• Registered: 2010-06-13
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Topic: Investments In The Future Of Home Media.

The future of home media is sort of up in the air currently, and I wanted to raise a few questions in this thread to get some opinions and advice on this topic.

So as of now, here's what I have access to Movie wise.
I own a Blu-Ray with small collection of Blu-Ray disc's.
A large enough 1080p HDTV.
Netflix-Instant
Local Movie Rental.
iTunes(no apple tv)
Local Stores(Movie Section)

With that in mind, here's my first question…
What do you believe (between BluRay/DVD Disc's, Netflix-instant, and iTunes format's) which is CURRENTY the best way to watch movies at home? Now by best I don't just mean quality, but also considering convince, features and prices.

Personally I enjoy making of's, BTS, deleted scene and some commentaries, as much as watching the film itself, so naturally I favor the Disc format simply because of all it can offer. Unfortunately the disc format is the least convenient and probably the most expensive, and I'm not a rich person.

Netflix is the most convenient but its selection is pre determined and the quality is the least satisfying.

ITunes is something I haven't used much. I know it's library is virtually infinite, but I honestly don't what it has to offer other then the film/show, if anything. I also don't know about the quality. I assume it's not as good as disk but not bad by any means.

So with streaming quickly becoming the primary format, and the rental store's dying out, here is my second question…
What should I be investing in as far as the future is concerned? I don't think things are going to change to drastically any time soon but I want to at least try to be putting my money in something that is going to last.

Also technology wise I'm sure 4k is starting to get a foot in the door, as well as 3D, and other tech things, which I'm taking into account!

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  • bullet3
  • bullet3
  • I Know Regular Expressions
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Re: Investments In The Future Of Home Media.

Blu-Ray by a long shot. Streaming/Download quality is just nowhere near where it needs to be for me to find it acceptable (even HD streaming, you're getting a file that's a couple of gigs at most, maybe 10-15, versus a 40-50 gb encode on the blu-ray). What's more, I don't see internet infrastructure improving rapidly enough in the next 10 years to the point that companies like Netflix will be able to offer 50 gb files to their millions of users.

Right now, Blu-Ray is indeed the best way to replicate the theatrical experience, they look/sound way better than the alternatives, and you get tons of cool special features.

I also think they're extraordinarily cheap by home media standards. I get most of my blu-rays for under 10 dollars. Compare that with just 20-25 years ago, when laser-disc and vhs tapes could go for 50-80 dollars.

If indeed blu-ray is the last physical home-media format, I'm fine with that and happily buying them up.
As for 4k, I suspect there simply won't be enough of a demand for it that studios will bother releasing more than a couple dozen titles on the format. The fact is, that blu-ray to 4k, you're not getting the kind of noticeable jump in quality that you'd get from dvd to blu-ray, you'd only be able to see differences if you had a screen that was 100 inches or larger.

I'll probably get a few titles in that format if it ever hits, but I don't think it'll be the kind of situation where you are forced to re-buy your movie collection all over again.

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  • Dave
  • Dave
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Re: Investments In The Future Of Home Media.

Even with things like Australia's NBN bringing fibre to the home (which could make large real time transfers possible), we're still going to have capped monthly data use. I don't see families blowing their monthly limit on streaming blu-ray quality versions of showgirls and space jam, as valid as that would be.

For the short to mid term, physical media is likely to be your best option. It costs me $7 AUD to rent a movie on iTunes, I could pick up a disc on sale for not much more.

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  • From: Indiana, USA
  • Registered: 2009-11-23
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Re: Investments In The Future Of Home Media.

bullet3 wrote:

Blu-Ray by a long shot. Streaming/Download quality is just nowhere near where it needs to be for me to find it acceptable.... As for 4k, ... you're not getting the kind of noticeable jump in quality that you'd get from dvd to blu-ray, you'd only be able to see differences if you had a screen that was 100 inches or larger.

I can attest that Blu-ray looks spectacular projected at 1080P on a 120" screen. And I'd gladly trade any proposed increase in resolution for greater brightness and contrast.

But I think DVR and streaming HD are perfectly acceptable. And I'd gladly trade any proposed increase in bitrate for streaming access to commentaries and other extras.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

Zarban's Website

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  • Dave
  • Dave
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Re: Investments In The Future Of Home Media.

Addendum. Zarbans super hero power is compromise.

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  • From: Norway
  • Registered: 2009-12-01
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Re: Investments In The Future Of Home Media.

Blu-Ray. Nothing really beats it as of now. Rips and digital versions simply aren't there just yet. I've seen iTunes material in Hi-Def, and it's good, don't get me wrong, but on 50"+, you're going to want to have as little compression artifacts as possible. Blu-Ray is where it's at.

I recently purchased "Fight Club" on Blu-Ray, and while the physical box is nothing compared to the 2-disc special edition DVD I own, the picture quality is a lot better on the Blu-Ray. You can actually SEE that Angel Face is played by Jared Leto now tongue


Of course, there's also the feel of owning the physical media. Years back, A friend and me argued which had the better movie collection; his 500GB HDD crammed to the brim, or my 300 DVD's. We both agreed that the shelf looked more impressive, and felt a lot better than folders and AVI files of varying quality.

Also, special editions with all that bonus material is easier to get by on the physical media. Which is nice.

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