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Post subject: Re: Rank the home media hard copyformats you're experienced Posted: 14 Jan 2020, 01:47 |
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Joined: 16 May 2009, 18:05 Posts: 3592 Location: California, USA Has thanked: 28 times Been thanked: 328 times
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ccode91 wrote: Before I start i should note i havent watched an actual dvd/bluray/uhd bluray in years. I've be ripping/remuxing everything I own on to my personal media server since probably 2011 or so.
I havent had a format i didnt like yet so thats good but from my most loved to the 'just liked' the list is:
1- UDH bluray: Picture quality is 10/10 - 35mm film scans look amazing in UDH as do modern transfers that had a udh intermediate. Even films mastered in 2k get a nice boost thanks to HDR - Thankfully DNR is starting to be dialed back or done away with on most of the releases I get of older movies on uhd. - Lossless sound tracks are on it, as well as PCM in some cases from my understanding - half assed sound remixes done only for marketing are not as rampant on this as they were on dvd and normal bluray. And even the movies that do have them usually have the original sound track. And well done remixes on older movies that rival or best the original are starting to be a thing again
2- Laserdisc : picture quality (today/ on my udh TV) 6/10 (back in the day/ on my SD crt) 9/10 - mostly faithful film transfers. Looks awesome on my crt over svideo and composite. Looks good enough on my UDH tvs too. Still the best way to watch some movies, DNR wasnt as over used back then too. - if the original stereo/mono track wasnt lifted from the film to be used on a laserdisc it was given a proper remaster not a cheaply done 5.1/7.1/atmos mix for marketing buzzwords. - Introduced DD 5.1 and DTS surround sound, some times times the same non near field mixes the theaters got. - on my dual side player I put the disc in and hit play. no menu bs to deal with and i can fast forward beginning ads
3- bluray(1080p): Picture quality : 8.4/10. tops out at 1080p which is meh for film transfers these days an movies with 4k intermediates but with so many films being/having been shot in 2k or intermidiated in 2k its good enough. However... DNR really took off here(in my buying experience) and made a lot of films in to a textureless living wax museum audio : same formats as udh, everything, so unless they do a dumb and put the DD track from the dvd on it instead of the losses track they should the sound quality will still be great! unfortunately there are a lot of remixes/upmixes of sound tracks from (mostly, but not all, older) films done purely for marketing BS, with no sign of the original track on it. So yeah thats a BIG nope there against those releases. but on newer films its fine and pretty dang great sounding. BUT on releases that didnt do a crappy remix it so nice here. Ether lossless surround sound, lossless stereo, and on my gundam dvds straight PCM! Thankfully newer releases are easing off only having a meh remix available
4- vhs(a shocker I know!) picture quality : (today) big ole 5/10 for well taken care of tapes less for others. (in the day and on my sd crt) 7/10. It got the job done, got physical media and their players into peoples homes. Also had recording, something that (easily for the common grandma/grandpa) the others dont and put when we watch the shows in our hands. audio: on non long play tapes it was ok. Though once hifi became a thing on VHS man it was pretty nice. Close to cd quality right on my vhs player. Also usually had the stereo/mono track right from the film on it. Honestly on both vhs and laserdisc their audio quality(if done right) is probably their biggest modern strength. Put the disc in and hit play. no menu bs to deal with and i can fast forward beginning ads
5 - DVD picture quality: today eh 7/10, progressive scan players/remxes make a big difference man. in the day/on my crt 8/10 to 10/10 depending on the transfer. Im still impressed by how good some of the transfers are, especially compared to badly DNR'd blurays and later releases audio: a REALLY mixed bag, some films got new remixes to market DD 5.1 as a big feature. So the meh af remix for marketing started here, as did shipping films with just the remix keeping the original mix from our ears from then til now in a lot of cases. But for the films that already had(or could simulate) a 5.1 track, be it they were made in the with a 5.1 6 channel magnetix mix on 70mm film 4.2 baby boom 70mm magnetic with the surround mirrored and the .2 all sent to the .1, even taking the 4.0 stereo matrix and just mirroring the surround like disney did for a some ghibli movies, and of course the native DD/dts movies. Yeah those sounded great! For the few stereo only releases on dvd though, they were really done wrong. 192kb bit rate, just disgraceful. Especially when the same sound track on laserdisc would be pcm, and the dvd had room to do a stereo only track/movie at 448kb like for surround sound.
and thats all ive done so far. Maybe i'll get to try more in the future Nice review. Can you tell about your setup a little bit? I assume you use Plex or similar as media serves/streamer?
_________________ Coming Soon Derman Labs Anything Of Substance
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ccode91
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Post subject: Re: Rank the home media hard copyformats you're experienced Posted: 14 Jan 2020, 16:20 |
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Joined: 02 Jan 2020, 02:57 Posts: 14 Location: United States Has thanked: 0 time Been thanked: 3 times
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substance wrote:
Nice review. Can you tell about your setup a little bit? I assume you use Plex or similar as media serves/streamer?
Plex, and also 2TB external hdd for travel. I take my older roku and a powered usb hub with me to watch stuff at cons in my room or if Im on vacation. I used a modded LG bluray drive to rip everything from dvd to 4k. Gigabit home network, when i buy my new house in 2022 or so ima have 10gig put in every where. Got a surround sound system on every tv and my main pc. Also a 2001 or 2002 model 5.1 set up to go with my crt. Also got a 1080p or better gaming pc hooked to each tv to use as a combo HTPC or quick game pc incase I dont want to go to my main rig in my basement workshop at the time. For the laserdiscs I just carry that player from room to room where I wanna use it. Im considering digitizing them too but im not sure how best to do that and not break the bank. let alone how to record the digital sound tracks and keep both the LPCM intact and uncompressed and the DD/DTS tracks in tact as they are. Be it for just watching the laserdisc copies from my plex server or muxing their audio(when its superior) to a bluray copy. probably should look into that...
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elahrairrah
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Post subject: Re: Rank the home media hard copyformats you're experienced Posted: 21 Jan 2020, 20:20 |
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Joined: 30 Aug 2005, 15:38 Posts: 3425 Location: New Jersey Has thanked: 79 times Been thanked: 152 times
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1. Blu-ray - yeah, yeah, blasphemy that LD isn't #1, but I can't really complain too much about the format. Especially since we're getting a lot more obscure releases from studio catalogs on blu that in some cases never came out on DVD or LD. Just wish the soundtrack mixes were the original theatrical mixes.
2. LD - great sound, good picture quality and a lot of content not available on any other disc format. Shame we never got that backward compatible, component video LD-XR format that was once in development, but what you gonna do?
3. HD-DVD - only got into this format because I saw a deal for a player and discs I'd be stupid to pass up on Craigslist a few years ago. Was suitably impressed by the Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks on several of the discs (helped that the player I got, Toshiba HD-XA2 had 6 channel outputs.) Just that since it was on the market for so little time, not too much content to find on it.
4. DVD - yeah, the usurper. But after it killed off LD, what else were you going buy movies on? VHS? Hell no. If only the studios, when releasing a title that had a stereo soundtrack, would release it in LPCM rather than Dolby Digital 2.0 (if they gave you a stereo mix at all.) Unfortunately, it only looks like they did that on music video releases. Still, I was able to finally see several titles in OAR on DVD for the first time since they weren't released on LD. So can't really complain about that.
5. Digital8 - Sure, you can't get pre-recorded movies on these (you can get Video8 movies which you can play back on Digital8, but I never bothered.) For a short time in late 90s, early 00s, this and MiniDV were the best recording formats you could get at home before recordable DVD came along. Granted I only had a Digital8 camcorder--but it did allow you to record from other sources to the A/V outputs/inputs (and there were standalone Digital8 decks if you so wanted.)
6. S-VHS - yes there were pre-recorded titles released on this format (as few and far between as they might be), and it was a considerable upgrade over standard VHS (even if you didn't get any more color resolution.) I used to rent LDs from a couple of video stores near me for a while and make an S-VHS recording of the movie to hold on to as it did a pretty good job of duplicating the LD picture (at least on CRTs back then!) Also good for making recordings of PPV boxing and MMA events back in the day. Still have two working S-VHS VCRs in my HT setup and bedroom!
7. VCD - many are saying this is worse than VHS, and I can agree in some respects since I tend to REALLY hate MPEG tiling artifacts. However, the random access and not having to rewind the thing gives it a little bit of an edge over the magnetic tape option. Plus, when you've visited Hong Kong as many times as I have and wanted to grab as many movies as you could (since LDs were still really damn pricey back then), this was the way to go (especially since VHS in Hong Kong was all PAL--LD and VCD were NTSC.) Just had make to sure you bought your movies at HMV or another reputable video store if you wanted to avoid crappy bootlegs.
8. Betamax - granted I didn't start using Betamax until the 2000s, but I can definitely say it IS better than VHS--kind of. It's better if you're making your own recordings, but if you're getting pre-recorded tapes, you're not going to notice any difference between Beta and VHS since just about ALL pre-recorded Betas are in BII speed. Probably also helps that I use two of the best Betamax VCRs out there in the SL-HF750 and the SL-HF2100. I still need to make a Beta vs VHS and SuperBeta Hi-Band vs S-VHS comparison video one of these days.
8. VHS - it was the format that made me a true movie buff since after my family getting one and my dad taking me to this magical place called a "video rental store" almost any movie that I had hoped to see that I read about in books were available to see (and I didn't have to hope that it aired on TV at 2AM or so.) Unfortunately, I didn't learn until much later that how much of a bad quality format it was (until I saw a Dragon's Lair video game spooling off some amazing LD video then seeing a proper LD player doing its thing in a Radio Shack way back when.) Things got a little better when I upgraded to a stereo 4-head VHS VCR, but it wasn't much more than putting lipstick on a pig. You have to give it credit though--it lasted some 30+ years. I don't think any other video format, pro or home, can lay claim to that.
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