Question what is better PQ-wise streaming or Blu-ray? (1 Viewer)

[stevenHa]

If you know the answer, I'm confused by the various terms regarding physical media and it's preservation vs display. I want to use Disney classic films for this. Is the archived/preservation product going to be the highest quality for pq and sound ? When we see a film like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on blu ray currently, are we also seeing the best quality it can be or is it from an older master ? Is the version used for streaming better quality ?

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm going to change this thread's title because it isn't fair to RAH. As to your question, rarely is a 1080p stream better quality than a good Blu-ray simply because the stream is much more compressed than the Blu-ray disc.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Streaming will never be as good as physical because of variable bitrates. Case closed.

 

[jayembee]

Another point. Generally speaking, the streaming platforms (at least, the ones owned by the studios themselves) use current masters, so theoretically, they should be the same as what's released on disc. But as Crawdaddy says, the streaming bandwidth makes it of lesser quality than what's available on disc.

Of course, Steven, you're apparently more interested in classic Disney. In that case, it can be a crapshoot. Some of their disc releases might use older masters.

 

[Malcolm R]

Disney's always been a crapshoot with regard to quality on physical media, from cropped full-screen releases in the early days, to over use of DNR and other processing on random discs, and their always inferior low-level sound mixes on most every release. So I'm not sure if there's much difference in their product between disc or streaming.

 

[stevenHa]

Would someone know the situation with their archived/preservation stock - is that going to be the highest quality - why wouldn't they use it for outputting to the consumer (or are they) ?

 

[JohnRice]

There can never be a single answer for all situations. There are too many variables. But in general, as others have said, coming from the same master, disc will almost always be better due to higher bitrates.

Continuing to expect a single, universal answer for all of Disney's catalog just isn't realistic.

 

[Clinton McClure]

There can never be a single answer for all situations. There are too many variables. But in general, as others have said, coming from the same master, disc will almost always be better due to higher bitrates.

Continuing to expect a single, universal answer for all of Disney's catalog just isn't realistic.

I’ll amend that to read “disc will always be better due to higher bitrates.”

I have gigabit internet and have yet to stream a film that looked and sounded better than its physical media counterpart.

 

[Sam Posten]

Streaming will never be as good as physical because of variable bitrates. Case closed.

This is not true at all. 4k streams blow physical DVD and Blu-ray out the water.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Just a matter of time. Physical media did a don't really change after they’re finalized while digital is constantly amended to include advances in codecs and compression. We’re fast approaching a point where streaming will be indistinguishable from discs to everyone; it’s already basically at that point for non-enthusiasts. I have the internet bandwidth where I can stream an uncompressed disc rip from my Plex server outside of the house in most locations I visit. Won’t be too long before what streams surpasses what’s on disc.

 

[Clinton McClure]

This is not true at all. 4k streams blow physical DVD and Blu-ray out the water.

All things being equal, I would agree. A 4K UHD stream will generally beat a physical 1080p disc.

If you’re talking 1080p HD streaming vs Blu-ray, then Blu-ray wins every time. If you’re talking 4K UHD streaming vs a 4K UHD Blu-ray, the UHD Blu-ray wins every time.

 

[JohnRice]

I'm just going to skip the nit picking.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I'm just going to skip the nit picking.

Good idea, John.

Sorry for the rant, Sam. It’s been a long week and I didn’t mean to dump on your post. I apologize if it seems that way.

 

[jcroy]

The only definitive case I noticed immediately, was the first three seasons of the Hawaii Five-0 reboot blurays. Compared to streams coming from hd broadcasts, the difference in picture quality was noticable on the same episodes.

For other tv shows, it varied wildly between bluray vs streaming as to whether the differences are immediately noticable.