Newbie to OLED - question: streaming vs disc?

orm8426

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Hello everyone.

I'm a proud new owner of a Panasonic 55GZ1500B - a significant upgrade from my 12 year old 42" Panasonic plasma.

I've set it up and played about with a bit of 4K/UHD content from Amazon and Netflix. 4K SDR and upscaled 1080p content looks fantastic.

I'm coming to terms with the fact that HDR content isn't about oversaturated "in store demo" type content - more about faithful reproduction of the film-makers intent. Nevertheless I'm not entirely blown away with the UHD content from streaming services and there lies the crux of my question - how much better will something like Joker or Skyfall on a 4K UHD blu ray disc and a good player like the Panasonic UB820 be, compared with UHD content from a steaming service?

Cheers,
Orm
 
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HDR is actually comparable. What suffers is detail level, dark / black sections compression (macro blocking) etc.

In general it is quite impressive how well encoded are streaming materials those days.

Saying this I only watch series via streaming. All movies I watch from BD discs.
 
Hello everyone.

I'm a proud new owner of a Panasonic 55GZ1500B - a significant upgrade from my 12 year old 42" Panasonic plasma.

I've set it up and played about with a bit of 4K/UHD content from Amazon and Netflix. 4K SDR and upscaled 1080p content looks fantastic.

I'm coming to terms with the fact that HDR content isn't about oversaturated "in store demo" type content - more about faithful reproduction of the film-makers intent. Nevertheless I'm not entirely blown away with the UHD content from streaming services and there lies the crux of my question - how much better will something like Joker or Skyfall on a 4K UHD blu ray disc and a good player like the Panasonic UB820 be, compared with UHD content from a steaming service?

Cheers,
Orm
Have a look at this thread there's 85 posts on the subject
 
Have a look at this thread there's 85 posts on the subject
Thanks. I saw that thread but to be honest it went off on a bit of a tangent and also brought value/convenience into the equation. All I'm interested is the technical answer regarding whether there is an appreciable difference in streaming vs disc for 4K UHD?
 
Thanks. I saw that thread but to be honest it went off on a bit of a tangent and also brought value/convenience into the equation. All I'm interested is the technical answer regarding whether there is an appreciable difference in streaming vs disc for 4K UHD?

Disc is going to have a higher bitrate therefore it will be better quality but depending on your setup and how far you are from the screen the difference may be completely negligible.
 
There was a piece on Ars not long ago calling-out streaming HDR. Apparently much of it is just SDR in drag. SDR wrapped in a HDR container to fool video equipment. In my experience this certainly seems plausible based on what I’ve seen.

Apple TV+ looks good and has a higher bitrate than would be typical of Amazon etc. But in the end there’s no substitute for UHD Blu-ray if you want the full banana.
 
Streaming services like Netflix and Prime arent really to be compared with UHD disk, the alternative to buying films on disc for many of us is iTunes.

Firstly what you stream isnt the same as on disc, in case some people assume that's the case.

However the video codec and the bitrate is sufficient that iTunes 4K video quality is very good. There aren't HDR issues with iTunes movies, it supports DV too,

The audio - if you have a surround sound system - is noticeably better on disc as it uses lossless codecs, but the audio on streaming - with Atmos - is good enough for most people though.

You can't discount the cost element - 4K discs are £10 to £25 wheres on Itunes from £2.99 up to £13.99 for a brand new release - many here will have 100+ libraries only made possible with digital.
 
As per the others. There can be really good streaming content, there can also be bad.

movies I like to keep I still buy on disc, but I don’t mind streaming either.
 
There was a piece on Ars not long ago calling-out streaming HDR. Apparently much of it is just SDR in drag. SDR wrapped in a HDR container to fool video equipment. In my experience this certainly seems plausible based on what I’ve seen.

Apple TV+ looks good and has a higher bitrate than would be typical of Amazon etc. But in the end there’s no substitute for UHD Blu-ray if you want the full banana.

I found the Ars Technica article as mentioned above;
Fake HDR
 
For the high quality streaming I see on iTunes, my rough rule of thumb is that for anything shot digitally streaming is pretty much fine; the main difference those crazy bitrates gets you is in the reproduction of film grain. There may be a bigger difference if you sit really close to a large screen, but that's where I generally fall.
 
funny, but I was just wondering this same thing.
thought, since I just bought my 2nd 4k tv, I would go all out and maybe get a player this time, or use my xbx 1x.
I really do want to see and hear the very best this tv has to offer.
But I currently dont have an audio solution, or a stand alone dvd player, I have the xbx 1x and an old blu ray that I havent used in years.
Without an audio system like a soundbar, receiver/speaker set up, is there really any difference with the audio from disc to streaming?

If it isnt a huge difference in quality with uncompressed video / audio over streaming them I will just use my xbx and not bother with a stand alone as discs are expensive and not easily rented.

Im thinking in time, after I buy some audio gear first, Ill get a stand alone for the movies I do want to own, I am a Star Wars guy, so I want to own those anyway, I do on vhs, enhanced vhs, and blu ray, but not 4k blu ray and now that they released the final 3 movies in the 9 movie series I do plan to buy the box set when it becomes available.

Same with Matrix or Avenger movies, if I can own those at their best values, on disc I wouldnt mind having them, but stream most other stuff.
I think I am just going to buy the stuff I really want to have on hand for my kids and grandkids to enjoy with us on movie night and sleep overs, and stream the rest, if I find a release that is just amazing on disc vs a stream, then Ill buy it.
 
Just watch the latest Mission Impossible on Apple TV 4K and you will see that streaming quality can be excellent if the movie is shot in high quality. To me was like a revelation when the helicopter scenes popped on screen. Made the rest of the movie quality feel a bit bland :)
 
Just watch the latest Mission Impossible on Apple TV 4K and you will see that streaming quality can be excellent if the movie is shot in high quality. To me was like a revelation when the helicopter scenes popped on screen. Made the rest of the movie quality feel a bit bland :)
Yeah those scenes were great, I think they used an IMAX camera to film those shots.
 
Apple and BT Sport are superb, they use high rates (HDR a bit of a mess with BT though). Netflix not worth it for me, rates are too low. I work on the basis that my pockets are not deep enough for hard copies for everything I want and Apple TV film sales beat a £20 disk every time (real world economics rather than quality). The films I really want the best bang for buck I get hard copy. It is a balance. 2001 on hard copy is absolutely sublime via the UB820, it has HDR settings suitable for OLED.
 
I found the Ars Technica article as mentioned above;
Fake HDR

that’s not really a comment onstreaming services in general. It seems specific to one show on one platform. If Disney ever release the mandelorian on disc it may well be the same.
 
I also really recommend iTunes as quality streaming, especially any Dolby Vision stuff. The only down-side for me is the difference between the standard 5.1 Sound & the Atmos - on our ca. € 1,000.- 5.1.2 system, I really hear the difference between the streamed 5.1 Audio & the Disk equivalent. With the Atmos, we don't pick up any real difference (Down to Room layout / acceptable sound levels / quality of system; we live in an Apartment).
And up to now, very happy with Amazon Prime - especially the 4K stuff. For example we have the Expanse on iTunes, and the 4K version on Prime is definitely better.
 
agree that apple TV and iTunes movies are the best streaming quality available as long as your broadband is up to it

UHD disks do look and sound better than even those sources but at a 55" screen size I doubt if you would see the difference unless you are very close to the screen

but you will need the sound system to take advantage

try a week free trial of apple TV and check out the for all mankind - its an excellent show and probably the best picture quality I have seen streaming - if that doesn't look good then I don't think I would recommend that you buy UHD disks
 
On apple tv 4k do you have to buy or rent each movie or is it like netflix where you pay a subscription and then have access to 4k content when you want it?
 
On apple tv 4k do you have to buy or rent each movie or is it like netflix where you pay a subscription and then have access to 4k content when you want it?
You buy or rent. The only subscription is for Apple TV+ which gives you access to their own-made series
 
Hello everyone.

I'm a proud new owner of a Panasonic 55GZ1500B - a significant upgrade from my 12 year old 42" Panasonic plasma.

I've set it up and played about with a bit of 4K/UHD content from Amazon and Netflix. 4K SDR and upscaled 1080p content looks fantastic.

I'm coming to terms with the fact that HDR content isn't about oversaturated "in store demo" type content - more about faithful reproduction of the film-makers intent. Nevertheless I'm not entirely blown away with the UHD content from streaming services and there lies the crux of my question - how much better will something like Joker or Skyfall on a 4K UHD blu ray disc and a good player like the Panasonic UB820 be, compared with UHD content from a steaming service?

Cheers,
Orm
I think the 4k content on streaming devices is very good. Maybe it's the TV. I have an LG C9 and the streaming 4k is awesome. Many times better than my blu ray player though mine is a cheaper Sony 700 model. The biggest difference for me is the sound with a disc. You don't get true Dolby Atmos or DTS-X sound streaming. You get pretty decent 5.1 surround but it's not near as good as the sound coming from the disc assuming you have a Dolby Atmos compatible sound system. If not it doesn't really matter I would guess. One other trade off is with some content streaming you get full screen programming. On the disc you get the annoying bars but the much better sound.
 
One other trade off is with some content streaming you get full screen programming. On the disc you get the annoying bars but the much better sound.
Or to put it another way, streaming services sometime crop the picture, chalking-up another one for discs. BD & 4kBD disc rental saves expense while delivering the full-fat performance.
 
For sure all streaming services have a good picture. While the 5.1 sound from disc is exceptional assuming a well produced lossless track and picture a bit better too.
 

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