This Blu-Ray Forum is not as active as it used to be..... - Page 7

Jumper- yes if you can get it for under $10
Pearl Harbor- only if it's free!

As others have said, there is less participation in this forum because HD TV and movies are no longer "rare, new, and special" anymore. They are mainstream, and normal.

Years ago, I was on here every day because I was starved for HD content and wanted to learn of every little step in the move toward HD availability, well before the disc formats were even announced. When they finally arrived, I (and many others) watched day after day for each new release announcement and waited for them to arrive. Now, there are so many releases each week I could never keep up. At the same time, new movies seem to interest me less and less, so the good releases are harder to find among all the others.

The change in AVS Forum's software took a small amount of getting used to, but it has one feature that makes this version just crush the old one into insignificance: The current format can remember read-versus-unread posts INDEFINITELY. With the old software, once you logged on, you better have had time to check EVERY forum you followed, because it was going to reset all of the unread posts to the current time whether you went into those forums or not.

A neat trick, considering that DVD wouldn't be introduced until 1997.

I believe he meant the late 1990s.

I am still waiting on at least ONE 'deep color" BD movie... THAT was promised, not 3D!

This is why I don't faceplant or tweetie.

LOL, "faceplant or tweetie". I like.

I thought you were kidding til I read the thread:eek: Things really went off the rails in that one.

You'd have to pay me to take it.

If you're not watching Pearl Harbor as a comedy, you're not doing it right.

Raoul, If I want to watch a comedy I'll watch one that has comedy intentions from the get-go not something that is unintentionally insipid.
Another thing that occurred to me awhile back, Is it necessarily a bad thing that the Blu-ray forum is not as "active" as it used to be?
Think about it from a snob POV, I don't have to wade through nearly as much drivel as in the past.
It would be nice if the focus was more on the film itself but I'll take being ignored over internet expert-texperts.
For example, not one mention that Shane is being released in June.
Although there are certain parts of that film that make me cringe, for the most part I love it and it is a bona fide classic.
And it's has imo one of the best lines in filmdom, "He's a low-down Yankee liar."

Maybe a way of looking at it is that it's never been that active to begin with? Several times I've watched a BD, come here to see what people have to say, and found no thread.

I dropped a hint in the "name that movie" thread - the two movies I posted had something in common, the hint was it "may (be) beyond deduction." Movies are Petrified Forest and the original 3:10 To Yuma.

Here's the hint again - May Beyond Deduction

And no, there's no thread on either, although I think they're both stone cold classics. Of course, I don't know how accurate May is ...

This forum not being very active is probably just due to blu-ray.com. That forum is very active. Unfortunately, it's mostly topics about slipcovers, how many blu's you have, post pictures of your collection, rate the person above's collection, etc. You really have to slog through a lot of nonsense to find something of interest.
Edited by ratpacker - 4/1/13 at 6:35pm

A bit of research seems to suggest it's not just this forum. There seems to be a rising sentiment that internet forums in general have been tapering off in activity for a while now, some suggesting that social sites like Facebook have siphoned off discussions and internet time.

We need another format war to perk things up. Those were the best days!!!

We need another format war to perk things up. Those were the best days!!!

OK...you go first.

Oh I remember them Who can forget In Before The Lock On another note if you don't see a thread on a movie start one, you never know where it will go.

It is quite clear that Generation Y people and younger, who have fully embraced smartphones and grew up on Internet social networks, don't have as much interest in using traditional forums such as this one than prior generations. The phenomenon is definitely not limited to AVS. A few years back, most forums would get huge influxes of new users every time the traditional college semesters would begin in the Fall and Winter. I've noticed that trend dropping off in recent years, as apparently college kids these days spend their time on the Internet in different ways. Today the more motivated Millennials seemingly would rather create a blog than try to engage with a community of strangers.

As part of Gen-Y (or Gen-X, there is about 10-15 years of overlap), I mostly agree with your assessment. Millennials do use the Internet in different ways, but only because the Internet is SO BIG that users have so many more options and TOOLS. However, as massive as it gets, it is much simpler to navigate and use due to search engines, data mining, and data aggregation. Not to go all hipster on you, but the Internet has gotten too mainstream.

I mean that in a good way. The Internet is so mainstream and predictable that you no longer have to join 25 forums to learn about or talk about your favorite hobbies or interests. You can do one search using Google (or Bing) to find 99% of your answers. "Why are some speakers 4Ω while others are 8Ω?" or "Why does my speaker say it has 8 horseshoes?" You no longer need to join AVS or know anything about electronics to get your answer. A simple search will show you pictures and videos as well - it's much more efficient than joining a forum, posting 10 times before you can share a link or photo, and then trying to describe the problem just to wait for some a-hole to correct your spelling or grammar. If you're lucky, some self-appointed "old timer expert" with e-peen issues might even answer your question while being needlessly condescending! Totally seems worth it.

Facebook, Wikipedia, Google, et al. have nearly succeeded in capturing all available knowledge and delivering the answer directly to your face - often without even asking for it. Traditional forums will continue for the die hards - for those unwilling to change.

From what I can tell, you are quite correct in your assessment. Back when I joined 14 months ago it was far more active than it is now, but it seems to be that way with the entire site and not any specific forum(s). Hopefully, things will soon return to the way they were...

12 years ago when I joined there were were so few members... It was mostly tech nerds and guys like me that couldn't info or knew there was a better way to design a room than was recommended by the once very profitable retail Home Theater stores.

My very first post was asking for information on a Faroudja line tripler at the recently reduced price of $4000. At that time, you had to pay Faroudja $25,000 - $30,000 for a line quadrupler to get 1080P on your DVD and CRT Mind you it did not have HDMI / DVI as it wasn't invented yet. THe Faroudja VP-301 (my dream piece gave you 540P for your DVD player for the reasonable price of $15,000. The Sony G-90 CRT came out at the unheard of (low) price of $45,000, was as good as anything out there and signal that prices were starting to break. Runco and other had CRT manufacturers had CRTs in the $50-$90K range at the time. There was a heck of a lot of DIY folks here and the theater builder forum was the main place. The $20K forum was also quite active - even so today. It was a great source for information that attracted many industry engineers and personel from the major (and more esoteric) audio companies...

Then came the talk of Blu Ray and HD DVD. The battles started well before either produced players or discs. The majority here favored HD DVD as their was quite an anti-Sony bias and HD DVD was going to be cheaper (this place has always attracted many who put budget above all else). The moderator staff was a fraction of what it is now and the skirmishes that broke out were hilarious and insulting to so many. Threads would go from up to hundreds of posts per day. 'In before the Lock' was a phrase that came to be when threads became so aggressive it was a matter of time before they disappeared. I gladly participated and likely my post count would be 5000 higher if I hadn't had so many post deleted in such threads. I was certainly an agitator but it was all in good fun. Those were the best of times and worst of times here.

What I see today is a mature technology that requires little DIY for improvement. SInce the analog world is gone and everything is 1080P and lossless, there is little the average enthusiast needs to do to get great picture and sound. So many here had video processors to deal with the bad analog equipment of the time - but not so much now. So, as the technology has evolved, the needs of the those who come to AVS have changed. Fewer folks are building home theaters these days and add on products for improved video and sound are very, very expensive (I am looking at a Trinnov piece for room correction that will likely com to $20K when all is said and done). Projection is still expensive if you want 3000+ lumens - you are still in the $40K to $100K range for such.

And way before Ralph Potts, I did Blu Ray and HD DVD / DVD for AVS for a year or two. Unpaid but did it as there was so much interest in the technical aspects of movie picture and sound. I had a reference system for almost a decade that has continued to be updated. I owe the excellence of my system entire to AVS. There were some great minds that use to hang out here and really give good advice that you couldn't find anywhere. Mark Seaton (Seaton sound) was an employee at a small pro audio company when he came to my house to experiment with a new subwoofer system that changed the way many of us looked at subs - even Tom Danley acknowledged our experiment in designing his over top HT subs. This place was where you came for cutting edge advice and design help. Not so much any more. Now the movie forums, like this one here, just talk about the movies, the extras, cover art and other non technical stuff. This was a tiny part of the old forum... (and look at Mark Seaton's company now)!!

But basically you can buy a decent player, receiver and projector for under a few grand get an amazing experience. Much harder to achieve back when this place was the wild, wild west. I've seen this place through almost all of its history and though some of the original excitement and 'out of the box' theater design is still retained, the average enthusiast here today isn't seeking technical excellence like the original members did.
Edited by thebland - 4/4/13 at 4:52pm

also having 2 separate threads on blu ray movies on avs dilutes the participation.

i don't really know if we need 2 threads for each br, the same one could also share ralph's reviews.

People will still come and post and debate, but usually for the silliest reasons. Lord of the Rings threads end up in the green/not green argument about Fellowship and, even worse-because of many more years of the existence of the films in question- Star Wars threads always, ALWAYS degenerate into "why not original versions" or "prequels suck" or just simple Lucas hatred. And it's rare to get much participation in any but the fantasy film threads.

Maybe this just reflects a zeitgeist(sp?) that decrees that most films with any budget are fantasy CGI fests that teens and millenials take their dates to, and of thread participants who proudly declare they can't relate to films made earlier than the nineties.

Just one old crab's take on things.

Unless I missed it early on, I can't believe no one has mentioned the one thing that HAS curtailed my use: no more mobile (iPhone) app! I used to check my "favorite" threads every morning in a matter of seconds. I still don't understand why they went to a new format without having a mobile backup. I mean eBay has an app that tells you "what's new": it can't be that hard!

Can I just pay $50 or something and get AVS to get rid of everything that's slowing down the experience? I'm on cable modem...that's as fast as I can afford.

You can join AVS Club and turn off the ads. Else, NoScript and Adblocker on Firefox can work wonders.

-Bill

Snap...why didn't I know that?

Signed up..seems about 1/3 faster. That's a start!

Much better...more than 1/3 faster.

Damned ads were killing me.

Thanks Bill.

The case can be made for two threads if one is technical and one is where the film itself is discussed. Sometimes I think film lovers get caught in the crossfire of the tech wars that erupt around here. Green tint!, it's Teal!, It's not the original version!...and so on...and so on. True some discs have problems but it should not be the lifeblood of the blu -ray forum at all times.