Physical & Digital EST: The Future of Home Video Discussion Thread

[PCFan]

Originally Posted by alchav21

'If' is a big word, but it's getting smaller every day in relation to Streaming Video. Years ago when this Thread started no one thought Streaming would even come close to Disc, now the reality is very close. Everyone is jumping on the Streaming Bandwagon, and this reality will hit very hard!

There was a person on this thread that showed a screenshot of an iTunes movie at 1080p which was clocking in at 13-14 mbps for streaming only and that's just for the video portion. That is still a long ways away from blu-ray bitrates which usually average at around 25 mbps and can peak at in the upper 30's at times for the video portion, as I witnessed from a Sony Blu-ray player I used to own. Where the difference is most noticeable is in dark scenes.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by PCFan

There was a person on this thread that showed a screenshot of an iTunes movie at 1080p which was clocking in at 13-14 mbps for streaming only and that's just for the video portion. That is still a long ways away from blu-ray bitrates which usually average at around 25 mbps and can peak at in the upper 30's at times for the video portion, as I witnessed from a Sony Blu-ray player I used to own. Where the difference is most noticeable is in dark scenes.

Oh for sure. That’s where streaming gets found out. Digital will ALWAYS be playing catch up to disc. We have 4K now and that’s all she wrote for Digital quality wise.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by alchav21

'If' is a big word, but it's getting smaller every day in relation to Streaming Video. Years ago when this Thread started no one thought Streaming would even come close to Disc, now the reality is very close. Everyone is jumping on the Streaming Bandwagon, and this reality will hit very hard!

Originally Posted by PCFan

There was a person on this thread that showed a screenshot of an iTunes movie at 1080p which was clocking in at 13-14 mbps for streaming only and that's just for the video portion. That is still a long ways away from blu-ray bitrates which usually average at around 25 mbps and can peak at in the upper 30's at times for the video portion, as I witnessed from a Sony Blu-ray player I used to own. Where the difference is most noticeable is in dark scenes.

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Oh for sure. That’s where streaming gets found out. Digital will ALWAYS be playing catch up to disc. We have 4K now and that’s all she wrote for Digital quality wise.

iTunes has always been on the bottom of the Streaming Providers, and that information is years old. Blu-ray Discs top out at 40Mbps, and the top Streaming Providers can easily provide better speeds than this. The catch up is over, like I said with enough Bandwidth Disc Quality is here. You guys have to check out Sony Ultra, they have achieved Disc Quality Streaming!

[master gandhi]

Originally Posted by alchav21

iTunes has always been on the bottom of the Streaming Providers, and that information is years old. Blu-ray Discs top out at 40Mbps, and the top Streaming Providers can easily provide better speeds than this. The catch up is over, like I said with enough Bandwidth Disc Quality is here. You guys have to check out Sony Ultra, they have achieved Disc Quality Streaming!

You mention this Sony Ultra a lot. Are you only watching Sony movies? How do you watch movies from other studios in 4K?

[stonesfan129]

I'd rather have a disc for my movies. The only thing I think I like streaming better for is TV. I love Hulu Live TV. But even with a 60Mbps internet connection, my movies will buffer at some point even if for a couple seconds. Then sometimes the quality will fluctuate if my internet speed gets slower at all. Then the fact that Blu-rays look better than 1080p streaming and I've also got lossless audio. Even on my Blu-rays that don't have lossless audio, Dolby Digital 5.1 640k still sounds better than the Dolby Digital 5.1 384k that iTunes streams have. And if I come home and my internet is down (which sometimes happens), can't stream anything. But I can put the disc in and watch it. Oh and I'll always have access to my stuff. The movie studios or whomever owns the rights to x movie could pull my access to it at any time if they lose the rights. As for 4K, who cares? I don't even have a 4K display much less sit close enough to my TV to notice much of a difference. Thanks.

[flyry]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Oh for sure. That’s where streaming gets found out. Digital will ALWAYS be playing catch up to disc. We have 4K now and that’s all she wrote for Digital quality wise.

What does this even mean? Streaming quality will always improve just like it did with audio streaming.

[stonesfan129]

Originally Posted by flyry

What does this even mean? Streaming quality will always improve just like it did with audio streaming.

To be fair, streaming music isn't the same quality you get on a CD.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by alchav21

iTunes has always been on the bottom of the Streaming Providers, and that information is years old. Blu-ray Discs top out at 40Mbps, and the top Streaming Providers can easily provide better speeds than this. The catch up is over, like I said with enough Bandwidth Disc Quality is here. You guys have to check out Sony Ultra, they have achieved Disc Quality Streaming!

Originally Posted by master gandhi

You mention this Sony Ultra a lot. Are you only watching Sony movies? How do you watch movies from other studios in 4K?

Only Sony Movies Port over to Ultra, and I only get 4K with Amazon and Sony. My main Streaming Provider is Vudu, but I can't watch 4K there. Since the Bitrates are Disc Quality in Sony Ultra I watch all the Sony Movies there. I also watch a lot of my Movies on Amazon and MA.

[Fiffy]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Since the Bitrates are Disc Quality in Sony Ultra I watch all the Sony Movies there.

I'm curious: What exactly are the bitrates at Sony Ultra?

[flyry]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

To be fair, streaming music isn't the same quality you get on a CD.

You can stream FLAC these days.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Since the Bitrates are Disc Quality in Sony Ultra I watch all the Sony Movies there.

Originally Posted by Fiffy

I'm curious: What exactly are the bitrates at Sony Ultra?

Well all their Movies are 4K+HDR so the Bitrates have to be 25+Mbps. Even their HD Movies are HDR, and like I said they match Blu-ray Disc Quality which is only 40Mbps. They start off in SD, and go up from there depending on your Bandwidth and Movie Quality.

[PCFan]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Well all their Movies are 4K+HDR so the Bitrates have to be 25+Mbps. Even their HD Movies are HDR, and like I said they match Blu-ray Disc Quality which is only 40Mbps. They start off in SD, and go up from there depending on your Bandwidth and Movie Quality.

Starting off at SD quality during streaming is unacceptable to me. If I'm streaming, I want the maximum quality from start to finish. iTunes content on my Apple TV 4k streams at maximum quality from the very start of the stream if I have Quick Start disabled (if you don't need 4k).

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Well all their Movies are 4K+HDR so the Bitrates have to be 25+Mbps. Even their HD Movies are HDR, and like I said they match Blu-ray Disc Quality which is only 40Mbps. They start off in SD, and go up from there depending on your Bandwidth and Movie Quality.

Originally Posted by PCFan

Starting off at SD quality during streaming is unacceptable to me. If I'm streaming, I want the maximum quality from start to finish.

If you have the Bandwidth, by the time the Movie starts it's up to the maximum Quality. The SD is only during the Intro, if you have the 4K Version that will come right up if not you get HD+HDR.

[Vor4]

Originally Posted by PCFan

Starting off at SD quality during streaming is unacceptable to me. If I'm streaming, I want the maximum quality from start to finish.

It seems like you're more interested in going back to physical media due the limitations of streaming media, but at the same time you want to stay with digital hd due to convenience, not worrying about shelving for physical media, not listening to the loud disk spinning noise on blu-ray players, and finally you'll probably want quiet operation.

You should know by now its too late for you to return to physical media because of your huge digital hd collection. I think that you'll come to a point when you'll realize that digital hd is better format for you than physical media, even with its limitations.

You should realize that more people are switching over to digital hd everyday, and used movie/music shops are shutting their doors for good, even Amazon.com stopped doing trade-in credits on most physical media, and finally its harder to sell physical media on eBay. You should noticed that most retailers are shrinking their physical media section on a monthly basis. Walmart and several Best Buys are replacing physical media with digital hd/4k movie redeemable code cards with permission from the movie studios.

[PCFan]

Originally Posted by alchav21

If you have the Bandwidth, by the time the Movie starts it's up to the maximum Quality. The SD is only during the Intro, if you have the 4K Version that will come right up if not you get HD+HDR.

What about when you stop in the middle of a movie then return to watching it later? Will the movie start off as SD quality again then ramp up?

[Vor4]

Originally Posted by PCFan

What about when you stop in the middle of a movie then return to watching it later? Will the movie start off as SD quality again then ramp up?

The ATV4K will hold a buffer on that place in the film, so that it won’t start as SD when watching it later.

[Fiffy]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Well all their Movies are 4K+HDR so the Bitrates have to be 25+Mbps. Even their HD Movies are HDR, and like I said they match Blu-ray Disc Quality which is only 40Mbps. They start off in SD, and go up from there depending on your Bandwidth and Movie Quality.

In other words, you have no idea what bitrates they actually use.

[PCFan]

Originally Posted by Vor4

The ATV4K will hold a buffer on that place in the film, so that it won’t start as SD when watching it later.

My question was directed to alchav21 in regards to Sony Ultra.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by flyry

You can stream FLAC these days.

You can, but very few do. The mainstream love the race to the bottom in audio as well as video.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by alchav21

iTunes has always been on the bottom of the Streaming Providers, and that information is years old. Blu-ray Discs top out at 40Mbps, and the top Streaming Providers can easily provide better speeds than this. The catch up is over, like I said with enough Bandwidth Disc Quality is here. You guys have to check out Sony Ultra, they have achieved Disc Quality Streaming!

Just to be clear, you are saying Amazon has always been better quality than ITunes HD?