Aliens, The Abyss, True Lies and Titanic finally get digital and 4K Blu-Ray release dates

I'd be very surprised if the different platforms got different versions, typically they all get the same file or if they do get a different file it would have been made from the same file that went everywhere else. Have to see what the discs look like, ironically Aliens might be the first disc I buy since the original Alien Anthology BD release :D
 
Itunes is only half the bitrate of bluray disc so there will be some differences.

Anyway some comparison screenshots from itunes and the original here

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David F. Sandberg (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image My iTunes copy of Aliens was updated to the new #4K remaster and I'm so disappointed. They scrubbed it of all that beautiful grain and made it unnaturally sharp. I loved the grainy grittiness of Aliens. Left is my #BluRay copy, right is iTunes.
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Some examples of what the AI remaster has done to some low light background characters

Blu-ray Forum - View Single Post - Aliens 4K UHD (1986)

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Bit confused about the iTunes talk. I thought they'd scrapped that for movies now and it's just the Apple TV app?

Also, doesn't Apple TV have the best bitrate out of all the streaming services?
 
Stu999 said:
Bit confused about the iTunes talk. I thought they'd scrapped that for movies now and it's just the Apple TV app?

Also, doesn't Apple TV have the best bitrate out of all the streaming services?
Click to expand...
for bitrate? not even close. Sony smash it for the Tv Streaming service.
 
n111ck said:
If you mean Sony Core pure stream that's limited and niche at best - like Kaleidoscape - and requires expensive hardware.

Apple streaming is the best for everyone else.
Click to expand...
Still doesn't come close :D Whats the average on iTunes like 25mb's, Netflix like mid teens under the best conditions?
 
Stu999 said:
Bit confused about the iTunes talk. I thought they'd scrapped that for movies now and it's just the Apple TV app?

Also, doesn't Apple TV have the best bitrate out of all the streaming services?
Click to expand...

Out of the "normal" streaming services but is still less than half the bitrate of disc.
 
Sirrel Squirrel said:
I'd be very surprised if the different platforms got different versions, typically they all get the same file or if they do get a different file it would have been made from the same file that went everywhere else. Have to see what the discs look like, ironically Aliens might be the first disc I buy since the original Alien Anthology BD release :D
Click to expand...
They may start off with the same source file.
How they stream it will vary massively as different streaming platforms use different methods and codecs, IIRC netflix has possibly the most advanced codec system out of them all because from memory they've spent a lot of time and money getting their system to work to give the best image at pretty much whatever combination of resolution, bandwidth and decoding hardware you've got with multiple sets of encoders optimized for different types of film and the ability to change on the fly, whilst there is a good chance at least some of the other platforms are using more generic tools or have optimized their streaming for specific hardware.
You can probably save a very significant chunk of bandwidth by allowing your streaming codec to have a lower bitrate and more "blur" at times, and on some things it might not matter but if it happens on say human skin it's going to be picked up even if just subconsciously (I seem to remember an article from netflix on their encoders where they covered some of this).

You see something similar with traditional broadcasts, different broadcasters use different bitrates, different encoders etc so one channel might look much better showing the same film as another channel simply because they've either used a higher bit rate, or because they've used a more optimized/better encoder.

Even DVD's and BD's have this, early ones often looked worse than later ones despite the early ones potentially pushing the DVD bitrate to the limit as the encoders got a lot better over time, and some companies simply had better tools or staff who knew how to handle their encoders better.
 
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Werewolf said:
They may start off with the same source file.
How they stream it will vary massively as different streaming platforms use different methods and codecs, IIRC netflix has possibly the most advanced codec system out of them all because from memory they've spent a lot of time and money getting their system to work to give the best image at pretty much whatever combination of resolution, bandwidth and decoding hardware you've got with multiple sets of encoders optimized for different types of film and the ability to change on the fly, whilst there is a good chance at least some of the other platforms are using more generic tools or have optimized their streaming for specific hardware.
You can probably save a very significant chunk of bandwidth by allowing your streaming codec to have a lower bitrate and more "blur" at times, and on some things it might not matter but if it happens on say human skin it's going to be picked up even if just subconsciously (I seem to remember an article from netflix on their encoders where they covered some of this).

You see something similar with traditional broadcasts, different broadcasters use different bitrates, different encoders etc so one channel might look much better showing the same film as another channel simply because they've either used a higher bit rate, or because they've used a more optimized/better encoder.

Even DVD's and BD's have this, early ones often looked worse than later ones despite the early ones potentially pushing the DVD bitrate to the limit as the encoders got a lot better over time, and some companies simply had better tools or staff who knew how to handle their encoders better.
Click to expand...
That used to be very true for the streamers but now not so much with the high end ones as things have developed over the years they all use a similar set of tools (many developed by Netflix as open source) and methods for getting the best encodes and many of the people working at them move between companies.

Netflix do however have probably the best methods for getting to lower bit rates with the same visual quality as a higher bit rate stream and they've started using the AV1 codec more heavily, which is open source so any of the other streamers can use it if they aren't already. I can't see any good reason why one service would balls up their encodes on a high profile release vs one of their competitors.

The quality standards the likes of Apple, Amazon and Netflix expect as source material have also grown incredibly rigid over the years, which all helps as a base for their encodes.

Broadcast on the other hand is a complete mixed bag as you say, you never know what you're going to get.

Discs are pretty much all made the same these days, there's only a couple of companies out there that do it anymore and they all use the same kit.
 
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