Do you still prefer Blu rays to Streaming content?

DiscoDave

DiscoDave

DiscoDave

Associate
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Posts
1,856
Location
Cambridge
I know members here have a big variety of setups here, and as I've recently indulged myself in my first surround sound setup with and amp/receiver, I'm curious as to if you chaps prefer watching your movies in Blu ray form or have decided to completely ditch that idea in favour of streaming services such as Netflix.

My setup consists of a NAS with a NFS export to a Acer Revo HTPC, Onkyo amp/receiver and a Panasonic 42" plasma. I'm thoroughly impressed with how much better the sound is with my 3.1 setup compared to the speakers in the TV. Definitely further impressed when I passthrough DTS/DD audo streams to the Onkyo.

I had consider dumping my NAS and possibly the HTPC and get a chromecast/Amazon Fire TV device for simplicity (for other users). After some investigation it does appear however that the video quality is a bit hit and miss and the audio quality is predominantly AC3 and none of these devices have agreed licenses with DTS so that they can passthrough RAW DTS channels to whatever device you have it connect to.

So with those who have invested in their setups do you feel it's wasted by the lower quality (or compression of) audio/video from streaming services and if so, do you still prefer to watch movies directly from Blu ray disc, or ripped to your own NAS?

Thanks,
 
With over a hundred blu-rays in my collection, I think you cant beat the good old silver disc for Picture & sound quality. I use google play for streaming content (a few of the latest releases for convenience), though they will only stream HD content to mobile devices & not PC's currently.
 
The problem with streaming is there's too many services and not enough content.

With music pretty much any mainstream track is available from any of the leading streaming services. Butnwith movies there are a lot more players in the market each with a smaller piece of the pie. To get full coverage of all available films you would need to take out a number of subscriptions, and I expect there would still be a lot of films missing.

Until there is a single service providing the majority of mainstream films, streaming will remain a supporting role alongside physical media.

Streaming works better for TV content at the moment.
 
I do both, but that's mainly on cost grounds. For me, the video and in particular the audio quality is substantially better on BD.
e.g. Netflix might well be streaming 1080p video (but at probably lower bit rates than BD), but then they add audio in Dolby Digital quality. That (IIRC) is 5.1 using p. BD is often 2Mbps of uncompressed audio, or higher. Seriously, the difference on a good audio recording is BIG.
 
Im with Mr Sukebe. the audio compression makes a bigger difference to me than the picture but that's not saying the picture isnt worse on stream because it is.

I tend to buy the movies that i know i'll really like and would re-watch and stream / get digital copies of anything else.
 
The only one I'd really use on my current 3.7Mbps connection is Netflix, the rest just don't seem to be able to deliver a decent result and a lot of them seem to have caveats too e.g. you'll get HD image but stereo sound, or as with Blinkbox their PS3 app can't do HD at all.

At least on a disc I know I'm getting the absolute best result every time and I'm not putting money into a service that could potentially disappear, and the prices are about the same anyway.
 
I use Netflix a lot due to its cost. £5.99 a month for a decent amount of content (personal opinion of course) is far better for me than buying a bluray everytime I want to watch a film. Also its useful for when I am away from home in hotel rooms for weeks at a time. I will of course by blurays but for films that I know I will enjoy or just because its something special.

Money no object however it would be blurays all the way.
 
For a quick fix streaming is fine, if however I plan to close the curtains, turn the lights down and grab some popcorn then it has to be a proper Blu-ray showing (especially on a 48" at just under 2m and DTS-HD MA through the 5.1 Onkyo).
 
Nope. It's a waste of tome/money/effort/space getting discs (that pole up and eventually need binned). I just stream netflix and now got amazon prime too, but rarely watch films. Series are also better on stream for me (never rewatch them).

(of course this is my own opinion but I shouldn't have to say that...)
 
Has to be Blu-Ray for proper movie experience for me. I use Netflix/Amazon but usually for TV Series or a Movie that I would not think of buying or not heard of.
 
I am quite happy to watch streaming content these days. Yes, if I compare them back to back I can tell that the BR edges it in both visual and sound. It is that bit sharper and sound is cleaner with more dynamics.

But streaming is so much more convenient it is hard to ignore, especially for movies that isn't strong of visual or sound but more story.
 
I tried streaming, but 90% of stuff looks rubbish, and sound rubbish too so I cancelled my subscription. It's like I'm watching and listening to a poor rip. Even Sky movies looks rubbish compared to a BD or decent BD rip.

This is what makes me laugh about the whole 4k thing, we don't even have decent 1080p streaming capability yet everyone is falling over themselves about 4K.
 
I'm happy with the quality of Netflix and am in full support of more stream capabilities in the future for a monthly fee instead of blurays.
 
Streaming quality is very poor for most content compared to other alternatives (BD, Sky, downloads, etc) so until they resolve this I'll never give them any money. Netflix is improving, but not enough shows use their "super HD" which is actually just 1080p at about 12mbps iirc.

That plus there are way to many providers none of who have enough content to justify the price.
 
Blu Rays easily beat streamed quality for me - I only bother with Blu Ray for selct titles that I really really want to watch at that definition and the advantage of better sound.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom