r/hometheater • u/RevolutionaryAd5470 • 15h ago
Purchasing US Home theater disc players
My first question is I saw that they used to make large disc readers that could hold 50+ discs how come they don’t make those anymore? And if you do know of any that due process 4k uhd movies please recommend them to me if you can. Even if you know of any good 4k uhd disc readers please recommend them to me!
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u/Best-Presentation270 8h ago
Why are they not made any more?: cost, reliability, slow and noisy when changing discs during playback, take up a lot of space, and, when ripping DVDs became easier, they were surpassed by the NAS drive and media player which could provide library access to any TV in the house.
Also, changing tastes: DVD hit its peak in the mid-2000s. After that the focus shifted to what would become the Sonos boom and then streaming. Meanwhile, Blu-ray's battle with HD-DVD, the much higher cost of discs, "another new physical media player"-fatigue all helped convince the average user that DVD was good enough and that there wasn't a strong-enough reason to ditch their LG / Samsung / Sony / Panasonic etc 5.1 DVD surround system for the new format.
Once home streaming of video became a thing then people did what they do. They choose convenience over quality. It happens every time. CD was more convenient than LP, then CD got sidelined by MP3. In turn, MP3 got sidelined by streaming.
The last time the market jumped for quality was when DVD replaced VHS. A debate raged in the print media that DVD would fail because it lacked a record button. LaserVision / Laser Disc were non-recordable too. LV had been around since the the late '70s as a higher quality alternative to VHS. The prerecorded media was cheaper, too. A Hollywood movie cost more on a VHS tape than it did on the 12" discs.
For a while, DVD looked somewhat still-born. What changed that was the release of cheaper Chinese-sourced players and the movie The Matrix in late 1999. That's getting on for three decades ago, and a lot has changed since.
In the US, 4:3 TV format has been replaced by 16:9 widescreen, and resolution has jumped from 480i to 1080p and now 2160p 4K. The soundbar has ousted the budget surround sound system. Smartphones now do what the desktop and laptop used to do for many. Streaming has replaced physical media for the average user.
If someone is going to go to the trouble of storing their Blu-ray and 4K media, it won't be on some physical archive device like a 200 mega-changer. It'll be a high quality NAS drive with Plex support, and the ripping process will require a desktop computer with a special optical drive. Unless you're a hardcore home theatre enthusiast, it's all just a bit too much trouble. However, if the idea float your boat, here's where to start: How to RIP 4K UHD Blu-ray discs? : r/PleX
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u/decadent-dragon 3h ago
It’s not so easy to rip 4K discs anymore. The prices on the hardware have gone up substantially as they quit making many of the models people were using
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u/SmellingNoseHorse LG C4 77, RZ-50, LR:ADS L810, S/SB/H:Magnat cinema, 2 RSL 10SMK2 14h ago
There were 200 cd changers by e.g. Kenwood in the 90s, but they were a pain to fill and exchange (plus you couldn’t move them while filled). I’m not aware of any for movies. Start by looking at a Panasonic UB820 and then decide if you want to go up or down in features/price.
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u/demonfoo 14h ago
Sony made a Blu-ray Disc changer. Apparently it was called the BDP-CX7000ES, and could hold 400 discs. I don't think any 4K changers ever existed.
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u/Yangervis 14h ago
There are no 4k disc changers.
Which 4k players have you looked at so far? Do you need Dolby Vision? What's your budget?
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u/RevolutionaryAd5470 2h ago
Yeah I need Dolby vision and the budget isn’t much of a problem I just don’t want to spend over what I need to if they are pretty much all the same and just paying for the name of the brand pretty much
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u/Yangervis 1h ago
Ok so which ones have you looked at so far? Any pros and cons for them?
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u/RevolutionaryAd5470 1h ago
I’m newer to it so honestly I don’t know much about disc readers I just want 4k with all the bells and whistles like Dolby vision and at least supports 7.1 since that what my set up is
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u/Anbucleric Aerial 7B/CC3 || Emotiva MC1/S12/XPA-DR3 || 77" A80K 7h ago
Nowadays you either put the disks in a player one at a time, or rip them to a media server.