I know we're all pretty-much in agreement about physical media, but it's encouraging to see more articles questioning the "advantages" of streaming...

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/ ... media.html


I really wonder if physical media is in fact dying, some "luminaries" have prophesied. All my friends (whether hardcore movie fans or casual viewers) still watch physical media. (One couple I am friends with still buy old VHS tapes from Goodwill!). If it's indeed "dying", it's rather odd so see all those Ultra HD discs in Best Buy.

Another issue is streaming picture quality. Case in point, I've been watching the new Twin Peaks and using a Showtime add-on to Amazon Prime to do it. For the most part, the streaming quality is just fine, but last Sunday's episode had lots of deliberately dark scenes, some stuff in very shadowy black and white and other stuff set at night with very little color. The picture quality from Amazon just couldn't handle it. I saw lots of pixelation (is that the right term?) A TV critic I like made the same comments and wrote that the show would probably look much better on blu-ray.

jkholm wrote:Another issue is streaming picture quality.

Yeah, image quality when streaming is a problem too. Sometimes the resolution arbitrarily downgrades from HD to SD (or worse) when I am watching Amazon and Netflix via my Blu-ray player.

I've actually started connecting my computer to my TV and viewing content from the actual websites. The image actually looks better -- and there are fewer glitches and connection issues!

If you are a movie buff, streaming's not where it's at -- unless you are using Vudu where you buy titles and have them available to watch whenever you want. Netflix and Amazon are geared towards exclusive content, movies and series -- they don't care about licensing out big catalogs from studios anymore and the selection will grow even more meager as time goes on.

Technically, I have no issues with streaming...I find it extremely stable, I don't have downgraded streams or network problems at all. If the source material is good, there's no reason why it shouldn't look great -- I've seen a 4K version of SULLY on Vudu that looked as good as Blu-Ray (it won't look as good as 4K UHD, but it's still pretty damn good). The issue is the service being used and what they're encoding, and also working from for source materials...and it can vary depending on what you're watching and where it's coming from.

But in terms of the sheer technical capabilities of these services, I would say if you have a lot of issues, I'd check your network, local wifi or use something like a Roku stick. Those things are more reliable than in-player/TV apps and I've never had a crash using one. Lots of consistent problems with streams being downgraded are likely not the fault of Netflix, Amazon, etc., but your internet connection or the peripheral being used causing it.

Either way, the days of using Netflix or Amazon as your personal video store are over. You'd be better off having HBO every month to get a better selection of movies!

I only use Netflix for streaming TV shows and the occasional exclusive movie. If a movie or show exists on physical media, I want to own it, period.

I agree with that, but there are loads of movies I want in 1080p that I can't get on Blu-Ray. Plus stuff like the theatrical cuts of THE WARRIORS and THE OUTSIDERS, which I own in 1080p (and only cost a couple of meager bucks to "convert" from Blu) and aren't out on Blu-Ray...and probably will never be at this rate. That's what Vudu is good for, filling in the gaps.