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Azucena Mcquay
For I am only human, and the convenience of streaming services has most certainly turned my head. All that content at the touch of a button and for a relatively low, sign-up-and-try-and-forget-about-it monthly fee.
The devil is in the detail. Aside from the whole argument for the value of physical media over streaming - which, in the case of vinyl, I'm very much on board with - 4K Blu-ray discs have still clung on in my mind as the superior choice when it comes to performance. For not all 4K pictures, nor all next-gen audio formats, are equal.
See, 4K Blu-ray discs run at up to 128Mbps. This is the amount of data sent to your screen every second. By contrast, streaming services tend to top out at around 17Mbps. And this will drop further depending on the speed of your internet connection and demand on the wider network. So 4K on disc should be better than 4K via your favourite streaming service.
What about sound? It's a closer call but there's still an edge for Ultra HD Blu-ray. 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. As for DTS:X, you need to be watching on a disc. And of the two next-gen audio formats, DTS:X is a bit more flexible. It works with standard surround sound set-ups and doesn't require extra overhead speakers the way Atmos generally does. 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).
Ultimately, my old Blu-ray player should still deliver a better picture and sound performance than the same thing via a streaming service. Hurrah. I knew I should have been buying more 4K Blu-rays. So now, having finally decided to soak up those extra megabits, why was I left disappointed?
Alright, 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.
We've been here before of course, when low-quality MP3 downloads and then streams replaced CDs, despite being far inferior sonically. The good news is that we did eventually get lossless and high-resolution audio from streaming services. The quality did catch up with the convenience. And it's fair to say the gap between Netflix and 4K Blu-ray is already much (much) closer than MP3 and CD.
So we could all keep (or start) buying more 4K Blu-rays. I know plenty of people who do, whether for the reasons above or because they love physical media (and steelbooks). But for those who have left discs behind and have no desire to go back, there is hope.
Both 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. Sony's Bravia Core service, meanwhile, offers genuine 4K Blu-ray-baiting data rates but is exclusive to Sony's flagship TVs. Bravia Core does point to the future of streaming, though, and of course the beauty of software is that it can be upgraded and improve over time.
This is where the streaming revolution comes in. Smart TVs and streaming devices give access to apps such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus and more, meaning people can watch millions of hours of movies and TV shows, in up to 4K, for set monthly fees, which ends up being significantly cheaper, and tidier, than buying hundreds of Blu-rays.
So it begs the question: why would people bother with physical media such as 4K Blu-ray anymore? As someone with experience in AV retail and now a tester of TVs, I knew there was a quality difference so I decided to check it out for myself and the results were surprising.
For these tests, I used the Panasonic UB154, a budget 4K Blu-ray player and the Panasonic DP-UB820, a mid-range 4K Blu-ray player connected to the Panasonic MZ1500, a mid-range OLED TV, which was set to Filmmaker or Cinema picture mode, and watched the same movies on both Blu-ray and streaming.
Beginning with John Wick 4, I immediately ran into some trouble. Advertised as 4K on Prime Video, I could not get it to stream anything higher than HD (after some research I discovered I was not alone) so I opted for HD quality vs standard Blu-ray.
Moving on to Godzilla vs Kong, again in 1080p HD on Netflix vs standard Blu-ray, and it was the same story. The Netflix version looked better than I expected, carrying a lot of the vivid, colorful punch on the neon signs in Tokyo that was on the Blu-ray version but again the Blu-ray version showed deeper black levels and more refined details and textures. I was still, however, impressed with how good the streaming version looked.
Finally, I managed to test a 4K Blu-ray vs a 4K stream in the fantastic re-master of Alien, which was on Disney Plus. In both versions, black levels and contrast were superb, capturing the eerie, doom-laden nature of the movie well. Textures were again sharp on both versions. Although there was that little bit more perceived definition in the 4K Blu-ray. Skin tones, for example, looked accurate on both, but more so on the 4K Blu-ray. It is worth noting that the Disney Plus version was in HDR10, whereas the Blu-ray version was in HDR10+, which gave the Blu-ray the perception of a clearer picture.
Whether it was the UB820 or UB154, Blu-ray did indeed have better picture quality overall thanks to 4K upscaling and performance, but the comparison between them and streaming was closer than anticipated.
After being surprised by picture quality comparisons, sound was the next logical test. Running the Panasonic MZ1500 through a Sonos Beam (Gen 2) soundbar, one of the best soundbars at a mid-range price, I tested the same movies again. This time, the difference made itself known.
For Godzilla vs Kong, the story was the same. The roars and shrieks from Kong and Godzilla sliced through the room with more heft when played through the Blu-ray compared to streaming. The crunching blows and shattering of buildings during their climatic fight scene had more direction through the room and just more power altogether. This not to say the Netflix sound was bad, just that the Blu-ray did it better.
When I put both Blu-ray and streaming in as close to the same conditions as possible, I was pleasantly surprised by just how close the picture quality battle was. Both had excellent details and colors that would make any viewer happy, although for the real movie lover, Blu-ray had the upper hand thanks to better contrast levels, despite streaming offered a suitable alternative.
James is the TV Hardware Staff Writer at TechRadar. Before joining the team, he worked at a major UK based AV retailer selling TV and audio equipment, where he was either telling customers the difference between OLED and QLED or being wowed by watching a PS5 run on the LG 65G2. When not writing about the latest TV tech, James can be found gaming, reading, watching rugby or coming up with another idea for a novel. "}), " -0-11/js/authorBio.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); James DavidsonSocial Links NavigationTV Hardware Staff Writer, Home Entertainment James is the TV Hardware Staff Writer at TechRadar. Before joining the team, he worked at a major UK based AV retailer selling TV and audio equipment, where he was either telling customers the difference between OLED and QLED or being wowed by watching a PS5 run on the LG 65G2. When not writing about the latest TV tech, James can be found gaming, reading, watching rugby or coming up with another idea for a novel.
I use a PC as a front end with an Intel i5 chip, 8 megs of RAM and running WIN 10. I have it sitting on a Mapleshade isolation platform and plugged into a PLC with a Virtual Dynamics power cord. I use a Mapleshade USB cord into my Asus Xonar U7 soundcard and a Mapleshade digital coax cable from the soundcard into my Marantz 7702 processor.
If I want to upgrade my front end should I get a new PC, use a software like Fidelizer, replace my USB port? I hardly ever play flac files on this system and don't use discs either, I use my desktop system for that.
For Netflix there are many options, but I find it very convenient to stream via my 4k smart TV. For Tidal I recommend streaming from bubble upnp on your android device to Jplaystreamer on your PC for best sound quality.
There could be specific reasons why they don't implement it or perhaps wait for a firmware upgrade to implement the app, but in the case it doesn't, you can always use a smaller 4K/UHD device and the Oppo will allow the signal to pass through via HDMI.
Have you tried the Marantz AV7702 own audio file playback capabilities - so only using the PC to allow the AV7702 to network stream the audio files and therefore play them internally to its DAC, rather than using the PC to play the audio files to the AV7702 being used as an external DAC?
The Marantz AV7702 has a built-in UPnP/DLNA audio file player (aka streamer aka renderer), hence would be relatively straight forward to get it to stream & play the FLAC audio files from Tidal exactly as provided by its online server, rather than get the PC's Tidal desktop application to play them. So no need for Fidelizer, USB audio, Asus soundcard, digital audio coax cable, etc - assuming the Marantz AV7702's own audio file playing capabilities are good enough for you.
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