Random Thoughts Thread

[marurun]

Bluray players just play digital video streams encoded in particular formats. Nothing saying it can't decode a native 4x3 resolution video stream. Many publishers choose not to, but that doesn't mean it can't be done.

[Markies]

Good luck on the move!

The move went surprisingly well. I had two friends help me on Friday and Saturday and we were able to move everything. Had about 70 or so boxes along with my large items.

I went back to the apartment on Sunday to do the final cleaning and grab the last few items.

I took off today as the guy came by to setup my phone and internet. Everything seems to be working and I am back to normal.

I should finish the last few boxes today and then I should be gaming again on Wednesday.

There are some things I need to pick up for the house, but those can wait as I slowly get used to the house.

[Ack]

Congratulations, man! Welcome to your new digs and back onto the forum.

[RCBH928]

I forgot DVDs had 4:3 movies, such a 90s thing... i just assumed they were all 16:9. They probably were since maybe like 2010 at least.

4:3 isn't square, to begin with. I was never bothered with black bars in either configuration.

I had to look that up, it seemed pretty square to me. Well... close enough.

[MrPopo]

I forgot DVDs had 4:3 movies, such a 90s thing... i just assumed they were all 16:9. They probably were since maybe like 2010 at least.

4:3 isn't square, to begin with. I was never bothered with black bars in either configuration.

I had to look that up, it seemed pretty square to me. Well... close enough.

Please tell me that you didn't have to look up the fact that 4 is a larger number than 3, and thus something that is 4:3 would be a rectangle, not a square.

[RCBH928]

I forgot DVDs had 4:3 movies, such a 90s thing... i just assumed they were all 16:9. They probably were since maybe like 2010 at least.

4:3 isn't square, to begin with. I was never bothered with black bars in either configuration.

I had to look that up, it seemed pretty square to me. Well... close enough.

Please tell me that you didn't have to look up the fact that 4 is a larger number than 3, and thus something that is 4:3 would be a rectangle, not a square.

You have to know that I am not expert on the topic of screen sizes and resolutions and thus I did not know that the ratio of 4:3 means 4 parts width to 3 parts height. I just know the old tv dimension is represented by the ratio 4:3 and the wide screen dimension is represented by 16:9.

Just as much as I do not know the chemical formulation behind Gasoline and Diesel, I just know one is called Gas and the other is Diesel.

[RCBH928]

I went for some bluray/dvd online shopping and was surprised that some popular titles and less than obscure ones were not available for purchase. One title I was surprised not to find was "Election" on Bluray. I think they are asking $40 for a used copy. On the opposite side of things, I was surprised to find a new dvd of a film that I doubt any one on earth still remembers other than me which is "The Great White Hype".

Note if you are in the US you probably don't have to deal with this since the US market is probably better than the rest of the world combined. The only reason I had to go with UK stores is that I am in a region 2/B country, and getting US titles will not work here. Even the US covers look better. If I got a US Bluray player it will blow up due to the voltage differences (US110v-UK220v).

Also, I am kind of glad dvd/bluray prices dropped to around $5-15 range. Not sure how it was in the rest of the world but I think back in VHS days a title could cost up to $40. Boxsets would be in the comfortable range of $180 easy.

[isiolia]

That can be a matter of print runs for a given title, and happened with DVDs too. You'll see prices spike on the secondhand market until there's another run done, or a new edition. Thing is, those can also be regional, so you may actually find EU releases/editions that never hit the US. Looks to me like Election got an earlier US Blu-ray release that's largely sold out, but got a Criterion one a couple years ago that's still in stock (but not cheap, because Criterion).

While region protection was basically a given for DVDs, it's more optional for Blu-ray. Logically speaking, the common Full HD video format is the same 1080p 24fps worldwide, so there's rarely a technical reason for it like there was with NTSC and PAL. Last I've seen, the majority of Blu-rays are region free - though not to the degree of, say, PS3/4 games that only have a handful of titles with region protection. I think wikipedia says something like 70% are region free. So, common enough that you shouldn't write off importing US discs, but still something you'd be better off checking first on. We sometimes get oddities where a EU release is cheaper, leading to oddly inexpensive box sets on Amazon (I have an Alien one like that, and a Coen brothers one).

If you did want to import a US player, it really shouldn't be hard to find one that'll work without a transformer. Smaller ones often use an external power supply that you could (at worst) swap with a compatible one. Stuff like an Xbox One S may handle 100-240V 50/60hz anyway. Also seems like Amazon has players advertised as being region free.

[RCBH928]

That can be a matter of print runs for a given title, and happened with DVDs too. You'll see prices spike on the secondhand market until there's another run done, or a new edition. Thing is, those can also be regional, so you may actually find EU releases/editions that never hit the US. Looks to me like Election got an earlier US Blu-ray release that's largely sold out, but got a Criterion one a couple years ago that's still in stock (but not cheap, because Criterion).

While region protection was basically a given for DVDs, it's more optional for Blu-ray. Logically speaking, the common Full HD video format is the same 1080p 24fps worldwide, so there's rarely a technical reason for it like there was with NTSC and PAL. Last I've seen, the majority of Blu-rays are region free - though not to the degree of, say, PS3/4 games that only have a handful of titles with region protection. I think wikipedia says something like 70% are region free. So, common enough that you shouldn't write off importing US discs, but still something you'd be better off checking first on. We sometimes get oddities where a EU release is cheaper, leading to oddly inexpensive box sets on Amazon (I have an Alien one like that, and a Coen brothers one).

If you did want to import a US player, it really shouldn't be hard to find one that'll work without a transformer. Smaller ones often use an external power supply that you could (at worst) swap with a compatible one. Stuff like an Xbox One S may handle 100-240V 50/60hz anyway. Also seems like Amazon has players advertised as being region free.

I hate it when they use a completely different cover, makes it hard to identify movies. I saw that title and skipped it I thought it was some obscure film with the same name. I have been bothered a lot with Netflix using that exact same technique.

I believe they still region lock discs to make their titles reasonably priced for different household incomes world wide. Ex...A BD disc will sell different price in Bangladesh on the opposite of Switzerland. I know that many are region free, but somehow the ones I want are mostly region locked including that Criterion Election Bluray that you suggested. I know there are modded BD player too, but for their price ($150-200), I don't think you get any guarantees and I believe every couple of years Bluray Disc Association releases new firmware updates to make newer titles playable. Its a supposedly piracy protection technique. If you don't update, the newer titles won't play. Thats what I have been told at least...

I will guess if your player is modded and you update, it will malfunction...just like in the console world.

[jp1]

That can be a matter of print runs for a given title, and happened with DVDs too. You'll see prices spike on the secondhand market until there's another run done, or a new edition. Thing is, those can also be regional, so you may actually find EU releases/editions that never hit the US. Looks to me like Election got an earlier US Blu-ray release that's largely sold out, but got a Criterion one a couple years ago that's still in stock (but not cheap, because Criterion).

While region protection was basically a given for DVDs, it's more optional for Blu-ray. Logically speaking, the common Full HD video format is the same 1080p 24fps worldwide, so there's rarely a technical reason for it like there was with NTSC and PAL. Last I've seen, the majority of Blu-rays are region free - though not to the degree of, say, PS3/4 games that only have a handful of titles with region protection. I think wikipedia says something like 70% are region free. So, common enough that you shouldn't write off importing US discs, but still something you'd be better off checking first on. We sometimes get oddities where a EU release is cheaper, leading to oddly inexpensive box sets on Amazon (I have an Alien one like that, and a Coen brothers one).

If you did want to import a US player, it really shouldn't be hard to find one that'll work without a transformer. Smaller ones often use an external power supply that you could (at worst) swap with a compatible one. Stuff like an Xbox One S may handle 100-240V 50/60hz anyway. Also seems like Amazon has players advertised as being region free.

I hate it when they use a completely different cover, makes it hard to identify movies. I saw that title and skipped it I thought it was some obscure film with the same name. I have been bothered a lot with Netflix using that exact same technique.

I believe they still region lock discs to make their titles reasonably priced for different household incomes world wide. Ex...A BD disc will sell different price in Bangladesh on the opposite of Switzerland. I know that many are region free, but somehow the ones I want are mostly region locked including that Criterion Election Bluray that you suggested. I know there are modded BD player too, but for their price ($150-200), I don't think you get any guarantees and I believe every couple of years Bluray Disc Association releases new firmware updates to make newer titles playable. Its a supposedly piracy protection technique. If you don't update, the newer titles won't play. Thats what I have been told at least...

I will guess if your player is modded and you update, it will malfunction...just like in the console world.

I own a region free (hard modded) Sony BD player that can work in multiple regions because the power supply is entirely external. I haven't updated it, although the seller claims I could, no problems playing anything yet. Here in the states they are cheap enough to own a couple if you are worried about updates, you can keep a region locked machine and update that one while leaving your region free player untouched. In my case, my 4k player is not modded (no need as all 4k discs are region free), so if I were to need an update to play something I would simply update that player.

That said I haven't seen a compatibility update in years.