I buy blu-rays.
They're really cheap now. Like, under $10.
Also, you get the *best* picture quality available and probably will be available for the rest of all time.
I like the reliability of having physical media.
Streaming services sometimes will garble due to the connection. It happens more often on HD content due to bandwidth.
My only issue with them is that like when I put a movie into the PS3, they force me to sit through 5-10 minutes of previews.
Yeah, I'm the RIAA/MPAA guy who's not employed by them, but genuinely believes their logic.
for now. you gonna repurchase them all in 4K, then 8K? Then whatever comes after that? This is why I don't buy (just rent or stream).I buy blu-rays.
They're really cheap now. Like, under $10.
Also, you get the *best* picture quality available and probably will be available for the rest of all time.
I like the reliability of having physical media.
Streaming services sometimes will garble due to the connection. It happens more often on HD content due to bandwidth.
My only issue with them is that like when I put a movie into the PS3, they force me to sit through 5-10 minutes of previews.
Yeah, I'm the RIAA/MPAA guy who's not employed by them, but genuinely believes their logic.
I remember getting a dvd player back in 2000 and being dismayed at how all the previews were completely unskippable and fast forward-able in any capacity any time I booted up the disc. It was then I realized the transition to digital from analog (VHS in this case) was not necessarily going to be pure gravy. Not even in modern times would I dare purchase a Disney DVD under any circumstances, and for that very reason. (besides the fact that you buy one version and a better one is out the next)
I remember getting a dvd player back in 2000 and being dismayed at how all the previews were completely unskippable and fast forward-able in any capacity any time I booted up the disc. It was then I realized the transition to digital from analog (VHS in this case) was not necessarily going to be pure gravy. Not even in modern times would I dare purchase a Disney DVD under any circumstances, and for that very reason. (besides the fact that you buy one version and a better one is out the next)
I can see why people pirate. Tonight I tried to watch a legal copy of wreck it ralph 3d bluray and powerdvd wouldn't work without an update, so okay 10 minutes later update installed. Now it says it requires me to set a region for my bluray drive but I can't, it's grayed out and it says I have 0 changes left even though it's a new drive I bought off newegg.
So I try the PS3 with 4.x firmware which should support 3d blurays, the damn disc says the PS3 can't play it. So wtf? We end up watching a 3d version in mkv sbs format.. sigh.
The only things I've encountered that typically can't be skipped are the FBI and Interpol warnings. Other than that, all of my movies have allowed me to at least fast forward through previews. It goes by quickly on the PS3 @ x120.
for now. you gonna repurchase them all in 4K, then 8K? Then whatever comes after that? This is why I don't buy (just rent or stream).
I do not believe you. User prohibited operations are absolutely infuriating. Sometimes you can only skip with the Skip button, sometimes only with Top Menu, sometimes only with Play, sometimes only with FF...you never know until you try them all.
Here's the kicker. Sometimes I want to go BACKWARD to see something I missed in a preview, but THAT'S ALSO A PROHIBITED OPERATION! I've even seen Pause as a prohibited operation! Heads need to roll (figuratively) at these DVD/BD production companies.
Now this is even more infuriating...I've encountered some movies that have absolutely no way to skip the previews. I believe one example was a rental version of The Blind Side on Blu-Ray. On top of that, the previews were lower-than-standard-def and non-anamorphic (black borders on all sides). For some reason, I was forced to restart the disc over and over. Since experiencing that, now I'll want to kill myself if I ever see another trailer for a movie with Steve Irwin's kid in it. On top of that, the amount of forced trailers was far beyond reasonable. Then there was no option for subtitles. There were other examples of movies with absolutely no way to skip previews, but I don't remember which movies they were.
Every format is fucked.
This is why I love Netflix...
Rent on Amazon. Watch on Netflix. F*ck everything else, I'm too old to screw with makemkv or skipping commercials when I already paid money to watch the damn thing in the first place.
Rent on Amazon. Watch on Netflix. F*ck everything else, I'm too old to screw with makemkv or skipping commercials when I already paid money to watch the damn thing in the first place.
Yeah, that makes no sense.
OTOH, when viewing blu-ray through VLC (you have to do some kinda complicated and annoying cracking of system files) you can skip right to the movie.
Is that only on the PS3 though? It is possible another player might allow you to skip.
I guess one more thing that annoys me about blu-ray is that the resolution tends to be 1920x800. Which isn't really that much better than 720p (which itself isn't full 720p but ends up being like 540). Like, I've found that I'd rather have the entire 16/9 space filled up than watch on some sidescreen because that's how classic movie tradition is done. Just optimize it for 16x9, or at least give me the option of full resolution 1920x1080
If you watch the Dark Knight blu-ray, the IMAX scenes are striking because they use the full HD resolution of 1920x1080, while the rest of the film goes to 1920x800 (and in Dark Knight Rises it goes to IMAX for scenes that don't matter and then is back to std for scenes that do matter...like vistas and chases).
Blu ray is probably the last disc format, and I don't see cable or fiber lines ever being good enough in my lifetime to stream/download a 4k movie. So for the forseeable future, it is the best video you can get.
it's still 1080p, just that a part of the image is taken up by black pixels. not really sure what you want them to do though. i'd much prefer the cinemascope image than a cropped 16:9 image.
A standards-compliant player cannot ignore Prohibited User Operations. One reason is probably so that you can't claim that you never saw the FBI warnings and such before circumventing the protections. The other big one is, of course, to keep content producers happy to encourage their adoption of the format (they want the ads). Another is for animated menus and the like (it'd be a little weird to fast-forward a looping menu).Yeah, that makes no sense.
OTOH, when viewing blu-ray through VLC (you have to do some kinda complicated and annoying cracking of system files) you can skip right to the movie.
Is that only on the PS3 though? It is possible another player might allow you to skip.
Reading about all of these issues makes me glad I don't buy DVDs/Blurays. I miss the good ol days of VHS, seems things were so much simpler then. The only complaint was when the last person did not rewind it, when renting. LOL