YANG
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Feb 10, 1999
- Messages
- 1,323
Hmmm... rejoice with a TechGeek chiping in?
Bingo.As others said, you don't have to explain it. Hobbies are whatever interests you. It doesn't have to interest anyone else. It does not affect them and it's none of their business. People collect all sorts of things that others find useless: stamps, coins, tiny ceramic animal figurines, commemorative plates, etc. Up until a few years ago, no one cared about vinyl records any more. Now Walmart is selling them again.
For me, it's mostly about availability and access. It's unlikely you'll find everything you have on disc available for streaming, and the continued access to those that may be available is not guaranteed. As long as your disc is readable and you have a functional player, you should always have those titles.
Then there's the issue of cost. Even if the titles are available for streaming, you may need to subscribe to 17 different services, paying never-ending monthly fees, to maintain access to them all while hoping none of them drop the titles you're interested in watching. You can buy a disc for a few dollars and it's yours forever for no additional cost.
Going along with this - my more recent Blu players will typically stop working after about a 1 year - 1 1/2 years
That seems unusual to me. If it happened once, I’d chalk it up to the player being a lemon, but if your players are consistently dying after about a year, with respect, it might be worth looking into environmental factors in your home that could be contributing to their premature demise.
Interesting that Blu-ray functionality goes while DVD functionality remains. They each use a separate laser, a red one for DVD/CD and a blue one for BD. The data written on BD discs is physically much smaller etchings on the disc and the blue laser is more capable of reading those tinier markings but the smaller size of the markings means it’s much easier for them to become obscured by even the tiniest amount of dust, whereas the same amount of dust wouldn’t necessarily disrupt the red laser reading a DVD.
If you have pets in the house, pet hair and/or dander can easily make it onto discs or inside the player. Same for dust and microscopic debris.
Would recommend trying a laser cleaner for the player and soft, non-abrasive cloth wipes for the discs.
The general concern in the community about blu ray players becoming obsolete or rare where no manufacturers bring them to market is not based on any evidence or reasoning.Some musings/thoughts about Blu players:
What I've already seen discussed online amongst physical media aficionados/fans is the slight concern that they may stop manufacturing Blu players at some point in the future. I've already noticed that some (though not all) retail stores have stopped carrying them - due to the popularity/prevalence of streaming, etc. However, Thankfully you can easily go online & still find them for sale.
Going along with this - my more recent Blu players will typically stop working after about a 1 year - 1 1/2 years; I try to always get a warranty on them, but it's still disheartening that they last such a relatively short period of time.
At this point, what I've personally experienced re: my Blu players is that while they may stop playing Blu's, they will typically still play regular DVD's - so, keeping at least one of these players (that only plays DVD's) as a "back-up" is obviously a good idea.
And, taking this one step further - it's also obviously a good idea to have two working Blu players - so that if one breaks, you can always use the other one as a back-up, etc.
The general concern in the community about blu ray players becoming obsolete or rare where no manufacturers bring them to market is not based on any evidence or reasoning.
They will be cheaper to manufacture as time goes on due to many factors.
One major factor is patents.
Although not checked the patents on manufacturing blu ray players will probably be expiring soon in the near future.
Therefore, no company will be required to licence from the patent holder (Sony??) once it expires.
That will save costs. In all likelihood there will be an incentive for someone to bring a product to market.
If I am not mistaken the patent on DVD manufacturer has expired.
How easy is it to buy a player? There seem to be choices around and prices are really cheap.
How much were they when the technology was new?
All new technology is expensive at first as the manufacturer has to recoup the massive investment made in R & D.
That's why they have patents so companies have an incentive to design and invent new products whilst also having exclusive rights to licence out to any other company over a legal time frame.
I am not worried about lack of supply or choice of players in the near future or further down the line.
Good to know - Thank you for the feedback/advice. I don't have any pets, so I'm not sure why this is happening.
I will see if I can get a laser cleaner for the player & will also get non-abrasive wipes for the disks.
I am not worried about lack of supply or choice of players in the near future or further down the line.
As it is, there seems no solid replacement for Oppo in the marketplace so far for instance
I am not worried about lack of supply or choice of players in the near future or further down the line.
The high-end Panasonic players are widely considered to be the replacement for Oppo.
They aren't (on multiple scores) as far as I'm concerned (plus I have my beef w/ their designs and reliability in general even though I do use their 420 as my main movie disc player now), which is largely why I still haven't bought their otherwise seemingly pretty good 820 even when it dropped as low as ~$350 at one point.
Yes, they're probably the best options (outside of the audiophile world) in the current marketplace, but they are definitely no Oppos.
_Man_
The enthusiast community generally recommends the 820 as a successor to the Oppo.
I think VCR and laser disc is not a valid comparison to DVD or Blu Ray.The high-end Panasonic players are widely considered to be the replacement for Oppo.
Seen any new VCRs for sale lately? How about laserdisc players? 8 track? At some point, if sales decline below a certain level, and if software manufactures throw in the towel on discs, the hardware will follow suit. Hardware for this niche hobby of ours goes extinct all the time.
Yes, they're probably the best options (outside of the audiophile world) in the current marketplace, but they are definitely no Oppos.
_Man_
Quality of products is a different matter entirely.I didn't have pets either, but yeah, I also experienced somewhat similar issues as you, but not quite on all players I had, so it could certainly be some mix between mediocre design and/or QC *plus* your environment and how your players get used.
Still, I do think they simply don't make players like they used to (so to speak) on top of the fact that these higher density, higher precision tech are just much more prone to issues... and also makes one value apparently better made (and supported) players like Oppos that much more. But unfortunately, Oppo left the bizz quite long ago now (and not sure if they still provide servicing/repair support anymore)...
Anyway, yeah, I keep 2 players in my (main) HT setup partly to help extend each player's life, especially the Oppo (for various reasons), and partly to keep their usage for various formats (and region-locked playback) separated and more easily managed -- I use my Panny 420 for all 4K and regular BD playback while my Oppo 103 for other-region BDs and all music disc playback, including SACD (of course)... and have my Harmony remote programmed accordingly.
While I generally agree that some companies or other will keep making players (at whatever great or small scale) for a long time to come, I wouldn't assume player quality will remain all that good though. As it is, there seems no solid replacement for Oppo in the marketplace so far for instance (unless one counts the couple more expensive, audiophile-centric ones I guess, but I haven't really paid attention to those).
I haven't checked, but does Denon still make BD players and have they even ever made 4K players at all? They used to be roughly what Oppo became (and I guess supplanted them)... though maybe w/ somewhat lesser servicing support -- and the one $400-500 Denon universal DVD player I had started flaking out on DVDs w/in maybe 4-5 years soon after I jumped upto BDs w/ a PS3 IIRC, but it did keep playing CDs, including SACDs, perfectly fine... though I haven't used it in several years now (after I upgraded that home office setup to a gently used Oppo 95... though primarily for stereo music playback on good headphones)...
There will probably also be optical drives made primarily for computers, so even if no (particularly) good standalones are made anymore, one might well be able to go w/ some sorta HTPC (whether DIY or turnkey) or could probably just opt to rip everything for max quality local NAS streaming (w/ ever cheaper computing storage, etc costs) or the like -- maybe someone might even eventually offer affordable (enough) paid service for doing substantial library/collection rips perhaps for those of us not inclined to do so for ourselves (for whatever reasons)...
_Man_
Well, that depends on what you're looking for in a 4K UHD player. If you're primarily interested in high-quality video playback, the UB820 and UB9000 can't be beaten. I put both of these up against my Oppo UDP-203 and felt that both Pannies produced more detailed 4K and Blu-ray playback with my OLED display. It was somewhat subtle but definitely noticeable. The Oppo was slightly soft in comparison.
Now, if you were looking for a rock-solid universal player with SACD support, the Oppos couldn't be bested IMO. However, since Oppo is no longer producing disc players the comparison is somewhat moot unless you're willing to take the risk of buying a used machine.
Not owned a high end player such as Oppo so cannot comment on build quality in relation to that product.I don't care what many others think of it, but I know the 820 is not really comparable (at least on aspects that matter to me in a premium priced player). It's just what's best and comes closest in the current marketplace, but not actually really comparable (again, on multiple scores) -- and it doesn't come close enough for me to pay the premium over just going w/ the 420 to pair w/ my existing Oppo 103.
Same w/ the higher price 9000... though that one's priced lower than the Oppo it would've (sorta) competed against, if Oppo was still making theirs. I wouldn't normally consider spending $1K-plus for disc player, but by this point, I might if it actually checks all my desired boxes, including longevity/reliability/support, but Panasonic just doesn't check nearly enough of those boxes.
_Man_
Quality of products is a different matter entirely.
Whether there will be high end machines available for consumers is a separate issue and will depend on many factors.
Players should be sufficient for video and sound due to the standards set.
Any TV manufacturer that wishes to sell a TV with "4k" branding has to meet certain standards to be able to do so.
Things such as HDR and colour gamut need to meet certain standards so no company can sell any 4k TV that does not perform to the standards set.
The same will apply to official Blu Ray players that display the Blu Ray logo.
They will have to meet standards in relation to HD reproduction etc.
The choice of players might be low build quality but again I am confident there will be at least 1 company selling a high end machine going forward especially when the patents expire.
Furthermore, you have game consoles such as Playstation that play discs.
How many units of those are sold?
Do you think they are going to be obsolete any time soon?
Again there is too much worry without any justification about products vanishing from the market.