4k dolby vision digital/streaming vs 4k hdr10 disc.

[mr.burr.jangles]

on one hand the better bitrate/encoding settings on the disc will probably have better over all detail. on the other hand dolby vision can be a game changer especially on oled tvs. its mostly disney and WB titles that i care about that have this issue.

which do you prefer when forced to choose? 4k hdr10 disc or 4k dolby vision streaming?

[meremortal]

Disc for archival quality and favorites. Streaming is getting better and I need to use it more.

[cleeve]

Vincent Teoh prefers a good Dolby Vision stream over an HDR10 disc:

Dolby Vision Streaming vs HDR10 4K Blu-ray Disc Comparison - YouTube

[Deadend45]

On anything with film grain you will still be getting less then 1080p disc detail (when using the same source) no matter the manure claims otherwise and then there are 4k streaming shows that are intentionally detail-less effectively defeating the purpose.

[Chad Rouch]

Originally Posted by mr.burr.jangles

...can be a game changer...

Honestly, the whole debate is rather hyperbolic. If you take the time to compare the two on your equipment set you'll very small differences. It's not night and day, really between HDR10 and Dolby Vision (and streaming and disc, to be honest).

When I first got my OLED I did comparisons like that. On the original Blade Runner, when Deckard is listening to Batty's tears in the rain speech, I noticed a slight more blue in the lighting on Harrison Ford's face in the DV stream compared to the HDR10 disc. And that was when paused. In motion they were nearly identical.

I understand that this is a hobby of extremism, but I think for most people we are trying to see movies as perfectly as practically reasonable. So much of the debate about the two formats comes down to "ideal conditions" that few of us can meet. Besides the cost of equipment, there's room consideration coupled with the time of day you have free to watch a movie. It's difficult to get to those ideal conditions for most people.

Point being, the difference between the two in real world settings is non-existent. But, the only way to tell which you prefer is to do comparison tests on your equipment in your viewing environment, which will be much different than mine.

[Deadend45]

If you cannot tell the difference between streaming and disc you need glasses. lol

But thanks for regurgitating the old upscaled dvd vs hd 'cant tell the difference' argument, the same excuse for dnr and reaffirming stream-watchers have low standards.

[Chad Rouch]

Originally Posted by Deadend45

If you cannot tell the difference between streaming and disc you need glasses.

Again, this is about the difference between HDR and DV, and the tiny difference between the two. It's not night and day, and barely what you can call appreciable. But, thank you for your researched and nuanced argument.

[SCS_Shoug]

It VERY much depends on the display's capabilities, how they process DV vs. HDR10, what settings are available, etc. Generally though, Dolby Vision tends to show a larger difference on less capable TVs, because often their HDR10 tonemapping isn't ideal (especially on 4000 nit mastered content), but on much higher end screens where they can fully work within both HDR10 and Dolby Vision parameters and have good HDR10 tonemapping like new LG OLEDs (from my experience at least), the difference will likely be minimal at best. It's nice to have, especially when accounting for those with less capable screens, but Dolby Vision being left off a disc but put on streaming has never and likely WILL never be a dealbreaker for me, especially as someone who only uses their digital streaming library as a backup, doesn't wanna pony up for a bunch of services and purchases, and doesn't have a lot of hard drive space for...other digital copies.

Also, higher quality (for the most part) video and audio encodes on disc, and if audio is Atmos then the height channels and dynamic objects don't sound like soup.

[namecheepbuea]

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[stonesfan129]

I see very little difference.

[PUsokrJosh305]

For myself, I have an LG C9 65 inch OLED. Because my TV is older, I can tell the difference between HDR10 content and Dolby Vision. However, I have been able to close the gap to the point that the differences are very small. This is all because of my Panasonic 820 I have paired up with my C9.

As most people know, most Panasonic 4K players have a function called the HDR Optimizer, which helps with tone mapping. Alone, this function is not enough to close that gap between HDR10 content and Dolby Vision. So, I have turned "on" in my LG C9 settings the Dynamic Tone Mapping Setting. But, the DTM setting is flawed. A lot of times, it blows out the picture with too much brightness or darkens the picture when it shouldn't be darkened.

So, how do I fix this? Well, within the HDR Optimizer is an HDR Options Menu. In this menu, you can change certain settings, which are separate from the Optimizer, to improve your overall picture. These settings are: Dynamic Range Adjustment, Brightness, Tone Curve (White), Tone Curve (Black), and System Gamma. By lowering the Brightness setting and increasing the White tone curve setting, the Dynamic Tone Mapping doesn't adjust as harshly as it did when everything was at 0. The picture also looks almost spot on to what you would see on a Dolby Vision stream, thus closing the gap between them and improving the picture!

Now, I don't really worry about whether a title has just HDR10 or has Dolby Vision because no matter what I watch, it will look amazing!

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

I see very little difference.

Try without the sunglasses.

The difference in audio is much easier to notice.

Go with the second rate stuff and don't be surprized when it delivers the second rate quality.

[veritas]

For quality 4k blu rays > blu ray > 4k stream
For reliability blu ray > 4k stream > 4k blu rays
For convenience 4k stream > blu ray > 4k blu ray

HDR is pretty irrelevant compared to proper compression. A fair number of 4k films weren’t even shot considering hdr which means rather mixed results for the whole thing.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by veritas

For reliability blu ray > 4k stream > 4k blu rays

Sony X700 ?

My UHD BD are as reliable as my Blu Rays. The secret it Panasonic.

[veritas]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Sony X700 ?

My UHD BD are as reliable as my Blu Rays. The secret it Panasonic.

It’s really not plenty of people have reliability problems with 4k discs just from bad manufacturing. Blu Ray just doesn’t have those issues. Reliability of dvd vs blu ray would be interesting as one is scratch resistant while the other handles scratches like a champ.

I could see an argument for 4k blu ray being more reliable then 4k streams as 4k streams do have a fair number of problems that usually aren’t permanent and the permanent problem of it just being gone one day.

[stonesfan129]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Try without the sunglasses.

The difference in audio is much easier to notice.

Go with the second rate stuff and don't be surprized when it delivers the second rate quality.

For me, the biggest difference is the transfer. If you take a 4K transfer and then downsample the same thing to 1080p, I don't see much difference. Where I do see big differences is if you compare a newer, properly-done 4K transfer to an older transfer usually done in 2K and often not from OCNs or even IPs.

One title where the difference was absolutely massive is Reservoir Dogs. Not exactly the best looking movie, but the original BD was just downright bad. The new remaster is night-and-day better. Then there's some where the remasters just don't look that good like Heat (to me the 2009 BD looks better).

Audio, again, really depends on how it's mastered. I HATE Disney discs with a passion because it seems like they're mastering for people with cheap soundbars, even on 4K discs.

The master makes way more difference than some mild lossy compression.

[neskihe]

That’s a tough call, but if I really had to pick, I’d go with the 4K HDR10 disc. The consistency of bitrate and overall stability usually outweighs the extra “wow factor” of Dolby Vision streaming for me. Streaming quality can vary too much depending on bandwidth and compression, so while DV can look amazing on OLED, it sometimes comes at the cost of artifacts or reduced detail. With discs, I know I’m always getting the full intended detail and sound mix.

Curious though—do you find yourself noticing the difference in Dolby Vision most during darker scenes, or is it across the board for you?

[stonesfan129]

Originally Posted by cleeve

Vincent Teoh prefers a good Dolby Vision stream over an HDR10 disc:

Dolby Vision Streaming vs HDR10 4K Blu-ray Disc Comparison - YouTube

So the question I have is that if Dolby Vision is backwards compatible with HDR10 (meaning you'll still get HDR10 even if your display doesn't support Dolby Vision), why don't they just use Dolby Vision for everything?

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

So the question I have is that if Dolby Vision is backwards compatible with HDR10 (meaning you'll still get HDR10 even if your display doesn't support Dolby Vision), why don't they just use Dolby Vision for everything?

It's buggy. Dolby Atmos is great but DV is constantly problematic.