jesus. You are the anti futurist.

[Aardor]

You have zero forward thinking ability. Jesus. You are the anti futurist.

Bluray menu systems work completely differently than DVD menu systems. RAT DVD would have to be completely rewritten for Bluray (which it can't because of the difficulty in decrypting Bluray movies currently), and I highly doubt it will every be updated to do so (maybe you have more hope for software that was last updated in 2005, but I do not). Not to mention, RAT DVD seems like a shitty version of DVDShrink.

[Winnow]

Hey, smart boy, read carefully...

I

it's possible to preserve the entire DVD using Rat DVD type technology so everything is included. It's up to the industry as to whether they want to use it or not and how much compression is used pending bandwidth advancements, and increased bandwidth over time is a given.

You fucking moron. I'm referring to the type of tech used with Rat DVD, not the app itself. RealNetworks has already made a commercial version of RatDVD, (RealDVD) which was banned. It's not a matter of if it can be done, it's whether the powers that be will let it. Of course you'd have to modify it for Blu-Ray.

God damn, you're a fucking child of the Wiki age. You can't imagine put two and two together unless Wiki does it for you.

[Aardor]

Hey, smart boy, read carefully...

I

it's possible to preserve the entire DVD using Rat DVD type technology so everything is included. It's up to the industry as to whether they want to use it or not and how much compression is used pending bandwidth advancements, and increased bandwidth over time is a given.

You fucking moron. I'm referring to the type of tech used with Rat DVD, not the app itself. RealNetworks has already made a commercial version of RatDVD, (RealDVD) which was banned. It's not a matter of if it can be done, it's whether the powers that be will let it. Of course you'd have to modify it for Blu-Ray.

God damn, you're a fucking child of the Wiki age. You can't imagine put two and two together unless Wiki does it for you.

It currently is a matter of if it can be done, since unencrypting Bluray takes many, many times longer than unencrypting a DVD. Also, the way information is stored on Bluray is much different than the "Track" model of DVDs, so it's unclear how the preservation of these features, including menus will work.

Also, the fact that RAT DVD (or technology like it) is able to rip tracks off a DVD does not do anything to explain how the extras would be brought to the consumer, especially since it would be illegal for them to use a technology such as RAT DVD to get the tracks from the DVD.

Again, I do not see your point in adding this to the discussion. As far as I can tell you are saying "it's possible to get all tracks from DVDs now, so you will be able to do it in the future, and they could distribute as they see fit." Sure, they'll be able to get the TrueHD track if they want, but they still won't have enough bandwidth to send it, and they will still have to compress it, making the quality worse than straight off the Bluray Disk.

[Winnow]

Also, the fact that RAT DVD (or technology like it) is able to rip tracks off a DVD does not do anything to explain how the extras would be brought to the consumer, especially since it would be illegal for them to use a technology such as RAT DVD to get the tracks from the DVD.

You keep mentioning how it would be illegal. It is illegal now and it was just a hobbiest that created the RatDVD software. You also keep thinking that the online version would have to be structured the same as a Blu-Ray. It doesn't have to be anything like a Blu-Ray disk. I would probably use the same H.264 codec for compression. While Blu-Ray disks are capable of holding 25GB (or 50GB), most movies, including added features, don't use that capacity. If the industry decides to compete with Blu-Ray disks in an online format, they aren't going to duplicate a Blu-Ray disk, they'll duplicate the quality of a Blu-Ray disk and put it in an online format. It will be programmed by professionals and not just one guy doing it as a hobby.

[miir]

Keep in mind that Blu ray sales have yet to even reach Laser Disc numbers. They have 4% of the market, leaving 96% for DVD sales.

Less than a year and a half later and Blu Ray market share is up to 23%

[Winnow]

Streaming Video is dominating and rising rapidly.

Where would your money have been best invested the last few years? Sony or Netflix?

May 6, 2010 — 12:15pm ET | By Jim O'Neill

Netflix is riding high on Wall Street and on Main Street, with its share price surging of late as its popularity with consumers roku's new netflix interfacecontinues to skyrocket, especially online where its complimentary streaming movie service is outpacing competitors

More and more users today are relying on their Internet connection to keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues, find breaking news, and watch TV and movies.

Recent research from MRG forecasts that global IPTV (News - Alert) subscribers will grow from 28 million in 2009 to 83 million in 2013 - a compound annual growth rate of 31 percent.

Entertainment company Netflix, is already seeing the jump.

According to a post on Yahoo’s “Today in Tech” blog today, subscribers are turning to Netflix at a fast rate.

With the 14 million subscribers that the company told Home Media magazine they now have, they are coming in ahead of analyst predictions.

The report also noted that less than 4 percent of the company’s customers are canceling their service - which offers not only movies that can be streamed over the Internet, but also DVD rentals that are delivered by mail.

The blog also quoted CEO Reed Hastings as saying their “Watch Instantly” capability to stream movies over the Web is key to their success.

Which of these three consoles doesn't require a lame disk inserted in order to watch streaming Netflix?

PS3
Wii
360

[Bubba Grizz]

I know that the Wii requires it. I got one free from them recently. It is a pain in the ass though because you still need a computer to get the code in order to input into the Wii to make it work. Granted this is on the big tv in the living room where my kids have taken over. In my man-cave I have a 32" LCD with a computer connected to it. I watch all my movies on there.

I can't remember the last DVD I bought. I have been getting all my movies from Netflix and then rip them using DVD FAB. I watch them on the tv using VLC. Speaking of which, is there anything out there better than VLC? (better includes being free)

[Aslanna]

Keep in mind that Blu ray sales have yet to even reach Laser Disc numbers. They have 4% of the market, leaving 96% for DVD sales.

Less than a year and a half later and Blu Ray market share is up to 23%

Less than a year and a half later and my interest in Blu-Ray hasn't increased at all..

[Winnow]

I can't remember the last DVD I bought. I have been getting all my movies from Netflix and then rip them using DVD FAB. I watch them on the tv using VLC. Speaking of which, is there anything out there better than VLC? (better includes being free)

I prefer KM player (free) Korean I think.

http://kmplayer.en.softonic.com/

It's not a resource hog, has a simple/skinable UI, yet power under the hood. I like to keep my video player UI very minimal (with big search bar at bottom).

There aren't major differences between the free players so it's personal preference.

[Fairweather Pure]

Keep in mind that Blu ray sales have yet to even reach Laser Disc numbers. They have 4% of the market, leaving 96% for DVD sales.

Less than a year and a half later and Blu Ray market share is up to 23%

How much has the market shrunk since then? Just curious. I don't follow the trades nearly as closely as I used to. I know that the home movie market (combined DVD and Blu) has dropped dramatically in the past year to year and a half. The few forums I still visit all have the same feeling of people cutting back on thier purchases, waiting for things to go on sale, or just streaming. Also, the amount of posters, threads, and topics are down to embarassing levels on the movie forums I used to visit. I also heard that Avatar had record breaking Blu Ray penetration, but that isn't surprising to me at all. It helps that when a DVD/Blu Ray combo pack is sold, it's counted as a Blu Ray sale!


From a personal perspective, I've bought 13 DVDs this year (5 of those were from an Amazon sale, the other 8 bought at BB). I used to buy that many in a month, easy. The reasons are varied, but I can tell you that since Circuit City closed down, Best Buy sales have been completely fucking terrible. So far in 2010, IMO, there haven't been that many must buy movies released. For me, much like with video games, I'm trying to limit what I consider "day 1" purchases because sooner rather than later it seems movies are on the shelf for 1/3rd the cost of release day. Finally, I've reached the point in my collecting that I basically have all of the past movies I want, meaning I pretty much only have to purchase new stuff.

I have purchased more than twice as many streaming HD movies on demand than I have bought actual physical copies this year. Not only is that a first for me, it's also a trend amoungst my peers. I still believe that physical media is slowly becoming obsolete.