# I'm done with disc media forever!



## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

I officially have no music, movies, or TV show series on disc in my home. I sold off the remainders of my DVD and Blueray collection on eBay last week, and took what didn't sell to Hastings and got cash for it. I decided that I no longer want to fool with discs. The only discs I have left are video games, and a few pieces of software.

All of my music, movies, and TV shows have been purchased using iTunes. They're all stored on a networked computer, which backs up to an external HDD using time machine, and both (the computer and the external drive) are backed up to Mozy. So the setup I have is pretty redundant and hopefully fail-proof.

I also decided that there's really no advantage to owning bluray discs. I can watch a movie in 1080p with DIRECTV on Demand, or on my Apple TV. For me personally, I rarely watch a movie more than once. If I do, it has to be _really_ good... and it would probably still be several months or a year or two later before I watched it again. I could watch a movie 5 times for the price of a blueray, which just isn't likely to happen.

So what about you guys? Has anyone made a similar move?


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## PokerJoker (Apr 12, 2008)

I'm guessing you don't own a good home theater system with a high quality big screen.

A DirecTV 1080p movie is not equivalent in quality to a Blu-ray disk. No matter what D* marketing would like you to believe. The bit rate of the Blu-ray is often more than double. This can easily be seen if the screen is big enough and good enough.

iTunes MP3s (or any MP3s, except those done with lossless codecs like FLAC) are also not as good as the original recording. Again, easily heard on good speakers or headphones.

You are trading convenience and a lower price, for quality. Which is fine, it's your choice. Just so you are aware of the facts.

Keith


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## Hutchinshouse (Sep 28, 2006)

Blu-ray is king in my house. I want the best pic and audio. Music is ok via download. However, my sacd still sound way better! Doubt I'll drop disc media anytime soon. I also agree. Directv 1080p not even close to blu-ray quality.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

Yikes. Not exactly how I expected this thread to start off.



PokerJoker said:


> I'm guessing you don't own a good home theater system with a high quality big screen.


I have a KDS-60A3000 as my main viewing TV. It's high enough quality for me.



PokerJoker said:


> A DirecTV 1080p movie is not equivalent in quality to a Blu-ray disk. No matter what D* marketing would like you to believe. The bit rate of the Blu-ray is often more than double. This can easily be seen if the screen is big enough and good enough.


I just said there were other ways to obtain 1080p movies. I never said it was equivalent quality.

There will also be other ways to obtain 1080p media in the near future like XStream HD and Boxee Box. Maybe those will have higher standards. In the meantime, DoD and Apple TV will due.



PokerJoker said:


> iTunes MP3s (or any MP3s, except those done with lossless codecs like FLAC) are also not as good as the original recording. Again, easily heard on good speakers or headphones.


I didn't say that iTunes recordings were super high quality. You're also mistaken if you think CDs are as good as the original recording. CDs may sound slightly better than iTunes, but it's not enough difference for the hassle.

I own a pair of Sennheiser's. I can hear just fine with those.


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## Hutchinshouse (Sep 28, 2006)

I almost got apple tv. I went with the Roku HD player. I do agree, downloading is very cool. I am blown away by the quality via streaming. I just can't see selling my Oppo anytime soon. Peace!


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Im with ya...although I havent actually gotten rid of my DVDs and CDs, but I did rip them to store on my media server, and then locked them away. Any new movies I want now, I record off DirecTv with a HDPVR. Ive only got a 46" Aquos, so DirecTv looks fine to me. Ive never seen a blu ray, so Ill take everyones word on how good it is. I just refuse to pay that kind of money for a movie I might watch twice. Im up to 4.5TB on the server now. I dont have a backup (other than the original discs), but most everything I save from Directv will be on again. And again... and Again, anyway.


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## naijai (Aug 19, 2006)

Ok if the house has been cleared of all cd, what do you listen to in your car or would it be safe to assume you listen to radio only ?


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## ibglowin (Sep 10, 2002)

um

iPod.


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## raott (Nov 23, 2005)

Greg Alsobrook said:


> I can watch a movie in 1080p with DIRECTV on Demand, or on my Apple TV. For me personally, I rarely watch a movie more than once. If I do, it has to be _really_ good... and it would probably still be several months or a year or two later before I watched it again. I could watch a movie 5 times for the price of a blueray, which just isn't likely to happen.
> 
> So what about you guys? Has anyone made a similar move?


If price is a consideration, why would you fool with either Directv on Demand or Apple TV when Netflix is the far cheaper alternative and you get full blu ray quality?


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

raott said:


> If price is a consideration, why would you fool with either Directv on Demand or Apple TV when Netflix is the far cheaper alternative and you get full blu ray quality?


1 @ a time Unlimited with Blu-ray access is available at less than the cost of one premium channel per month. Much wider selection too.

That said, I'm moving away from physical media too. Hard drives are a much better storage option. You just have to make certain to backup.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

The first time a backhoe cuts your Internet feed 10 miles away somewhere, your ISP has server issues, or the content provider has downloading tech difficulties...you might regret being "disc media naked".

I commend the thinking....just think reality is that its simply not powerful or reliable enough.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

I buy a few a year.. rest I rent from netflix.. just depends on how much I want to watch a new movie..
I'm definately not spending the cash to build a machine to store all that crap (as well as pay the elect to keep it running)..


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## VARTV (Dec 14, 2006)

naijai said:


> Ok if the house has been cleared of all cd, what do you listen to in your car or would it be safe to assume you listen to radio only ?





ibglowin said:


> um
> 
> iPod.


Or sat radio...


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## VARTV (Dec 14, 2006)

raott said:


> If price is a consideration, why would you fool with either Directv on Demand or Apple TV when Netflix is the far cheaper alternative and you get full blu ray quality?


Are Netflix HD movies available thru Wii???


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## ShapeGSX (Sep 17, 2006)

VARTV said:


> Are Netflix HD movies available thru Wii???


Nope.


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## Eddie501 (Nov 29, 2007)

I'd love to do that to get rid of the clutter, but for now there's nothing else that can touch Blu-ray quality. Lossless DTS-MA and Dolby Tru-HD just aren't available on any other media. Not to mention the insanely high bitrates that give you the best picture available at home. Can you even get 5.1 sound from movies bought from itunes?

Plus it just feels weird to buy something & not have a product you can hold in your hands. I've gone back to vinyl for purchasing new music for that reason. CD's started to feel like a waste of money but I still wanted a physical product. Now I get the lush artwork and analog sound of vinyl & almost all new releases come with a digital download so I get the best of both worlds.


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## ShapeGSX (Sep 17, 2006)

I don't buy movies on disc anymore. I just rent them from Netflix on both Blu-Ray and DVD.

The streaming is fantastic.

I can't imagine renting or buying movies from a download service, though. They are so incredibly expensive compared to Netflix.

I've rented 40 movies from Netflix since the start of the year on my 2 at a time plan. Most of them have been Blu-Ray. And I have watched a ton of streaming Netflix content, as well. That's $17 a month for 5 months = $85. iTunes HD rentals are $5 a pop. If I rented those same movies through iTunes, it would have cost $200! And that doesn't even include the streaming stuff. And that is assuming that the movie is actually available to rent online.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

How much does an iTunes movie cost?


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

I have never had more than a handful of disks in my home.
My music collection is mp3 & flac.

My video collection is DivX and mkv.

When I watch a movie, I am interested in the story and the characters to the point that as long as the video and sound quality are DVD or better, I don't notice them. That's secondary to me.

As for music, like most people, whether they admit or not, I can't detect the difference between CD and a good 160 bit rate rip.


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

Greg Alsobrook said:


> I officially have no music, movies, or TV show series on disc in my home. I sold off the remainders of my DVD and Blueray collection on eBay last week, and took what didn't sell to Hastings and got cash for it. I decided that I no longer want to fool with discs. The only discs I have left are video games, and a few pieces of software.
> 
> All of my music, movies, and TV shows have been purchased using iTunes. They're all stored on a networked computer, which backs up to an external HDD using time machine, and both (the computer and the external drive) are backed up to Mozy. So the setup I have is pretty redundant and hopefully fail-proof.
> 
> ...


I thought about this myself several times. I have a very nice theater room which I play movies on, like last night, with the family, BluRays. I would need to have the ability to store 7.1 (or higher) sound tracks, DirecTV is at best capable of only 5.1 (currently). The other aspect of my theater system is the sound is THX Ultra 2 certified. The only way to get THX quality is from higher bit rates from locally (read, in your home) installed equipment (currently). For this reason, even locally, I don't store anything except my CD collection, and I still buy the CD as a measure of backup though you seem to have that covered.

I suspect Greg, that you all don't have children yet.  Once you do you WILL watch movies many, many, MANY times over. ROI in that case makes it more cost effective to purchase the movie on some type of reuseable backup.

But, as we all know, we don't NEED any of these gadgets to survive (thrive), so any form of entertainment (gadget) we discuss is from a purely selfish perspective, in which case effective return or efficiencies are nulled by the fact that is personal choice how you do it. Finding the best way for each own individual personalities is what will make each (persons') happiest. 

To me Greg you have a wonderful solution to your in home entertainment needs.


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## Yoda-DBSguy (Nov 4, 2006)

Greg Alsobrook said:


> I also decided that there's really no advantage to owning bluray discs. I can watch a movie in 1080p with DIRECTV on Demand, or on my Apple TV.
> So what about you guys? Has anyone made a similar move?


I too stream from a network drive that acts as a native iTunes and A/V server for allot of my viewing content; however I still use my PS3 as not only my main media streaming client viewer (since it up-converts to 1080P), but also to play back bluray movies I want to see much more than I rent flicks from DirecTV.

However I just want to clarify something that you have a misconception about based on your quote above.

Your Apple TV does NOT do 1080P; nor does any of the video content you can purchase or download from iTunes. All content is downloaded and also output at a max of 720P if you look at the specs a tad closer.

Also the DirecTV 1080P content which cam be stream is not only limited as to the content they offer (compared to bluray) but is also encoded at a much lower bit rate thus not comparable in terms of quality for either video or audio.

Just FYI....


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

I no longer have CD's. All of my music is digital now which is stored on a couple of different hard drives as well as on my HTC Incredible.

I also no longer have SD-DVD's. I have about 400 movies on hard drives that are fed through the house on a WD HDTV system.

I still have and buy Blu Rays though. As other's have mentioned, with a 126" screen and 7.1 sound in one room, a 65" display with 5.1 sound in another and a 60" display in a third, I don't want to give up any quality.


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

spartanstew said:


> I no longer have CD's. All of my music is digital now which is stored on a couple of different hard drives as well as on my HTC Incredible.
> 
> I also no longer have SD-DVD's. I have about 400 movies on hard drives that are fed through the house on a WD HDTV system.
> 
> I still have and buy Blu Rays though. As other's have mentioned, with a 126" screen and 7.1 sound in one room, a 65" display with 5.1 sound in another and a 60" display in a third, I don't want to give up any quality.


What did you use to store the SD movies? I haven't found the right software to copy them to a HDD, which is why I am reluctant to move there.

BTW, IIRCR, you've inspired me to build my own cabinets in the media closet, I just need to get around to building them, I have the materials, I just need time.


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## Carl Spock (Sep 3, 2004)

I admire you, Greg. Nice move, joining the 21st century like this. 

It would never work for me. I'm too much of a collector of music. Below are my phonograph records alone.

I could see coming close to adopting your plan for video, though. I have very few DVDs compared to most folks, and they are in very specific areas and genres. I'd want to keep those, but I could easily get down to everything fitting in one cardboard box. At that point, I might just spend a month transfering that box onto servers and be done with them.


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## kokishin (Sep 30, 2006)

VARTV said:


> Are Netflix HD movies available thru Wii???


Netflix is available for Wii but Wii console only supports SD out. I use PS3 (with HDMI out) for BD, DVD, and Netflix HD/SD.


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## kokishin (Sep 30, 2006)

Carl Spock said:


> I admire you, Greg. Nice move, joining the 21st century like this.
> 
> It would never work for me. I'm too much of a collector of music. Below are my phonograph records alone.
> 
> I could see coming close to adopting your plan for video, though. I have very few DVDs compared to most folks, and they are in very specific areas and genres. I'd want to keep those, but I could easily get down to everything fitting in one cardboard box. At that point, I might just spend a month transfering that box onto servers and be done with them.


Is that Mr. Peabody?


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## Carl Spock (Sep 3, 2004)

kokishin said:


> Is that Mr. Peabody?


And Sherman.

Even as a kid, my heroes were geeks. :grin:


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## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

I guess I am really behind the times. I have nice Sony up converting DVD player but never made the jump to Blu-ray. We are into the Redbox rentals now and for $1.00 a movie you can't beat it.

I may be spoiled because my daughter works at a movie theater and I can see anything I want in IMAX 3D for free!


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## kokishin (Sep 30, 2006)

Carl Spock said:


> And Sherman.
> 
> Even as a kid, my heroes were geeks. :grin:


Thanks for the brief ride in the WABAC machine!


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## hbkbiggestfan (May 25, 2007)

Greg, I think you are ahead of the curb. I see this way of storing/collecting digital media becoming more common than disc media within the next 10 to 15 years or so. I would love to convert all my disc media to HDD/servers and never look back but I don't have the money to purchase everything I would need (especially the HDD space). Maybe one day. The amount of physical space that would be emptied from my home is alone enough motivation for me to want to do it.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

naijai said:


> Ok if the house has been cleared of all cd, what do you listen to in your car or would it be safe to assume you listen to radio only ?


I have XM in my car and also have my iPhone loaded with music. My radio has an aux jack so I can plug it right up. I can also listen to Pandora or other music services via my iPhone.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

raott said:


> If price is a consideration, why would you fool with either Directv on Demand or Apple TV when Netflix is the far cheaper alternative and you get full blu ray quality?


Netflix is a great deal.. we just don't watch too many movies to be honest. If we did, we would definitely have Netflix. We have a hard enough time keeping up with all of the shows we DVR weekly.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> The first time a backhoe cuts your Internet feed 10 miles away somewhere, your ISP has server issues, or the content provider has downloading tech difficulties...you might regret being "disc media naked".
> 
> I commend the thinking....just think reality is that its simply not powerful or reliable enough.


That's a bit extreme. Yeah, it could happen.. but what can you do. The same could be said for the power going out for a week because of a huge storm (which happened a few years ago).

We have tons of media stored locally. Several TV show series and movies that have been purchased via iTunes. And our DVR is loaded up with stuff. Our Internet going out would have no effect on that. And, if it were out for long enough, I could have another ISP out the next day to turn on their service until ours was fixed.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Greg -

I think I need you at my house. I still have a bunch of 7" floppies around here with "critically important" data from 1984 on them.:sure:


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

phrelin said:


> Greg -
> 
> I think I need you at my house. I still have a bunch of 7" floppies around here with "critically important" from 1984 on them.:sure:


Dude! :nono:


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

Greg Alsobrook said:


> I can watch a movie in 1080p with DIRECTV on Demand,





Greg Alsobrook said:


> I have a KDS-60A3000 as my main viewing TV.


Unless I missed the memo, how are you getting 1080p on that TV? My HR20-700 won't send a 1080p signal to my KDS-70XBR2.

PS - I was about to buy the same TV, but found the one I have as a floor display at a Magnolia. Ended up with it, a spare lamp and a 4 year extended warranty for less than $300 more than they wanted for just a new A3000. It was a no-brainer.


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## ShapeGSX (Sep 17, 2006)

The KDS-60A3000 was the last SXRD TV that Sony made. It is 120Hz, and accepts 1080p/24 and 1080p/60 as screen modes via HDMI.

I own one, too. It is an incredible TV, especially for the money I paid for it.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I would be ok with memory-stick type media... but unless and until that happens, I'm happy with optical media.

I actually try not to view downloadable stuff on my computer because it is usually of poorer quality and my computer monitor is much smaller than my HDTV.

On my Dish receiver, the higher quality downloadable HD content takes a long time to download, so I'd have to order in advance and guess what movie I'll be in the mood to watch when it finally downloads.

I also am in the camp of liking to have something physical when I buy.

Now, if I was just renting... PPV has its advantages since I don't have to drive anywhere and don't have to return anything... so renting is a different mindset for me than buying.

I also like that if I ever canceled Dish or lost internet... as long as I have electricity, I can watch my DVDs and Blu rays.

We've seen companies like Blockbuster take it on the chin... What happens if you switch to no-media in the home and have to rent everything, and then Netflix goes under to a new company one day?

I do DVR some things and archive on my Dish receiver... but those are only good while I remain a Dish customer... and hard drives do fail eventually. If you keep CDs/Blus/DVDs out of the heat, they last virtually a lifetime.


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

I could probably be close, and never really buy physical media anymore. Don't really ever buy blurays or DVDs. Never buy music CDs. Most software is downloads. About the only thing is console video games. I have a lot of older CDs around still, but they just sit in the closet, they are all ripped to my main machine. A few DVDs, but never had that many. 

DirecTV is the main source of entertainment in this household with the internet coming up second.

Congrats on getting rid of all the old too though, that must feel nice. I can honestly say online backup would not come close to working for me with media unless I had much faster internet speeds. Music alone is around 30gb and just the videos I have kept are a good 1/2TB and growing. Seriously PITA to upload over a 1.5/512 line :lol:


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Greg Alsobrook said:


> *That's a bit extreme*. Yeah, it could happen.. but what can you do. The same could be said for the power going out for a week because of a huge storm (which happened a few years ago).
> 
> We have tons of media stored locally. Several TV show series and movies that have been purchased via iTunes. And our DVR is loaded up with stuff. Our Internet going out would have no effect on that. And, if it were out for long enough, I could have another ISP out the next day to turn on their service until ours was fixed.


I've seen all three of those things happen within a 90 day time window.

It happens....and knocked out over 2600 people without Internet for almost 48 hours the first time, and 3/4 of a day the second.

My point is once one happens, let alone more than one...your faith in the almighty Internet might diminish.

That said, for those of us who wish to view content more than once, or don't either want to spend hours acquiring it via download, or don't accept the less-than-stellar audio that comes with the video in streaming in some cases...we'll stick with something we can put in our hands and players.

When the day comes that the web features reliable, and fast service at an affordable price, let me know...I'll come join you then.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Carl Spock said:


> I admire you, Greg. Nice move, joining the 21st century like this.
> 
> It would never work for me. I'm too much of a collector of music. Below are my phonograph records alone.
> 
> I could see coming close to adopting your plan for video, though. I have very few DVDs compared to most folks, and they are in very specific areas and genres. I'd want to keep those, but I could easily get down to everything fitting in one cardboard box. At that point, I might just spend a month transfering that box onto servers and be done with them.


My music storage method.


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## Carl Spock (Sep 3, 2004)

I owned that Beatles box in the top row at one point. Nice piece

I have to say, Richard, those records sure stack up straight and neat once you use a power driver to screw them together. I'll have to try that trick.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

Grentz said:


> I can honestly say online backup would not come close to working for me with media unless I had much faster internet speeds. Music alone is around 30gb and just the videos I have kept are a good 1/2TB and growing. Seriously PITA to upload over a 1.5/512 line :lol:


My initial backup took 5 or 6 days (24 hrs/day) with my 1.5up UVerse. The incremental backups are handled with no problem every night at 2AM.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Carl Spock said:


> I owned that Beatles box in the top row at one point. Nice piece
> 
> I have to say, Richard, those records sure stack up straight and neat once you use a power driver to screw them together. I'll have to try that trick.


Drilling the holes through all the covers wasn't really the hard part. The real challenge came in getting the threaded rod to go through all the records so I could get the washers and bolts on each end.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Carl Spock said:



> I owned that Beatles box in the top row at one point. Nice piece


Agree on the Beatles collection. Each record has only been played a very few times, once to transfer to reel to reel tape (back in the old days) and once to digitize. As you can see, I also have a Who set and, as you can't see, I have a Kinks set that came to me boxless. Both of those are mint also (aside from the threaded rod holes in the covers)  .


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

ShapeGSX said:


> The KDS-60A3000 was the last SXRD TV that Sony made. It is 120Hz, and accepts 1080p/24 and 1080p/60 as screen modes via HDMI.


Based on further review, the A3000 is a 2007 model and the my R70XBR2 is a 2006 model. The 2007 XBR5 was cancelled. I guess that one year made a difference on whether it would accept the the DirecTV 1080p signal.


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## Carl Spock (Sep 3, 2004)

Richard, I gave my Beatles box to my best friend when I got the MoFi version back 25+ years ago. I think his 19 year old Beatles fanatic/musician/son has it now out in San Francisco. Guth was back here for Christmas and proudly told me that of the multiple stereos in the house he shares with his band, each one had a turntable hooked up to it.

Here is one of the advantages of having hard copies of the media that I know Guthrie has experienced. There is nothing quite like packing a bowl and sitting back, staring at the cover of Sgt. Peppers while playing the record, not that I ever did that back in the 1970s. Now if these kids would start rolling joints, they would discover the true wonders of a gatefold jacket.


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## durl (Mar 27, 2003)

I've begun the process of storing our DVDs, CDs, and Blu-ray discs digitally. DVDs and Blu-rays are almost all done but I've hardly made a dent in the CDs. I set up a PC as a media server which streams movies to a couple of Popcorn Hour units. After living with that setup for a couple of years, I'm thinking about buying a true server and filling it with 2TB drives (initially) for storage.

Even though I want everything stored digitally, I guess I'm old-school because I like having the actual CD even though I'll rip it and put the disc up on a shelf.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Carl Spock said:


> Here is one of the advantages of having hard copies of the media that I know Guthrie has experienced. There is nothing quite like packing a bowl and sitting back, staring at the cover of Sgt. Peppers while playing the record, not that I ever did that back in the 1970s. Now if these kids would start rolling joints, they would discover the true wonders of a gatefold jacket.


I never got into that stuff. Never needed to. I could enjoy the music just as much as my "high" friends did back in the days. I spent many evenings in dark rooms lit with candles listening to Sgt. Peppers, Moody Blues, etc. I lived in a 6 bedroom house with 5 other guys at one time (rent was $39/month each) each of whom would smoke anything placed in front of them (yea, banana peels). When I saw this I wanted nothing to do with it. :lol: One housemate was an elementary school phy ed teacher who would go to school stoned nearly every morning. :nono2: They set the example for me. :lol:


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

VARTV said:


> Are Netflix HD movies available thru Wii???





ShapeGSX said:


> Nope.


Some Netflix HD Movies are indeed available through Wii downloads. However, due to the limitations of the Wii, the video quality is only SD aand thereforenot as good as streaming Netflix to your PS3, PC or Netflix compatible Blu-ray player.

I received my Wii Netflix disc a few weeks ago. I also have one for my PS3. Haven't used either of them for streaming Netflix because I have two HD TiVo boxes that will stream Netflix movies in addition to Amazon and music from Rhapsody.

As to music via iTunes and played back on an iPod. Convenient, yes. But if you are a serious music lover and want great sound, a portable device like the iPod falls far short of a good A/V system (even if you have Sennheisers). :grin:


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

Greg Alsobrook said:


> My initial backup took 5 or 6 days (24 hrs/day) with my 1.5up UVerse. The incremental backups are handled with no problem every night at 2AM.


That's not too bad at all. Wish I could get faster upload to mess around with


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## barryb (Aug 27, 2007)

I too have a huge vinyl collection, for a very good reason. I have yet to see a digital sound reproduction hold a candle to what a good record does for my ears.

I guess I will always be an analog guy Greg. Sure, digital is convenient [and something I use daily], but when I get into a good audio session, vinyl blows the doors of my iAnything.


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## Carl Spock (Sep 3, 2004)

Barry, if you get a chance, spend some time with 24 bit/96k sampling digital. It is a jaw dropper. It can offer the warmth of vinyl sound with the bass resolution and convenience of digital. I use it for recording musicians and it is everything I want in sound.

As a music collector, high end digital is the only thing that gives me hope. Vinyl is a niche market. SACD has and will never be accepted by the general marketplace. But a new 5" silver audio disc, based on Blu-ray technology and recorded in 24 bit/96k could bring the audiophile experience back to the masses. I would be shocked if the CD wasn't replaced by something similar to this in the next half a dozen years.

And then, Barry, you and I can do our happy dance, knowing phonograph records outlived the Compact Disc.

This one is for Philips and Sony and the "perfect" digital sound they've given us the past three decades:


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

Just dont try to play them back on an iPod :lol:

There are some good digital formats now, just have to make sure to keep the whole chain decent quality (from audio file to ears).


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

Carl Spock said:


> Barry, if you get a chance, spend some time with 24 bit/96k sampling digital. It is a jaw dropper. It can offer the warmth of vinyl sound with the bass resolution and convenience of digital. I use it for recording musicians and it is everything I want in sound.


Confirm. I have 24 bit/192kHz capability with six analog connections from the integrated sound card to my A/V receiver and I have a good amount of music/albums captured @ 24/96 and it really is impressive.



Carl Spock said:


> As a music collector, high end digital is the only thing that gives me hope. Vinyl is a niche market. SACD has and will never be accepted by the general marketplace. But a new 5" silver audio disc, based on Blu-ray technology and recorded in 24 bit/96k could bring the audiophile experience back to the masses. I would be shocked if the CD wasn't replaced by something similar to this in the next half a dozen years.


I lived through and participated in DVD-Audio/SACD and the rest of the world just shrugged their shoulders. I know there's no competing formats in this case, but I don't see how it will be different this time. If BD-spec Audio is nothing but a replacement for SACD, boutique labels offering Jazz or Classical and occasional Mainstream releases at astronomic prices, witness the Steely Dan _Aja_ disc on Amazon, then I won't consider it a success.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Greg Alsobrook said:


> Yikes. Not exactly how I expected this thread to start off.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yup, 60" does not a Home Theatre make. Works for a guest bedroom or master bathroom... 

Until I can EASILY take the 50 or 60 movies the kids watch in the van with me; I can EASILY get the same or better quality of BD into my home theatre--truly on demand; and I can easily share a movie with my kids and grandkids (legally is also required), forget it. Optical is still way too convenient in so many ways.

Cheers,
Tom


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

A lot of the SACD content sounded no different as well. They did not spend much time on many of the mixes, and the selection was very limited. There are a few gems, but overall it just got swept under the table. 

I don't see any disc medium coming back in any crowd but audiophiles now that online distribution is so popular.


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## pfp (Apr 28, 2009)

Tom Robertson said:


> Yup, 60" does not a Home Theatre make. Works for a guest bedroom or master bathroom...
> 
> Cheers,
> Tom


That's one heck of a bathroom!


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

pfp said:


> That's one heck of a bathroom!


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