Quote:
Originally Posted by
TravisPNW
Agreed... and that's what I do. I've bought 60+ UHD discs in 2 months of OLED ownership and all but 2 (Dunkirk, Coco) I got for $15-$25. I've gotten most around the $15 range with quite a few being from Amazon's never ending 3 for $50 sale.
I just can't see the point of going streaming only due to the lesser quality and more importantly being locked into the store I buy the movie at. With the disc purchase I get the UHD and 1080p disc as well as the digital code for redemption. To me it's a no brainer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sonoftumble
I agree with everything you said except for the "Locked In" part, and quality-wise, streaming is getting very, very good.
Every major content provider is trying to get us "locked" in" to their respective ecosystems. We really don't have much of a choice in the matter. More and more the selection of titles at the brick and mortar shops is getting pretty thin - and Amazon doesn't have everything either - so streaming sources are becoming the better choice for variety and title counts. You can't really go wrong with Apple's iTunes Movies. They didn't become the world's top music retailer by accident.
As it is, the current 4K/HDR/WCG Blu-ray is probably the last of its kind. When 8K/HDMI 2.1 finally hits, streaming will be poised for a take-over.
Sure streaming is getting good... I've rented a few movies. But it's not the best. Not the best video quality nor is it the best audio quality. I don't pretend to be an expert but I've seen many posts in this very forum where users have said "streaming quality has a long way to go especially the audio to be on par with a disc."
I've said in the last week that studios are going to be milking the physical media cash cow for a long time. Someone posted that sales last year were nearly $5B. That isn't going away anytime soon.
When I said "locked in" I was mainly talking about not having to have all my movies tied into one retailer... all my eggs in one basket... whatever. Movies Anywhere is pretty cool and I like that but there's still issues with some studios not being a part (Lionsgate being one, I just redeemed a code today) so it still has issues to be sorted out.
I'm not against an all streaming world once the quality is on par with discs. But then you have to worry about internet bandwidth. Where I live (Seattle metro) Comcast has a 1TB monthly limit or pay $10 per 50GB overage fees or $50 per month in unlimited fees... and I'm on a 250mb down/10mb up plan for about $55... with another $50 for the unlimited. I've got 2 TVs, 3 tablets, 5 phones and a PC using 1 TB that Comcast says 99% of households don't cap in a month.
How long is 1TB gonna last streaming high quality (uncompressed) video? Probably not as long as it's gonna take Comcast and other ISPs to raise their monthly prices. How affordable is internet data going to be?
I'm a big fan of iTunes too and I have the Apple TV 4K. I use it for streaming movies from my digital library on the PC to my TV and for the occasional rental. I'm just not going all in on streaming just yet. Physical media still has some life left according to the yearly sales. As for 8k... well... I'm anxious to see what that market is gonna look like. 4K on my OLED already looks "real" sitting from 6-8 ft away... and how much better can our eyes actually see?