Nice Read about Streaming vs. Blu-ray

[Tee]

Is Blu-ray Better Than Streaming or Pay-Per-View For Your Hard Earned Home Video Budget?
By: Jerry Del Colliano

If Apple Computer has taught us one thing about new media, it should be that if given the chance - people will often take media convenience over media quality. On iTunes, Apple sells music downloads for about $1.00 per song or close to $10 for an entire album but the sound quality is below that of a nearly 30 year old Compact Disc. Respectfully, CD is anything but high definition audio, but the 200,000,000-plus i-People using iPads, iPhones and i-Everything at this point have little to no options to buy better sound even at a higher price. Hell, they can't even get CD quality for their download dollar, which is why most audiophiles buy their music used and rip it to a hard drive over downloading from the likes of iTunes. The music download effect has been catastrophic for the record business as well as the specialty audio business...

http://hometheaterreview.com/is-blu-ray ... /?page=all

 

[Towen7]

It's a natural evolution; don't blame Apple. Convenience over quality is not unique to music.

 

[Rope]

It's a natural evolution; don't blame Apple. Convenience over quality is not unique to music.

Hallelujah, amen!

The recording industry made their own beds, so let them whine about having to sleep in them.

Granted, CD is not high definition, sure beats hell out of listening to lossy computer generated files such as MP3.

Rope

 

[Haywood]

I consider "HD" streamed video quality adequate for casual viewing of non-critical material, but have no delusions that it matches Blu-Ray or even high quality broadcast HDTV. It is far from unwatchable, however. I certainly didn't feel like I missed much watching National Lampoons Family Vacation on Netflix Streaming. Ditto for movies like Princilla, Queen of the Desert or any number of other movies that had marginal production values to begin with. Streaming is also fine for catching TV episodes I missed or catching up on seasons of shows I didn't watch. In other words, convenience has its place.

When I want to really sit down and watch a good movie, however, I'll take disc-based media any day.

 

[Huey]

When Band on The Run was rereleased, I was really close to buying it off hdtracks, just to help them keep going. The only problem was they wanted $20 for the same thing that was selling in the store for $14. The only caveat, they were saying theirs was no dynamic compression, and I saw nothing about it on the hard copy cd, and I couldn't imagine they would have two remastered versions.

I would to be able to buy high quality, low compression off the internet, but it would have to at least be the same price as the store copy.

As far as streaming, I can take it or leave it. I've caught some tv shows, and a few movies, and they've been ok, but with the large tv, and slower internet speed, dvd looks better for me than streaming.
Rob

 

[Towen7]

As usual, I want both. I want the convenience of streaming for casual watching. Casual for me means watching stuff in the living room when other stuff is going on in the house. I want the quality of BD when I want to "really" watch a movie and get lost in the experience.

 

[Flint]

I consider it all art. If I am going to give my precious time to TV viewing, it better be perfect 100% of the time. I passionately HATE Time Warner for their crappy image quality, so I watch very few shows off Cable anymore. In fact, I am close to cancelling cable altogether and just buying what I want to watch on BluRay a year later.

 

[yromj]

I got the email yesterday but didn't read the article. The one thing jumps out at me from your snippet though is this: CD is anything but high definition audio.

While CD might not be surround sound (except for the dts ones), it is certainly high quality uncompressed (as far as the bitstream on the disc - not dynamically speaking) audio.

John

 

[jamhead]

I consider it all art. If I am going to give my precious time to TV viewing, it better be perfect 100% of the time. I passionately HATE Time Warner for their crappy image quality, so I watch very few shows off Cable anymore. In fact, I am close to cancelling cable altogether and just buying what I want to watch on BluRay a year later.

Here Here!

 

[PaulyT]

I consider it all art. If I am going to give my precious time to TV viewing, it better be perfect 100% of the time. I passionately HATE Time Warner for their crappy image quality, so I watch very few shows off Cable anymore. In fact, I am close to cancelling cable altogether and just buying what I want to watch on BluRay a year later.

Dude, and I mean this in the most loving way, everything you do is done 100% perfect all the time. TV's no different. :scared-eek:

I agree with the position of streaming being fine for casual viewing and source material that's not HD in the first place. Here, convenience is the primary factor. But for ultimate viewing pleasure, nothing beats a BD, even on my crappy 46" LCD - that's why my BD subscription to netflix is still active.

And yeah, if I were watching TV in the Batcave or on a Kuro, my position would probably be different.

 

[Flint]

Screw "casual" viewing or "casual" listening. I refuse to devalue art to the point of being just some ol' crap that floats around the world I exist within. ARG!!!

 

[Flint]

Why doesn't anyone focus on anything anymore? No wonder excellence is growing so rare that we are shocked when we see it these days.

 

[Towen7]

I nearby nominate Flint as The Most Sophisticated Lover of the Arts in the Universe!
:bow-blue: :bow-blue: :bow-blue:

In order to fall into his good graces I will banish all "casual" activities from my life as it severely impacts my ability to focus. I guess if the football game is on I must lock myself in a sound isolated booth with a professionally calibrated display.

All music I listen to must be played on custom Soundhound or Flint designed speakers. Guess I'll drive to work in silence.

Yep... My eyes have been opened and i can see that excellence is rare because I don't restrict my viewing to Academy Award worthy motion pictures in said sound isolated booth on said calibrated display. Excellence is rare because I play low res music on my car radio when I drive and may even... gasp... Use a cell phone at the same time. Clearly this means that my ability to focus one my job, family, music and movies is compromised by having a tv in the living room and a radio in the car.

 

[Huey]

I can see Flint's point, but on somethings it becomes convenience over quality. I finally realised that a show that I liked had been cancled, Better Off Ted, found out that there was two episodes that had never aired, streamed it from Netflix, and had some closure. I could have ordered the series on Bluray, but to me, it wasn't all that important.
Rob

 

[PaulyT]

Screw "casual" viewing or "casual" listening. I refuse to devalue art to the point of being just some ol' crap that floats around the world I exist within. ARG!!!

By causal viewing I mostly mean stuff I would consider less "arty" - like the vast majority of current TV. I do NOT mean just having the TV on while doing other stuff, I hate that with a passion and it bugs me endlessly to have a TV blithering away when nobody's watching.

However, I disagree with the notion that 100% of one's attention should be devoted 100% of the time to, say, music, in order for the art of that music to be respected. Yes, someone who plays Beethoven music as background all the time and never really sits and listens carefully is missing out, big time. But that doesn't mean that someone - like myself - who truly loves Beethoven's music can't have it occasionally play in the background during a romantic dinner or something. Even if 100% of my attention isn't on the music, it still enhances the experience, and that's what art is about. Enhancing life. How we go about that is very personal and subjective.

 

[PaulyT]

Flint, I'm SO getting you this for your next b-day! (damn I wish I could find a bigger version of this...)

:text-link:

 

[Flint]

I hope you guys realize I am using Hyperbole to make a point.

I live my life somewhere in between the extreme I speak of and the extreme I hear from you and my other peers. Striving for perfection is a core characteristic of my existence. Once one starts accepting mediocrity part of his soul whithers and falls off. Before long that person will fail to care about this stuff altogether. I fear that in our community. I fear it to the core of my soul.

 

[Mr.6]

In fact, I am close to cancelling cable altogether and just buying what I want to watch on BluRay a year later.

Ditto!

Also the price they charge to watch one episode of a TV show on my PS3 is ridiculous.

I'm leaning more & more on waiting a year for the Blu-Ray.

 

[PaulyT]

I hope you guys realize I am using Hyperbole to make a point.

Well, sometimes it's hard for me to tell... :text-imsorry:

Nothing wrong with aiming towards perfection, no argument there!

 

[mzpro5]

For newer movies I'll always go with the BD.

But as with others streaming is great for a lot of material. I've been watching some documentaries via streaming and I don't think a BD would really enhance the value for me. Same with episodes of TV shows. They look darn good and and provide the entertainment value I'm looking for. Same with the animated "super hero" films they have on Netflix streaming.