Media Player replacement?

[mbryant]

So I've tried VLC and MPC and they are okay BUT the quality of DVD playback isn't as good as I'd like which I hope is a fault of the players. I've been looking at ArcSoft Total Media Theatre but it seems kind of sketchy. GF and I have been watching a lot of movies lately. Also anyone else have suggestions for 21:9 playback (native) ?. I bought The Force Awakens on Amazon digital and thought "It SHOULD be available to play in 21:9", but no it didn't, I bought this monitor not just for work but play too

[Dredgy]

2 minutes ago, mbryant said:

So I've tried VLC and MPC and they are okay BUT the quality of DVD playback isn't as good as I'd like which I hope is a fault of the players. I've been looking at ArcSoft Total Media Theatre but it seems kind of sketchy. GF and I have been watching a lot of movies lately. Also anyone else have suggestions for 21:9 playback (native) ?. I bought The Force Awakens on Amazon digital and thought "It SHOULD be available to play in 21:9", but no it didn't, I bought this monitor not just for work but play too

 

21:9 on Blu-Ray/DVD isn't really supported - the black bars are hardcoded in. You CAN play it in 21:9" on VLC by pressing "C" until you get to "2.35:1".

Are you sure VLC/MPC are the problems? Remember, DVDs are pretty low resolution.

 

Cyberlink PowerDVD is a terribly clunky solution, but will play back DVD and BluRay at their highest quality and has some Aspect Ratio Control.

[DXMember]

PowerDVD

but I believe the quality issues are with your DVD rather than the player

[mbryant]

2 hours ago, Dredgy said:

 

21:9 on Blu-Ray/DVD isn't really supported - the black bars are hardcoded in. You CAN play it in 21:9" on VLC by pressing "C" until you get to "2.35:1".

Are you sure VLC/MPC are the problems? Remember, DVDs are pretty low resolution.

 

Cyberlink PowerDVD is a terribly clunky solution, but will play back DVD and BluRay at their highest quality and has some Aspect Ratio Control.

yeah It's late :p. I work with video so I should know it's burned that way to be 16:9. Most I've ripped are 720x480 but I've watched DVD's on my parent's TV when they had a 10+ year old DVD player on their 55inch (HDTV) to be specific and they looked great. Just to ensure I wasn't insane I dragged the player over to my 16:9 monitor and it still looked the same

[themctipers]

I personally use PowerDVD with my blurays.

 

[mbryant]

2 hours ago, DXMember said:

PowerDVD

but I believe the quality issues are with your DVD rather than the player

could be, I recall using it before for movies and having no issue, I think it's just the resolution of DVD movies, 720x480 I think. As I grow as a filmmaker and get higer res displays I guess the "blue smoke" of what makes things amazing dissipates. 

[Dredgy]

How far away were you sitting from the TV? Movies aren't really a close up experience.

 

I'm not saying its not a player issue, but I've never had any problems with DVD playback quality on any media player on any system in over 10 years so it seems more likely to be a perspective issue on your behalf, or else graphics/monitor/some other hardware issue. But you never know, you might be missing a good codec.

[mbryant]

2 hours ago, themctipers said:

I personally use PowerDVD with my blurays.

 

would you suggest I go get a Blu-Ray player OR a Blu-Ray drive? I'm still deciding between digital downloads or physical media

[themctipers]

Just now, mbryant said:

would you suggest I go get a Blu-Ray player OR a Blu-Ray drive? I'm still deciding between digital downloads or physical media

Well, where are you going to play your movies on?

If its a standalone tv, go for the player as a drive won't connect to it.

If you're connecting it to your PC via sata cable, go for the drive because a player is a drive and has software internally to play the movie.

Well it depends for digital downloads or physical media. I like physical media more because I am able to keep it forever and the quality is the best you can get. (blu-ray)

Also, I hate DRM for digital downloads (excluding iTunes, never used it)

 

[mbryant]

2 hours ago, themctipers said:

 

If its a standalone tv, go for the player as a drive won't connect to it.

If you're connecting it to your PC via sata cable, go for the drive because a player is a drive and has software internally to play the movie.

 

I don't mean to think your making assumptions and don't want to come off as rude, I just wanted to clarify.. I'm aware drives use SATA and it won't connect to a TV :p. I'd like the player because ATM GF and I are living with her mom and we only have an 8x10 bedroom so no room for a TV, but I imagine when we get our own place we will have a T.V, plus I do have 2 monitors so I could use my 16:9 for the player.. I was just curious if there was any benefit to one over the other.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_HGP6-H6_CMcHN3MlZpUW5hd2M

[themctipers]

10 minutes ago, mbryant said:

I don't mean to think your making assumptions and don't want to come off as rude, I just wanted to clarify.. I'm aware drives use SATA and it won't connect to a TV :p. I'd like the player because ATM GF and I are living with her mom and we only have an 8x10 bedroom so no room for a TV, but I imagine when we get our own place we will have a T.V, plus I do have 2 monitors so I could use my 16:9 for the player.. I was just curious if there was any benefit to one over the other.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_HGP6-H6_CMcHN3MlZpUW5hd2M

Go for the player as it can play movies without a computer and its universal.

It can connect to your tv or one of your monitors via HDMI.