They're making cassettes now too! Cassettes were fine for recording from an album, but I hated prerecorded cassettes...I also hated hiss, so for high dynamic range recordings, I'd bring the low volume intros up and fade down as it got louder. Not as good as a CD, but at least I wasn't listening to hiss (or worse losing the highs to dolby NR).
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The End of Blu-ray
- Thread starter Megalith
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threehundredsixftw
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why not just skip the commercials on the dvd/blueray? that's what i do, and i dont have to pay monthly subscriptions for a service that might lose the streaming rights like say disney buying the entire MCU. i prefer to buy it once and be done with it. not to mention i still have the option to make a "digital backup" if that how i want to view it.
https://www.gamesradar.com/ps5-new-details/
(though it's essentially a summary of https://www.wired.com/story/exclusive-playstation-5/)
From the Wired article
"physical games for the PS5 will use 100-GB optical disks, inserted into an optical drive that doubles as a 4K Blu-ray player."
Clearly Sony thinks Blu Ray and UHD are going to be around for a good chunk of the 20s (if not longer). This also means it's very likely that MS will continue putting 4K drives in their next gen console.
(though it's essentially a summary of https://www.wired.com/story/exclusive-playstation-5/)
From the Wired article
"physical games for the PS5 will use 100-GB optical disks, inserted into an optical drive that doubles as a 4K Blu-ray player."
Clearly Sony thinks Blu Ray and UHD are going to be around for a good chunk of the 20s (if not longer). This also means it's very likely that MS will continue putting 4K drives in their next gen console.
Sony only sees the optical drive as the easiest means of software distribution, especially with today's ever-growing game sizes. It's not Sony endorsing the viability or longterm-ness of Blu-ray or UHD disc based movies - they can't monetize that. Most PS5 owners will never play a disc based movie, and so inclusion of an optical drive is just a happy accident.
If the hope here was that PS5 would somehow be a savior of disc base movies, and would do something to reverse the sinking trendline and spur some new uptick in disc based movie rentals/sales, I'm afraid I have some bad news.
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That seems like A LOT of speculation, to put it nicely. The XBOX ONE S/X was definitely a boost to 4k BR sales. It would be in even better shape if PS4 pro had it, and that's factual. PS5 will sell more than the Xbox versions as Playstation always does, PS3 notwithstanding.
It won't be a savior, but it will surely keep it alive much longer.
Furthermore, if software distribution was the only use like you say, why not just use 64-128GB proprietary cards?
The cartridges might cost a bit more, but there would be plenty of advantages like fast loading, no need for onboard saves, and reduced system cost.
The cartridges might cost a bit more, but there would be plenty of advantages like fast loading, no need for onboard saves, and reduced system cost.
Dude, it doesn't matter if 4K is bought in peak DVD numbers. FFS, they make LPs. FUCKING LPs! We're talking about a format that is inferior to CD in every possible way and one that sells less total units/year than Endgame sold in a few weeks. It's profitable. They're not going anywhere. And yes, this probably will help sales, just like the PS2 helped spur DVDs.
pendragon1
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what the shit is that?! i had no idea, dont have one but that seems silly
That is a fairly old picture and not even entirely relevant anymore. Not sure about DVDs as I haven't bought a new movie on DVD in several years, but recent BD and UHD have been moving away from a lot of that. Warnings are shorter, there's less of them, trailers are skippable, there's obviously no commercial for BD releases. It is a pretty outdated meme at this point. I can throw in one of my UHD discs and be playing the moving in under a minute, including the time it takes to load the movie. And if that's too long for you, just rip the bloody thing to a Plex server so you can watch it wherever you want without the disc or needing to load the disc. That excuse for piracy is pretty much bunk these days.
So I have this CD by a Boston punk band that doesn’t exist in any streaming format except some lowfi old school YouTube picture videos with their songs played over it.
Imagine my surprise when I stuck it in and nothing happened.
PS4 was banished to the back room and Xbox1 was brought into the living room. It doesn’t happen very often but I like flexibility.
T4rd
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I have a few CDs like that. I uploaded them to my Google Play Music library and can cast them to any TV/media device in my house now or stream them in my car occasionally.
yourgrandma
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Not expecting the next gen consoles to prolong it all that much. Fully expect them to launch cheap alternate versions of the consoles without a drive like the All digital version of the xbox 1.
cybereality
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Anyone else feel like UHD Blu-Ray is a scam? I'm not even sure the movies are mastered at 4K, some look like they just upscaled it.
I've bought like 20 or 30 discs, and only a couple movies actually look any better than normal 1080p Blu-Ray.
I have a good TV, Samsung 4K, and real 4K video looks great (for example, the demo material they use at stores), but UHD Blu-Ray is bogus for the most part.
I've bought like 20 or 30 discs, and only a couple movies actually look any better than normal 1080p Blu-Ray.
I have a good TV, Samsung 4K, and real 4K video looks great (for example, the demo material they use at stores), but UHD Blu-Ray is bogus for the most part.
Check before you buy:
Real Or Fake 4K
Real Or Fake 4K
pendragon1
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yes anything older that a few years is upscaled.
UHD is more about HDR then the 4K resolution...it's also great for older catalog movies (Alien 4K looks amazing)...check out The Revenant in 4K/HDR if you want some eye candy
The Marvel Movies look to be all fake, save Spiderman which is Sony. Seems like a big FU to all of the fans after so much was given that franchise.
Simply not the case. Just compare old Ghostbusters to the new Ghostbusters. Also, the older Xmen movies are real 4k while the newer ones are upscaled.
After scanning a bit more, if anything the opposite is true. Jurrasic Park vs. Jurrasic World and Older Aliens vs newer Aliens show that the new stuff is all upscaled.
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cybereality
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Yeah, I have The Revenant. That movie was amazing and looked incredible.
Endgame looks pretty good on UHD. That said, Disney is well known for taking the easy way out with their releases. Every live-action (and pretty sure some/most animated) 3D movie they do are post-conversions. A lot of their early BD releases were pretty crappy transfers. The UHD releases for the older Marvel movies are a huge mixed bag, they use HDR well but have a semi-aggressive grain reduction technique that strips a lot of detail from the picture, and so on. Honestly, WB is kicking Disney's ass when it comes to UHD super hero movie releases.
Armenius
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No, this was common even back when Blu-ray first came onto the market, merely upscaling a DVD transfer with it obviously looking like dog shit while still charging $40-$50. I always do research before buying a Blu-ray to know if it's worth it. The issue is there is a trend in filming a movie onto digital since it's cheaper than using film stock, so even the source video is often only 2K.
Not really. Often older movies are 4k. It's newer ones that have lots of CGI and that are upscaled from a 2k DI. Even then, in most cases, the UHD version is better. Recent examples (all off the top of my head) are Alien, Blade Runner and Ghostbusters. It's almost a certainty that Wizard of OZ will be 4K.
Now if they were smart, they'd use 4K DIs on newer films, but most of the time they do not.
threehundredsixftw
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wtf? john wick is 4k, but john wick 2 & 3 are fake?
We have hundreds of DVDs and dozens of Blu-Rays; just because I posted a meme about piracy doesn't mean I'm a pirate or condone piracy (fun fact, as a video engineer I'm on the publisher side of the equation). For the discs that we end up purchasing it depends on publishing studio whether or not ads are easily skippable or warnings are shorter. From a user experience level, I shouldn't be subjected to multiple ads or warnings: I took the time to purchase the product so why am I the one who has to mitigate the ads and warnings? (A fun observation: Have you ever noticed that the worse the movie is the more ads are placed on the disc?)
As far as ripping discs, we do that (we don't use a Plex server, though) but paying customers should not have to go to these lengths to enjoy a movie that they paid for.
Yeah, that checking site might have things a bit off.
JW1 and JW2 are both shot at less than 4K on Arri Alexa cameras. Both UHD releases aren't technically 4K, but both are better than the HD release. I couldn't find info on what they shot JW3 on, probably the same cameras, but I did see mention of a 2k intermediate.
Edit:
After more digging. I suspect they are all essentially the same, shot at about 3K on Arri Alexa, with 2K intermediate, the still get a bit more detail in the upscale, possible because of losses storing the image at HD resolution/compression.
It seems like 4K restorations of Film based movies get the most out of the UHD format where things like UHD "The Shining" blow away the HD Blu Ray.
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Armenius
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35mm film can be transferred at up to 12K digitally depending on the resolving resolution of the film and cameras used. A digital source is never going to be any better than its original resolution no matter how good the upscaling algorithms get.
motomonkey
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So basically Blu-ray is dead except when it isn't. like when a major console maker continues to support the format. Even if it is a "happy accident"
It's been said a dozen times already, but I'll repeat it for the hell of it. When content providers (studios) can no longer make money selling Blu-ray's, or a better format comes along that can provide High quality content cheaply (and no, streaming doesn't count), then Blu-ray will die, just like VHS did.
I think Laserdisc is ready to make a comeback, with a blu-ray laser! Just think about how much storage you could get on just one side of a 12" disc.
Kidding, of course... I cannot believe we aren't using encrypted SD cards since it's all digital anyway. I know price is a factor, it probably costs less than a buck to press optical media.
Oh well we'll see what the future holds when 8k becomes mainstream. If you think streaming isn't awesome now, hold my beer and wait until 8k lands. It's coming.
Kidding, of course... I cannot believe we aren't using encrypted SD cards since it's all digital anyway. I know price is a factor, it probably costs less than a buck to press optical media.
Oh well we'll see what the future holds when 8k becomes mainstream. If you think streaming isn't awesome now, hold my beer and wait until 8k lands. It's coming.
Armenius
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I'd actually be totally into that. Taking the density of an extended quad-layer Blu-ray disc you would be able to fit about 825GB on one with the surface area of a LaserDisc.
cybereality
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Honestly, streaming looks great. Like Altered Carbon on Netflix on 4K, looks better than any UHD Blu-Ray I've seen.
Also, tons of high quality 4K demo videos on YouTube, again with quality exceeding most UHD BD releases.
I do pay for decent internet speeds (well, 400Mbps but realistically I can get around 200Mbps on wireless), so that helps.
That said, I do still buy discs because I like to support the content creators and I vote for what I like with my wallet.
Also, tons of high quality 4K demo videos on YouTube, again with quality exceeding most UHD BD releases.
I do pay for decent internet speeds (well, 400Mbps but realistically I can get around 200Mbps on wireless), so that helps.
That said, I do still buy discs because I like to support the content creators and I vote for what I like with my wallet.
You obviously don't rent many dvd's or blu-rays from Netflix or Redbox type places. Many of Netflix/Dvd.com's discs are "rental discs" that don't have the extras of a retail release but they do have trailers. Many of which are not skippable. They are getting better in my experience on either side of the coin but it is still insane that I have to do anything other then put the disc in the drive to get to a main menu screen. The worst are tv show sets that have the forced trailers etc. on disc one. Then the idiots in those industries wonder why people rip their discs they bought.
cybereality
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Yeah, I watched a Blu-Ray movie the other night with about 20 minutes of trailers before the menu screen.
Luckily the trailers were cool, but it's a bit much considering I paid $20 to buy the movie, not watch trailers.
Luckily the trailers were cool, but it's a bit much considering I paid $20 to buy the movie, not watch trailers.
Armenius
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It doesn't matter how fast your internet is, the best 4K streams are still limited to 25 Mbps. It's actually only 16 Mbps on Netflix. I've watched Altered Carbon, too, and it in no way looks better than a proper UHD Blu-ray like Ghost in the Shell.
twonunpackmule
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Gorankar
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Dead? No, not even close.
Becoming a more and more niche product as time goes on? Yes, certainly.
Becoming a more and more niche product as time goes on? Yes, certainly.
motomonkey
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I'm ok with that, the only problem with UHD disks being less of a thing, is if content creators decide that producing true 4K media isn't even needed anymore. after all, why produce something that can't even be viewed at it's full potential by streamers, if almost all of your customers are viewing on shitty internet connections.
I’d argue continuing to produce them will force people to upgrade their internet.
This is the 1 advantage to media companies being ISPs. This is the only reason too.