Why is SD content still around when there's HD content?

[Ziggy]

I think this could be implemented with just software update on modern players if there is any meta data on the DVD/BDs themselves. All it has to remember is the name of the Disc, track name/number, and time of pause. They can store all of that text on a 10MB file which is large enough to contain a complete novel. Worst case scenario, just a simple sync online with your "account". Everything is in the cloud these days.

Actually, DVD players have had this tech for a while. I guess they just never improved on it due to the rise of streaming, but they could have easily expanded it. All modern DVD players will remember where you paused. You can shut of the DVD player and the next time you turn it on it will resume at that exact spot. It will even skip all the FBI warning screen, and just boot straight to where you paused. My last main DVD player (RIP) would even remember the spot of your last disc. You could swap the DVD for something else, then if you swap back it will pick up where you left off. I think you could only do a maximum of 1 swap though before it would forget. Not sure if my new main DVD player does this as well, but they could have easily expanded this feature with no real effort needed. A 1Gb flash chip is not even $2, probably less than $1 after quantity price breaks at a level of production that a major manufacture would do. But even a smaller flash chip that would cost them only like $0.05 each would be too much money because no one cares about DVDs anymore.

This works well for TV shows on DVD as well. I just pause at the credits when I want to stop watching. Then when I turn my DVD player back on, it resumes at the credits and I just hit the next chapter button to go to the main menu or next episode.

BD players do this as well, but they actually have space for memory. You press the green button which will set a bookmark. You can set multiple bookmarks per disc. Then you can resume your bookmark whenever you want. The problem is that this isn't a given feature for any BD. Whoever makes the BD has to implement this feature, so it's only available on a per BD basis. A lot of BDs allow for bookmarking, but I do have a few that don't. Most annoying.

[isiolia]

Having things remember where you left off can be great, or...not. Hulu, for instance, frequently likes start things I've watched right before the credits rolled. If I'm rewatching something months later, I think it should be safe to assume I want it to start at the beginning.

At least most Blu-ray players will tend to give a prompt to see if you want to continue playback, but even then... no. I don't want to continue playback at the end credits. I mean, I do like the instant-resume you can get by never removing the disc, but I guess to me, if I ejected it, 90% of the time I want it to reset playback.

[marurun]

I am really glad streaming services offer SD playback. It means I can download content for offline viewing and now chew up all my storage space, especially when it is for my son to watch in the car on a long drive.

[samsonlonghair]

We had a pretty good discussion about DVD players with the right features back around 2013~ish.

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... ead#unread

After that, I eventually found a DVD player that I really love, and still use to this day: SONY DVP-C660.


Hey Ziggy, you might dig this DVD player. It's a 5-disc changer. It plays CDs great too. It has a little LCD window, so you can turn off your TV screen when you just want to play music. It outputs Component and S-Video in addition to composite. It supports multiple simultaneous video outputs. On the audio side, we get stereo via standard RCA jacks, and we get S/PDIF via TOSLINK optical and coaxial digital audio out. This device also supports 5.1 channel DTS digital surround. You probably won't find a brand new SONY DVP-C660 on a store shelf because it was released in 2000, but I bet you should be able to find a used one on the secondhand market pretty easily.

My favorite feature is that all the buttons you need to control the device are right on the front face of the unit. There are even more buttons hidden behind a flip-down door. If you ever lose the remote, you can still control the player.

Manual:
https://www.sony.com/electronics/suppor ... 03955M.pdf

Edit: I just did a cursory search for this model number on eBay. There are multiple SONY DVP-C660 units for sale with the original remote between fifteen and forty dollars. Seems like a good deal to me.

[Anapan]

A little late here and didn't really want to derail the convo from the awesome place it made it to, but I do know the answer.
I'm sure it's because many people are are still on severely throttled bandwidth (the bare minimum available) from the high-speed ISPs. Saves all a bit of money and offers the content realtime. Yeah, if someone is incapable of streaming 1mbps 720p, and realtime forces 360p with less than VHS quality they oughta just pre-download content temporarily (mostly all services allow this), but try to explain that to someone who is in this situation.
I tried a few times to different people and got told to f-off. Not willing to watch less-than-vhs quality reality tv on these people's huge 1080p screens, I did just that every time. Smoke one less pack of cigarettes, or drink one less six-pack of beer and get HD for your awesome & expensive screen.

[samsonlonghair]

I think another reason that SD content is still around is smartphones. I know smartphones can display HD content, but it doesn't make the same impact on a pocket-size screen. I can't tell the difference between 720p (low end of HD) and 480p (DVD Quality) on a six inch (15.2 cm) screen. Can you?

[nightrnr]

Didn't read the whole thread, but:

For me, it's mostly about bandwidth (and signal connection). I just don't need an ultra sharp image for most of what I watch and some of the older devices I use can't handle the speed anyways.
Also, I still use CRT's. Makes me sad that so many screens go to waste.

[Ziggy]

I don't like to admit this, but... You know those DVD/BD combos? I get those whenever they're cheap enough. I once watched through an entire movie and then realized when I took the disc out of the player that I watched the DVD when I thought I put in the BD! I don't know, maybe I was tired that night.

Hey Ziggy, you might dig this DVD player.

Neat-o! I'll have to look into that when I get a chance. Thanks for the heads up!

[Sarge]

I stream in SD just to keep my bandwidth down. I'm stuck on a 4G LTE connection for my home connection. Some shows are still SD-only anyway, like Stargate SG-1, which I'm currently working my way through.

[RCBH928]

After all this talk about saving bandwidth and speeds limits, I went to check an average movie(Dumbo) and on iTunes it says the SD version is around 2GB compared to 5GB for HD. Still 2GB is a lot for anything less than 4G speeds or anything less than real broadband speeds. I thought it might be closer to torrent rips that are sometimes as low as 650MB.

A little late here and didn't really want to derail the convo from the awesome place it made it to, but I do know the answer.
I'm sure it's because many people are are still on severely throttled bandwidth (the bare minimum available) from the high-speed ISPs. Saves all a bit of money and offers the content realtime. Yeah, if someone is incapable of streaming 1mbps 720p, and realtime forces 360p with less than VHS quality they oughta just pre-download content temporarily (mostly all services allow this), but try to explain that to someone who is in this situation.
I tried a few times to different people and got told to f-off. Not willing to watch less-than-vhs quality reality tv on these people's huge 1080p screens, I did just that every time. Smoke one less pack of cigarettes, or drink one less six-pack of beer and get HD for your awesome & expensive screen.

I assumed that people who use internet streaming subscription services are usually in the higher speeds metropolitan areas.
I do feel sorry for people who live in more rural areas with slower speeds, with fiber wiring there should be no reason to have any low cap. limits or slow speeds. The ISPs just probably don't care about them.

I stream in SD just to keep my bandwidth down. I'm stuck on a 4G LTE connection for my home connection. Some shows are still SD-only anyway, like Stargate SG-1, which I'm currently working my way through.

4G LTE is no slouch, I get minimum 25-30Mbps can reach 100Mbps. How much cap limit you got?