Is it still worth buying Blu-rays?

Duncan – exactly as I used to do regarding audio. However, at the house move earlier this year my (pretty substantial) vinyl collection – including a low number Beatles white album, went to a hospice shop – I can rebuy on line as CDs or loss-free download as the mood takes me. I spent a couple of dozen evenings a few years ago streaming my CD collection to MP3 format on a NAS – for local use (the drive whizzed up to an incredible speed – just as well they were in balance). I have all the CDs of course, but now in the loft – as proof of ownership lest the RAID5 gets a raid (sorry) – but NAS is more convenient for listening wherever given the plethora of CAT6 in the house. I do realise that now all the agencies in the world know my music tastes (remarkably similar to yours, with early stuff dominated by Bing, Ella and Ink Spots), but I don’t mind.

Of course that was a few years ago – and at a good bit rate. However, now I have a better hi fi – and the difference between what I thought was “perfect” MP3 and WMA is quite significant – so the exercise will be repeated, this time loss-free (the RAID array has been supplemented with an umpty terabvyte one so this will only take up a small corner).

This comment was removed at the request of the user

My mother used to like Pat Boone. My take – lovely songs (particularly the ballads – “I’ll be home, Friendly Persuasion, April Love..) but he couldn’t sing for toffee! Wavered, whispered… couldn’t sustain… A couple of his on vinyl were in the collection – Great, Great Great and Moonglow. Elvis on the other hand had not only a cracking repertoire of tunes, but an unwavering sustain capability and a damned good backing group. His up tempo/ R & R and ballads hit the spot all ways. His versions of American Trilogy and Unchained Melody particularly bring his capabilities to the fore.

Talking of “white singers making money out of black singers’ songs… I remember there was a company called “reditune” which used to supply tapes to pubs back in the 70s which contained barely passable covers for a lot of famous songs. There was a particularly poor rendition of Stardust playing as my father and I were enjoying a pint in our local. MY father’s immortal line to the landlord… “Has Nat King Cole turned white?”

So far St Helena has raised ~£350 (including the gift aid) from my collection – and I’m sure there are some left. They had one chap there who clearly knew the wheat from the chaff so the white album would have probably fetched about a hundred.

This comment was removed at the request of the user

This comment was removed at the request of the user

I think there was a time when UK law almost got changed so as to legalise copying your own discs. I think we discussed it on Which? back then.

My experience of libdvdcss is that is can only decode some DVDs – to play all DVDs you really need proprietary software.

That said, I’m a big fan of Handbrake and used to use it to back up the DVDs that it could read.
PS – I’ve seldom ever bought Bluray discs but do find they give superior audio.

This comment was removed at the request of the user

On Windows, PowerDVD from the Cyberlink PowerDirector suite can be used for playing Blurays and DVDs. I have versions from Vista and Windows 7 days. The latter works on anything from XP to Windows 10. My copy came from a charity shop for £3.99.

This comment was removed at the request of the user

There are no Blu Ray or DVD titles I haven’t been able to decode. Macs are remarkably good at playing just about anything, in fact.

Ian, I think that ought to be the case for any software that has paid to licence the decoding algorithms – even on Linux.

If you were going to back-up DVD’s on Mac, what software might you use for that?

I think the problem with the freeware codecs is that, to avoid those fees, they are reverse engineered and so don’t quite manage all discs. In particular, I used to find that I could not use Handbrake on Linux to transcode all of the latest blockbusters. That said, Handbrake is still a useful tool for making compact and portable MP4 copies, e.g. for USB sticks playable on modern TV’s.

I’ve been using Handbrake for years, Derek; nothing comes close, frankly. Most commercial offerings are built on Handbrake’s engine and the handbrake guys won’t even accept donations.

Decoding the latest Blu Rays almost always requires reloading a library or two, and WinX HD Video Converter for Mac is also quite nippy, as it can deal with you tube and other streaming services but for the trickiest discs nothing beats MKV.

With MKV it extracts the relevant files,but they still have to be processed with Handbrake to make them AppleTV-friendly. Generally I find you need to use three or four different packages to get the final product. The last is iDentify, which looks up the film or series, downloads the artwork and other information and parcels it up for iTunes to display.

The studios claim they use anti-copying tech to combat piracy but that doesn’t really stand up any more. The crims will always find a way to copy the film,even if it means sitting with a video cam in the cinema, so the only people they end up punishing is us – the honest ones who’ve actually bought the darned thing.

Perhaps the above posts should be…hidden? I don’t think we want Which? to be held culpable for encouraging ripping.

Oh dear!

Of course I copied all mine in that tiny window of opportunity….

Joking apart, I think I comply with the new law, certainly in spirit if not also letter. I have indeed made a copy of my entire collection for my personal use, but at the same time I have to all intents and purposes put the originals out of reach, so no sharing and only one active copy accessible to me. What say others?

Roger Pittock said 26 November 2019

Oh dear! Of course I copied all mine in that tiny window of opportunity….

Darn those pesky time stamps 🙂

Xtree sorts out timestamps. We discussed that a while ago – and I really need to buy it (not for fraud I hasten to add, this simply reminding me of the fantastic suite on offer, document and hex file compare being the two principal ones I’d use).

Sadly, not available for Mac. Unixtree is the closest.

I expect most Unix (e.g. MacOS) and Linux systems have readily available utilities covering Xtree’s functions.

This comment was removed at the request of the user

Duncan, does ytree do document and hex file compare? I’d usually use diff or kompare for the former and don’t ever do the latter.

This comment was removed at the request of the user

Thanks Duncan – that looks yet another “Norton Commander” clone. It doesn’t seem to offer much beyond semi-gui file management for terminals. Do you actually use it yourself?

This comment was removed at the request of the user

No bother – but, for Linux terminals find, touch and rsync probably already cover those tasks…

They’re no use unless you have access to a player…

If you have a player and a nice TV, then they do give better quality video and sound than DVDs.

The other point is that the standard of mastering – certainly in the early days – was rather variable. Not all Blu Rays are created equal…

I don’t doubt that they are better but I don’t get a great deal of enjoyment from sitting in front of a screen.

I’m currently working through a boxed set of BBT (Big Bang Theory) which certainly has it moments 🙂

We’ve just finished it – for the second time. It’s good, partly because some of the characters do remind me of people I met at Uni, but I think the writers did seem to make Sheldon less likeable in series 11 and 12.

We don’t even have any DVD’s now, although there is a DVD player lurking in a cupboard somewhere.

We always found it difficult to find films we wanted to see again on a small screen and even fewer we would wish to watch more than once at home. We do watch [and occasionally record] old films on Talking Pictures TV though.

This comment was removed at the request of the user

Agreed, Duncan . . . but some of the old British films are quite enjoyable when you ignore the awful sets, the stilted diction, the hammy acting, and the trite plots.

Well, the sets have improved; still not too sure about the trite plots. But the same can be applied to films from the US. A Wonderful Life is a prime example. Regularly feted as the ‘best’ film of its genre, it’s beset by the technical limitations of its day.

Generally, I think both TV and cinema output have stayed about the same quality here and in the US, while the Australians, who were late starters, have made impressive strides.

The equipment needed to make a film or TV programme has plummeted in price and leapt in quality over the past 15 years. What’s not really changed is the abilities of those who produce them, as opposed to those who direct them.

Making a quality show is dependent on a really good director, excellent actors and superb writers. If any one of those three is lacking then it won’t be good.

Like John, I’m not keen on watching films more than once, so it’s not worth buying DVDs. On the other hand I have listened to the same CDs many times.

As with good books there are films that are worth seeing again. I don’t subscribe to streaming services so rely on a small collection of DVDs (and tapes) with an eye on the tv schedule.

One attraction of some old films (usually British B&W) on Talking Pictures” (channel 81) is the location shots showing life as it used to be; people, transport, buildings, industry………

Generally, I see films as something to watch when there is nothing more constructive to do. At the moment the sun is out (unexpectedly) so I’m about to build a cold frame in readiness for the next growing season.

I’m a bit of the two extremes of movies I love. I love fantasy and sci-fi that doesn’t take itself too seriously. And for that watching in HD is the best choice.

But the others I love are the story led films with few special effects and the effects that were there were delightfully home made and you could watch them on an old B&W TV and it would make no difference.

On a completely off topic note…

When I was a kid my favourite films that if they remade now they would ruin are: Darby O’Gill and the little people (such bad accents and full of naff stereotypes but somehow I still love it), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Goonies and Honey I shrunk the kids.

One they have not ruined was the new Mary Poppins. You could tell the special effects were better but it wasn’t so sleek that it removed the soul. And they used the old school animation style – that touch made me very happy!

Aaah! “…..old school…” reminds me of end of term. My school used to show a film all the inmates before release, usually something semi-educational like “The living desert”. But one year they chose “The Belles of St. Trinians” which went down particularly well with the audience. I still enjoy it on the very rare occasions it reappears.

We got Henry V…

I do enjoy watching some things again: Sci Fi space operas, such as Star Wars, the Alien Franchise (1 and 2, anyway) reward repeat viewing, if only to spot continuity errors or SFX missed the first time around.

Classic comedy also rewards: The Good Life, M*A*S*H. BBT, Drop the Dead Donkey and several others are still funny, even years after they were made. Python also endures, although not Fawlty Towers.

“The Plank” was a shortish film that bears repeat watching, for casual amusement, from time to time. I prefer the original with Eric Sykes and Tommy Cooper to the remake with Arthur Lowe

My vote for the best sitcom series ever goes to One Foot in the Grave. It was consistently funny [agonisingly so at times], had fairly unpredictable plots, was blessed with great characters and actors, and was garnished with the most exquisite dramatic irony in the story lines.

I liked The Plank. Another in that vein – The Picnic….

This comment was removed at the request of the user

It’s a Samsung, Model UE40F6320AK.

This comment was removed at the request of the user

Not having a smart TV, I either plug the TV into a laptop, which Sophie mentioned, or just watch iPlayer on the laptop.

I do not have a smart tv either and go online by my smartphone or pc. Sometime I link an iPad to the tv through Apple tv. However, surely if a tv loses some of the apps that were originally present you don’t just replace it; you get one of the plug-in devices that makes it smarter?

Indeed.

Thanks, Duncan. I had to double check because it was a while ago, but I did set up the updates to be made automatically. Bizarrely, however, there were some apps to be updated in the Settings area, but not the STV Player.

I tried pressing and holding the select button on the app a few times, but it just opened the app each time.

I checked the version of the STV Player app I’ve got and it’s the same as the one you can download from Samsung’s list. I deleted the old app and installed the new one to see if it works. I haven’t tried yet, but I suspect it’s just the app that’s rubbish. If this “new” app doesn’t work I’ll just carry on with plugging in the laptop.