blu-ray vs digital movies

[blsjr1980]

has anyone noticed the color palette on blu-ray's being alot richer then streamed movies? is it just me? Streamed movies looked faded to me. I notice nobody replied on the white spec thread even with 95 views. I love the idea of digital movies and own quite a few but it seems like there just not there yet compared to blu-ray. I know the sound quality on digital movies is not as good as blu-ray, but I really thought the picture quality would be closer then it is. Thoughts?

[JustAnEpicPerson]

Originally Posted by blsjr1980

has anyone noticed the color palette on blu-ray's being alot richer then streamed movies? is it just me? Streamed movies looked faded to me. I notice nobody replied on the white spec thread even with 95 views. I love the idea of digital movies and own quite a few but it seems like there just not there yet compared to blu-ray. I know the sound quality on digital movies is not as good as blu-ray, but I really thought the picture quality would be closer then it is. Thoughts?

Hmm... I suppose it depends on a couple of things.

1. What is the movie?
2. What device are you playing the digital movie on?

For me, I recently streamed the movie Oblivion on VUDU via my Xbox One. On my 1080p TV, it looked fantastic. I don't own the actual blu-ray, but I'm sure if I did, I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

However, I also played Birdman via VUDU on a Roku. Once again, I don't own the actual film on BD, but here, I could probably tell the difference. It just wasn't a great picture quality.

I can't speak for audio quality because I use basic TV speakers.

[blsjr1980]

I've just noticed with several movies that the transfers vudu uses just aren't as sharp as blu-rays, I get little tiny white specs once and a while or the faded color look where the colors don't pop at all like on blu's. I think it will get better with time but it's noticeable on most movies. I use a sony s790 with hard wired connection because I hate buffering.

[cpr3584]

it has to do with the bit rate thats being transferred to the screen. streaming won't be able to match blu-ray quality in terms of video and audio. you might not be able to tell a big difference on some but you can on others. streaming will always look faded, esp when you're viewing it on a screen 47 inches or larger.

[blsjr1980]

yea 52 inch sony bravia screen is what i use, the faded look just gets to me and makes me want to watch the blu-ray

[armyjon99]

Well your comparing a file size on vudu that is 1/3 or 1/2 the size of the bluray video file.You will simply get a better image with a bluray. Not to mention if your network slows down you could be viewing your movie in 720p. Then when your network improves you'll be back at 1080p.

The internet speeds are there to support a full stream of a bluray file, however nobody wants to provide the bandwith. The average consumer has a data cap it may not be active but its there. With comcast for me 250gb cap a month if they were to enforce that I would be able to watch 5 50gb movies a month. That is just sad.

[blsjr1980]

I really like vudu hdx movies, and I know 4k streaming is just around the corner. I just feel blu-ray will always be one step ahead quality wise. I don't even worry about data caps as I'll just use a different vendor if that happens. One in my area called out comcast for trying to impose fake caps when the really don't need too.

[jmerr]

If I am going to sit, relax and watch a whole movie I will throw in the Blu-ray, but many times I don't have time and it is nice just to pick up where I stopped watching on VUDU. Sometimes convenience over rules quality.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by jmerr

If I am going to sit, relax and watch a whole movie I will throw in the Blu-ray, but many times I don't have time and it is nice just to pick up where I stopped watching on VUDU. Sometimes convenience over rules quality.

Not in my book.

[Sozo]

Originally Posted by jmerr

If I am going to sit, relax and watch a whole movie I will throw in the Blu-ray, but many times I don't have time and it is nice just to pick up where I stopped watching on VUDU. Sometimes convenience over rules quality.

Yep. Totally agree.

[BlakkMajik3000]

Originally Posted by cpr3584

it has to do with the bit rate thats being transferred to the screen. streaming won't be able to match blu-ray quality in terms of video and audio. you might not be able to tell a big difference on some but you can on others. streaming will always look faded, esp when you're viewing it on a screen 47 inches or larger.

Pretty much this. It's simple math. BDs support a maximum bitrate of 54 Mb/s, while VUDU tops out at 9 Mb/s (HDX).

I will say, most of the time I can't tell the difference and I watch on a 55" TV.

[satam55]

Originally Posted by BlakkMajik3000

Pretty much this. It's simple math. BDs support a maximum bitrate of 54 Mb/s, while VUDU tops out at 9 Mb/s (HDX).

I will say, most of the time I can't tell the difference and I watch on a 55" TV.

I thought VUDU's HDX format topped out in the 20Mb/s.

[blsjr1980]

When watching hulu plus I've noticed 30+ Mbps and the picture looks like crap compared to vudu

On a side note I watched maze runner for first time on vudu last night and most scenes looked great

[Wasgo]

Originally Posted by blsjr1980

When watching hulu plus I've noticed 30+ Mbps and the picture looks like crap compared to vudu

On a side note I watched maze runner for first time on vudu last night and most scenes looked great

That's likely the buffering, not the rate of the video.

[blsjr1980]

Hmm I was just going by what it said on screen 34.6 Mbps , so if that's how buffering works could be

[blsjr1980]

They only info I could find on vudu Mbps was from 7 years ago stating 9 Mbps and up to 20 for heavy action scenes. My question is have they not improved on this over the last 7 years?

[BlakkMajik3000]

Originally Posted by satam55

I thought VUDU's HDX format topped out in the 20Mb/s.

The only reference I could find regarding bit-rate was a post on the VUDU forums from about 4 years ago:
https://forum.vudu.com/showthread.ph...ing-Estimation

I would assume it's improved since then, but I couldn't find anything to indicate otherwise. I can say, at 9Mb/s, a two hour movie would only use roughly 8GB, and this is about right, according to my data usage monitoring. Even with all the variables (device, wi-fi, etc.), I would definitely be using more than 9Mb/s if Vudu was kicking it out to me. Maybe there's another reason I'm getting capped at that number.

With that said, my main point is that the maximum bit-rate for BD is far above the bit-rate any on-line provider offers.

[blsjr1980]

If you can't tell the difference though most the time then bitrate doesn't really matter anyways then. Maze runner looked great, one hour photo looked like crap for me. I think ultimately the studio transfer is what matters most.