Streaming services (Netflix, Amazon, NowTV, Apple TV) & HD audio

Nintendologist

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Hi all,

Forgive me if this subject has been covered recently, but without a search option directly in the WHF forum I couldn't see one a good few pages in, so here goes..

House move forces a downsize of 'stuff' that I've amassed over the years, and one of the casualities are the Blu-rays. I don't watch films as much as I used to, and I'm happy to use one or a combination of streaming and/or download services to get my media. One sticking point however is the quality of the audio provided with the image. A lot of marketing is made about the great quality picture (4K, Dolby Vision, HDR etc) - none of which my current TV supports, mind - but the audio tracks are DD 5.1 at best from what I can tell (I see a few Netflix Originals have Dolby Atmos).

I've got a lovely 5.1 system I'd like to keep using (that is one thing that does fit in the new place!) and I know the difference between DD 5.1 and DTS HD and really don't want to go backwards. Am I missing something and some of these streaming services offer better audio tracks, or is this something I just have to live with and buy the Blu-ray when I really want to enjoy a certain film? It amazes me in 2018 this is the situation.

Thanks in advance,
 
D

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I am in the same boat too. 4K HDR Blu-ray Discs cost so much, but I had Apple TV too and found I was buying loads of movies, so I racked up quite a bill too. I have had a home cinema system for 16 years (I think), including my older ones, and like the Master Audio and Dolby HD, but I am less bothered now to be honest as I just love listening to my current home cinema system with high quality or lower quality, it used to bother me but to be honest these days I am not to bothered as long as I am getting sound out of my system.

I sold the majority of my Blu-ray collection but now deeply regret now though, so I would recommend not doing this and just get a nice storage cabinet for them. I am not aware of any high definition soundtracks or any streaming service too. I currently just use Rackten TV, if you got a nice setup like you have it will probably just sound good anyway by turning the sound up, I am not convinced myself when I say that though because in the past I would never say anything like that, but you do get used to it and like you say we don’t have much choice anyway, hopefully in the near future.
 

Leeps

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Funny I've moved over to streaming almost entirely for music (Tidal), but still cling onto Blurays for video, partly due to the lack of compression and the sound quality. One thing I've done is to get rid of the cases they come in and just put them in one of these...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0002Y6CVA/?coliid=IQLN4B2CCGWIY&colid=2IGV7Q9JKE12P&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

I've got my entire collection in a couple of these and it doesn't take up that much room.

Alternatively, I seem to remember seeing somewhere that Apple TV are offering Dolby Atmos mixes on streaming movies, but you might want to check the detail on that. I'm not sure now that works in practice and whether this is exclusive to the 4K compatible Apple TV only. I have a 1080p display and AV receiver (non-Atmos, but DTS-MA compatible) so I'd be interested to know if you could buy a 4K Apple TV (if I purchased a new display at some point) but select DTS-MA somewhere in the settings rather than Atmos.

I know with Atmos Blurays they carry a mandatory Dolby-HD / DTS-MA soundtrack too, but I'm not sure if the same standard applies to streaming services.

Just be aware that even if you've actually bought movies from streaming services, they can delete them from the catalogue at some future time. Another reason why I'm sticking with Blurays for now.
 

Benedict_Arnold

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Use makemkv on a PC and rip all your DVDs and BDs to hard disks. Anything from a USB portable drive to a NAS drive.

"Backing up" discs removes the encryption and makes like for like copies, Atmos soundtracks and all, whereas you have to be careful with the mkv settings otherwise you loose the Atmos soundtrack (if there is one).

Hopefully your receiver can read them straight from its USB input....
 

Nintendologist

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Thanks for the comments, guys.

I was on the edge of starting to eBay all my Blu-rays but the time and effort that requires I think would outweigh the money I'd get, so I'm glad you voiced your regrets gel from going down that route.

I did consider ripping the collection as suggested too, but that would take a long time again - if I was ten years younger, single and could set myself up a great little media server to access my film collection on the NAS I'd do it!

I think I'll stick with the cheapest, and to me at this time, the simplist transition which is buy the CD wallet for £22 and keep the hard copies. I've got some personal favourites in there that I know aren't on streaming services (or appear/disappear as mentioned by the previous poster).

Thanks again all.
 

Benedict_Arnold

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No idea how its done but I expect the audio bandwidth for one digital codec really isn't that much more for another, same number of channels assumed. I expect they picked Atmos because that's the one most punters have set up any overheads to deal with.

I do agree on the blacks though. All sorts of swirls and stuff here too with the so-say highest cable bandwidth available into our house.
 

Leeps

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davidf said:
Just last night I watched Ryan Gosling’s Lost River via a streaming service, which involves a lot of night time/dark scenes. The compression was horrendous, causing all sorts of weird, organic fuzzy effects throughout the film - this is something ly suffers from, and certainly not in such an obvious way.

With regards to Atmos soundtracks on streaming services, I’m presuming it’s a “downsampled” Atmos - if they could broadcast Atmos they could also broadcast DTS Master Audio and Dolby True HD. So my guess is it’s Atmos effects effectively squeezed into a Dolby Digital Plus signal. Not sure exactly what’s possible there, but presuming the bitrate is lowered?

Anyway, whilst I see issues like I did with Lost River, there is no way in hell I’m selling my Bluray to rely on streaming services - I’m not paying top money for a top quality system only to feed it junk. It’s asking to buying a good £10k hi-fi system and listening to 128kbps MP3.

Good point well made.

I use BBC iPlayer a lot and I find the quality so variable from programme to programme. They seem to stream their flagship broadcasts at a higher bit-rate as some things look quite reasonable. But other content is comparable to DVD or even worse. I use my Roku 3 (hard-wired, not wifi) for this, but I don't think it's the Roku's fault because some content from YouTube looks and sounds fantastic.

I saw some of the World Cup matches on BBC iPlayer and the ITV Hub. The ITV was much more compressed. I'm following the Tour de France at the moment on ITV Hub and it's just awful quality. The sound is full of noise - it really sounds like the equivalent of a 128kbps net radio stream or worse. I don't have Sky, but one thing I like about their catch-up services is that it downloads the programme at full bit-rate, then plays it locally, rather than streaming it live. You have to wait a minute or two for it to download but the quality is significantly better.

I used to have a Virgin TV subscription and it was noticeably better quality too, even though it's using the same cable.

But I shan't be moving away from physical blurays just yet. I quite enjoy flipping through my album figuring out what mood I'm in movie night.
 
Just last night I watched Ryan Gosling’s Lost River via a streaming service, which involves a lot of night time/dark scenes. The compression was horrendous, causing all sorts of weird, organic fuzzy effects throughout the film - this is something ly suffers from, and certainly not in such an obvious way.

With regards to Atmos soundtracks on streaming services, I’m presuming it’s a “downsampled” Atmos - if they could broadcast Atmos they could also broadcast DTS Master Audio and Dolby True HD. So my guess is it’s Atmos effects effectively squeezed into a Dolby Digital Plus signal. Not sure exactly what’s possible there, but presuming the bitrate is lowered?

Anyway, whilst I see issues like I did with Lost River, there is no way in hell I’m selling my Bluray collection to rely on streaming services - I’m not paying top money for a top quality system only to feed it junk. It’s asking to buying a good £10k hi-fi system and listening to 128kbps MP3.
 
Leeps said:
I saw some of the World Cup matches on BBC iPlayer and the ITV Hub. The ITV was much more compressed. I'm following the Tour de France at the moment on ITV Hub and it's just awful quality. The sound is full of noise - it really sounds like the equivalent of a 128kbps net radio stream or worse. I don't have Sky, but one thing I like about their catch-up services is that it downloads the programme at full bit-rate, then plays it locally, rather than streaming it live. You have to wait a minute or two for it to download but the quality is significantly better.
The BBC usually are better quality when it comes to the World Cup then ITV. I don’t know if that’s the norm with other programming, but I’m guessing the BBC uses a higher bandwidth for broadcasting.
 

skippy

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Went from Rdio to Spotify, now on Tidal. Ain't bought a CD for probably 5 years.

Have Netflix Canada and totally happy with that. I'm looking to get rid of cable and just have internet and go the full streaming route.

I have 1080P Blu ray and buy discs when they're $10. I actually prefer the quality of Blu ray to Netflix (extra detail, better sound).

Not too fussed about 4K/8K, probably wait 'til the equipment dies...

Enjoy the weekend!
 

Benedict_Arnold

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davidf said:
Benedict_Arnold said:
I expect they picked Atmos because that's the one most punters have set up any overheads to deal with.
Probably more to do with the fact that Dolby is the most catered for format with regards to hardware.
Dolby 5.1 of whatever flavour of 2D yes. They were about the first around and by far the most widely taken up.

Atmos ( © DOLBY) for 3D surround sound for much the same reason. That and name recognition.
 

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