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Blue ray or apple TV?
- Thread starter Dr Kevorkian94
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The amount of knowledge i accumulated from this particular form is great! By the way i think fed ed screwed up my ATV shipment so ill be waiting 
it gives me time to search for a blu ray player tho.
it gives me time to search for a blu ray player tho.Not to revive this thread or anything, but just to inject my $0.02, the people in this thread bagging on Blu-Ray or calling it a "dead technology" simply don't care about (or prioritize) quality. It's like someone who uses Earpods telling a music producer that their Audio Technica ATH-M50's suck. No... Just no.
If you're willing to greatly compromise quality in favor of going entirely digital, great! But don't try to convince us sticklers about PQ/AQ that the Apple TV is in any way, shape, or form superior to a Blu-Ray setup. It's like the kid with his iPod and Earpods trying to convince a big-time music producer that their headphones suck and their's are superior. I'm glad you're happy kid, but kindly shut up.
If you're willing to greatly compromise quality in favor of going entirely digital, great! But don't try to convince us sticklers about PQ/AQ that the Apple TV is in any way, shape, or form superior to a Blu-Ray setup. It's like the kid with his iPod and Earpods trying to convince a big-time music producer that their headphones suck and their's are superior. I'm glad you're happy kid, but kindly shut up.
I have 200 Bluray titles ripped to play on my ATV, wirelessly, with no loss in picture quality and arguably minimal loss on sound quality. No physical handling of discs, no visitors meddling with my collection; a cheaper more efficient storage.
Bluray will be dead in 5 years when h265 proliferates.
Bluray will be dead in 5 years when h265 proliferates.
But you did revive a thread.
You weren't alive for VHS/Betamax, were you? The better quality technology doesn't always win. I am still waiting for a smartphone that actually makes a phone call as well as the pre-smartphone cells. Optical media is dying. The public is speaking with their $. In 10 years, you will be like the audiophiles who cling to vinyl.
This guy has the best point...[...]
On my 42", from 8 feet away, I cannot tell the difference between BR and ATV HD. Although I am not admittedly obsessed over quality.
His statement looks like this:
So on your 47ish TV screen, 720 & 1080 movies, beyond 8-9 feet will feel identical.
Conclusion, get an ATV. Keep buying those 5$ BR at Targe; it provide you satisfaction of a good deal it seems. Rip them to files on HD. Sells back the BR at 3$. When you want to watch a movie, sit back and fire up your ATV and brown into your awesome digital library.
Less dusty thing laying around! Keep all your Target receipts, they will come handy if you have home insurance claim one day.
Please keep in mind that no jailbreak has been found yet for the ATV3. And for that matter, ATV2 are hard to find and double in price
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Saying that "optical media is dying" is a very subjective and generalized statement. For the music industry, sure. For film, not so much. I don't expect any given physical format to last forever, but there are more home cinephiles than you may think who will continue to support it for 10+ years, no doubt. Just take a look at blu-ray.com. The idea of ripping Blu-Rays into a digital format through an ATV is intriguing, but I would need 10+TB of HDD capacity to make that feasible, given my current and expanding Blu-Ray collection. That would be for the "master" original copies. Not to mention a backup solution so x2 = 20+TB. We're not there yet. At least consumers aren't.
Others share similar sentiments as me on the matter as well:
"Buy the BD and actually own it.
Buy the iTunes version and it's only a "lifetime license."
BD can be sold, willed, given to someone else. iTunes file can't.
I won't even get into the better audio standards (much better than 1992's Dolby Digital) better video quality (much less compression on the BD), BD extras, etc. I'll just offer that iTunes 1080p with DD is not equal to BD 1080p with DTS Master or True HD, etc audio.
For those indifferent, buy the BD (probably save a few bucks), go to the trouble of creating an iTunes version and enjoy all the benefits of it in iTunes (and on your iDevices) plus all of the benefits of actually owning the movie instead of lifetime "renting" it. Once you have it in iTunes, file away the disc in long-term storage in case you ever have a hard drive(s) meltdown and it can also act as your last resort backup."
If Blu-Ray turns into the equivalent of vinyl, I'm fine with that because it's better quality. As long as it's available, I'm all for it. Vinyls aren't the most popular format, but they're still available. If that's the case, then what's your argument?
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This is pure ignorance. HD-DVD lost because Japanese tech companies (Sony and Toshiba mostly) wanted to be petty and shut out American tech companies (Microsoft). Remember Sony developed Blu-Ray while Toshiba developed HD-DVD. Sony's PS3 uses Blu-Ray and Microsoft's Xbox 360 uses HD-DVD. Japanese companies didn't like Microsoft just waltzing in with their Xbox and dominating the gaming market so they made a petty move to unite in favor of the HD standard against Microsoft. That is why HD-DVD lost. Not because of technology competition.
There are several Blu Ray players that also serve up streaming. If you can deal with Amazon, Vudu and netflix along other services, then perhaps the Blu Ray would be a major advantage. If you are only interested in iTune purchases/rentals then thats all you get with the ATV (unless you get your files elsewhere and set them up via Handbrake).
I use a Blu Ray player that not only does the above but can stream files from my network storage. I have converted my movies to files served up via network and I also have Amazon and Netflix at my disposal for rentals.
You really need to decide what best suits your needs as there are many people who only want to be married to iTunes and are quite happy. As for me, I like having many options for streaming, playback and of course nothing is more fun than first popping in the disc you bought and seeing a flick for the first time (before archiving to network storage).
If you were not married to iTunes, you might also consider media players such as Medi8tor and Dune HD units.
I use a Blu Ray player that not only does the above but can stream files from my network storage. I have converted my movies to files served up via network and I also have Amazon and Netflix at my disposal for rentals.
You really need to decide what best suits your needs as there are many people who only want to be married to iTunes and are quite happy. As for me, I like having many options for streaming, playback and of course nothing is more fun than first popping in the disc you bought and seeing a flick for the first time (before archiving to network storage).
If you were not married to iTunes, you might also consider media players such as Medi8tor and Dune HD units.
Not your argument. You are missing the point.
I don't need you to convince me of the superiority of the Blu-Ray experience. I do buy films I consider worthy of my progeny viewing in decades on Blu-Ray. For the rest of the stuff not enhanced by Blu-Ray, DVD is just fine.
But in 10 years, give or take, unless those discs have been digitized into a supported format, increasingly one will find it harder and more expensive to find players, and physical discs will be relegated to videophiles. And the vinyl comparison is not valid...you are talking analog versus digital. Streaming speeds get fast enough you could theoretically surpass Blu-Ray data density as its all "0's and 1's".
I use a MacMini 2009 with 20$ USB BluRay player (rather would have bought an internal one, but 20 vs 100$ was too easy. Tray players are also more durable). It does much more than the Apple TV, including DVB tuning, and all in a nice small package. Best of all, I will be able to update it for 5-10 more years (and probably even longer with Linux or Windows) with all the latest and greatest software. Buying an AppleTV is only hoping it won't be bricked by Apple's iOS update policy in 2016. All my iOS devices from 2009-2010 are pretty useless today.
Not even that much...$60 now. A tenth of the price!
That being said, the Apple TV does need a dedicated server to provide the best experience, so you do have to take that into consideration. But the interface is very easy on the Apple TV, which is good when you just want to plop down on the couch and start a movie with one hand.
If you are not married to iTunes, some blue ray players are "smart" and offer some streaming services. Similar can be said with TVs. Between my blue ray, TiVo and TV I get all the major services plus my HTPC Mac handles iTunes.
My Blue Ray player is not a cheap one but most of the services I use are found on this device. ATV is a nice inexpensive "front end" to getting you to use the iTunes store for rental or purchase. This model is very much like Kodak in the 60's that made super cheap cameras as a vehicle to selling their film (Instamatic 101 with flash cubes and the 126 film cartridges).
My Blue Ray player is not a cheap one but most of the services I use are found on this device. ATV is a nice inexpensive "front end" to getting you to use the iTunes store for rental or purchase. This model is very much like Kodak in the 60's that made super cheap cameras as a vehicle to selling their film (Instamatic 101 with flash cubes and the 126 film cartridges).
If you have an ipad, the Apple remote.app has a keyboard, which means that it's considerably more useful for any streaming service with search capabilities. Matter of fact, if you have an ipad, the apple tv is quite a handy accessory.
I still buy most of my movies on bluray though. I use AppleTV's PBS app a lot.
I still buy most of my movies on bluray though. I use AppleTV's PBS app a lot.
I got with Apple TV mainly and then have a Blu Ray player to. I have switched to Apple TV for my movies exclusively, wife and I buy some Blu Rays on good sales but on my 47 in led tv, and I sit back the normal viewing of 7 to 9 feet, yeah I barely notice any difference. Now the Blu Ray is better, it has loss-less 1080p video, better audio with higher end Dolby and DTS, but in the end the Apple 1080p version are wonderful, I think around 95% video wise of the quality (my personal estimate) and though there is only Dolby 5.1, it sounds great! I have bought the Hobbit movies on it, redeems other movies like Riddick, both newer Star Trek movies, Despicable Me 2 etc. they are great. IF you have some Blu Rays, look for the HD Digital copy for iTunes on them (needs to say HD on it or is standard 480p). Redeem one, make sure iTunes is set to 1080p, then watch one. I bet you will be shocked at how good they are. They are not 100% a Blu Ray, but iTunes/Apple TV digital spoils me, no menus, just starts playing and great 1080p Dolby 5.1 movie that is just fine to me. If you need the perfect quality and more options, Blu Ray is it; if not, go digital. Oh look on iTunes movie each Tuesday, today! They swap out sales, like a group of movies for $9.99, some even cheaper. Sometimes all romance, all comedy, action, scifi etc. I have bought many great movies for $9.99 and they are still high on Blu Ray. Let us know when you get a chance to watch a HD iTunes movie on the Apple TV.