Physical HD or Digital 4K?

[Hardback247]

If you wanted to watch a movie that doesn't have a physical 4K Blu-Ray, has a physical standard HD 1080p Blu-Ray, and is only in 4K digitally, such as "The Mitchells vs the Machines," "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Belfast," and "House of Gucci," which would be your most preferred method of watching them, and why?

[The Batman Professor]

Physical. My Panny UB820 upscales just fine.

[meremortal]

It's a pretty popular topic of discussion. Here's another active thread with a lot of opinions/replies:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=336597

[Hardback247]

There's also the matter of HDR, which, of course, standard Blu-Rays don't have.

[veritas]

I think generally the blu ray looks better then 4k streams in terms of picture quality. They are both close enough to each other though that I will generally stream it in 4k rather then bother to put find the disc in and play it though

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by veritas

I think generally the blu ray looks better then 4k streams in terms of picture quality. They are both close enough to each other though that I will generally stream it in 4k rather then bother to put find the disc in and play it though

Still, what about the HDR and color depth? Don't those make a difference?

[TripleHBK]

Give me the disc. A bit starved 4k stream likely won't look any better than a 4k restored/mastered Blu Ray.

[veritas]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

Still, what about the HDR and color depth? Don't those make a difference?

Personally for the majority of films hdr doesn't particularly add anything. If its animated they didn't originally use those wider color gambits. If it was filmed they probably didn't plan on a wider color gambit because it wont show up on a blu ray. Its the same problem that 3d has. It can work great if its planned for and made for it but if you just throw it in then its kind of a mess and probably wont add much to the picture.

[DR Herbert West]

Physical. Die Hard 2 is the only film where I use the 4K digital version.

[vortexx]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

Give me the disc. A bit starved 4k stream likely won't look any better than a 4k restored/mastered Blu Ray.

The algorithms on streams generally cause the detail to look sharp, but the backgrounds can often suffer. I prefer not to stream whenever possible. It's not a matter of not owning a copy, since I have software that can capture most streams.

[Dragon78]

Physical.

[filmlover22]

physical. absolutely.

[unberechenbar]

Physical

[WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

If you wanted to watch a movie that doesn't have a physical 4K Blu-Ray, has a physical standard HD 1080p Blu-Ray, and is only in 4K digitally, such as "The Mitchells vs the Machines," "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Belfast," and "House of Gucci," which would be your most preferred method of watching them, and why?

FWIW I compared Cobra Kai S1 blu-ray to Cobra Kai S1 4k Youtube and the blu-ray had better audio, less compression artifacts (and it wasn't even the best blu-ray) and, if I used next generation GPU upscaling, the details looked about the same (if I used more regular upscaling then the 4k youtube looked a touch more details and refined though). I watch the blu-ray.

[Hardback247]

I think it's fair to say that The Sword in the Stone is a rare exception of the digital version being better than the physical.

[Mikezilla3k]

Physical unless the Digital is really better than the physical release. In which case, digital while hoping it gets a physical release.

[veritas]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

I think it's fair to say that The Sword in the Stone is a rare exception of the digital version being better than the physical.

Sword in the stone is a rare example of the dvd looking better then the blu ray.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by veritas

Sword in the stone is a rare example of the dvd looking better then the blu ray.

I'd still prefer to watch the digital 4K version over the DVD.

[kuzronk]

I'm more picky on tittles that are 4K VOD but are only on Blu-ray itself, somewhat in case it gets an 4K down the line and because I want the film the best it could be.

[HD Goofnut]

Physical, no question. Just watch the UHD of Dune (2021) and then watch the 4K streaming version if you have any doubt.