Quality difference between BluRay 4K and Streaming

[swandy]

I just recently upgraded my system (Samsung QLED 4K TV, Samsung 4K BluRay player and Apple 4K TV) so I am new at this stuff.
When viewing/listening to a 4K/UHD movie, is there a "noticeable" quality difference between using a 4K BluRay disk vs streaming either a purchase from iTunes or a service like Amazon/Netflix?
Thanks,
Steve

[GeneD5]

Hey Steve...there are a lot of variables streaming like the streaming provider, your bandwidth, the way internet is running at any given moment etc. In short, streaming is lossy (you also won't get HD audio). It can still look and sound very good regardless.

I always want discs because you know you are getting 100% uncompressed audio and video.

At the end of the day, just watch whatever looks good to you

[Tru-way]

The higher bitrate from the 4k Blu will help combat banding/compression noise/blocks you sometimes see in streams. It may not be a night and day difference but if you look closer you will see more detail in the 4k Blu that seems to be smeared in the stream.

[apollo828]

Originally Posted by GeneD5

I always want discs because you know you are getting 100% uncompressed audio and video.

Technically, discs are compressed too. They have to be. Truly uncompressed video would take up way too much data, even for standard-def material. I need to double-check the numbers but somebody I asked to do an uncompressed LaserDisc transfer said I'd need ~170 GB/hr. That's more data than can fit on a 4K BR disc, and the resolution is ~6x smaller than 4K!

That said, audio on all (?) 4K discs and most 2K discs uses "lossless" compression, which is good. The bitrate for the video is almost always higher too, which makes for cleaner video. So yeah, I prefer discs myself. I'm just being picky regarding definitions.

[Aidenag]

The difference can be enormous even if your sporting a gbps connection. Hell the difference from bluray to streamed 4k can even be drastic. When i went 4k i did tons of comparisons from owned content to streamed and not a single instance did streaming look equal, and in majority of case's it looked far worse. Most of the 4k streaming i compared to a 1080p disc didnt even look as good as the older format did upscaled.... Just fire up any 4k content you also own on uhd and see firsthand. Its nuts how much is lost from current streaming tech.

And lets not even talk of the audio quality loss on streaming. Its like comparing mp3 to FLAC. Sure if youve got crap equipment you wont notice, but get even a loq quality htib and its obvious what's missing.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by flashback8

Technically, discs are compressed too. They have to be. Truly uncompressed video would take up way too much data, even for standard-def material.

Generally most Blu-rays are under 10% of their file sizes (if I remember they're QuickTime files in most cases), so they're compressed over 90%.

[StingingVelvet]

Obviously depends on the person. My wife would never notice, or care if she briefly did. I notice right away the deficiencies of a stream. Depends depends depends.

[Iain-]

Originally Posted by swandy

I just recently upgraded my system (Samsung QLED 4K TV, Samsung 4K BluRay player and Apple 4K TV) so I am new at this stuff.
When viewing/listening to a 4K/UHD movie, is there a "noticeable" quality difference between using a 4K BluRay disk vs streaming either a purchase from iTunes or a service like Amazon/Netflix?
Thanks,
Steve

There's an infinite spectrum of variables to consider, here. Some of them would be:

• Title mastering quality
• Title availability in 4K format
• Title content

It's still early in the life of 4K, so content at the moment is limited. However, there's a lot of superb streaming content that will never be available on physical media. Also, You may like the title on physical media, but how will you feel of it a year from now. I have a lot of these titles, that needlessly consume physical space.

Going forward, purchasing new 4K physical media titles will have to have overwhelmingly compelling reasons to do so.

[Joce]

Discs will always be better in term of PQ/Audio. Even if tomorrow 100% of the planet has a VERY FAST internet speed, Blu-ray companies would sell another kind of Blu-ray discs capacity with like 500 GB or whathever to surpass streaming compression. You just CAN'T beat physical storage.

- Higher bitrates/Better picture quality for discs (No macroblocks/artifacts).
- Lossless/Uncompressed Audio source (Dolby Atmos/DTS HD etc).
- Bonus features on discs, not available in streaming.
- You can watch you Blu-ray disc when you want without internet, it belongs to you, when streaming is temporary available.
- You can sell your Blu-ray disc if you don't like it/don't need it anymore, not the case in streaming.
- Streaming content is VERY limited compared to Blu-ray discs.

[Iain-]

Originally Posted by Joce

- Streaming content is VERY limited compared to Blu-ray discs.

Depends on the apps available. Roku have the most flexibility here.

No longer do you have to be content with only Netflix and Amazon app availability. Ever heard of "Curiosity Stream" or "Watch ESPN" apps, among many others?

All the apps you would ever need can be downloaded from the Roku store.

[jojjedokan]

How come that when i Watch 4k disc the bitrate vary from 4 mbps to 40, and ordinarie bluray 20-25 , whats is wrong , sometimes the Picture on the 4 k gets shaky and out of focus like half a sec, never happends on the blurays, all my hardware is new

[Vilya]

^The bitrate of a 4k disc can max at 128 Mbps and can easily average in the 80+ Mbps range. If you're seeing nothing above 40 mbps when playing a 4k disc AND you are seeing picture anomalies, then there is most likely a settings issue with your equipment or perhaps something as simple as using the wrong speed HDMI cable. A 4K premium certified HDMI cable (18 Gbps) is necessary for 4K disc playback.

Listing all of your gear, make and model, will help others to help you.

[Zoland2020]

If you don't have the best internet speeds then the difference is huge (obviously). 4K streaming is so compressed that even a regular 1080p Blu-ray can look better than 4K streaming. 4K Blu-ray has much higher video bitrate and best of all lossless audio (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, including the object-based extensions Dolby Atmos and DTS:X) whereas 4K streaming is mostly limited to Dolby Digital Plus (select titles on Netflix, Vudu, and iTunes have Dolby Atmos encoded on the lossy Dolby Digital Plus). Streaming may win over those who value convenience but for those who want the best possible video & audio quality, Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray both wins.

[sapiendut]

Also it depends on your screen size and viewing distance. On my 65” from 8ft I can sometimes ignore the difference between physical vs streaming. On my projection screen, I can always see the difference in quality and it’s jarring.

[Frank@Chicago]

I recently bought a copy of Wreak it Ralph 4K by accident.

The price was good ($17) and I was in a hurry, I thought it was the sequel.

I redeemed the code on my phone and was none the wiser, till later...

Needless to say, everyone was annoyed...but then I noticed VUDU version was DV.

So we ended up watching the VUDU stream, which looked straight up amazing.

Another movie might have been a different story, but this experience was very positive.

[spider-neil]

4k streaming with Dolby Vision is amazing. Obviously 4k disk is better but I'm going to limit my purchase of physical media to classic movies I will watch multiple times. Anything I only see myself watching only once or a couple of times I will stream.

[Gillietalls]

Originally Posted by Frank@Chicago

I recently bought a copy of Wreak it Ralph 4K by accident.

The price was good ($17) and I was in a hurry, I thought it was the sequel.

I redeemed the code on my phone and was none the wiser, till later...

Needless to say, everyone was annoyed...but then I noticed VUDU version was DV.

So we ended up watching the VUDU stream, which looked straight up amazing.

Another movie might have been a different story, but this experience was very positive.

Since the start of this thread, the gap between physical media and streaming has narrowed considerably. Streaming UHD content from my Apple TV 4K with an Ethernet hard wired set up looks outstanding. Discs may still have a slight edge, but it is indeed slight.

[sapiendut]

Only if you watch the display from 200ft away. On 65” from 8ft away the difference is noticeable, on my projection screen from 9ft away, bluray tend to be at the same quality as 4K iTunes.

[avs commenter]

Visually, the difference is minimal at best on an LCD screen. If you notice a major difference, than you are doing something wrong.

[sapiendut]

Perhaps minimal for some people, but on the dark areas 40 IRE and lower, that’s where the biggest differences are not “minimal at best”. There are so many 4K movies I rented from iTunes that I end up watching either on my 65” as it’s unbearable on the projection screen and HD movies needed to be watched on my 55” in my bedroom because the macroblocking and colour banding are too noticeable on the 65” and completely unwatchable on the projection system.