DVD and Blu Ray being discontinued?

FWIW, I have around 30 full length movies stored on my smartphone and I have a USB-C to HDMI adapter so as to be able to connect the smartphone to a monitor or TV screen via an HDMI cable ... for use on our home big screen or in the RV.

(I don't waste a good movie by trying to watch it on a dinky smartphone screen.)

mileshuff wrote:

B$printervan wrote:
Few are. Kodi clients simply point to SMB shared folders on Debian box storing recorded tv shows/movies/music. It's so archaic it's powered down having been replaced by streaming services. Backups are what I use in van.

Windows 7 and 10 have built in capabilities to stream files to most smart TV's with no special hardware. DLNA has been in Windows since XP as one method. So I never got into anything more complicated. My NAS has apps to share to most anything. Couple Apple apps on it but don't know much about those as I don't have an Apple.

I'm sure they do. DLNA has been around a long while. I've never viewed my setup as complicated. From Verizon ONT WAN port > Netgate SG-1100 pfsence Firewall/Router > Switch /s> Ubiquity WAP's and RPi's.

Verizon ONT box coax connection split among 3 HDHomeRun Prime boxes (9 tuners) and connected on network.

@ TV's, Raspberrypi, POE powered, running Liberelec/Kodi (custom EPG channel guide for Frontier) Plus 6000+ other app based channels.

No special remotes other than what's included with TV's. (Unless listing to music, Yamaha remotes)

B$printervan wrote:

I'm sure they do. DLNA has been around a long while. I've never viewed my setup as complicated. From Verizon ONT WAN port > Netgate SG-1100 pfsence Firewall/Router > Switch /s> Ubiquity WAP's and RPi's.

That's a lot more complicated than Laptop > TV, or NAS > TV. Am able to stream anything. Am I missing something?

mileshuff wrote:

B$printervan wrote:

I'm sure they do. DLNA has been around a long while. I've never viewed my setup as complicated. From Verizon ONT WAN port > Netgate SG-1100 pfsence Firewall/Router > Switch /s> Ubiquity WAP's and RPi's.

That's a lot more complicated than Laptop > TV, or NAS > TV. Am able to stream anything. Am I missing something?

Guess the other part of the equation would be how we differ on TV reception. Where we live there's no OTA reception. Seems most with cable service are content with either using the cable service set-top box, or directly connecting the coax on their TV (DLNA).

Here's my TV with channels, RaspberryPi mounted behind TV.
https://imgur.com/5uyMCj4

This just shows some movies stored somewhere on the network. Most are recordings from HBO, Showtime and TCM (I like old movies).
https://imgur.com/jAIIojv

Here's an old video I made after removing copy protections from my recordings (Has since been patched)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VCcBcH8CrE

Some other nifty things I can do with Pi's are stream RTSP feed from our security NVR cameras. Also have these Linux powered Pi's with 9" touchscreens mounted in some walls around the house, TOSLINK/Fiber ran back to their respective AVR. Think of it as a 9" smart tv...

some day, I'll spend some time learning how to really use those little boxes

philh wrote:
some day, I'll spend some time learning how to really use those little boxes

Good beginners introduction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpJCAafw2qE

I’m still buying VHS tapes and cassettes. Lots of old content you can’t get any other way. Plus it doesn’t disappear from the digital library magically.

As for camping I just download some shows and movies to my iPad and connect it to the TV.

Thanks,

Jeremiah.

jerem0621 wrote:
I’m still buying VHS tapes and cassettes. Lots of old content you can’t get any other way. Plus it doesn’t disappear from the digital library magically.

As for camping I just download some shows and movies to my iPad and connect it to the TV.

Thanks,

Jeremiah.

I worked in TV/radio electronics repair shops in the late 80's into the early 90's when VHS/Beta was in it's glory..

Those days are gone and the ship has sailed, old analog video tape has been abandoned by manufacturers. You might be able to find a fe combo VHS/DVD units but those too are no longer being made.

Your VHS tapes are on life support and finding good working used VHS machines are not as easy as it used to be.. Repairing VHS machines requiring more than belts and idlers is not feasible. Might be able to find a few NOS parts if you are lucky.

I would stop buying used VHS tapes and concentrate on used DVDs.

For your current VHS collection, I would suggest you might wish to convert your library to a digital format, there are NTSC analog composite video capture devices you can buy that plug into your PCs USB port.

I would do that for any VHS video tape you have that is not available on DVD.

The clock is ticking on that old technology, myself, I have thrown out several hundred VHS tapes that I have gone through and either digitized or have replaced with DVDs. On top of that have digitized hundreds of hrs of Video 8/Hi8 8mm video tape preserving my families home movies taken on camcorder over the yrs..

I have even digitized old "Super 8" film my Dad took from the late 60's into the early '80s.. The film was deteriorating and finding good working film projectors with good bulbs for reasonable prices is a daunting task.. I ended up having to manufacture my own parts to repair a projector and then the bulb became an issue so I retrofitted a high power 50W LED in order to finish the digitization..

Even DVDs are on the death bed, the quality of DVD players on the market have gone into the ground but it is possible to "rip" DVDs into a digital file..

My old cassettes, well I have tossed out several thousand hrs worth as I replaced with CDs or digitized what is not available.. Have a few hundred hrs worth to go.

Have done the same with Reel to Reel and 8 track tapes.. Those are gone.. Sold my last Reel to Reel unit I had well over 10 yrs ago and have not looked back.

B$printervan wrote:
Guess the other part of the equation would be how we differ on TV reception. Where we live there's no OTA reception. Seems most with cable service are content with either using the cable service set-top box, or directly connecting the coax on their TV (DLNA).

Here's my TV with channels, RaspberryPi mounted behind TV.
https://imgur.com/5uyMCj4

This just shows some movies stored somewhere on the network. Most are recordings from HBO, Showtime and TCM (I like old movies).
https://imgur.com/jAIIojv

Here's an old video I made after removing copy protections from my recordings (Has since been patched)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VCcBcH8CrE

I cut the cord years ago. No cable. Couldn't justify the high cost cable companies charge. Just Wifi. Anything I can access or store on my laptop or NAS I can stream to TV. I do have a roof antenna for local broadcasts but don't watch them very often. I'm about 50 miles from broadcast antennas and pick up about 50 channels although most are in Spanish. I do subscribe to Netflix, Sling and Amazon Prime plus a ton of freebie channels thru Roku. Not sure what I'll do if prices go way up for those.

mileshuff wrote:

I cut the cord years ago. No cable. Couldn't justify the high cost cable companies charge. Just Wifi. Anything I can access or store on my laptop or NAS I can stream to TV. I do have a roof antenna for local broadcasts but don't watch them very often. I'm about 50 miles from broadcast antennas and pick up about 50 channels although most are in Spanish. I do subscribe to Netflix, Sling and Amazon Prime plus a ton of freebie channels thru Roku. Not sure what I'll do if prices go way up for those.

How do you digitally record movies at home off Netflix, Amazon Prime, and free Roku channels so that you can take a stick full of them with you on RV trips to play back and watch on a monitor/TV when camping?