u/cmariano11

They had originally pre ordered this from Amazon because it's the easiest path for me with prime. In this case also it sort of made sense because Amazon actually is the movie house so I'm getting it directly from publisher so to speak.

But ultimately when the day came amazon randomly decided that they were not in fact going to deliver this today but we're going to push me to next week. This was unacceptable to me because I pre-ordered this absolutely as early as I was able to do so. Considering this has been on pre-order for actual months there's really no excuse for Amazon to have bumpwd me.

So it was off the Walmart and I have picked up my project Hail Mary. That'll be this evening's film.

I've actually been working on my personal movie library in earnest since the 90s with VHS tape, some of these purchases still sit (as decorations now, no tape deck) on top of this shelf. I continued largely uninterrupted throughout the DVD, HD DVD /, Bluray era and continues now in the 4K disc era.

What I want to focus on here is the children's movie library I started in earnest in 2007. You see while I was always a movie collector, I wasn't exactly a home theater hobbiest until the format war.

It was around this time I was really considering my life and focusing on the "next stage", that is getting married and having kids. I'm something of a planner, and enough of a realist to understand that once the wife and kids DID come the discretionary budget for theater gear would contract (it did, is what it is).

Being the planner I am then, I bought the foundation of my current theater setup (now an LG LCD, Yamaha RX-A680, Polk monitor 50 front stage, Polk XT10, Polk satellites and in ceiling speakers to round out ATMOS) and I started in my children's library of films mostly on Bluray (I was team HD DVD but kids films were largely bluray).

So here I am today, I have a number of kids ages ranging from teen to preschool. They grew up with this library of films which largely was purchased before any of them were born. Because I bought them when HD formats were new I paid what people today would call "insane" prices, adjusted for inflation near as makes no difference $60 per film.

But here's the deal, I was able to make the bulk of this investment when I could MOST afford it. Today these discs still work fine, no one can remove them because "the service" lost their distribution rights. In terms of playback quality they still out perform streaming, and in terms of compression per pixel yes these out perform the highest available 4K tier of Disney+,

All the blurays here have lossless audio, something you simply WON'T get from a streaming servide. And the best part? My toddler loves Wall-E, it is by far their favorite film. You have no idea what it does to my heart watching them hug the Wall-E disc.

Now for us older folk, we're just starting to realize a lot of younger adults may have NEVER experienced physical media at all in their lives. I'm just becoming aware theres a whole class of HT hobbiests out there who don't even own an optical disc player, it's all Apple TV or Roku for the streams, period.

If you're in that camp, and are yourself just becoming aware that for some people physical media is a big deal, this is a peak behind the curtain. Revokable temporary licenses aren't ownership. Ownership is tangible. It's something that can't be taken from you. Something you could even pass on to future generations.

So please, for all if is. Let's fight the "you will own nothing and be happy" future.

Threw this on this morning, unfortunately over time my HD DVD collection has thinned due to bad disc's or being upgraded to 4K UHD.

This HD DVD brings a strong VC-1 and a competent DD+ track. The opening sequence, the celebration in the mead hall is very lively indeed.

Unfortunately if you get the bluray you'll trade that DD+ 5.1 for DD5.1.

My last viewing because arrow is releasing this on their own 4K sourced from a brand new 4k scan. The air was almost certainly going to wipe the floor with this effort.

So with a new superior disc coming this october, this will in fact likely be the last time this disc plays in my HD-A35.

That said this disc has significance for me. It's the first home movie version of this I owned, and and really a pretty decent and strong effort. I haven't followed any later Blu-Ray so I don't know how this disc compares to later Blu-rays . But this was my copy of The Frighteners and that's the . But this was my copy of The Frighteners and it's the one my wife fell in love with.

I replaced these two discs with 4K Blu-rays. My wife and I don't want to recycle them because they work just fine. In fact I just threw them in my player and gave them spot checks throughout the entire disc and they played fine throughout.

We're not looking to make money off of these just want to send them off to someone who will enjoy them.

DM me and we can work it out. First come first serve.

We're all good bats go, chalk one up for Warner disc rot. I just replaced it with the UHD

A competent transition to HD for Stephen Sommers Van Helsing. Even on my 4K screen the VC-1 encode is strong if slightly soft. This film didn't perform especially well in theaters so it got Universals "standard" treatment wirh DD+ audio.

Werifly it's one of those films where it's tough for me to point out any given part that's brilliant, yet it comes together as a much stronger package than the whole. 100% Halloween season must watch. And since my wife is huge in Halloween we start early.

Note: this one does get better with later bluray releases. It even merited a 4K disc. Seems like the film did way better in home video.

Constellations newest deep space exploration vessel. Competently equipped with a high powered sensor array, large medical and living facilities as well as strong sheilds and weapons.

Andromina was commissioned to facilitate large team exploration into the remotest portions of the milky way.

Still kicking.

My first attempt making it. Man almost makes me regret all the times I killed him. Last time I arrested him and handed him over to Vigilance security

Not long ago, walter came to me asking if I could help sort out some issues he was having with his designers not being able to figure out a direction on his new trip.

That one day I pass up a challenge I accepted. It became clear that the design goal was a bold new multirole ship marrying military capablity, strange exploration capabilities, good ship building fundamentals, comfort space enoungh for large families and finally high end Luxary.

Several designs were floated including a more conservative Class B design and a Class C which lacked, shall we say, direction.

I threw away the designs presented me, petitioned the Board for a bigger budget and came up with not just a new ship, but also a whole new division for the Staryard

Introducing the SPE Kepler KS.

Constellation's new flag ship. While hanging out on Vigilance Sarah mentioned wanting whiching Constellation had something like that.

Not one to take a challenge like that laying down, my traveller built a Nova Galactic Class M for the explorer group.

Equipped with enhanced sensors, heavy shields and strong enoung armorments to run off most threats. Those enhanced sensors feed data to the well stocked science labs.

Now the group is equipped for long term, deep space operations.

Finally got around to securing the Razorleaf, this one follows my Travellers design language. Shielded weapons bay, in this case the sheild generator is allowed to be exposed. But reactor and Grav drive internalized and armored.

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Haven't installed the steal drive yet, but we do have sheild refactor, buoyant device and micro generator installed. Of course I got Lt Toft to install a comspike and conduction grid.

We've already seen Oppenheimer, very good of course I didn't expect anything else.

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Just three in Inglorious Bastards, not sure I'll get through it since I am, actually a father with kids around.

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I actually hadn't seen either movie previously. Honestly my home theater hobby exists in part to make up for the fact that I really can't go to theaters anymore easily.

Created for high risk missions requiring low observability, nighthawk is outfitted with the latest clocking devices to ensure you never know it's there.

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Heavily armored, sheilded and armed Nighthawk serves as a heavy fighter supporting capital ships and serving as first line planetary defence.

The completed UC Vanguard, built to bolster the Vanguard's capabilities to respond quickly and with authority to rapidly developing threats in a changing threat environment.

It was hoped with the Crimson Fleet being felt a crippling blow peace and security in the shopping lanes would increase.

But recently, the UC has come into contact with new threat groups. The Terran Armada represents a worrying new factor in the threat equation , and very little is known about a new group but you see us coming to contact with called "Watchtower". Combined with the prospect of a new serpents crusade, the UC Navy began a project to remake itself, and professionalize and better equip the Vanguard.

This Heavy Cruiser is designed allow for greater command and control by a new star system-wide cic system, heavily armed with six Alpha turrets, four forward facing Vanguard off of turrets and two missile pods. Shielding and Paul plating are very heavy.