Future of Blu-Ray vs Streaming?

ng4ever said:
Plex is ok. I still prefer just seeing a directory of all my files, no pretty movie or tv show posters. Air Video HD works great but sadly iOS only :(

Plus it is easier that you don't have to wait for new movies or tv shows to load like in plex. They just show up in Air Video HD.
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Like you I don't believe Plex is the End all and Be all but it is decent. You made a good point in that you like the directory view and how shows just show up. Some thing with Kodi to the point that it even tells you what has just been added.
 
Is this an age thing? Seems us "older" users like either physical or uncompressed ripped 1080p/4k media so that we have what the creators wanted us to see and hear as original.

Myself...I have a homes server (pretty much my main PC with 3900X/32GB/2x10TB WD Reds) that hold my ripped BT collection and feeds my NVIDIA Shield TV connected to my Denon AVR that can handle any lossless audio. My speakers and TV are up to the task as well. I use Kodi for my movie collection.

Streaming is convenient but if I'm going to take the time to watch a movie, I want to watch/listen to it as intended and enjoy it. One of the few enjoyments I have anymore along with listening to quality (not streaming) music too TBH. Otherwise, I'm wasting my time and doing a disservice to the film creator.
 
2K movie that we watch in the movie theater are usually around 200 gig files (on a shipped hard drive or secure network download), I am not sure if we have any option at home to see what the creators wanted us to see as original, often the best option is a much much more compressed file on bluray that what they worked with in their editor boot and watched (digital or 35 mm).

You can see a big hollywood cinematographer showing that filming in 2K versus in 6K is often irrelevant (often worst to go with a 4 or 6k camera) because the added noise is not worth the added pixel once you go through the compression algorithm(around 38:16 minutes):
http://yedlin.net/ResDemo/ResDemoPt2.html

What we can choose is less compromise and less compression over more comprise and more compression, but it is always quite far from the original (image wise at least, not the sound).

If they would do 100gig bluray with more modern compression algorithm of 2K movies, I imagine we could.
 
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I actually don't like watching movies in a theater...most often the sound isn't properly calibrated and therefore overly hot. This has been a trend lately in the 3 different major brand movies theaters by me for the past 5-10 years. It's actually uncomfortable at times and I listen at home close to, if not, reference levels...except I'm properly calibrated.
 
TheSlySyl said:
I don't use a directory of my files, my individual libraries are too big to be stored on a single hard drive at this point so I like how PLEX merges directories into single libraries. Also the tagging, movie posters, synopsis, etc. is one of my favorite things about PLEX. It does all that for me, and when your library is as big as mine is, having that happen automatically is a gigantic benefit. Especially for my more obscure stuff.

I have no idea what you mean by "wait for movies or tv shows to load" PLEX usually plays whatever I throw at it in less than 5 seconds. It's just as fast as if i I was launching the file with VLC on a computer or whateve. I heavily prefer the plex navigation anyway, because that search bar is how I usually find what I want to watch - Yet again, many thousands upon thousands of files.

I have a fair amount of users with access to my Plex library, some of which are far from the most computer skilled. So ease of use is massive for them, moreso than myself.

I also have absolutely no experience with anything involving IOS, and likely never will, so I have no idea what Air Video HD is like.
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The time it takes plex to index the movie. I know it only takes a few seconds.
 
LukeTbk said:
2K movie that we watch in the movie theater are usually around 200 gig files (on a shipped hard drive or secure network download), I am not sure if we have any option at home to see what the creators wanted us to see as original, often the best option is a much much more compressed file on bluray that what they worked with in their editor boot and watched (digital or 35 mm).

You can see a big hollywood cinematographer showing that filming in 2K versus in 6K is often irrelevant (often worst to go with a 4 or 6k camera) because the added noise is not worth the added pixel once you go through the compression algorithm(around 38:16 minutes):
http://yedlin.net/ResDemo/ResDemoPt2.html

What we can choose is less compromise and less compression over more comprise and more compression, but it is always quite far from the original (image wise at least, not the sound).

If they would do 100gig bluray with more modern compression algorithm of 2K movies, I imagine we could.
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I also have to ask whether or not those who swear by Blu-ray discs would notice quality differences if they watched the same movie on a good streaming service. I suspect there's a bit of that "audiophile" mindset where people justify their desire for expensive gear by pretending they can spot improvements that are imperceptible in practice. For that matter, getting their priorities mixed up and deciding that media quality matters as much or more than the story it's trying to tell.

Besides, like I said earlier: it's odd to be pushing hard for more plastic discs and more waste in 2021. Not that streaming has zero costs, but it certainly doesn't clog landfills. It's not worth hurting the planet just to up the bitrate of your movie.
 
Aurelius said:
I also have to ask whether or not those who swear by Blu-ray discs would notice quality differences if they watched the same movie on a good streaming service. I suspect there's a bit of that "audiophile" mindset where people justify their desire for expensive gear by pretending they can spot improvements that are imperceptible in practice. For that matter, getting their priorities mixed up and deciding that media quality matters as much or more than the story it's trying to tell.

Besides, like I said earlier: it's odd to be pushing hard for more plastic discs and more waste in 2021. Not that streaming has zero costs, but it certainly doesn't clog landfills. It's not worth hurting the planet just to up the bitrate of your movie.
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Sometimes streaming actually is better because of Dolby Vision.
 
sharknice said:


Sometimes streaming actually is better because of Dolby Vision.
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That's the thing, isn't it? It's not as simple as saying one is better than the other; it depends on all other factors being equal. And picture quality to me only matters to a point. I like getting to focus on the movie (and more importantly, my fiancée sitting next to me) instead of the logistics.
 
Honestly, it really depends on the source material once you get into the range of 4k HDR. A lot of 4k blu-ray that involve digital effects are mostly upscaled in the first place, so the difference between blu-ray and streaming isn't as severe.
If the original was a (very clean) 35mm or 70mm the difference is way more obvious. It also depends on what the hell they used as the source for the stream and what they're converting it to on their end.

I've had some 4k movies that were never originally made to be in a format that high quality and its super, super obvious when the 4k version isn't as good.
Some of the Amazon Prime and Apple TV 4kHDR streams i've gotten look better or equal to blu-ray rips, better HDR on a few. (Though that could absolutely be a situation of me fucking up my re-encode). Disney+ has been a mixed bag, stuff made purely for Disney+ HDR has been fantastic, but it seems that if they took it from a previous source it doesn't look as great.
Netflx HDR honestly is usually underwhelming unless its a showcase series like Life on Earth, but I don't have blu-ray to compare it too. Netflix 1080p universally looks noticeably worse than most other sources to me though, and I don't know why.
 
TheSlySyl said:
Honestly, it really depends on the source material once you get into the range of 4k HDR. A lot of 4k blu-ray that involve digital effects are mostly upscaled in the first place, so the difference between blu-ray and streaming isn't as severe.
If the original was a (very clean) 35mm or 70mm the difference is way more obvious. It also depends on what the hell they used as the source for the stream and what they're converting it to on their end.

I've had some 4k movies that were never originally made to be in a format that high quality and its super, super obvious when the 4k version isn't as good.
Some of the Amazon Prime and Apple TV 4kHDR streams i've gotten look better or equal to blu-ray rips, better HDR on a few. (Though that could absolutely be a situation of me fucking up my re-encode). Disney+ has been a mixed bag, stuff made purely for Disney+ HDR has been fantastic, but it seems that if they took it from a previous source it doesn't look as great.
Netflx HDR honestly is usually underwhelming unless its a showcase series like Life on Earth, but I don't have blu-ray to compare it too. Netflix 1080p universally looks noticeably worse than most other sources to me though, and I don't know why.
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Yeah, even a some movies completely shot and made for 4k the quality captured by the camera just isn't that great and you're not really getting 4k resolution of detail because it's so grainy.
 
If you want to *own* the content, you'll have to purchase the physical media. But they're going to break the physical media model eventually - every major streaming company now produces its own content and I don't think any of it will ever come to disc.

Streaming services are starting to add 'Premium' content that must be purchased for viewing in addition to your existing monthly fee, which is like buying the disc, but without any of the assurances.
 
davidlem said:
If you want to *own* the content, you'll have to purchase the physical media. But they're going to break the physical media model eventually - every major streaming company now produces its own content and I don't think any of it will ever come to disc.

Streaming services are starting to add 'Premium' content that must be purchased for viewing in addition to your existing monthly fee, which is like buying the disc, but without any of the assurances
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This is part of why I want to have a personal archive on my own local hard drives. If/When Plex dies, that's fine, my files are still my files.
 
Kong v. Zilla on hbomax in dolby vision + atmos looked fantastic last night. I could live with that over physical discs, no problem.


Unfortunately it's the second worst thing i've seen in 2021.
 
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