To be honest, I think I'd rather companies focussed more on improving the streaming experience. I don't have any figures, but I imagine the environmental impact of data centres is less than that of supplying the same capacity of films in physical formats. A company like Disney has practically infinite money so they can surely stand the initial outlay for the extra digital capacity.
There's going to be a market for physical media for a very long time, but it would be nice if there were a true alternative which didn't offer a lesser experience.
UHD/HDR must haves
Re: UHD/HDR must haves
That's what Sony's Bravia Core streaming is attempting to do, as it claims to offer quality as good as physical 4k. The issue is that to get that quality, you need a minimum internet speed of 114Mbps. It'll be a few years before that's viable for most people, and even then it's only on supported Sony TVs.
Re: UHD/HDR must haves
You can already download movies for offline viewing on Netflix. I dont see what would stop them offering a more expensive tier that let you pre-download 50gigsworth. Probably too niche a market.
A man who could tell more truth and eat fewer pies.
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Achtung Englander
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Re: UHD/HDR must haves
I watched Jungle Cruise on Disney+ on supposedly "4K". It was 1080p at best.
4K streaming is shite. Its false advertising.
4K streaming is shite. Its false advertising.
Games playing : Bioshock (Remastered) / Total War Britannia / Dirt 4
Re: UHD/HDR must haves
That's the problem, the majority of people don't know or care about the sort of quality they're getting, and frankly on the dirt cheap 4k TVs that go in Black Friday sales you probably can't tell much difference anyway. People who care about quality and are prepared to pay a premium for that niche are reasonably well catered for at the moment, but if studios start binning off 4k discs in favour of yeeting low-bitrate streams out the door, we'll get to the point where we can't compare disc quality to stream quality anymore. Streaming companies will be able to quietly lower quality to save on costs (which they're already doing) and there'll be a few crazies like me yelling about it while everyone continues to fork out more cash for less return.
This latest move by Disney is them squirting fairy liquid down a big slope.
Re: UHD/HDR must haves
Does streaming a 50gb file put more strain on a data centre than someone downloading the same 50gb file? I know that the end user's download rate is one part of the equation, but I thought the reason we have such low bitrates is that the streaming companies didn't have the bandwidth to cope with the demand.
Re: UHD/HDR must haves
I'd have thought there's some extra strain involved, as streaming will generally only buffer so far in advance - i.e. it won't continue downloading the entire film if you've the available bandwidth at your end. I guess they could limit download speeds for downloading a huge film file in one go.
In terms of environmental impact, I skimmed a paper recently which concluded that if you watch a disc something like 6 times then it balances out with an equivalent stream, taking into account plastic manufacturing, transport of the physical media, etc. What I don't think it took into account is how often people will stream something in the background while doing something else - i.e. the stream isn't the primary thing they're occupied with. When I watch something on disc, almost without exception I will be watching that and not playing on my phone or doing other stuff. Streaming feels inherently cheaper, more disposable, and it's better suited to having on in the background on a PC or whatever. While the environmental impact pound-for-pound in streaming vs physical media is stacked against the latter, I don't for a minute think streaming is inherently the 'cleaner' option, due to the way people use it.
In terms of environmental impact, I skimmed a paper recently which concluded that if you watch a disc something like 6 times then it balances out with an equivalent stream, taking into account plastic manufacturing, transport of the physical media, etc. What I don't think it took into account is how often people will stream something in the background while doing something else - i.e. the stream isn't the primary thing they're occupied with. When I watch something on disc, almost without exception I will be watching that and not playing on my phone or doing other stuff. Streaming feels inherently cheaper, more disposable, and it's better suited to having on in the background on a PC or whatever. While the environmental impact pound-for-pound in streaming vs physical media is stacked against the latter, I don't for a minute think streaming is inherently the 'cleaner' option, due to the way people use it.
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Achtung Englander
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Re: UHD/HDR must haves
It is impossible to ascertain whether streaming damages for saves the environment given you need to take into account the carbon footprint of the servers v physical media production and worldwide distribution and the carbon cost of going to the cinema by those people who want to go. Its impossible to judge.
The fact is we will not get native 4K streaming for at least another two decades. BT simply do not have the money to roll out fibre across the country and as for the govt soundbite about levelling up - that is an empty slogan.
If you want 4K - buy UHD discs.
The fact is we will not get native 4K streaming for at least another two decades. BT simply do not have the money to roll out fibre across the country and as for the govt soundbite about levelling up - that is an empty slogan.
If you want 4K - buy UHD discs.
Games playing : Bioshock (Remastered) / Total War Britannia / Dirt 4
Re: UHD/HDR must haves
Reservoir Dogs is out on 4k today. While it’s not my favourite Tarantino film, it is a spectacular 4k disc up there with the best. If I had to pick a film to sell someone on 4k, it’d be either Blade Runner 2049 or this.
Pulp Fiction is out in a couple of weeks, and with any luck it’ll have received similar treatment.
EDIT - I've been on a bit of a 4k spree over the last year, so here's my expanded collection along with my rating for the quality of the 4k (not my rating of the film itself):
Pulp Fiction is out in a couple of weeks, and with any luck it’ll have received similar treatment.
EDIT - I've been on a bit of a 4k spree over the last year, so here's my expanded collection along with my rating for the quality of the 4k (not my rating of the film itself):
Spoiler
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Hatredsheart
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Re: UHD/HDR must haves
Current state of the collection, Pulp Fiction & Silent Running on preorder -
Spoiler
Formerly Dr@gon-UK, but still the Forum Fossil
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𝕯𝖔𝖓'𝖙 𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖕𝖊𝖗
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Hatredsheart
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Re: UHD/HDR must haves
Formerly Dr@gon-UK, but still the Forum Fossil
𝕯𝖔𝖓'𝖙 𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖕𝖊𝖗
𝕯𝖔𝖓'𝖙 𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖕𝖊𝖗
Re: UHD/HDR must haves
Finally, True Lies! 
Re: UHD/HDR must haves
This arrived yesterday, and I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of quality because reviews have been a mixed bag. James Cameron has seen fit to smear True Lies, Aliens and The Abyss with DNR, scrubbing away the grain to give a weird plastic look to the image. It's a tool that's improved since the infamous Terminator 2 4k release, but why Cameron has blatted these releases when his release of Titanic last year was pristine is really weird and disappointing.
True Lies, then. It's leaps and bounds better than the DVD, as you'd expect, and about half the time it looks really good with detailed textures. But then the other half is a smeary, cartoonish mess. The scene where Arnie goes to his wife's office looks like they drew over his face with a felt tip pen. Cameron held back on True Lies even being given a blu ray release for over 20 years so that he could personally handle it when he had time, and frankly he can go fuck himself. It's better than nothing, but what a slap in the face for patient fans.
I've heard Aliens is an even worse effort. Might just stick with my blu ray.
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Hatredsheart
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Re: UHD/HDR must haves
I've read that the transfer quality in descending order is Abyss - Aliens - True Lies.
I got The Abyss from the US and I think that apart from one or two scenes it's the best it's ever looked, granted the last time I saw it was on dvd.
I've seen on-screen comparisons of Aliens bluray to 4k, and whilst it does appear to have been a bit more digitally "scrubbed" it seems to be mainly noticeable on the occasional facial shot, not as bad as True Lies and nowhere near the execrable Terminator 2 4k. I'll find out end of the month when it arrives.
I got The Abyss from the US and I think that apart from one or two scenes it's the best it's ever looked, granted the last time I saw it was on dvd.
I've seen on-screen comparisons of Aliens bluray to 4k, and whilst it does appear to have been a bit more digitally "scrubbed" it seems to be mainly noticeable on the occasional facial shot, not as bad as True Lies and nowhere near the execrable Terminator 2 4k. I'll find out end of the month when it arrives.
Formerly Dr@gon-UK, but still the Forum Fossil
𝕯𝖔𝖓'𝖙 𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖕𝖊𝖗
𝕯𝖔𝖓'𝖙 𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖕𝖊𝖗
Re: UHD/HDR must haves
Just thought I'd have a gander at this one just for a laugh... about 3 minutes in the music does some weird noises that sounds just like a teams call is coming through. Panicked me as I'm on me holibobs from work
-- To be completed at some point --