Noob to streaming

[drivehard]

I have been a long time home theater hobbyist, and have built a very decent 9.2 Atmos theater room. I get very good performance from 4k discs with amazing sound and picture. With Redbox going out of business I am finding it harder and harder to get good discs to play, and realize I am going to have to turn to streaming. I have played around a little with it, but I always get terrible motion blurring, and the sound quality is no where close to even a normal blue ray disc. I get annoyed just streaming on my daily 65" TV and simple 3.1 system in my living room. Where does a nooby to streaming start to get 4k+ quality from streaming?

 

[lovinthehd]

Yes I miss disc Netflix very much. Redbox I tried but they didn't have much to choose from, here at least. I get okay streaming 1080p content from a variety of providers as I haven't moved to 4k, tho haven't noticed any particular motion blurring issues but blacks often aren't all that black is my main complaint. Compression is going to happen with the providers, tho. 5.1 audio in DD+ may not be as good as a lossless codec in some respects but serviceable, hard to imagine it is all that different for 3.1, altho have heard complaints about Atmos (which I also haven't updated to). I still buy discs, tho. Good luck!

 

[isolar8001]

Where does a nooby to streaming start to get 4k+ quality from streaming?

Prepare to be dissapointed whatever approach you take for streaming.

You grew up on fine Wine, and now you have to settle for Boone's Farm.
(yeah, thats how old most of us here are)

 

[Trebdp83]

Most here predate home video altogether. Streaming in lossy 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos is hardly worse than fighting with rabbit ears on an old Zenith and using a pair of vice grips to change the channels and turn up the volume on that single little speaker.

 

[lovinthehd]

Most here predate home video altogether. Streaming in lossy 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos is hardly worse than fighting with rabbit ears on an old Zenith and using a pair of vice grips to change the channels and turn up the volume on that single little speaker.

LOL true enough on the predate thing.

 

[drivehard]

I am really struggling with the fact that I have all this technology to build an amazing home theater, and no easy way to actually use it. 4K tv's and better...9.2+ surround sound...thousands of watts of power...and then dumb it down with digital compressed content. AAAAARRRRGH!!!!

I also grew up with rabbit ears and eventually VHS...heck I remember renting a VHS player, and using an RCA to Coax converter. But I don't understand the push for all this tech in resolution and sound when nobody is using it.

 

[isolar8001]

I am really struggling with the fact that I have all this technology to build an amazing home theater, and no easy way to actually use it. 4K tv's and better...9.2+ surround sound...thousands of watts of power...and then dumb it down with digital compressed content. AAAAARRRRGH!!!!

Lots of consumers in this boat.
They spend ungodly amounts of time and money choosing and paying for the best tv sets and audio systems they can find and afford.
Then, they short circuit the whole process by having very little choice but to resort to the low bitrate, badly compressed and encoded mess that is streaming services.

Doesn't make much sense, does it ?
Over on AVS you see this a thousand times a day.
Users who have to get a Sony Bravia 9 (because its the current best) just to watch Netflix or Disney+, etc..etc.

One of most important creedos in Audio/Video is content comes first.
Sadly, not a whole lot of consumers know or care.

 

[isolar8001]

I also grew up with rabbit ears and eventually VHS...heck I remember renting a VHS player, and using an RCA to Coax converter. But I don't understand the push for all this tech in resolution and sound when nobody is using it.

I rented a JVC VHS machine in 1978 just to record BattleStar Galactica !
Those machines were 1500 dollars then and a blank tape was 25 dollars....unreal thinking about that now !!

Myself, I only watch and listen to the best content available from my 80tb of hard drives.
(just don't ask where I get things, and no its not torrents)
But, I'm in an extremely small minority.

 

[Trebdp83]

So, where do you get things?

 

[Eppie]

Is this a case use for a Kaleidescape system? I know they're very expensive but don't they offer high-res content?

 

[isolar8001]

Is this a case use for a Kaleidescape system? I know they're very expensive but don't they offer high-res content?

Kaleidescape isn't streaming....you download the complete file from them that will only play on their machines.
Best quality there is. (damned expensive though) They encode direct from the distributors.

And, believe it or not, no one has ever pirated a Kaleidescape file.

 

[isolar8001]

So, where do you get things?

Simple...I just USE the NET

 

[drivehard]

Kaleidescape isn't streaming....you download the complete file from them that will only play on their machines.
Best quality there is. (damned expensive though) They encode direct from the distributors.

And, believe it or not, no one has ever pirated a Kaleidescape file.

It doesn't have to be streaming...I would be ok downloading and watching as well.
Dang, that system is $$$!!!!!

 

[Trebdp83]

Well, you wanted the best, didn't ya?

 

[Mr._Clark]

Dang, that system is $$$!!!!!

Oh come on, what's another . . . holy sh*t! . . . $25K!.

I see your point.

 

[lovinthehd]

It doesn't have to be streaming...I would be ok downloading and watching as well.
Dang, that system is $$$!!!!!

I know someone who is downloading bluray quality files, not sure where he gets them from, tho. This is what we get for not buying enough discs?

 

[isolar8001]

It doesn't have to be streaming...I would be ok downloading and watching as well.
Dang, that system is $$$!!!!!

Sad thing is that the studios will never let their BluRay quality movies and shows be paid for and downloaded for fear of pirating.
If they did such a thing, they would need to be playable on multiple devices which would make the files easily hackable.
And, they make a nice profit licensing that content to the streaming services.
The only reason they do that for Kaleidescape is for as I said, no one other than Kaleidescape users can use those files.
With RedBox gone, a major source of ripping disc to file goes with it.