Well you have to remember, it's all digital noughts and ones. Yet, all over the world there are Bluray players from under £100 to over £1000 with specific models getting more merit than others over picture quality.
A PC is not usually optimised for simply watching bluray, regardless of digital, usually requiring you to go into your graphics menu and switch various features off such as colour correction, edge enhancement, etc. Some users have to tweak settings to sort out the judder created by a 60hz signal coping with the 3.2 pulldown for a 24hz frame rate too, though I even notice this on some budget players. There is also colour spacing, PC's do not always have the output set correct, with PC output being full RGB 0-255 but most TV's and Bluray players being 16-235.
http://lifehacker.com/how-to-get-better-picture-quality-from-your-home-theate-1700412363
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/139-display-calibration/948496-avs-hd-709-blu-ray-mp4-calibration.html
Various ways to cut the process, but it's not simply like buying a Bluray player, plugging the HDMI cable and slapping a disc in the machine and pressing play.
There are plenty of issues involved with HTPC. But thats not what I am complaining about here, it's the issue with others slandering people who actually buy physical media because it offers a better experience than online streaming or pirated downloads to that end user!
I have three kids, when a movie comes out, how many times does a kid want to watch such a movie? When I was in my twenties did I watch a movie once or on various occasions, £4.99 to rent an HD release on Virgin media for one viewing, for a movie available on Bluray that can be available from £5 to £17 depending on title that can sit in a walk in cupboard and be viewed again in a month, year, 10 years?
When I built my home network, there were three PC's and a Mac here, I wanted the ability to stream movies from the network collection to any room in the house, I copied movies from my bought Bluray and DVD's, I bought digital downloads, I slowly built the collection within my storage, used MyMovies over WMC on networked Windows 7 PC's in various locations in home with a projector upstairs, the kids room TV, and a 50" plasma with the dedicated HTPC. The kids grew distant from it, prefering to use streaming and with their favorite movies asking for Bluray discs, even for movies where I had DVD, Bluray and on the home network, they simply would put the Blueray on instead of the HTPC. Virgin and Netflix are used most in this home, with the family prefering to buy favorite movies on Bluray.
It can take ages to browse Netflix, Sky movies, Virgin movies to find something to watch something new, sometimes it is easier to look through square meters of films on a shelf and pick something, but off the shelf is usually not the norm.
Now, where can I stream a good quality copy of these examples of the top of my head, how much is a Bluray copy of 1978 Dawn Of The Dead on Blu Ray and Dogs Of War?
The Dogs Of War?
The Hunchback Hairball of LA?
Taking care Of JoJo?
The original unadulterated Star Wars Trilogy?
The Wild Life?
The last Movie?
The Keep?
Phantasm?
Bubba Ho-Tep?
The Hitcher?
Critters quadrilogy?
There were plenty of movies released on VHS that never reached DVD, there will be many DVD that never reach Bluray, and there will be many Bluray too that wont be re issued or remastered. Not everything is available to stream or download, and not even every retail edition of a movie is the best, with the likes of even the Die hard movies having an appaling history of appaling video quality releases on all formats.
Not everthing will ever be remastered in HD or higher formats, and I sure as hell would have loved to have kept all my VHS and the players for nostalgia reasons, especially the B movie rarities and such.
So what is a true movie buff, someone who streams or downloads only what is available online, usually limited? Or someone who through a love of movies builds a collection of various formats that can be cherished and revisited anytime, with movies quality improved upon if a better quality copy is released on an alternative format?
I use Virgin Media.
I use Sky.
My wife, children, and I have used Netflix for years on various devices.
I use various formats including VHS, LD, DVD, Bluray, HTPC, streaming, downloading, with itunes too, and even freeview and Roku, Flixter/ultraviolet etc. I am not upturning my nose to any of it or saying it has no place.
And you do not?
Did no one state that in this thread?
What is neglidgable to do with the same?
What is hassle free about the majority of manners in which a PC is used to watch content readily available to stream on a smart TV anyway?
How is switching on an HTPC, clicking on software, and selecting a movie from a menu any less hassle than pulling a disc of a shelf, inserting, and pressing play? Or even selecting a movie from the Nas on a Bluray player and streaming that way? WHat about building, set up, configuration, and the time searching and downloading, is it really any different to using a player, or buying a physical movie online.
Upturned noses? In comparison to slandering someone who loves the physical media and stating your just as big a fan with digital downloads? Then stating an opinion on matter not even in stated within the original quote?
So for us here not in the know, where are you actually downloading these full uncompressed movie files from? How much are they costing per title? And did you calibrate your PC in any manner, what are the PC specifications of your current PC, case and all.
