11/9/2023 0 Comments Lie on your resume star warsSony's Bravia Core service, meanwhile, offers genuine 4K Blu-ray-baiting data rates but is exclusive to Sony's flagship TVs. But for those who have left discs behind and have no desire to go back, there is hope.īoth Apple TV+ and Disney+ now boast up to 40Mbps and 30Mbps top data speeds respectively, though your experience will depend on your devices and network. ![]() I know plenty of people who do, whether for the reasons above or because they love physical media (and steelbooks). So we could all keep (or start) buying more 4K Blu-rays. And it's fair to say the gap between Netflix and 4K Blu-ray is already much (much) closer than MP3 and CD. The quality did catch up with the convenience. The good news is that we did eventually get lossless and high-resolution audio from streaming services. We've been here before of course, when low-quality MP3 downloads and then streams replaced CDs, despite being far inferior sonically. There’s no arguing with the content, from great documentaries to brilliant TV shows, and many blockbuster films now going straight to streaming, but that only makes it more depressing that we're not getting to enjoy this content in the best possible quality.Īlright, if you don't have the latest TV, you're watching on a smaller screen or you don't have much of a sound system, you may not notice these differences, but for those of us eager to be getting our TV and films "as the director intended", we don't want to miss out on so much as a smidgeon of AV information. What’s not to like?Īnd herein lies the real disappointment: we're simply not getting the full-fat, best-possible AV experience from the streaming services that so many of us are watching 99% of the time. Of course there was no buffering, no drop in quality, just 59.80Mbps of 4K HDR10 goodness complete with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. And another reason to feel somewhat deflated at the Blu-ray experience.īut, ultimately, the epic sandscapes and trademark stirring Hans Zimmer soundtrack had us hooked. But regardless loud mechanisms on disc players is definitely a thing. To be fair, my Sky Q box is no shrinking violet, and I also couldn’t rule out that my Blu-ray player really was literally as well as metaphorically dusty and old, and this could be spurring the fan into action. ![]() Memories of Group Tests of Blu-ray players came flooding back, wondering which player was quieter, and whether this particularly unit merited a "noisy fan" in the Against column. that whirring noise was the Blu-ray player’s fan. Lights dimmed, sound turned up loud, we were ready to immerse ourselves in a true home cinema experience… But hang on, what was that noise? Was there a car outside with the engine running? A light aircraft overhead? Is the boiler overheating? Ah no. Once I’d checked the sound options and marvelled at the “old school” menu screen, we were off. I gripped the remote and stared straight ahead, waiting for the disc to load – the stunning picture and sound about to enter our eyes and ears would soon have her convinced, I thought. “We could be half way through a film on Netflix by now…” With a sleeping baby upstairs, every second counts in our household. While I was somewhat prepared for this and doing my best to act unperturbed, despite being shocked by quite how slow it seemed, my partner was incredulous. Sure, the sweating and fiddling with cables was my fault but the subsequent wait for the disc to load was not – and it seemed like an eternity. So now, having finally decided to soak up those extra megabits, why was I left disappointed? I knew I should have been buying more 4K Blu-rays. Ultimately, my old Blu-ray player should still deliver a better picture and sound performance than the same thing via a streaming service. You can also manually adjust sound objects, meaning you can crank up the volume of voices on a soundtrack making it easier to hear dialogue (a common gripe). ![]() It works with standard surround sound set-ups and doesn't require extra overhead speakers the way Atmos generally does. And of the two next-gen audio formats, DTS:X is a bit more flexible. As for DTS:X, you need to be watching on a disc. Yes, you can get Dolby Atmos pretty much everywhere, but streaming services deliver it in the compressed Dolby Digital+ format while discs generally carry it in full-fat Dolby TrueHD. What about sound? It's a closer call but there's still an edge for Ultra HD Blu-ray. So 4K on disc should be better than 4K via your favourite streaming service. And this will drop further depending on the speed of your internet connection and demand on the wider network. By contrast, streaming services tend to top out at around 17Mbps. This is the amount of data sent to your screen every second. See, 4K Blu-ray discs run at up to 128Mbps.
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