Why I Don’t Buy Digital Movies

With the availability of iTunes and other digital video services, I hear a lot of people talk about how they don’t buy DVDs any longer.  I hear things like “I don’t want to take up space with all of those cases” or “my kids destroy DVDs” – which make sense, but at the same time I can’t bring myself to give up my physical media.

For me, though, digital video distribution (DVD?) plays a supporting role rather than the primary role in building my video collection.  I don’t purchase movies digitally – I buy the discs.  Almost always Blu-ray discs, actually, since normally when I watch movies they’re being projected on a 100” screen, and DVD can fall apart at that size.  So do streaming services, to some degree, as well, but this isn’t the reason I choose not to invest in digital.  It’s more basic than that.

The main reason is that I don’t trust that these services are going to be around in ten years.  And I don’t want my investment to be lost.

History already tells us that we can’t rely on these services, no matter who is backing them.  Several big players have already tried and failed, including Wal-Mart and Target.  And when they fail, you lose what you’ve bought.

I know what you’re thinking… that Apple’s iTunes isn’t going to go away.  Maybe not.  At least not now.  But can you actually believe that Apple, if they’re still around in 20 years, is still going to be supporting a service that old?  They don’t support any services more than a few years old now.  There’s just no way that they’ll actually still make your movies available to you that far in the future.  Technology changes too fast.  Twenty years in the technology world is an eternity.  Very few tech companies make it that long. 

Owning the discs ensures that I’ll be able to watch them 10, 15, or more years in the future.  Even if (when) manufacturers stop making Blu-ray players in the future, the players I own today will still play those discs moving forward.  Yes, we’ll see improvements in picture quality with new tech like 4K and HDR moving forward, but Blu-ray is pretty good – it’s virtually the same level of quality currently projected in your local theater – and many movies have actually been shot in HD-like resolution, so in those cases a higher quality version usually doesn’t even exist.  And unless you’re sitting really close to very large screen, newer technologies won’t even provide any additional discernable picture detail. (Though HDR, if it catches on, has the potential to improve things considerably.)

The other big reason I still buy discs is convenience.  I don’t want to be without a way to watch a movie if my Internet goes down, I’m travelling somewhere where I don’t have Internet access, or it isn’t fast enough to stream a movie reliably.  Maybe in 5-10 years our Internet access will be more reliable and high speed will be more ubiquitous, but I just can’t count on it.  And will the streaming service you’ve invested n still be around at that time?  There’s no way to know.

That said, it isn’t like I don’t use digital video services, because I do.  They’re just my backup.  Most movies I buy come with a code to unlock digital versions.  And if they don’t, I’ve really found Vudu’s Disc-to-Digital program to be very handy.  (Tip: If you use the service, do the conversions at home on your own computer, and convert more than 10 discs at a time for a 50% discount.) I can’t convert all of my movies to digital, but I can certainly convert enough of them that I’m generally not left wanting when I want to stream a movie. I’ve got 241 on Vudu right now, so I’ve got plenty to choose from.

In any case, I know that everyone’s situation is different.  But I would encourage you to think about the future when making your video purchases.  Would you care if your selected service shut down in 5 years?  Would it bother you if you lost your investment because they’ve gone belly-up, or choose not to support it any longer?  It’s something to consider.

Cleaning an HDTV Screen

Over time our fancy HDTVs tend to collect streaks, fingerprints, and even dust.  We’re all tempted to use glass cleaner to clean the screens, but because of the unique coatings on the display glass, glass cleaner can damage the screen.

We also need to be careful about the cloth used to clean the screen.  Paper towels, for example, are really made of small bits of wood fibers, and they will permanently scratch the display.  Household towels contain a large amount of lint that can also do damage to the glass. 

So what should you use?

For the cloth, pick something made of a microfiber.  And preferably brand new, or at a minimum one that has been washed with nothing but other microfiber cloths.

For the cleaning solution, use a 50/50 mix of rubbing alcohol and distilled water.  Do not use tap or filtered water; both contain minerals that will be left behind on your screen.  And I’d have to recommend avoid using anything else, including electronics cleaning products.  Few are designed to be safe for HDTV coatings.

When cleaning, don’t apply a lot of pressure.  If something on the screen is reluctant to come off it’s better to make multiple passes than to rub vigorously. 

To keep it clean, try not to touch the screen. And remind others to do the same.  Fingerprints are very distracting on TV screens, and can be hard to remove.

Digital TV Transition

It seems like most of the people I've talked to about the switch to digital-only television next February don't really have a firm understanding of what is going to happen, or how (or if) it is going to affect them. So here's the rundown:

• On February 17, 2009 all over-the-air analog television transmissions will be shut off. All broadcast television will then only be done in digital form.
  
• If you receive your television over an antenna ("rabbit ears" or rooftop for example) and the TV does not have an ATSC digital tuner, you will no longer receive programming.
  
• Televisions with compatible digital tuners are typically larger-sized HDTVs manufactured in the last 2-3 years. The tuners have been slowly integrated into smaller and smaller TVs during that time. If your television is more than 3 years old it probably doesn't have an appropriate tuner. If it is not high definition it almost certainly doesn't have a digital tuner. If you aren't sure about your television, look in the manual for "ATSC Tuner."
  
• If you can already watch high definition programming from an antenna you already have what you need for the changeover.
  
• If you receive your television programming via a satellite dish on your house, you are not affected by the switch. (Dish Network and DirecTV have always been digital.)
  
• If you receive your programming via analog cable, you may be affected by the change; it is up to the cable company as to whether they make the switch to all-digital or not. Most companies have pledged to not require digital tuners initially, but this is almost certain to change over time, and at some point cable companies will probably require digital cable boxes or tuners too. Contact your cable provider for information about how they are handling the change.
  
• The U.S. Government has a voucher program that allows each household in the country to receive up to two $40 credit vouchers for purchasing converter boxes to allow older TVs to receive digital programming. Currently the converter boxes are available at Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, and other stores, starting at $50 each. Sign up for the voucher program at https://www.dtv2009.gov/ApplyCoupon.aspx.
  
• The reason that this is taking place is that digital programming uses less of the radio spectrum, and a significant portion of the radio spectrum is being reallocated from television broadcast to other services, such as cell phones and wireless data cards for laptops. The benefit for consumers is that digital transmissions are much clearer and many (most prime-time) programs will be in high definition. Each channel can now also carry multiple sub-channels, so each broadcaster can have multiple programs running simultaneously.
  

The government has a web site for information about the transition at www.dtv2009.gov. There is a lot of useful information there. Another good web site for information is www.dtvtransition.org.

Just got an HD-DVD Player

Yes, the format has been abandoned. But the players are excellent upscaling players for DVDs, and the HD-DVDs are getting cheap. Plus I already had 10 movies on HD-DVD because I have the Xbox add-on HD-DVD drive. So anyway, I got the Toshiba HD-A30 for $129. And Brent bought one too.

I just picked up a handful more movies and season 1 of Heroes on HD-DVD, and they look amazing.

HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray

I was researching HD-DVD and Blu-ray for an online posting, and some of the information I found is pretty interesting. Here's some of what I found, based on information from www.blu-raystats.com and Wikipedia.

HD-DVDs are nearly all released on its higher capacity 30GB format. As of this writing, 51.97% of Blu-Ray discs are released in the lower capacity 25GB BD25 format. Thus the apparent size advantage of Blu-Ray isn't currently being utilized by slightly approximately half of the currently published BR discs. The HD-DVD specification was recently updated to support 17GB per layer, up to three layers (or 51GB) per disc. Blu-Ray officially supports one or two data layers up to 50GB total.

38.11% of Blu-Ray discs are released in the MPEG-2 format. This is the older format that has been blamed for poor video quality on early Blu-ray discs. While the 50GB BD50 discs with MPEG-2 are certainly better than the 25GB BD25 discs, AVC and VC-1 encoded discs offer much better image quality, even comparing these formats in a 25GB format to a 50GB MPEG-2 disc.

Before buying a Blu-Ray disc, check the www.blu-raystats.com site to make sure it isn't a 25GB MPEG-2 disc, as these are the ones with image quality problems. A 50GB MPEG-2 disc will look fine for movies of average (or shorter) length as long as there isn't much bonus material on the disc. I am not aware of any general image quality issues with HD-DVD discs.

Other format differences: HD-DVD supports Managed Copy which allows you to copy your movies to a home theater PC, though I'm not aware of any implementations of this just yet. Blu-ray does not have any such capability.

HD-DVD has more interactivity features than the BD 1.0 specification, though BD 1.1 attempts to address this. In the real world, this means that HD-DVD discs currently tend to offer more visually appealing menus and more disc features. This is likely to change slowly with the adoption of the BD 1.1 and 2.0 specification.

Both formats support the same video formats. Audio format capabilities are effectively about the same, with some variation on which competing formats are utilized for different levels of compression. Both support uncompressed audio in at least 7.1 channels.

Both formats support full 1080p resolution at regular TV refresh rates as well as 24p, with effectively all movies being released in that format. The implementation on the discs is slightly different, but the data is the same. Some HD-DVD players only output up to 1080i, but many 1080p TVs are fully able to reproduce the original 1080p signal for display. To take advantage of a smooth 24p-based cadence, players in either format must be connected to a 72 or 120Hz television via HDMI. Connecting to any other type of television or using any other type of connection will result in 3:2 pull-down being added to output video at 60 Hz.

Movie studio support for the two formats is pretty much a toss-up, with current offerings in both camps having almost exactly equal numbers of titles available.

HD-DVD does not have any region coding requirement, so you are always free to import discs from overseas and play them on any player. Blu-Ray uses three region codes (A,B,C) to make sure that encoded discs are not played in regions other than those they are intended for, similar to the way that DVDs are region coded now. This in some cases is a disdvantage for HD-DVD, as sometimes a disc release for a short time is delayed while the movie continues to show in theaters elsewhere in the world.

In several cases if you are not able to obtain a movie title on the format of choice in your home country, it might be available on the other format elsewhere. If you have elected to use Blu-ray as your format of choice you need to make sure that the disc you are purchasing from overseas will play in your region, however.

Some/many HD-DVD discs are available in a "combo" format (usually at a higher cost) which contains the high definition version of a disc on one side, with a standard DVD version available on the opposite side for playback in regular DVD equipment. Blu-ray does not offer a similar capability.

Discs prices are pretty similar between the two formats, with both being significantly more expensive than DVDs.