Bagfuls of hurt

[Rene Ritchie]

I decided I wanted to watch a BluRay to remind myself of what the quality difference was to iTunes or Netflix HD. So I turned on my PS3 and stuck in the disk.

My PS3 shouted that it hadn't properly been turned off (I get power failures), and began some sort of scan. It took long enough my TV lost the input and I had to switch it back to the right one. (Once I figured out which input that was -- I had to change it after my receiver decided it was no longer HDCP compliant and refused to pass on signals any more.)

Then my PS3 wanted a firmware update. I was already past 10 minutes.

Then I had to re-learn how to navigate that impenetrable cross-bar interface to first find the video icon, then the thumbnail for the damn movie. Finally I chose it.

Then I was told I needed new decryption keys. The last time that happened I had to set up Wi-Fi on the damn thing using a PS3 controller, which took forever due to the sucky interface and the length of my password. Luckily, this time it was just annoyingly long.

Finally the movie started. Though not really. It began to play trailers and ads, none of which were easily skip-able.

While that was going on, I grabbed another disk that advertised a digital copy. I bought it in 2009 but never bothered to pull the digital copy off. I figured anything was better at this point, so I stuck it in my Mac Pro and waited for it to load, then figured out I needed to open it in Finder and launch the DMG file.

That just set off an error saying PowerPC was no longer supported, and I could install whateverthe software they wanted me to install to move the damn copy to iTunes. (Apple announced the Intel in 2006.)

By that time the BluRay was actually ready to play, but the combination of Sony's terrible, DRM-bloated, Hollywood compromised software, and the awful user experience of both the player and plastic disk made me want to kick it instead.

I'm done with that medium. I can't wait for whatever figurative meteor extinguishes old Hollywood dinosaurs either.

 

[Chris Parsons]

And they wonder why piracy in the film industry is so rampant. Defective by design.

 

[suparcoder]

Sounds like your issue is with the PS3.

Really, it's not that hard if you've got a bluray player to just put the disk in and hit play, works for me.

 

[jclisenby]

Get a blu ray player. Or just stick to DVD. And maybe trade that PS in for an Xbox while you're at it.

 

[Will Price1]

Don't blame Blu-ray for your PS3 problem. Throw out your PS3 and buy a Blu-ray Player from this decade.

 

[Bibojim]

Yeah, what supracoder said. Never had a problem with a standard Blu-ray player, and both of mine are Sony players.

 

[JBaby_9783]

I'm with you! It's not worth it anymore. I would be done with all discs if everything could be streamed. Now I only do DVDs for CBS the few shows I like.

Why should he have to buy a BluRay player when he already has one considering he won't use often? That makes no sense to me.

 

[lfeuln]

Got to agree - just because the PS3 was the first "mainstream" player doesn't make it the best. A sub $100 standalone like my Dad got for Christmas should just play without constant updates. You do get the promos/ads of course.

That said, I'm not enough of a movie buff to have a collection and online/on demand rentals suffice for when I do want to watch.

 

[Norwichred]

I dread the day that my wonderful Blu ray player gets replaced by compressed digital downloads with lossy surround sound codecs and inferior picture quality. And the inability to play 3D.

Rene you're usually better than this. You have a problem with the PS3 - get a blu-ray player. They're only ?50

 

[gordol]

Don't blame the format for problems with your own equipment. Almost all of your current problem are with what you are using to play back the disk: the PS3. Get yourself a stand alone player and it'll be easier.

You can always Fast Foward throught the ads.

 

[MikeNNN]

I completely agree with the tenor of the responses. Your issues are with old hardware.

Other than commercials, I've set up 3 different BluRay players for myself and family members (a Sony and two Samsungs) over the past 3 years. I had one problem with the three year old model which an update fixed (it was with the Netflix app, not the disc playing). BluRays video and audio quality beats any of my streaming options.

I think you need a new player. I've seen them for less than $60 US in Costco.

 

[Rene Ritchie]

Some of the problems are with the PS3. Some of them are not.

1. How would a standard player handle the requirement for new decryption keys? That's a problem with the format.

2. How would a standard player handle Paramount or whomever putting a bunch of trailers and ads that insta-play before the movie, and in some cases are very tricky to skip? That's a problem with the distributor.

I'm not even getting into the ridiculousness that their uber-cumbersome DRM creates...

 

[Fausty82]

The music industry eventually learned that DRM was a bad deal... hopefully the MPAA will also learn that someday... I fear it won’t be in our lifetime.

And aside from the whole DRM thing, the most annoying part of watching a DVD experience is the damned unskip-able trailers and ads. You already gave them your money, now give us the movie. What a load of horsepucky.

 

[anon(4698833)]

The PS3 used to be the best Blu Ray player on the market...now it's just an ancient feature of the console. My Sony stand alone blu ray player i have in my living room makes the PS3's player seem like a VCR. That said, Blu Ray players are still ridiculously bloated with menus, firmware update necessities (mine is about 6 months old, and is probably the most updated piece of equipment in my entire entertainment unit...thankfully it has WiFi connectivity.

lol @ PowerPC...seriously? Time to move on.

BluRay discs are like the "Paid Programming" of the electronics world. It's hilarious how bad they have become...I don't buy many bluray discs anymore because of digital downloads, but It'd be interesting to see how much space on a blu ray disc is taken up by useless adverts, trailers and the like. My mom actually uses blurays a lot because of my nephews, and when I was trying to put a movie on for them over Xmas, i was reminded why my Bluray collection is just collecting dust.

 

[curious_incident]

The Blu-ray format is the problem, not the player. Blu-ray, which should have sprung from a basic specification for high-definition video and audio, turned into a monstrosity with bloated, useless, unneeded and unasked for "features".

Why should Rene, I, or anyone else have to upgrade a disc player to watch a simple movie? It's ridiculous. The only reason to upgrade would be to power through all the goo surrounding the content that you want to watch. Funny, the only reason I ever had to upgrade my old DVD players was because of equipment failure.

I do have a few Blu-ray discs. Once you fight your way to the content, the picture quality truly is amazing.

But even so, it's been quite a while since I bought a disc. Nowadays I get most of my content through streaming. I don't bother with discs much, or even digital downloads. Netflix has enough content to keep me busy, and I don't have to manage any media.

 

[crystal_planet]

Threads like this are a hoot. The PS3 is an awesome bluray player (but in terms of playing a media, there isn't all that much to differentiate different models) and bluray itself is still the premier media to watch pure 1080p and lossless audio on - I don't find downloaded content as good, but it is more convenient. I agree that consumers shouldn't have to endure ads, but previews? What, pressing the next button is too time consuming for you? Do you guys go to a theatre and storm out just because of the ads and previews?

 

[3cit]

Standard commercial bluray discs clock in at around 56gbs per disc.
The movie file is at maximum ("largest I've ever seen is avatar) is 26gb

So... I'll add an extra 25% for sound files and relevant extras (like behind the scenes crap)
50% movie 25% extras 25% crap!

I predict an all digital medium within 10 years. No more physical anything!

 

[3cit]

The biggest problem is that sometimes the previews and ads cannot be skipped. I'm not concerned that they are on there, but when I press the skip or menu button to try to start my movie the "operation not supported" message is infuriating.

more than infuriating!!!
the operation not supported as i try to skip has been known to put me into a blackout rage (incredible hulk style)
my wife thinks its great.. she laughs at me every time

 

[anon(4698833)]

Threads like this are a hoot. The PS3 is an awesome bluray player (but in terms of playing a media, there isn't all that much to differentiate different models) and bluray itself is still the premier media to watch pure 1080p and lossless audio on - I don't find downloaded content as good, but it is more convenient. I agree that consumers shouldn't have to endure ads, but previews? What, pressing the next button is too time consuming for you? Do you guys go to a theatre and storm out just because of the ads and previews?

Once you've purchased the product, why are the ad's and trailers forced on you? This wasn't the case for a LONG time with regular DVD's, you had a section of trailers, you had a section of ad's, you had a section of bonus features and extras and you had the movie. I don't care if the product has the stuff on it, but don't force feed it to me and make me HAVE to skip over the stuff! You can't use the theater analogy in the same way because the theater pays for a lot more than the movie with the trailers, ad's and extra stuff before the movie...when I'm at home, I'm watching a blu-ray on a player that I purchased, on a TV that i purchased, and on a disc that i purchased...the ad's and trailers should not be front runners to the movie at home, it should be the opposite.

 

[Just_Me_D]

Once you've purchased the product, why are the ad's and trailers forced on you? This wasn't the case for a LONG time with regular DVD's, you had a section of trailers, you had a section of ad's, you had a section of bonus features and extras and you had the movie. I don't care if the product has the stuff on it, but don't force feed it to me and make me HAVE to skip over the stuff! You can't use the theater analogy in the same way because the theater pays for a lot more than the movie with the trailers, ad's and extra stuff before the movie...when I'm at home, I'm watching a blu-ray on a player that I purchased, on a TV that i purchased, and on a disc that i purchased...the ad's and trailers should not be front runners to the movie at home, it should be the opposite.

'Nuf said, Sean. I was actually getting a little ticked reading your post because the things you mentioned are exactly how I feel about it and anybody who has perused this forum for a length of time knows how I feel about ads. Well stated, my friend.