Discussion The future of series/movie delivery, physical media vs streaming/digital only

[Tech Junky]

It ain't cheap though.

And lasers on the UST devices last 25-30K hours. The trade off though in ten years is that you'd need to replace the projector.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

I'm not in a quandary lol. I've already said I'm not getting em until they drop in price and that I'm in no rush.

My current projector is a DLP and I've had it since 2012. I've replaced the bulb probably 3 times since then. It ain't cheap though.

You're a decade away from native 4K at that price point, assuming it ever comes.

The problem with all the regular throw pixel shifters is crap contrast, not resolution. The 4K DLPs are extremely sharp, comparable to native 4K LCoS projectors that are waaaay more expensive. The only time you may notice a difference is small text from PC input. A few of the UST models have great contrast but like you I'm not interested in USTs.

 

[purbeast0]

You're a decade away from native 4K at that price point, assuming it ever comes.

The problem with all the regular throw pixel shifters is crap contrast, not resolution. The 4K DLPs are extremely sharp, comparable to native 4K LCoS projectors that are waaaay more expensive. The only time you may notice a difference is small text from PC input. A few of the UST models have great contrast but like you I'm not interested in USTs.

Nah I think it'll be sooner than that. Usually projector tech is like 5-10 years behind TV tech, and native 4k TV's have been around for a while now. I could see it happening within like 5 years, considering that Sony one is $6k right now.

I'm also waiting for receivers to catch up. Most AVR's (again, last time I checked) that can even handle 4k, only really had 1 HDMI input that could handle it properly.

As I said, I'm in no hurry. 1080p on a 10ft screen sitting about 13ft away in my home theater looks fantastic.

 

[dainthomas]

While video over streaming can be ok, audio is often hilariously bad. I have a 7.1 atmos setup and will usually get a movie on 4k bluray if I really enjoyed it and it has a robust atmos track. Just picked up GOTG3, but also have all the John Wick movies, Dunkirk, Saving Private Ryan (worth it just for the Omaha Beach scene), and other action type movies.

 

[mi-z]

Typically 21st Century movies on DVD are as good as they can be on DVD; they were probably shot digitally so there's no remastering to do.

This is completely wrong. Very few films don't look much better on Blu Ray. Exceptions are films recorded on videotape or 480p digital cameras. That is rare. If the Blu Ray is done well then it will make the film look better >99% of the time, including modern films which were shot in 1080p at least, these days in 4k. Hell, even with not-so-great blu rays, they still look better.

 

[JM Aggie08]

4K Remux ftw. I don't think I've bought a physical movie or show in well over 10 years at this point.

 

[mikeymikec]

This is completely wrong. Very few films don't look much better on Blu Ray. Exceptions are films recorded on videotape or 480p digital cameras. That is rare. If the Blu Ray is done well then it will make the film look better >99% of the time, including modern films which were shot in 1080p at least, these days in 4k. Hell, even with not-so-great blu rays, they still look better.

You might want to read the text you quoted again, maybe try reading the OP again as your response to it is puzzling to say the least.

 

[mi-z]

You might want to read the text you quoted again, maybe try reading the OP again as your response to it is puzzling to say the least.

Yes, sorry. By "as good as they can be on DVD" I assumed that meant the DVD looks as good as the movie can look in general rather than that the DVD version specifically can't be improved. Still, I don't know what the "cheap film" reference means.

 

[mi-z]

4K Remux ftw. I don't think I've bought a physical movie or show in well over 10 years at this point.

Yes but by torrenting you rely on other people buying the discs for the studios to release them. Therefore the solution does not scale and is a bad one. You become a freeloader that way.

 

[JM Aggie08]

I do not torrent.

 

[nakedfrog]

Yes but by torrenting you rely on other people buying the discs for the studios to release them. Therefore the solution does not scale and is a bad one. You become a freeloader that way.

I don't even have a UHD player, when I buy a 4K disc I rip it to my hard drive and watch it from there using VLC.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I don't really own any physical format movies, but at same time I like the idea of being able to actually own physical format as I don't like being at the mercy of a service or internet to view movies. If my internet goes down I still want to be able to watch a movie as it is the most likely of times where I may want to do that. I sometimes think I actually should start buying up at least good movies that I plan to watch multiple times just so I have them. I do have all my movies on my NAS in form of files though, which to me is the best way. I would gladly pay a reasonable monthly fee for a service where I can legally download a movie in a non DRM format that works with any solution such as Jellyfin. If these companies got their heads out of their asses, they would provide this. No matter what they do to stop piracy, people will find a way. Even if they came up with a perfect method that cannot be copied, nothing stops someone from setting up a camera in front of their TV and doing a cam at home, in a properly calibrated environment. That's assuming they exhausted all options to get a clean signal out of the TV to just capture it electronically. Someone that knows what they're doing could probably do this right at the TV logic level.

 

[mi-z]

I don't even have a UHD player, when I buy a 4K disc I rip it to my hard drive and watch it from there using VLC.

Which is fine of course, but the other poster said they haven't bought a disc in 10 years but get 4k remuxes. How do you that without torrenting?

 

[nakedfrog]

Which is fine of course, but the other poster said they haven't bought a disc in 10 years but get 4k remuxes. How do you that without torrenting?

Buying digital copies of movies?

 

[IronWing]

Streaming is okay as far as quality goes for most movies. I just don't care for subscription models. I buy used blu ray and DVDs for most movies I watch and check them out from the library when I can. I have a cheap 43" 4K TV and a good quality 4K player and I can't tell much difference between regular blu ray and 4K blu ray. Maybe if I had spent more on the TV or bought a bigger set, the difference would be apparent.

 

[mikeymikec]

Yes, sorry. By "as good as they can be on DVD" I assumed that meant the DVD looks as good as the movie can look in general rather than that the DVD version specifically can't be improved. Still, I don't know what the "cheap film" reference means.

That was specifically about Aliens - as I understand it the film was filmed on cheaper (or some unusual type maybe) grade film, as can be seen easily in the DVD version through really excessive film grain. The BR version was remastered and the quality is very decent; the Alien quadrilogy was the first BR title I bought specifically because of the quality issue with Aliens. I don't know if they ever brought the remastering work to DVD format; the DVD I bought was back in around 2002 I would guess.

 

[nakedfrog]

Streaming is okay as far as quality goes for most movies. I just don't care for subscription models. I buy used blu ray and DVDs for most movies I watch and check them out from the library when I can. I have a cheap 43" 4K TV and a good quality 4K player and I can't tell much difference between regular blu ray and 4K blu ray. Maybe if I had spent more on the TV or bought a bigger set, the difference would be apparent.

Here's a helpful chart.

 

[MrSquished]

Streaming is okay as far as quality goes for most movies. I just don't care for subscription models. I buy used blu ray and DVDs for most movies I watch and check them out from the library when I can. I have a cheap 43" 4K TV and a good quality 4K player and I can't tell much difference between regular blu ray and 4K blu ray. Maybe if I had spent more on the TV or bought a bigger set, the difference would be apparent.

The jump from 480p to 1080p is far greater visually on most TV's than from 1080p to 2160p.

You really need to get to 55" and higher to start to see difference between those two that are meaningful to the average viewer