#Hd blu ray movies online full
Streamed 4K content looks better than Full HD content from Blu-ray, for now. It requires a lot more bandwidth, with Netflix recommending that you need a staggering 25Mbit/s for Ultra HD broadcasts. Streaming services have the advantage here, with Netflix and Amazon streaming in 4K, with a select group of applications. In addition, the vast majority of discs use these formats, making Blu-ray a better choice for people that want immersive surround-sound. Blu-ray supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, both of which are lossless and of a higher quality.
#Hd blu ray movies online plus
While most streaming services offer at least Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, if not Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 sound (not on all programmes and films), the sound is compressed using lossy compression, which means that some detail is lost.
This is one area where Blu-ray is ahead of the pack. The same is true for all streaming services, with Netflix, Blinkbox and the other services that we tested producing similar results. It’s a cumulative effect, where if you watched the Blu-ray version of a film and then switched to the streamed version, you’d notice that the latter wasn’t quite as good. In short, the Blu-ray version looks sharper, cleaner and punchier.
Even so, on average, a Blu-ray film will use higher-quality video than a streaming service, but the question is, can you really spot the detail that’s lost?Īll of this might not seem like much, but the combined effect when the film’s in full motion is much more. This is the reason that quality can vary on Blu-ray. Some discs are encoded at lower bit-rates, reducing quality, but allowing a film to fit on a single disc. The figures we mentioned for Blu-ray are maximum bit-rates, not a required amount. Of course, there are a couple of caveats. To get its streaming rate down, Netflix has to throw away more detail in its video stream compared to the Blu-ray version. It also uses the H.264 codec at a resolution of 1,920x1,080, but streams at around 12Mbit/s maximum. On paper, Blu-ray is certainly the quality winner, with the standard supporting video encoded using H.264 at a resolution of 1,920x1,080, delivered at a bit-rate of up to 40Mbit/s.Ĭompare that to Netflix, which is representative of other streaming services. The raw factsīefore we get into the testing, it’s worth looking at the specifications for Blu-ray and streaming services. Using the same device means that any quality differences are down to the services, not different processing from different playback devices. For this test, I captured footage from a PlayStation 4, using it for Blu-ray playback and for the most common video streaming services. The Expert Reviews testing kit allows me to grab raw footage from any HDMI-enabled device, letting me compare the actual quality with no image correction or processing.
While convenience is important, we wanted to find out what you might lose along the way, so we used our HDMI capture kit to find out how Blu-ray stacks up against its online competition and if the disc still is the best format for people that really want the best quality. When it comes to renting, streaming is often the only option. Online video streaming services are, without a doubt, the most convenient and easy way for people to get the latest movies.