Technical Issues and Questions

[therewillbeblus]

The format has been a nightmare for me, but the quality upgrade can be quite noticeable so I keep going with it. Still, my anxiety levels when I pop in a UHD or have to pause or rewind one (which often creates these glitches and ignites an evening of tinkering) vs a normal blu ray are noticeable by now. I hope this is a one-off for you

[Drucker]

Thanks. I have a baby on the way and there's a non-zero chance I have a pretty major move in the next year, so no chance am I going 4k until I'm a bit settled in!

[therewillbeblus]

On the other hand, acclimating to the unpredictability of a UHD's playback issues may be good prep for managing emotions and behavior around a feral induction to your family system. That would be my therapeutic recommendation. Also, congrats!

[Tom Amolad]

Apologies if there's another thread devoted to this, but where can I find good recommendations for blu-ray players, particularly those that can be unlocked by people who aren't a technical whiz. (If it can't be unlocked for multi-region blu-rays, it would be nice if it could at least be unlocked for multi-region dvds.)

My current one is starting to fail.

[Michael Kerpan]

Apologies if there's another thread devoted to this, but where can I find good recommendations for blu-ray players, particularly those that can be unlocked by people who aren't a technical whiz. (If it can't be unlocked for multi-region blu-rays, it would be nice if it could at least be unlocked for multi-region dvds.)

Here's the relevant thread. Hope it helps: https://www.criterionforum.org/forum/vi ... f=5&t=1579

[Tom Amolad]

Thanks. I vaguely recalled one but it was outstripping my search abilities.

[kekid]

DVDBeaver reviews often say a disc "has occasional depth". What does that mean? What is "depth" in a two-dimensional video image?

[tenia]

I suppose it's related to depth of field ? Like, the image is crisp and it's visible on wide shots with detailed backgrounds and so on.

[Matt]

Is there a recommended site that lists optimal settings for new TVs? I got a new LG 4K TV and would like to get it looking “good enough” without spending hours tweaking every little setting.

I’ve done the basics like putting it on “cinema” mode, turning motion smoothing and all the other automatic picture adjustments off, turning the sharpness all the way down, but haven’t fiddled with color or contrast or brightness yet.

[cdnchris]

I've used rtings.com for quick configurations of televisions in the past when i don't have the patience or need to get too deep into it. Their reviews show how they configure the TVs when testing them (most of the time) and I've been happy with them as a starting point on LGs and Samsungs.

[criterionsnob]

Sounds like you’ve done the most important things already. If you have the Eraserhead Blu-ray, there’s a setup tutorial that helps make a few more tweaks. It’s always worked well for me.

[jheez]

I second the settings recommendations at rtings.com as a good starting point. Make sure you copy all the proper settings for SDR, HDR, and Dolby Vision to all the inputs you use. This means you have to set it up while SDR content is playing, another time while HDR content is playing, and a third time while Dolby Vision content is playing. And disabling any power savings is something a lot of people probably miss.

[kekid]

I have OPPO UDP 205. I use it to bring in external subtitles from a flash drive. The subtitles are in a file called sub.srt, which is placed under a folder called sub. This works as long as the DVD has some subtitles.
I bought Widerberg's "Le Chemin Du Serpent" from Amazon.fr. The disc was listed as having French subtitles, and it does. However, when I choose "Other" subtitle from by pressing the subtitle button from the remote, it it shows English subtitles superimposed on French subtitles. I could not get rid of the French subtitles. Can someone suggest a way to get rid of the French subtitles? (If I choose "Off", it says 'Operation is blocked). Thanks.

[EddieLarkin]

Use Subtitle Shift to move the French subtitles off the bottom of the screen. Then choose Other, and your subtitles should be in the normal position.

[kekid]

Use Subtitle Shift to move the French subtitles off the bottom of the screen. Then choose Other, and your subtitles should be in the normal position.

Thank you, EddieLarkin.

[willoneill]

I've been having an issue that I can't even find reference to online, so maybe someone here can help: I travel a lot by plane and I like to watch movies on my iPad (heresy, I know). I can watch downloaded videos from Netflix/Crave/Amazon/Criterion/my Apple library with no issues, but lately videos downloaded from my Google library into the GoogleTV app won't play without an internet connection. If I'm able to start it before I turn my iPad onto airplane mode, it works fine, but otherwise I get an error message, almost as if the downloaded file won't start until it verifies with a server or something. As I said, there's no reference to this issue online (Google's own website says downloaded movies/shows are supposed to work offline), so I'm hoping someone here may have a solution.

[Rayon Vert]

I'm not technically very savvy so I'm looking for recommendations and advice for getting an external blu-ray drive player for my iMac. (I've only got an old DVD drive, and I would get through my kevyip faster if I could start watching the blu-ray disc extras on the computer as I'm doing other stuff, playing in the background, instead of having to plop down in front of the TV set.)

I'm not looking for the cheapest thing possible, but don't need high end also. Should I be looking out for special port hook-ups or adaptors? And do I need a special app or will VLC do the job.) My iMac is fairly recent: 2021, with an Apple M1 chip.

(I also imagine any blu-ray drive would be region 1, as opposed to a DVD drive that could watch both. I'm in North America and I'll prioritize a region 1 drive, unless external all-region drives exist.)

[Rayon Vert]

I don't know where to post this.

I supposedly received two blu-rays through an ebay seller, sent from the US to me in Canada. They were sent using USPS. The tracking says they were delivered on a certain date, but I didn't receive them. Does anybody understand this and if so how to resolve it if that's possible?

[swo17]

Is it unrealistically early for you to have received them already? I once placed an international order that falsely registered as delivered when it first entered my country. Within a week it finally arrived.

Have you double checked that it was tracked as being delivered to your correct current address?

[Rayon Vert]

No it's not unrealistic. They were paid July 2, apparently delivered July 14. But I don't have them. I bought 3 separate blu-rays from this buyer on the same date - one I got, the other 2 not. Weird.

Now I get stuff delivered to my (aging) parents' house, because they're there all the time, and I'm not - we live in the same small town - and I live alone on a somewhat busy street, and they live in a nicer, more secluded one. So it's always a possibility that they misplaced it, but that doesn't seem likely, as they had a bunch of stuff for me this weekend and I asked them again and it's not there. I see I can file a claim with USPS if I can't find it. I'll wait to see what the seller says.

[swo17]

Wait, is it UPS or USPS?

[Rayon Vert]

I'm sorry, USPS

[swo17]

There may not be much they can do for you, but you can try to speak to a customer service representative. Perhaps they can identify the specific carrier that supposedly delivered your package, if that helps with anything

[Rayon Vert]

Thanks swo.

[Tom Amolad]

Basic question, but how do you connect a TV to external speakers (or rather, to a receiver that is connected to speakers)? In the past, I've tried connecting the blu-ray player to the receiver, and the result was that the picture and sound were out of synch. But would that happen if I conected the blu-ray to the TV and then the TV to the receiver? Also, would it automatically take the place of the TV speakers, or would those continue to work too?

It looks like to connect the digital output on my TV to the analog input on my receiver (those red and white cords), I need some sort of converter -- and that this converter needs a power supply. Since I've already maxed out my power strip, I'm thinking this may be more trouble than it's worth. Is there an alternative way that doesn't require a converter that needs to be plugged in?