You Tired of Subscription Model Content Yet?

[VonMagnum]

4k content is best streamed and with little to no loss in quality

It's hard for me to take the article seriously after reading that part. Even with a 2K projector using a scaler device, it's obvious how much sharper and more perfect the images are from a good 4K UHD disc than even better streaming sources like iTunes. Look at the grain clarity in a film conversion. iTunes is smoothed and UHD discs show perfect grain patterns. DTS:X (I own 54 native movie titles) and Auro-3D titles (I own 27 native movies and a dozen or so music albums) are only on disc thus far so there is more than one reason to go disc.

 

[Trell]

It's hard for me to take the article seriously after reading that part. Even with a 2K projector using a scaler device, it's obvious how much sharper and more perfect the images are from a good 4K UHD disc than even better streaming sources like iTunes. Look at the grain clarity in a film conversion. iTunes is smoothed and UHD discs show perfect grain patterns. DTS:X (I own 54 native movie titles) and Auro-3D titles (I own 27 native movies and a dozen or so music albums) are only on disc thus far so there is more than one reason to go disc.

The sound is usually much better on BlueRay 1080p than streaming in UHD, in my experience. Often even the picture quality, as you wrote, on my LG OLED. Dolby Vision looks great if the streaming quality is good, but Amazon UHD HDR looks awful with gross compression artefacts in dark parts.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Netflix subscribers in Canada can now get a break on the price — if they don't mind watching ads | CBC News

The ad-supported version of Netflix will cost $5.99* and only be available on one device, with no high-definition content. That's different from ad-free versions that start at $9.99* a month and go all the way up to $21.99* for subscriptions with all the bells and whistles.

This starts today. I want HD, of course, so I won't be opting for the ad-supported version.

*CDN$

So in addition to raising prices for its ad-free subscriptions, Netflix will require subscribers to pay an extra fee if they want to share their password, starting in early 2023.

That will be when I find out what the love of my daughter - away at university - will cost.

 

[panteragstk]

Netflix subscribers in Canada can now get a break on the price — if they don't mind watching ads | CBC News



This starts today. I want HD, of course, so I won't be opting for the ad-supported version.

*CDN$



That will be when I find out what the love of my daughter - away at university - will cost.

Netflix would be a hell of a lot smarter and did what Google does with it's services. You can add a family member, but they still have their own account and login. No password sharing required. Subscription price changes if you use a family plan, but the difference isn't much at all, and depends on the service.

 

[fmw]

Not an issue for me. I have metered satellite internet so streaming is not a capability I have.

 

[jcarys]

My experience is somewhat similar to Jerry's. We've used DirecTV at my house for the last 12 years, but I literally felt pushed away by their constant price increases and horrible customer service. The family had a lot of shows saved on the DVR, so that was really the only thing that was keeping us on the service. We finally made a hard reset this year and went to YouTubeTV. It's much cheaper and has all the TV programming I need. The quality is noticeably less than DTV, but not enough to prevent me from enjoying shows now that they have 5.1 audio.

I'm a movie guy, not a sports guy, so I can get just about anything else I want from streaming services. I don't feel at all guilty splurging a bit there now that my TV package is $50 less a month. Others have commented that they don't accept the streaming quality level, but I have to say that I've been greatly impressed at how good the services have become. In particular, audio seems to be much improved over just one year ago. I have thousands of movie on disc to compare to. I think the streaming service now offer real competition, especially in convenience and price. If I see something that really blows me away, I can always pick up a disc afterward.

 

[gene]

Cord Cutting Is Hard But It Might Soon Be Necessary

Is it FINALLY time to cut the cord strangling your wallet from exorbitant cable fees? Are you even watching half streaming services you pay for? Read our editorial to find out how to stream smarter.

www.audioholics.com

 

[snakeeyes]

I think Fubu is one I may try to see how the trial goes as far as picture. I’m not watching enough NHL or MLB to justify Roots sports anyhow.

 

[Cos]

I use 1 GB Fiber Connection, what I am finding is that It is not that much less expensive than cable (at least at the promo rates)

• 1Gb Fiber $65
• HuluLiveTVNoAdds Bundle (ESPN+Disney+) $80.00
• Netflix $19.99
• HBOMax 15.99
• Paramount (Seasonal with Star Trek and Evil) $9.99
• AppleTV $6.99 (Need Ted Lasso)

Total All In cost $198.00

Its a small savings over my comcast promo pricing but had a data cap with comcast.

 

[mns3dhm]

Here's a great story that illustrates just how screwed up things have gotten at DirecTV since they outsourced their customer service. Our dish is located on the upper story of a two-story house, which is exactly where DirecTV wanted it mounted way back in 1998 when we first went with them. Over the years we've had the dish serviced on several occasions and everything was going smoothly UNTIL AT&T outsourced installation and repair (to a company called Mastech here in Dallas). The first time they arrived to deal with a dish issue the technician they sent out promptly informed me he wasn't allowed to get off his ladder to do repairs. After discussing this with him he agreed to contact his field supervisor who eventually showed up and announced my dish was 'unserviceable'. After a loud discussion the supervisor summoned another technician who wound up getting off the ladder and onto my roof to replace a LNB on the dish. Now, several years later, I'm concerned that eventually I'm going to need to service or replace the dish and I haven't had any luck finding a company that will come to my home and relocate the dish to a location that DirecTV and its agents consider 'serviceable'. It's so stupid it's fucking maddening.

 

[isolar8001]

I've never watched a show or movie from streaming...ever. Quality just isn't there for me.
That's what my 60tb's of hard drives are for.

 

[lovinthehd]

I've never watched a show or movie from streaming...ever. Quality just isn't there for me.
That's what my 60tb's of hard drives are for.

How do you know if you've never streamed?

 

[Trebdp83]

I've started waiting until certain shows have aired their entire season before getting a particular service. I use as many free trials and "Please Stick Around" sales prices as possible these days. Black Friday is a great day to check streaming service sales. I was able to get Hulu with Ads and Disney+ no Ads combo for $4.98 per month for a year.

"Cord Cutting" isn't a term being used correctly these days. It means cutting ALL of the cords and going OTA. Owned physical and ripped media are accepted, of course. Swapping an actual coaxial cable for an ethernet or wifi connection to get streamed content doesn't really count. I do love it when folks who claim to have cut the cord and brag about going "Off the Grid" in every way turn around and use it by connecting their Smart device to the grid so they can go online and use Social Media to tell the whole world that they have gone "Off the Grid."

 

[isolar8001]

How do you know if you've never streamed?

I have Prime and don't use it....every so often, I look at it to see if I can stomach it....nope.

What's funny is I have hundreds of Prime files that look as good as they can played on my Dune.
Take The Expanse for instance....the Prime files look far better than the same thing through the app on multiple source machines, even with the low bitrate they have.
I can watch the files...can't stand the stream.

 

[panteragstk]

I have Prime and don't use it....every so often, I look at it to see if I can stomach it....nope.

What's funny is I have hundreds of Prime files that look as good as they can played on my Dune.
Take The Expanse for instance....the Prime files look far better than the same thing through the app on multiple source machines, even with the low bitrate they have.
I can watch the files...can't stand the stream.

Sounds like you must not have that stable of an internet connection. Adaptive streaming is very cool tech, but boy oh boy does it look bad when the quality has to adjust.

That's why your stored file looks better. It's just the max bitrate stream that's been captured. No random quality adjustments to cope with changes in internet speed.

The flip side is that a LOT of folks could be using the same service at the same time. I noticed this when trying to watch the new Hocus Pocus with my kids on Disney+. Disney was so overwhelmed the stream wouldn't even start. I have gigabit fiber so it wasn't on my end.

I downloaded a copy and it worked perfectly, as expected.

Long story short, streaming services adjust quality and sometimes it sucks. That's why I do what you do and have everything on my NAS. No more dealing with crap quality adjustments.

 

[isolar8001]

Sounds like you must not have that stable of an internet connection. Adaptive streaming is very cool tech, but boy oh boy does it look bad when the quality has to adjust.

That's why your stored file looks better. It's just the max bitrate stream that's been captured. No random quality adjustments to cope with changes in internet speed.

The flip side is that a LOT of folks could be using the same service at the same time. I noticed this when trying to watch the new Hocus Pocus with my kids on Disney+. Disney was so overwhelmed the stream wouldn't even start. I have gigabit fiber so it wasn't on my end.

I downloaded a copy and it worked perfectly, as expected.

Long story short, streaming services adjust quality and sometimes it sucks. That's why I do what you do and have everything on my NAS. No more dealing with crap quality adjustments.

My internet is a steady one gig over wired which is all I use....Prime uses 15mb to 20mb bitrate max for files/streams, and my years in print taught me to discern between sources. Some people just don't know/care/can't tell about the differences in source information.
It all comes down to the streaming providers not want to spend more on bandwidth, and god knows what their apps are doing with the poor quality files they push out. Ive heard that Netflix is now encoding grain into their 1080p files to "cover up" the banding.

Sadly, that's what the world has come to though....The Expanse hasn't even seen BluRay past season four.
That's a crime against humanity.

 

[panteragstk]

My internet is a steady one gig over wired which is all I use....Prime uses 15mb to 20mb bitrate max for files/streams, and my years in print taught me to discern between sources. Some people just don't know/care/can't tell about the differences in source information.
It all comes down to the streaming providers not want to spend more on bandwidth, and god knows what their apps are doing with the poor quality files they push out. Ive heard that Netflix is now encoding grain into their 1080p files to "cover up" the banding.

Sadly, that's what the world has come to though....The Expanse hasn't even seen BluRay past season four.
That's a crime against humanity.

Yep. People need to demand quality or they won't get it.

Granted, too few people actually care about high quality audio and video.

BUT, there are DOZENS of us. At the least.

 

[snakeeyes]

I took the opportunity to cancel tv on my cable bill recently. I hope I won’t come crawling back during football season. lol

 

[bigalbeco]

I've had Direct Tv from the very beginning however they priced me out of it a couple of years ago and I never looked back and now receive 50 channels over my antenna. Having a projector and it not having a tuner I've installed an HDHomerun tuner and have two Nvidia Shields that do it all for me. I've had no issues with Spectrum internet however they are installing Frontier fiber as we speak so that will be a more cost effective solution with almost four times as much speed.

 

[panteragstk]

I took the opportunity to cancel tv on my cable bill recently. I hope I won’t come crawling back during football season. lol

The only reason I start YouTube TV back up is for sports. Luckily, it's very easy and they keep all my stuff. Not that I really need them to, but it's nice.