The Great Desk Upgrade, Hasbro Legends, YouTube Price Hike & Sony’s Plan to Save Cinema
Transcript
Is the golden age of streaming and tech convenience officially hitting a paywall? In Episode 463, host Steve “Megatron” Phillips and TFG1Mike tackle the latest hit to our wallets: YouTube Premium’s US pricing is going up. We discuss the price hike and a “quietly revealed” trick to avoid ads without paying for Premium. Steve also gives us a status update on The Great Desk Upgrade—is the ultimate geek command center finally complete?
In the world of entertainment, we dive into the launch of the Hasbro Legends TV Channel and the strange delisting of Star Trek: Resurgence from Steam. We also react to the news of NCIS: New York starring LL COOL J and Scott Caan, and a frustrating report on Xfinity allegedly throttling gigabit speeds by choice. Plus, we break down Sony CEO Tom Rothman’s bold CinemaCon manifesto: making movies affordable again, cutting out the pre-show ad bloat, and extending theatrical windows. Can Sony actually save the movie-going experience? We weigh in on that, the fleeting arrival of James Bond on Netflix, and the “ugh” factor of more Val Kilmer AI usage.
What you’ll get out of this episode:
- The breakdown of YouTube’s new pricing and how to navigate their ad strategy.
- Why Sony’s plan to cut ads and lower ticket prices could be a game-changer for theaters.
- A warning for James Bond fans: watch them on Netflix before they vanish on April 20th.
- The truth about Xfinity’s gigabit “switch” and what it means for your home internet.
Get Altered, Get Geeky, with the Altered Geeks!
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Enjoyed the show. I source physical media (movies) from thrift stores, games stores and online. I rarely go to Walmart. I’m looking for deals. If a favorite movie is released to 4K I will sometimes pre-order it to secure a copy since there is scarcity nowadays with some popular releases. But most often I’ll wait to get things at a good price. eBay can also be a good source, and I have bought items there for fair prices.
I’m focused mostly on 4K, but sometimes the Blu-ray or even a DVD, is acceptable. It depends on the price and how important it is to own it. Some DVDs still have preferable audio tracks, and in some rare cases, picture quality, than higher resolution formats. For instance, the DVD of Master and Commander has a reference-level 5.1 audio track that was not ported over to the new 4K that has Atmos. I’m not sure it made it onto the Blu-ray either. I’ve listened to both the 5.1 and the Atmos and the 5.1 is the clear winner, IMO.
A lot of people accept poor quality. It doesn’t matter to them, or they can’t see the difference. But it also depends on the size of your TV and the distance you sit from it. The larger the screen or the closer you sit, the more resolution matters. But resolution isn’t all that comes with 4K. Better colors and high-dynamic range come on most releases, as well as the immersive audio, but some Blu-rays get the immersive audio mix too. A lot of films get new restorations on 4K. They do often look better, considerably better than Blu-ray, especially if the Blu-ray was not mastered in the last few years. It comes down to the restoration quality before being put on disc. I have some DVDs that look great with good detail and color. But others don’t. Same with Blu-ray. The Transformers The Movie got a 4K release and I was not sure how much it could be improved upon over the Blu-ray. OMG! It’s SO much better. It’s much cleaner, the colors are so vibrant. It’s a treat. But it comes down to how much it matters to you. For most people, the Blu-ray is probably fine, and that’s okay. But if you want the best, the 4K is worth it, IMO.
Thanks for the comments Tim! I appreciate the breakdown of the different formats and maybe that’s just me not keeping up with it over the years. I mostly stuck with digital but with the streamers constantly giving subpar content or taking away the content, physically media is meaning more for me.
I can get the point that some are just fine for DVD or even Blu-ray and depending on the film, 4K can be a better option for it. I’ll have to look. Honestly I am planning on picking up the Trek films in 4K because I miss having them on disc. I still have digital ones from the download of my older DVD’s before selling them for space.
Action movies seem to get a lot more detail once on Blu-ray from DVD so if that’s the case then the 4K must be great. I do have a 4K monitor and a 4K Sony TV and Blu-ray, so I’ll have to check these out as soon as I pickup some of these again.
yeahhhhhh 4K forever!!!!!! I can’t go back to lower quality!!! excellent comments Tim!! We will bring ’em up on the next show!
Gonna be a great discussion Steve!!