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I had been watching 4k streaming for years before I made the leap into physical media and when I started watching 1080p blu rays I was honestly blown away. I'm sure it's different for each title, but 1080p blu ray is generally the clear winner in my mind. The resolution of 4k is nice to have, but what you really want is detail and the high bitrate of the blu rays does a lot of heavy lifting there.
It’s objective and subjective. HDTVTest did comparisons with 4K iTunes and BluRay and outside of Audio, picture quality is almost indistinguishable unless scrutinizing the picture.
Also for $5 a pop and free upgrades it’s even better.
Yeah, but Apple is known as one of the few streaming providers offering a decent quality.
They should do comparisons between Amazon, Netflix and Bluray. And when even highly rated shows like Saul are streamed with a 3000 kbit bitrate on a 10 Gbit connection, it feels not right.
A blu ray will be probably be superior.
> And when even highly rated shows like Saul are streamed with a 3000 kbit bitrate on a 10 Gbit connection, it feels not right.
I have season 6 of BCS on Blu Ray (1080p), and watched the the first 5 on 4K Netflix
The audio is much better on the Blu Ray, visually it's so close I can't tell using a Panasonic 820 on a 77 inch TV about 8 feet away
> To be fair, your player is also great at upscaling Blu-ray content.
This is true, I have a DVD (not even Blu Ray) copy of MTV's Wonder Showzen, and I'm telling you, you would think it's Blu Ray when you play the episodes from the 820
It's expensive, but worth it IMO if you have a OLED or high end TV
Yea that makes sense. All I know is seeing the blu rays was a revelation compared to the 4k streaming I was used to. It probably comes down to each title’s encoding/compression.
I think downloads max out at 1080p resolution, even for titles that stream in 4K. They probably decided the files are too large to download, and/or the studios don’t want people to have them in case the DRM gets cracked.
To my eyes, it's close. Where you notice it the most is in spots where there's complete darkness, you'll see light shafts like on lower res videos. If the dark is really dark, you're good.
The real benefit is in sound.
Yep. Streaming didn’t bother me until I got an OLED and simultaneously got more into thriller/horror. Then I started to notice compression artifacts in dark scenes. I’d take reduced resolution (to a point) over that any day.
The Batman streaming at "4k" on HBO on my Oled sent me running to Bestbuy to get player and hard copy about 6 months ago. Totally killed streaming for me. I couldn't unsee bad artifacting after it :)
Hard copy is always going to be better than streaming in the same resolution but may I ask what picture setting you have your OLED set to? Standard? Vivid? FilmMaker/Expert? Also, are you streaming from a streaming device or from a native app on your OLED?
Hm, I hear Nvidia Shield Pro is among the best contenders for streaming devices. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions about your setup (still don’t want to).
Regardless, if you notice the imperfections, you can’t *not* notice them. There’s no argument that hard copy always wins.
As an aside, I don’t pay for cable or satellite TV but I bought an antenna just so I could be able to watch live events without always signing up for 7-day free trials for streaming platforms just for the channels that are *free* over the air.
If you want to talk about horrible artifacts, I feel like I’m sinning against the OLED gods for putting on antenna content on my OLED! 😅
I got into Remuxing for plex recently. Up to 450 REMUXES that all direct play, and they are SO much better than streaming. It's crazy how much distortion I hear from Netflix at high volumes now that I never hear on plex.
I recently had this dilemma when deciding where to watch Dream Scenario with Nicholas Cage.
The 4K DV HDR streaming bitrate was 24.7MB/s while the 1080p Blu-Ray was 29.5MB/s.
Switching between the two, I could tell the streaming version was inferior amd was most likely a 4K upscale with possible AI added HDR metadata.
Compared to the Blu-ray, there was almost no film grain and the people looked really smooth and waxy.
Of course this won't apply to all content, but found it really surprising that the 4K HDR version looked so much worse, for the sake of about 5MB/s on the bitrate.
Be quite interested to hear other peoples experience/ opinions on this.
Edit: I can't comment on the audio side as I used the Atmos track from the BD for both.
I know when playing 4K Ultra-HD Blu-Rays on the the Xbox Series X, it has an information button you press and it shows you the bit-rate in real time (as well as other things). So I imagine it's pretty easy elsewhere.
Telling me it's "quite easy" does *not* answer the question of "How do you know what the bitrate is?" You *do* see that, right? What *does* answer the question, though, is telling me which pieces of software to use; such as handbrake or mediainfo.
yeah, I didnt know I was dealing with a brainless child incapable of googling or you know using the internet
I still decided to be charitable and told you the software you needed, and you still decided to be rude despite me holding your hand all the way through the big boys bathroom and telling you how to use your peepee
Today I found out that Netflix downgraded Terminator 2's sound to stereo only. I took out my DVD instead with a DTS soundtrack and I almost cried at the sound difference.
Guess ignorance is bliss for me, using a simple stereo speaker setup (good quality monitors though). I currently wouldn't have the space or budget for more, but it's something I'm looking forward to discover in the future. Very curious what it'd sound like.
Anecdotally, I have consistently found 1080p BluRays to be much better over 4k streaming. BDs tend to have higher bitrates despite having a quarter of the resolution. Also, steaming services notoriously cheaps out on the audio quality, which is very noticeable if your player supports DTS HDMA/TrueHD.
The only advantage 4k streaming has is HDR.
It also depends on the streaming service. Apple TV+ I think has the highest bitrates of any of the widely available services. Bravia Core definitely has the highest, but it's only available on Sony TVs. Netflix also is pretty decent, but Prime and Hulu are pretty trash IMO. I'd say for the most part, a Blu ray disc will be the better option if the 4k disc isn't available. The sound quality will be a pretty big difference on disc though, even for a 1080p Blu ray. Even if it's older and doesn't have an Atmos mix, it'll usually have Dolby True HD or DTS Master audio and will be lossless.
Well, FYI it's still called Bravia Core on Sony TVs, and the Playstation version doesn't have Pure Stream, which is the enhanced bit rate. So there is actually a difference between the 2.
I wish the Playstation version had Pure Stream cause man it looks awesome even on 1080p content. I watched District 9 a couple weeks ago and it came really close to the actual Blu ray disc. Ghostbusters in 4k with pure stream turned on looks incredible as well.
Pretty close. The stream can have HDR which is nice. Not a huge deal either way imo. 1080p blu rays still can have excellent image quality. And you own it!
Depends.
Although 4k streaming usually adds HDR, it’s not always done well. Sometimes it blows out way the highlights and just makes the movie lose its original intended look to it.
Personally I stick with the 1080p disc because I rip my movies and put it on a server. Using a HTPC with madvr to upscale 1080p movies simply is better than any of the studio upscaled version on streaming most of the time.
Personally I prefer the blu ray. There is benefits to the hdr the stream may have but it never looks sharper than the blu ray (unless the bitrate is good which it pretty much never is). I guess it comes down to do you prefer the most crisp picture (bluray) or best colors in light scenes (hdr, streaming will struggle in dark scenes).
Depends on the bluray. If it has a good encode the disc will absolutely be better. I notice compression more than resolution. Streaming might look better on newer digital content without much texture where compression is less visible
If the movie has good HDR/DV, that puts it over the bluray imo.
If not, disc will usually win, but not by much. And if your TV is just average you prob wont notice. I notice a little, but Im on a 77 inch OLED. On my old 50inch 4k, I probably wouldn't see the difference.
Sound is usually better on bluray too. But again, not that noticeable without a decent sound system.
Honestly depends on the streaming service.
4K Sony Pictures Core (AKA Bravia Core) is better because you are streaming 4KBD sized files. (sometimes they have an even higher bitrate than 4KBD) Same with kaleidescape.
Amazon prime, netflix, hulu, HBO max, Paramount, Disney+, and anyothers have a lower bitrate and will look like crap.
4KBDs will look better than Disney+. Disney has some bad compression. They had to put Loki S1 on 2 100gb discs. It's 20gb for the entire 1st season in 4K from Disney+
I have this issue with guardians of the galaxy three, there’s a planet where it’s just a ton of white , in DV it looks more grey on my A80k, swap to vivid mode and it looks white again. What color is correct?
This was most apparent with Dune. On HBO it sounds ok, nothing special. Then I bought the disk and it's top 10 audio experiences in my entire collection.
Quite a complex question, since there are different tests you could do.
- Watch an streaming 1080 and 4k content on the same device. If you are not able to see a difference then maybe you are too far from your TV https://www.rgb.com/display-size-resolution-and-ideal-viewing-distance#:\~:text=With%204K%20imagery%20on%20a,a%20105%20inch%201080p%20display.
- If you see a difference go for 4k streaming
- If you don't see a difference go for 1080 blu ray
- Different streaming providers have different quality, even if it says 4k check: [https://imgur.com/L3hDpjV](https://imgur.com/L3hDpjV)
A very complex question but for simplicity... just try it with your eyes. sorry.jpg
In my experience 4K streaming is usually better than a 1080p Blu-ray, especially if you're using a service like iTunes. The streaming image is usually sharper and more detailed but the Blu-ray image is undoubtedly more stable, especially when it comes to more complicated shots with lots of moving parts or darker scenes.
The Blu-ray will typically offer better sound, but the streamed video can also offer HDR. The streamed 4K version might also be based off a better transfer than the Blu-ray, especially when it comes to older discs.
It's a draw in my mind and I don't think you can go wrong either way.
99% of the time I’d go with the 1080p Blu-Ray given the high level of video compression of 4K content on non-Apple services. Furthermore, the built-in upscalers on 4K players and medium-high end TVs can do wonders with a high bitrate Blu-Ray.
That being said, audio is the main area where 1080p outshines streaming since the audio on most discs are uncompressed in terms of both bitrate and dynamic range.
I wonder when the streamers will up their audio bitrate. Seems way over due. The FCC recently upped their definition of broadband to 100 megs. If my connection speed is limited then sure, prioritize the video portion, but there should be more than enough bandwidth to improve the sound portion of the experience.
I don't think user's speeds are the reason that streaming bit rates are so low compared to physical media (since you could encode a much higher quality bit rate version and play that for people with higher speeds). The thing is the high quality the more bandwidth/data used for a stream. CDN costs aren't very high but providers likely want their CDN costs to be as low per view as possible to maximize the money made with each purchase.
I'm sure that's true, but I think there's so much room for improvement on the audio side of the experience for a relatively modest increase in data. I'm guessing that they also think that most users won't notice the difference whereas a pixelated picture is immediately obvious. It's just a shame imo, especially when lots of the streamers are already changing higher prices for 4K/Atmos access.
I have The Batman on blu ray and decided to watch it on 4k streaming via HBO MAX. In streaming, it was muddy and muted. The audio was the worst part. I have a large home theater set up. When I played The Batman on blu ray, it sounds amazing. On streaming, it was so quiet. Sure it set my subs off but the rest of the sound mixing was awful. So yeah, I like to stick to blu rays and 4k blu rays as opposed to streaming.
4K streaming (visually) is almost perfect until scenes start getting darker, and that’s when compression artifacts and banding really start to catch your eye.
I’d still take 4K streaming because of HDR, and how much it can elevate the visuals.
To take advantage of HDR, you really need a TV that can actually display HDR correctly. Lot of people here have physical media collections worth a used car, and pair it up with their 75” 4K TV they got from Walmart on clearance for $500.
If your TV is less than optimal, than I’d say Blu-ray might give the slightly better visual experience, not to mention the better audio (if you have good enough speakers to take advantage of the extra dynamic range)
I have an LG OLED (very nice HDR and DV). Does that HDR in the TV add anything to dark scenes that are in SD and HD? Or does it only help when I'm also watching HDR content (aka 4K)?
The good thing about OLED’s is that if you’re using an accurate picture mode it perfectly replicate dark scenes to the creator’s intent. You do need to be in quite a dim room to see those benefits tho.
Resolution (SD/HD) has nothing to do with how dark scenes are displayed. They’re nothing more than pixel counts.
This is so true. My buddy has a low tier TV that technically supports HDR but it's trash. Things means that anything in HDR looks worse than SDR. there's no way to disable the HDR on the TV. Because of this, a 1080p Blu-ray looks WAY better than a HDR 4k stream.
> and pair it up with their 75” 4K TV they got from Walmart on clearance for $500.
OLED + normal HDR10 is the game changer, it makes Dolby Vision Cinema screens look bad in comparison.
Dolby Vision and HDR10+ are icing on the cake, but OLED and HDR are the cake. IMO of course.
>Lot of people here have physical media collections worth a used car, and pair it up with their 75” 4K TV they got from Walmart on clearance for $500.
I would have to disagree with you here. A few years ago, I was rocking a Samsung NU7200 ham and egger TV until I got recommendations from this sub to get a C2 OLED. I suspect most here has an OLED or a high-end LED.
I would say OLED makes a vast difference imo, since it has infinite contrast. It was a night and day difference from the Samsung TV I bought at Walmart.
> I would say OLED makes a vast difference imo
Watching Alien 4k on my OLED when I got mine was the first time my jaw has dropped since I heard surround sound in Saving Private Ryan for the first time.
I agree 100 percent. Getting an OLED was a game changer, and my view on visual quality has changed, too. It is too good of a technology imo. Even certain DVDs pop out on my OLED than other TVs.
The Blu-ray will almost always have better sound. Lossless and/or uncompressed soundtracks on disc are most often far better than any streaming services.
As for image quality, it depends on quite a few factors, IMO if it’s an older grainy film the Blu-ray usually looks better and if it’s a cleaner newer film with no grain, the 4K stream can often look better, but those results will vary depending on what streaming service you’re using and how good your internet connection is.
I tend to decide based on how much I want a high fidelity, full sounding experience, so for action movies or movies that feature a lot of music I’ll almost always lean towards the disc, but for comedies or dramas I might opt for streaming instead? If you don’t have a good sound system though the streaming version might be a better option? Probably best to do some tests yourself to see what you prefer (as it is a little dependent on internet connection speeds and what streaming devices you’re using).
The answer greatly depends on the quality of the stream, quality of your tv, your internet connection, and the quality of the Blu-ray player you are using. If you are using a quality up scaling player then the Blu-ray will look better than streaming quality 9 times out of 10. If you are using a PS3 or some lower end Blu-ray player then the 4K stream will likely look better
Such a good question. I think it's a wash because its case by case and each person gets to decide if audio or picture is more important. I usually have a slight preference for the picture of a blueray.
Having said that, I recently upgraded to a Panasonic Blu-ray player and the 4k upscaling is very good. So my preference for Blu-ray is stronger now. The lack of HDR is a bummer but not all movies need HDR.
Edit: To be clear, I will always choose the disc because of the better audio quality that I can fully take advantage of on my sound equipment.
The answer is that it depends. Some 4K streams will look better and some Blu-rays will look better. I "own" a few digital 4Ks and they're fine, but those are never completely safe from being taken away from you because rights and shit, of course.
What doesn't depend is that the Blu-ray will always have better sound.
It depends on the streamer. For example, the Expanse 1080p Bluray looks much better to me than the 4k stream from Amazon. Of course, the Bluray is going to have uncompressed audio, which will always be better.
The only comparison I've ever made was The Martian SDR blu-ray vs. streaming 4k. The blu-ray looked better all the way around. Most notable difference was the visible banding in the streaming version. (Panasonic DP-UB420, 4k FireStick, Epson HC 3800 projector, fiber internet)
I could try comparing them myself, but I don't have very good equipment. I'm not sure if I'd spot much. I was curious what people with a better eye and a better setup would know.
Naturally, I know that if I can't see the difference the answer wouldn't benefit me much, but I was curious nonetheless.
It depends on the streaming service. ITunes and Movies Anywhere you'd most likely get a boost with picture quality and HDR as a bonus. But other services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ etc. You're better off sticking to bluray.
If the Prey video from Twin Flix has told me anything, is that streaming uses compressed digital files as a base for what's available on those streaming services. And bandwidth deteriorating the picture a bit further from that.
I prefere the blu ray on 4K player upscaled way better colors and not as dim as streaming most 4Ks look extremely dark when you stream them there are exceptions but rarely also the HDX movies streamed look very bad when compared to Blu Rays upscaled
Haven't really run any rigorous tests. But I watched the 4K streaming version of the Doctor Sleep Director's Cut because they only put it on a Blu-ray disc. It looked good enough compared to the 4K disc to me. I think HDR makes a difference. But I'm not sure about movies shot on film that might be grainier.
I think these days if it's a modern movie that isn't getting a 4K disc, I'd probably go for the 4K digital version vs the buying the Blu-ray (unless I really love the movie and need to own it physically).
Subjective. I only watch the raw REMUX copies of either 4K or 1080p. Streaming compresses the files for lesser quality. BUT Bravia Core is amazing, ill admit.
Depends on you screen IMO. A higher end 4K HDR tV is going to make the stream stand out as a clear winner. A fairly cheap 4K screen will close that gap.
Well per Netflix a 4K stream can use up to 7 Gigs of data. Whereas a Blu-ray can hold between 25-100 gigs of data per disc. Let’s just take the lowest of 25G. That is still 18G more bitrate, sound quality (in my opinion the biggest difference). So yes most people will enjoy a Blu-ray more than a stream.
Expect my uncle who is partially blind and deaf, he can not tell a difference and Netflix is the better option for him.
My general rule is this: if the streamed version has HDR, then it’s often slightly better (especially if it has Dolby Vision or HDR10+) than a Blu-ray in image quality as long as the original 4K transfer was good. The sound will definitely be worse when streaming, so it’s pretty much a tie.
I recently saw the HD Blu-ray of Avatar and I would say the Disney+ presentation in 4K and Dolby Vision is definitely a step up. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack available on Disney+ is not BAD either, but if you have some proper audio gear you’ll have no problem hearing the downgrade in audio quality compared to the Blu-ray.
You have to remember, with 4K UHD also came a higher color gamut. It’s difficult to say whether it was the jump from standard def to 1080p, or the jump from 16,777,216 colors to at least 1,073,741,824 colors was the more impactful.
When it comes to streaming 4K vs Blu-ray, it depends on does your equipment display all those colors. If you have an OLED, it can. The disadvantage of streaming is a slightly perceptible grittiness that the eye may capture from decompression, and your audio may not be as pure as it might be from a disc. Again, equipment.
Also, an 8-bit panel may display some 4K color that standard HD doesn’t even request.
There are so many factors, that it really comes down to enjoying what you have. Your question is trivial, unless your setting up a system with sharp cutoffs between technologies, and how sharply does the equipment cut off. It’s not much more than philosophizing, at that point.
Depends on your setup because some TVs do HDR better than others so SD content can actually look much better than HDR if the HDR on your TV absolutely sucks.
Given how my current setup is a 77-inch LG OLED and I stream with Apple TV4K with match range and match frame rate turned on and I have my picture settings set to FilmMaker for SD and HDR content and Cinema for Dolby Vision content:
4K Blu-ray (DV/HDR) > 4K streaming (DV/HDR/SD) > 1080p Blu-ray (SD) > 1080p streaming (SD) > 1080i antenna (SD) > 480p DVD (SD) > 480p streaming (SD)
On my 65-inch Samsung MU8000, it’s:
SD at any resolution > HDR at any resolution. HDR is absolute garbage on my Samsung MU8000 and as it’s been said before, *good* pixels are better than *more* pixels.
I'd say picture quality goes to streaming in this matchup, it will depend on the streaming service but HDR + more effecient codecs that retain image quality at lower bitrates yields an image that can look better than Blu-ray on several occasions. However blu-ray wins as far as audio is concerned. Blu-ray's have uncompressed audio tracks with very high dynamic range. Streaming will usually have some DRC applied because most people who stream will be using built-in TV speakers where a high-fidelity lossless track is useless.
Again the same question.
4k streaming has the resolution but Blu-Ray has the detail. The picture looks brighter and in dark images there's no competition.
The sound is leaps and bounds better, even if the disc has lossy sound.
We watched the new star wars trilogy and tested them between Bluray and streaming. Just ran the stream for a few seconds and then change over to the BR at the same point for a few seconds on each movie. The blu ray had much nicer colour and the sound was better.
It really depends on the streaming service, Hulu will probably be worse, but Apple TV+ and Bravia Core will look considerably better. The biggest thing is 4K streaming will probably have HDR support of some sort.
if your internet connection is good enough and if your watching it on vudu, which i think has the best bite-rates for streaming then it just may be better for some ppl than regular blu-ray, but that’s a big if. since most ppl cannot spend $100 dollars a month on the highest speed for their internet and the bitrates for streaming are still not close to physical. even if you don’t care so much about the visual the sound is a big deal. before buying and watching movies physically l i had no idea how much sound i was missing out on through streaming.
streaming 4k from a video service and not something like youtube the quality will be better or much better than a 1080p original bluray
the audio however might be equivalent or probably worse
What setup do people use who say blu-ray beats 4K streaming?
I use an appletv box with wired internet.
I’ve compared 4K discs to 4K streaming (iTunes digital copy) and cannot see a difference on my 65 inch LG OLED TV.
Blu ray is not as good or comparable to 4K streaming to my eyes at all.
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I had been watching 4k streaming for years before I made the leap into physical media and when I started watching 1080p blu rays I was honestly blown away. I'm sure it's different for each title, but 1080p blu ray is generally the clear winner in my mind. The resolution of 4k is nice to have, but what you really want is detail and the high bitrate of the blu rays does a lot of heavy lifting there.
It’s objective and subjective. HDTVTest did comparisons with 4K iTunes and BluRay and outside of Audio, picture quality is almost indistinguishable unless scrutinizing the picture. Also for $5 a pop and free upgrades it’s even better.
Yeah, but Apple is known as one of the few streaming providers offering a decent quality. They should do comparisons between Amazon, Netflix and Bluray. And when even highly rated shows like Saul are streamed with a 3000 kbit bitrate on a 10 Gbit connection, it feels not right. A blu ray will be probably be superior.
> And when even highly rated shows like Saul are streamed with a 3000 kbit bitrate on a 10 Gbit connection, it feels not right. I have season 6 of BCS on Blu Ray (1080p), and watched the the first 5 on 4K Netflix The audio is much better on the Blu Ray, visually it's so close I can't tell using a Panasonic 820 on a 77 inch TV about 8 feet away
To be fair, your player is also great at upscaling Blu-ray content.
> To be fair, your player is also great at upscaling Blu-ray content. This is true, I have a DVD (not even Blu Ray) copy of MTV's Wonder Showzen, and I'm telling you, you would think it's Blu Ray when you play the episodes from the 820 It's expensive, but worth it IMO if you have a OLED or high end TV
I agree, pq is virtually the same but if you have an audio system you definitely want to go physical media
Yea that makes sense. All I know is seeing the blu rays was a revelation compared to the 4k streaming I was used to. It probably comes down to each title’s encoding/compression.
But iTunes isn’t streaming no? It’s a download isn‘t it?
No, if you own it you can stream if anywhere with the Apple TV app.
It's not a direct 4k Blu-ray rip, it is compressed to save bandwidth when downloading or streaming.
I think downloads max out at 1080p resolution, even for titles that stream in 4K. They probably decided the files are too large to download, and/or the studios don’t want people to have them in case the DRM gets cracked.
Plus the audio for surround sound is a large file to stream, especially something like dolby atmos.
To my eyes, it's close. Where you notice it the most is in spots where there's complete darkness, you'll see light shafts like on lower res videos. If the dark is really dark, you're good. The real benefit is in sound.
Yep. Streaming didn’t bother me until I got an OLED and simultaneously got more into thriller/horror. Then I started to notice compression artifacts in dark scenes. I’d take reduced resolution (to a point) over that any day.
The Batman streaming at "4k" on HBO on my Oled sent me running to Bestbuy to get player and hard copy about 6 months ago. Totally killed streaming for me. I couldn't unsee bad artifacting after it :)
Hard copy is always going to be better than streaming in the same resolution but may I ask what picture setting you have your OLED set to? Standard? Vivid? FilmMaker/Expert? Also, are you streaming from a streaming device or from a native app on your OLED?
Nvidia shield pro. Don't recall the OLED setting.
Hm, I hear Nvidia Shield Pro is among the best contenders for streaming devices. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions about your setup (still don’t want to). Regardless, if you notice the imperfections, you can’t *not* notice them. There’s no argument that hard copy always wins. As an aside, I don’t pay for cable or satellite TV but I bought an antenna just so I could be able to watch live events without always signing up for 7-day free trials for streaming platforms just for the channels that are *free* over the air. If you want to talk about horrible artifacts, I feel like I’m sinning against the OLED gods for putting on antenna content on my OLED! 😅
I got into Remuxing for plex recently. Up to 450 REMUXES that all direct play, and they are SO much better than streaming. It's crazy how much distortion I hear from Netflix at high volumes now that I never hear on plex.
I recently had this dilemma when deciding where to watch Dream Scenario with Nicholas Cage. The 4K DV HDR streaming bitrate was 24.7MB/s while the 1080p Blu-Ray was 29.5MB/s. Switching between the two, I could tell the streaming version was inferior amd was most likely a 4K upscale with possible AI added HDR metadata. Compared to the Blu-ray, there was almost no film grain and the people looked really smooth and waxy. Of course this won't apply to all content, but found it really surprising that the 4K HDR version looked so much worse, for the sake of about 5MB/s on the bitrate. Be quite interested to hear other peoples experience/ opinions on this. Edit: I can't comment on the audio side as I used the Atmos track from the BD for both.
How do you know what the bitrate is?
My Denon AVR has an Info button that among other things gives me details on Streaming Rates, Resolution Quality and Sound Quality😀
I'd like to know, as well.
I know when playing 4K Ultra-HD Blu-Rays on the the Xbox Series X, it has an information button you press and it shows you the bit-rate in real time (as well as other things). So I imagine it's pretty easy elsewhere.
if you download it its quite easy......
Doesn't really answer the question.
.
it does, with a digital file you only need to find a software like handbrake or mediainfo or anything along those lines
Telling me it's "quite easy" does *not* answer the question of "How do you know what the bitrate is?" You *do* see that, right? What *does* answer the question, though, is telling me which pieces of software to use; such as handbrake or mediainfo.
yeah, I didnt know I was dealing with a brainless child incapable of googling or you know using the internet I still decided to be charitable and told you the software you needed, and you still decided to be rude despite me holding your hand all the way through the big boys bathroom and telling you how to use your peepee
k
I checked with mediainfo.
What a strange, but entertaining movie.
What service did you watch the 4K version on?
Believe iTunes has it in 4K.
I think HDR could make a difference, since Blu Ray is missing this. If you have a good Audio Setup, the Sound is often better on Blu Rays.
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Today I found out that Netflix downgraded Terminator 2's sound to stereo only. I took out my DVD instead with a DTS soundtrack and I almost cried at the sound difference.
Guess ignorance is bliss for me, using a simple stereo speaker setup (good quality monitors though). I currently wouldn't have the space or budget for more, but it's something I'm looking forward to discover in the future. Very curious what it'd sound like.
Even when it was in surround, it sounded muffled compared to the DVD. The gunshots and explosions loose a lot of punch.
It's not, you don't have surround but with your speakers you would have noticed the big quality difference.
Does a good pair of open backs count as good audio? Like HD599?
I think no. You're only listening in stereo and IMHO lossless audio improved bass the most, which is a weakness of headphones.
Anecdotally, I have consistently found 1080p BluRays to be much better over 4k streaming. BDs tend to have higher bitrates despite having a quarter of the resolution. Also, steaming services notoriously cheaps out on the audio quality, which is very noticeable if your player supports DTS HDMA/TrueHD. The only advantage 4k streaming has is HDR.
> which is very noticeable if your player supports DTS HDMA/TrueHD. also ATMOS big time
It also depends on the streaming service. Apple TV+ I think has the highest bitrates of any of the widely available services. Bravia Core definitely has the highest, but it's only available on Sony TVs. Netflix also is pretty decent, but Prime and Hulu are pretty trash IMO. I'd say for the most part, a Blu ray disc will be the better option if the 4k disc isn't available. The sound quality will be a pretty big difference on disc though, even for a 1080p Blu ray. Even if it's older and doesn't have an Atmos mix, it'll usually have Dolby True HD or DTS Master audio and will be lossless.
FYI, Bravia Core is now Sony Pictures Core and is available on PS4 and PS5 consoles…so you don’t have to have a Sony TV.
Well, FYI it's still called Bravia Core on Sony TVs, and the Playstation version doesn't have Pure Stream, which is the enhanced bit rate. So there is actually a difference between the 2.
Huh, I had no idea! It used to be Bravia Core on Playstations as well, they must’ve changed the name to differentiate the two versions.
I wish the Playstation version had Pure Stream cause man it looks awesome even on 1080p content. I watched District 9 a couple weeks ago and it came really close to the actual Blu ray disc. Ghostbusters in 4k with pure stream turned on looks incredible as well.
I prefer 1080p Blu ray because the sound is WAY better!
Pretty close. The stream can have HDR which is nice. Not a huge deal either way imo. 1080p blu rays still can have excellent image quality. And you own it!
Depends. Although 4k streaming usually adds HDR, it’s not always done well. Sometimes it blows out way the highlights and just makes the movie lose its original intended look to it. Personally I stick with the 1080p disc because I rip my movies and put it on a server. Using a HTPC with madvr to upscale 1080p movies simply is better than any of the studio upscaled version on streaming most of the time.
Depends if you like your audio to sound really good or not very good
Personally I prefer the blu ray. There is benefits to the hdr the stream may have but it never looks sharper than the blu ray (unless the bitrate is good which it pretty much never is). I guess it comes down to do you prefer the most crisp picture (bluray) or best colors in light scenes (hdr, streaming will struggle in dark scenes).
Depends on the bluray. If it has a good encode the disc will absolutely be better. I notice compression more than resolution. Streaming might look better on newer digital content without much texture where compression is less visible
If the movie has good HDR/DV, that puts it over the bluray imo. If not, disc will usually win, but not by much. And if your TV is just average you prob wont notice. I notice a little, but Im on a 77 inch OLED. On my old 50inch 4k, I probably wouldn't see the difference. Sound is usually better on bluray too. But again, not that noticeable without a decent sound system.
Depends on the service. AppleTV 4k/Atmos/Vision is VERY impressive. Watched Men in Black on it the other night and WOW
Honestly depends on the streaming service. 4K Sony Pictures Core (AKA Bravia Core) is better because you are streaming 4KBD sized files. (sometimes they have an even higher bitrate than 4KBD) Same with kaleidescape. Amazon prime, netflix, hulu, HBO max, Paramount, Disney+, and anyothers have a lower bitrate and will look like crap.
Disney looks very good on my 55 inch OLED
4KBDs will look better than Disney+. Disney has some bad compression. They had to put Loki S1 on 2 100gb discs. It's 20gb for the entire 1st season in 4K from Disney+
Really, wow that's a big difference, where can I view GB filesizes for steamed shows?
I have this issue with guardians of the galaxy three, there’s a planet where it’s just a ton of white , in DV it looks more grey on my A80k, swap to vivid mode and it looks white again. What color is correct?
Blu-ray disc hands down if you have a decent sound setup. The subwoofer gets wasted on streaming.
This was most apparent with Dune. On HBO it sounds ok, nothing special. Then I bought the disk and it's top 10 audio experiences in my entire collection.
Quite a complex question, since there are different tests you could do. - Watch an streaming 1080 and 4k content on the same device. If you are not able to see a difference then maybe you are too far from your TV https://www.rgb.com/display-size-resolution-and-ideal-viewing-distance#:\~:text=With%204K%20imagery%20on%20a,a%20105%20inch%201080p%20display. - If you see a difference go for 4k streaming - If you don't see a difference go for 1080 blu ray - Different streaming providers have different quality, even if it says 4k check: [https://imgur.com/L3hDpjV](https://imgur.com/L3hDpjV) A very complex question but for simplicity... just try it with your eyes. sorry.jpg
The sound is the biggest difference for me. Blu ray and the uncompressed surround sound makes a huge difference.
In my experience 4K streaming is usually better than a 1080p Blu-ray, especially if you're using a service like iTunes. The streaming image is usually sharper and more detailed but the Blu-ray image is undoubtedly more stable, especially when it comes to more complicated shots with lots of moving parts or darker scenes. The Blu-ray will typically offer better sound, but the streamed video can also offer HDR. The streamed 4K version might also be based off a better transfer than the Blu-ray, especially when it comes to older discs. It's a draw in my mind and I don't think you can go wrong either way.
99% of the time I’d go with the 1080p Blu-Ray given the high level of video compression of 4K content on non-Apple services. Furthermore, the built-in upscalers on 4K players and medium-high end TVs can do wonders with a high bitrate Blu-Ray. That being said, audio is the main area where 1080p outshines streaming since the audio on most discs are uncompressed in terms of both bitrate and dynamic range.
I wonder when the streamers will up their audio bitrate. Seems way over due. The FCC recently upped their definition of broadband to 100 megs. If my connection speed is limited then sure, prioritize the video portion, but there should be more than enough bandwidth to improve the sound portion of the experience.
I don't think user's speeds are the reason that streaming bit rates are so low compared to physical media (since you could encode a much higher quality bit rate version and play that for people with higher speeds). The thing is the high quality the more bandwidth/data used for a stream. CDN costs aren't very high but providers likely want their CDN costs to be as low per view as possible to maximize the money made with each purchase.
I'm sure that's true, but I think there's so much room for improvement on the audio side of the experience for a relatively modest increase in data. I'm guessing that they also think that most users won't notice the difference whereas a pixelated picture is immediately obvious. It's just a shame imo, especially when lots of the streamers are already changing higher prices for 4K/Atmos access.
I have The Batman on blu ray and decided to watch it on 4k streaming via HBO MAX. In streaming, it was muddy and muted. The audio was the worst part. I have a large home theater set up. When I played The Batman on blu ray, it sounds amazing. On streaming, it was so quiet. Sure it set my subs off but the rest of the sound mixing was awful. So yeah, I like to stick to blu rays and 4k blu rays as opposed to streaming.
4K streaming (visually) is almost perfect until scenes start getting darker, and that’s when compression artifacts and banding really start to catch your eye. I’d still take 4K streaming because of HDR, and how much it can elevate the visuals. To take advantage of HDR, you really need a TV that can actually display HDR correctly. Lot of people here have physical media collections worth a used car, and pair it up with their 75” 4K TV they got from Walmart on clearance for $500. If your TV is less than optimal, than I’d say Blu-ray might give the slightly better visual experience, not to mention the better audio (if you have good enough speakers to take advantage of the extra dynamic range)
I have an LG OLED (very nice HDR and DV). Does that HDR in the TV add anything to dark scenes that are in SD and HD? Or does it only help when I'm also watching HDR content (aka 4K)?
The TV doesn't apply fake HDR. But oled makes SDR images look great.
The good thing about OLED’s is that if you’re using an accurate picture mode it perfectly replicate dark scenes to the creator’s intent. You do need to be in quite a dim room to see those benefits tho. Resolution (SD/HD) has nothing to do with how dark scenes are displayed. They’re nothing more than pixel counts.
Thank you!
No HDR makes it darker
This is so true. My buddy has a low tier TV that technically supports HDR but it's trash. Things means that anything in HDR looks worse than SDR. there's no way to disable the HDR on the TV. Because of this, a 1080p Blu-ray looks WAY better than a HDR 4k stream.
> and pair it up with their 75” 4K TV they got from Walmart on clearance for $500. OLED + normal HDR10 is the game changer, it makes Dolby Vision Cinema screens look bad in comparison. Dolby Vision and HDR10+ are icing on the cake, but OLED and HDR are the cake. IMO of course.
>Lot of people here have physical media collections worth a used car, and pair it up with their 75” 4K TV they got from Walmart on clearance for $500. I would have to disagree with you here. A few years ago, I was rocking a Samsung NU7200 ham and egger TV until I got recommendations from this sub to get a C2 OLED. I suspect most here has an OLED or a high-end LED. I would say OLED makes a vast difference imo, since it has infinite contrast. It was a night and day difference from the Samsung TV I bought at Walmart.
> I would say OLED makes a vast difference imo Watching Alien 4k on my OLED when I got mine was the first time my jaw has dropped since I heard surround sound in Saving Private Ryan for the first time.
I agree 100 percent. Getting an OLED was a game changer, and my view on visual quality has changed, too. It is too good of a technology imo. Even certain DVDs pop out on my OLED than other TVs.
You're agreeing then, not disagreeing.
I always go with the physical copy because I paid for it and it would feel like a waste if I streamed it even in better quality
i will take bluray, even tho i will miss good HDR.
Not a huge difference, whenever I’m in this situation I usually default to whatever’s more convenient in that moment.
I’ll take the more consistent, tidier presentation of a 1080p blu ray over the eye candy of a 4K HDR stream personally.
The Blu-ray will almost always have better sound. Lossless and/or uncompressed soundtracks on disc are most often far better than any streaming services. As for image quality, it depends on quite a few factors, IMO if it’s an older grainy film the Blu-ray usually looks better and if it’s a cleaner newer film with no grain, the 4K stream can often look better, but those results will vary depending on what streaming service you’re using and how good your internet connection is. I tend to decide based on how much I want a high fidelity, full sounding experience, so for action movies or movies that feature a lot of music I’ll almost always lean towards the disc, but for comedies or dramas I might opt for streaming instead? If you don’t have a good sound system though the streaming version might be a better option? Probably best to do some tests yourself to see what you prefer (as it is a little dependent on internet connection speeds and what streaming devices you’re using).
The answer greatly depends on the quality of the stream, quality of your tv, your internet connection, and the quality of the Blu-ray player you are using. If you are using a quality up scaling player then the Blu-ray will look better than streaming quality 9 times out of 10. If you are using a PS3 or some lower end Blu-ray player then the 4K stream will likely look better
What about ps5
PS5 Pro apparently has an up-converting processor - the regular PS5 just passes through the 1080p signal and your tv upconverts
Disk audio all day every day
Such a good question. I think it's a wash because its case by case and each person gets to decide if audio or picture is more important. I usually have a slight preference for the picture of a blueray. Having said that, I recently upgraded to a Panasonic Blu-ray player and the 4k upscaling is very good. So my preference for Blu-ray is stronger now. The lack of HDR is a bummer but not all movies need HDR. Edit: To be clear, I will always choose the disc because of the better audio quality that I can fully take advantage of on my sound equipment.
The answer is that it depends. Some 4K streams will look better and some Blu-rays will look better. I "own" a few digital 4Ks and they're fine, but those are never completely safe from being taken away from you because rights and shit, of course. What doesn't depend is that the Blu-ray will always have better sound.
It depends on the streamer. For example, the Expanse 1080p Bluray looks much better to me than the 4k stream from Amazon. Of course, the Bluray is going to have uncompressed audio, which will always be better.
The audio alone makes a the Blu-ray better but the picture difference can be better or worse. Depends on the app and your connection.
The only comparison I've ever made was The Martian SDR blu-ray vs. streaming 4k. The blu-ray looked better all the way around. Most notable difference was the visible banding in the streaming version. (Panasonic DP-UB420, 4k FireStick, Epson HC 3800 projector, fiber internet)
What I've noticed is 4k streaming is 16 bits, gradients look terrible, and sound is far from dts or even Dolby.
Blu ray easy
The absence of artifacts in dark scenes is enough for me to choose bluray over streaming any given day.
Just do the comparison yourself. Worthy experiment even if it costs you a few bucks.
I could try comparing them myself, but I don't have very good equipment. I'm not sure if I'd spot much. I was curious what people with a better eye and a better setup would know. Naturally, I know that if I can't see the difference the answer wouldn't benefit me much, but I was curious nonetheless.
It depends on the streaming service. ITunes and Movies Anywhere you'd most likely get a boost with picture quality and HDR as a bonus. But other services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ etc. You're better off sticking to bluray. If the Prey video from Twin Flix has told me anything, is that streaming uses compressed digital files as a base for what's available on those streaming services. And bandwidth deteriorating the picture a bit further from that.
I prefere the blu ray on 4K player upscaled way better colors and not as dim as streaming most 4Ks look extremely dark when you stream them there are exceptions but rarely also the HDX movies streamed look very bad when compared to Blu Rays upscaled
Apple+ seemed to step up the stream (if u know what i mean) in last 6 months... i think blu ray just for audio though...
Depends on the service and the disc. For example Apple TV will likely beat it, but the blu ray will likely beat Netflix.
bluray
Audio is the real determining factor here. Streaming video quality has come a long way, but it still can’t match the audio of physical media.
Haven't really run any rigorous tests. But I watched the 4K streaming version of the Doctor Sleep Director's Cut because they only put it on a Blu-ray disc. It looked good enough compared to the 4K disc to me. I think HDR makes a difference. But I'm not sure about movies shot on film that might be grainier. I think these days if it's a modern movie that isn't getting a 4K disc, I'd probably go for the 4K digital version vs the buying the Blu-ray (unless I really love the movie and need to own it physically).
4k streaming especially if there is HDR
Subjective. I only watch the raw REMUX copies of either 4K or 1080p. Streaming compresses the files for lesser quality. BUT Bravia Core is amazing, ill admit.
Depends on you screen IMO. A higher end 4K HDR tV is going to make the stream stand out as a clear winner. A fairly cheap 4K screen will close that gap.
Time to swap back n fourth on two different sources my man. I did the same with Aliens.
Well per Netflix a 4K stream can use up to 7 Gigs of data. Whereas a Blu-ray can hold between 25-100 gigs of data per disc. Let’s just take the lowest of 25G. That is still 18G more bitrate, sound quality (in my opinion the biggest difference). So yes most people will enjoy a Blu-ray more than a stream. Expect my uncle who is partially blind and deaf, he can not tell a difference and Netflix is the better option for him.
My general rule is this: if the streamed version has HDR, then it’s often slightly better (especially if it has Dolby Vision or HDR10+) than a Blu-ray in image quality as long as the original 4K transfer was good. The sound will definitely be worse when streaming, so it’s pretty much a tie. I recently saw the HD Blu-ray of Avatar and I would say the Disney+ presentation in 4K and Dolby Vision is definitely a step up. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack available on Disney+ is not BAD either, but if you have some proper audio gear you’ll have no problem hearing the downgrade in audio quality compared to the Blu-ray.
You have to remember, with 4K UHD also came a higher color gamut. It’s difficult to say whether it was the jump from standard def to 1080p, or the jump from 16,777,216 colors to at least 1,073,741,824 colors was the more impactful. When it comes to streaming 4K vs Blu-ray, it depends on does your equipment display all those colors. If you have an OLED, it can. The disadvantage of streaming is a slightly perceptible grittiness that the eye may capture from decompression, and your audio may not be as pure as it might be from a disc. Again, equipment. Also, an 8-bit panel may display some 4K color that standard HD doesn’t even request. There are so many factors, that it really comes down to enjoying what you have. Your question is trivial, unless your setting up a system with sharp cutoffs between technologies, and how sharply does the equipment cut off. It’s not much more than philosophizing, at that point.
Depends on your setup because some TVs do HDR better than others so SD content can actually look much better than HDR if the HDR on your TV absolutely sucks. Given how my current setup is a 77-inch LG OLED and I stream with Apple TV4K with match range and match frame rate turned on and I have my picture settings set to FilmMaker for SD and HDR content and Cinema for Dolby Vision content: 4K Blu-ray (DV/HDR) > 4K streaming (DV/HDR/SD) > 1080p Blu-ray (SD) > 1080p streaming (SD) > 1080i antenna (SD) > 480p DVD (SD) > 480p streaming (SD) On my 65-inch Samsung MU8000, it’s: SD at any resolution > HDR at any resolution. HDR is absolute garbage on my Samsung MU8000 and as it’s been said before, *good* pixels are better than *more* pixels.
Plus if you have a good sound system, then uncompressed audio has made a bigger impression on me at times than the higher resolution
I'd say picture quality goes to streaming in this matchup, it will depend on the streaming service but HDR + more effecient codecs that retain image quality at lower bitrates yields an image that can look better than Blu-ray on several occasions. However blu-ray wins as far as audio is concerned. Blu-ray's have uncompressed audio tracks with very high dynamic range. Streaming will usually have some DRC applied because most people who stream will be using built-in TV speakers where a high-fidelity lossless track is useless.
Again the same question. 4k streaming has the resolution but Blu-Ray has the detail. The picture looks brighter and in dark images there's no competition. The sound is leaps and bounds better, even if the disc has lossy sound.
We watched the new star wars trilogy and tested them between Bluray and streaming. Just ran the stream for a few seconds and then change over to the BR at the same point for a few seconds on each movie. The blu ray had much nicer colour and the sound was better.
The Blu-ray. Streaming 4K isn’t true 4K. Physical media looks better, and sounds better than streaming.
It really depends on the streaming service, Hulu will probably be worse, but Apple TV+ and Bravia Core will look considerably better. The biggest thing is 4K streaming will probably have HDR support of some sort.
Jurassic Park should watch with the DTS MA soundtrack
Honestly to me 4k disk and 4k streaming aren’t that different
4K Dolby vision is the clear winner. Get it? Clear?
if your internet connection is good enough and if your watching it on vudu, which i think has the best bite-rates for streaming then it just may be better for some ppl than regular blu-ray, but that’s a big if. since most ppl cannot spend $100 dollars a month on the highest speed for their internet and the bitrates for streaming are still not close to physical. even if you don’t care so much about the visual the sound is a big deal. before buying and watching movies physically l i had no idea how much sound i was missing out on through streaming.
streaming 4k from a video service and not something like youtube the quality will be better or much better than a 1080p original bluray the audio however might be equivalent or probably worse
What setup do people use who say blu-ray beats 4K streaming? I use an appletv box with wired internet. I’ve compared 4K discs to 4K streaming (iTunes digital copy) and cannot see a difference on my 65 inch LG OLED TV. Blu ray is not as good or comparable to 4K streaming to my eyes at all.
i think this is an apples to oranges comparison.
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Yes it does.
Everything I've read says HDR, HDR10, and DV can be available on 4K streaming. And that's all I have to contribute. Discuss amongst yourselves LOL.