By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
SvennoJ on 14 January 2019
Edit Thread
Mummelmann said:
SvennoJ said:

4K streaming runs at a lower bit rate than old blu-ray. It does have a more advanced compression algorithm, yet that's still throwing detail away. Netflix 4K HDR runs at 18 mbps (picture + sound) 1080p blu-ray between 18 and 38 mbps for picture alone and 5 mbps for lossless compressed sound. (There are multiple sound tracks, max blu-ray total throughput is 54 mbps) 4k blu-ray can support as high as 128 mbps total and also uses the more advanced compression algorithms.

Blu-ray still outperforms 4K streaming in most cases. Still scenes have better detail in 4K streaming, yet when stuff is moving, bandwidth is what matters. Blu-ray having the ability to ramp up to 38 mbps in action scenes leaves 4K streaming far behind.

Anyway there seem to be plenty problems with Netflix not showing 24p content correctly and delivering it as 60fps with pull down filter. I'll stick to blu-ray for quality.

Yeah, I buy blockbusters and classics on blu-ray and streaming is fine for most TV shows. But shows like American Gods would look so tasty uncompressed and with proper saturation, it has a visual style and presentation that would benefit so much from a crisper and more consistent image throughout, as well as a more natural flow of frames. The bitrates on streaming is so low, I also noted that, my aging LoTR Extended collection on regular blu-ray looks better than many modern 4K streams, especially in scenes with lots of violent or snap motion, as well as the diving and panning shots that Peter Jackson loves to use.

And that while Lotr was an early experiment with digital film processing (2K master format). Especially the first movie looks very soft on blu-ray. Compare that to Lawrence of Arabia (1962) on blu-ray which looks extremely crisp and detailed. The source for that movie was shot on 65mm with 8K digital intermediate for the 2012 blu-ray releae. 4K streaming is just a waste for 4K resolution. It's also a shame lotr was an early digital movie as it looks kinda bad now compared to 35mm movies with proper 4K digital intermediates, never mind the far superior 65mm conversions.

Why worry about the frame rate when you can't even see the frames properly. Fix the compression first :)