Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

I see that a lot at restaurants- they're showing a 4x3 letterboxed standard-def feed of a local HD station STRETCHED on a widescreen TV, and in this case PAYING to get a worse picture than what they could get over the air for free! I don't know why they put separate SD versions of stations on cable when they're only HD over the air; if they want to accommodate older TVs why not just let the receivers output standard-def video the way the 'converter boxes' do?

Many people were more than happy with VHS, but the plug was still pulled on that eventually.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

I haven't been paying attention lately, but the broadcast and some cable channels would put the right hand corner logo closer to center screen to allow for cropping in SD.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

It was only available for streaming for a short time and then was pulled from that as well. It hasn't been available for a long time until DC Universe placed it in their service.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

The latest casualty might be the scifi show The Killjoys.

The amazon listing for the final season appears to be dvd-only. The previous four seasons all had bluray releases.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

My wife's aunt only upgraded to her first HDTV this year, and only because her old standard-def CRT died. She bought the cheapest TV she could find, and the only thing she watches on it is standard-def cable stretched to fill the screen width. Even widescreen programs that could be zoomed up to fill the screen properly are stretched. I've tried to show her how to use the aspect ratio button on the remote to switch between 4:3 and 16:9, but she has no interest in learning. It's too much effort for her to remember to change settings between programs, and she genuinely doesn't care what it looks like, so she'd rather just leave it at the default. Better to leave everything stretched than to permanently zoom up 4:3 programs and cut off text that may be on the screen during the evening news.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

Here's the deal... it's really hard to get the average person to adopt something new.

It really has to be a killer app... like the move from cassette to CD or VHS to DVD. Blu-ray is just too similar to DVD, and fills a need that most people don't really understand or care about.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

True, A/V quality just isn't a big lure for Joe sixpack. I was amazed to see so many regular music listeners happy with MP3s after having CDs for decades.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

Yet MP3s were a "new" thing, and I still don't see any real practical way to "collect" those like I do CDs and other media. Seems you just save them to whatever hard drive has space, and then forget about it.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

This is exactly what happens with the hardcore pirate types.

Essentially they just "collect" software files for the sake of "collecting". They rarely ever use any of the pilfered/cracked files they collect.

Back in day, the entire point of all this was for bragging rights on whatever BBS and/or irc channels they frequented. The objective was to get the most "brownie points" for getting their hands on and cracking a new piece of software that was just released (such as a new version of Micro$oft Windoze, etc ...).

In the domian of music and movies, nowadays the only bragging rights left would be getting advanced dvd "screener copies" of movies which have not been released yet on dvd/bluray. Music is so widely dispersed and easily available these days, that it's considered a complete joke to brag about it now.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

Most people don't care about "collecting" media (audio or video) nowadays.
People just want to watch their movies and listen to their music - and want the most convenient and easiest way to do it.

Not as many people even deal with mp3s anymore.. they just stream their music.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

Speaking of little interest in Blu-ray, I went to country fair a few weeks ago which had a garage sale area that was filled with people. On one table was a SONY BDP-S360 (basic 2009 Blu-ray player) for $4 in perfect working condition. It sat on the table for about 2 hours before I finally caved-in and bought it. A hot dog and a drink was $5 but no one wanted the Bluray player!

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

In addition to studios opting to bypass releasing BDs, NF has also been doing the same (even if BDs exist).
NOT a good trend...:(

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

I have one of those a coworker gave me when my TV was a CRT with only component/composite inputs. At the time it was practically impossible to get a BR player with those outputs. That thing is sloooooooooooooooooow but it worked quite admirably for me. I've since upgraded the TV and player but that Sony still works just fine on a TV set up for the grandkids. I'd have paid $4 for another one... just because.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

My first blu-ray player was a Sony S360, and it shit the bed after about three years -- stopped recognizing blu-ray discs. I read a lot of similar complaints about that model, too. Don't know if I would trust a used one to last.

I did like the way the LED on the front lit up blue when it was playing a blu-ray, and white when it was playing a DVD. And I miss the timers on the front.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

Oppo, Denon, and Panasonic made the best BD players.
Nearly every other manufacturer finished behind those 3.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

This was my third SONY BDP-S360 player and so far they all seem to work fine although we had one player at my work which began not recognizing Blu-ray discs. The only problem I have encountered so far was it didn't play "Starship Troopers" Blu-ray unless you stuck a USB in the slot.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

The older (2013) Sony player I have in the theater won't play it even with USB inserted. The cheap player in livingroom plays it just like any other disc.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

I used that player for several years and never noticed that about the LED. I *do* miss the timer on the front though.

I had a few discs it wouldn't play and originally thought them to be defective. When I replace the player I tried those on the new one and they worked just fine. I decided it was likely new DRM on the disc(s) and the firmware on the Sony couldn't be updated to play them (it's as high as I could find).

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

That's how my 360 stopped working. It was gradual.

A couple of blu-rays would refuse to load and give an error. Then, after a few months, more and more started doing this until it wouldn't boot up any blu-ray disc. Sometimes I could get a disc to boot up on after several tries, or unplugging the player, but it eventually just refused to load any blu-ray.

I suppose it could have been a firmware or DRM issue, but it would refuse to play discs that it had played before.

I think blu-ray players tend to be touchier than DVD players, and don't last as long. I've never had a DVD player flat-out shit the bed on me.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

The very last firmware for this player was in June 2012, which just involved up-grades to BD Live and "improved disc playability". I've always wondered if the standard Blu-ray technology simply didn't evolve after this time period and therefore never required any further firmware upgrades or whether the manufacturers are just leaving them to faze-out.

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

In practice, the only bluray player manufacturer who seemed to give a damn about their older models and wrote firmware upgrades, is Oppo.

IIRC, the X-Men "Days of Future Past" bluray wouldn't play on Oppo BDP-83 players. Oppo released a firmware update to address this issue, in spite of the bdp-83 originally being released 5+ years prior to 2014.

https://www.oppodigital.com/support/...e-60-1110.aspx

https://www.oppodigital.com/support/blu-ray-bdp-83/

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

Otherwise the bluray player manufacturers don't seem to give a damn about firmware support after a year or two. (Excluding consoles and computer bluray player programs).

Basically once the warranty expires, you're outta luck.

:horse:

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

There may never be another AV manufacturer as customer-oriented as Oppo was...:(

Re: Studios Releasing DVD But No Blu-ray?
 

Unfortunately. It is the end of an era.