Is Physical Media Actually Better Quality Than Streaming? 

great video man. Just this morning I compared a streaming vs disc uncompressed and noticed a difference immediately in the sound. I think that's the biggest difference.

Let science sort it out....Physical media is BEST!!!!!!

Sound is the biggest difference, the stats from these streaming companies show that most people use tv speakers or a soundbar so they heavily compress the audio to get as good a picture as possible. So for people who have invested in a sound system; physical media is the way to go. Plus a bonus that you will always have access to it with no adverts!

There's another factor you're not considering. The quality delivered by streaming services varies heavily. You're not guaranteed any particular bitrate. At peak times, when most people are watching, both the streaming platforms and your internet service provider throttles bandwidth. This hits quality substantially. You will also notice with streaming that even if they say you're watching in 4K that you might find you're actually watching in 720p and 1080p due to dynamic resolution switching throughout the film you're watching.

Nevermind 4k blu ray, HD Blu Ray looks as *good as* streaming 4k on my TV, physical media wins today for me but not sure if this will always be the case

Your wife seems pretty sharp. Better keep her around. 😉 I think it’s also worth noting that we have a pretty stellar internet connection. That factor could have made streaming a lot worse.

It's the audio quality that is noticeably better on discs Dts HD MA and Dolby True HD are much more powerful compared to streaming which is just Dolby Digital Plus and is not very good as dialogue is too low Picture is better from discs too but newer movies and TV shows in 4k streaming sites are pretty close nowadays even though they are lower bit rate picture

Lossless audio is the key, and some of us are more sensitive to it than others. I'm of the belief that THAT was the key 'tell' that allowed them to distinguish properly almost every time. I think video quality is often going to be negligible, streaming vs disc (as long as your Internet connection is stable). However, even with that: If the disc has (for example) 20 Mbps average advantage over the streaming version, there are just *going* to be scenes that it's going to be better with, in any movie. The majority of scenes will look fine, but for the difficult scenes, the version with the lesser bitrate will stumble.

Mad Max: Fury Road is actually a 2K upscale, but a pretty impressive looking one.

An interesting experiment, and I applaud the time you took to set this up, however a proper test would show the same clip side-by-side on identical calibrated monitors.

Love the video. I am going to have to do the same thing, and test with my family.

I have found darker material to show the difference more than lighter material

I would notice by the motion stuttering on streaming, can be very slight at times

I love my Discs. A good uncompressed Dolby True HD Sound allways beats DD Plus. But especially Apple TV+ is a really good streaming quality and I love the convinience too. But at the end of the day (or week) the cinematic highlights have to be on disc for me. Great video btw! 😊

I enjoyed this….. cool video

Just a question is the player has been calibrated for this test or not and picture?as I have notice physical disc has more info both picture and sound...... where's streaming picture and sound compression is drop!

Who is your Internet Provider? What is your Internet speed? What media device are you streaming from? What Disk Player are you using for the physical media?

Did you have to adjust the volume between disc and streaming? I find that I need to turn volume up 5 or so dbs on receiver for streaming to get the same perceptive volume as disc.

I have found that dark/night scenes in a movie/show will look blocky and show digital artifacts, similarly with scenes showing fog. When it’s a bright scene, it’s harder to tell the difference.

You are using a projector how can you tell quality using a prjector

Which streaming service was being used? The quality between services varies widely. Is he using Kaleidoscape or Hulu or Prime? The difference is can be massive.

I've checked all Formats incl. SACD and for me rippin' your best Quality CDs/SACDs to FLACS on a decent Streamer is def. a great listen👍 I've just bought the (newish) Wham Remasters on Vinyl and Blu-ray my 1st Blu-ray / Dolby Atmos releases. Seal has also released his 1st x2 Albums on Blu-ray / Dolby Atmos👍

I am not to sure streaming is that much cheaper than buying discs if you count movies watched, especially if the movies you want to watch is spread out on different streamingsites, and as many have pointed out, quality in streaming varies from time to time, with the disc its constant.

I could have just missed it….but done even mention which streaming service they were using??

No surprise on a resolving a/v system. I stream only when no disk is available for best experience even if it is relatively close in quality.

that was awesome sometimes the streams have features such as dolby vision, dolby atmos, resolution, imax ratio the discs do not have. i prefer physical and strongly lean that direction however if audio quality which is less data than video is ever focused on and it could be done that would really be game changer in my always leaning towards physical .

If a good quality movie. No doubt a 4k disk will outbeat hand down streaming , same for sound. Its not even a discussion for me. Plus I have high speed fibre optic cable.

I have always heard from different reviewers that 4k blu ray beats 4k streaming most of the time. I always wondered about 1080p blu ray vs 4k streaming. Mostly when the movie is not released in 4k blu ray only 1080p and 4k streaming I don't know which one to pick. I am guessing from watching this that 4k streaming beats 1080p blu ray in sound and visual.

Wife has a great ear!

Can I get these clips from you somehow? I'd like to try with my family. I have all these movies, but not streaming versions.

Currently disc is better. Saved you some time!

The superior bluray audio should be a dead giveaway who's the best.

I find that the lossless audio is much better with disks. With streaming video, clips with fog especially you can see small mostic pixels in the picture. The thing i like about the Panasonic ub420 is i can adjust the HDR to my liking that I can't do with streaming unless i mess with my tv settings. But there is no Dolby Vision with the ub420, so it's a wash i suppose. One thing that really makes the decision easy is i own my physical media. With streaming, the service can remove films at their leasure. But that's not on trial here. It's just a direct comparison and a cool experiment.

I know people right now who don't see the difference between DVD and 1080P. So something tells me that when the day comes that we have 128K resolution media, we'll be asking the same question: At what point does the human eye stop being able to see a difference at all, let alone between physical and streaming media? The relationship between vision and brain is really fascinating.

As a projector guy with a 150 inch ALR screen, streaming iTunes 4K is very, very close to 4KBR in terms of the of the picture quality if you have a great internet connection, to the point where, it's preferable due to convenience and cost.

the longer the clip is the more difficult it will be to determine which is better

I just watched the Blu-ray (1080p) I can't believe how good it is compared to streaming going to check a Blu-ray with Dolby Atmos next

If a person cannot determine which is best by sound quality that person needs a hearing aid😂😅

I'm wondering what it would be like without an A/B test. "Is this streaming or disc?" but you only see one video.

In small towns internet is not going to have the same speed performance as major markets have in metropolitan areas. So those in very rural small towns will not be able to stream the same quality especially in 4K resolution. Obviously the technology has improved alot since being able to watch content over cable tv. And there will be a difference between average streaming which can be effected by what you choose to use to stream the content. You will get a premium picture and sound when your able to go with a service like Kalidascape. Your average consumer ether doesn't care or may not notice if they are using a quality source to stream content from. But lets just say it is more than the fact the audio in streaming that are lower bitrate because they try to save bandwidth. In the audio part with streaming uses lossy audio with Atmos and on a disc the Atmos mix is lossless. But when you get down to it buying the digital streaming versions of anything is not for collectors and you do not own anything. In many cases your paying the same to close to the same and all your getting for your money with streaming is your paying for a viewing license. When you buy the disc you own the disc itself and your getting artwork and with some labels that put out movies you may be getting a book or something else extra that you can hold in your hand and Arrow Video is a great example. Your getting something that can potentially increase in value years down the road which will never happen with a digital streaming copy. Discs are for collectors, for those who want the best presentation, those who do not want to worry if a streaming platform will drop a title and for those who know if the internet is down they can still watch there discs. With streaming there are in fact risks you take not having the physical disc! Maybe there is a problem with licensing that causes the content to not be available during the court case. Maybe you loose that title on a streaming service when movies are removed and others are added. You again do not own anything but in many cases are paying the same or close to the cost of a movie on disc. If your not going to get a physical disc and have ownership where you can leave your collection to a family member or friend then the digital version is not worth the same amount and should not be. Your digital version you stream will never appreciate in value! Discs take up space and if you accept that and like that then there you go. Many people just do not like physical discs taking up real-estate in the home and or apartment. With a physical library people that come to your home can see what you like / what your interests are. With digital streaming you have no idea what movies the person has unless there streaming device and tv is powered up. Depends on what your looking for but for me the disc is the ultimate choice for the best experience. Streaming is not bad and has its place but disc is best IMHO!

Yes. For the simple fact that you own your favorite movie and you know its not going anywhere

Bluray(1080p) vs 4K Streaming is subjective. Ive definitely preferred streaming for certain films over the regular bluray if I dont own the 4K disc.

Sound is the biggest difference. Very noticeable on the low-end.

Are you happy , about the quality, streaming (iTunes ) for your atmos speakers/sound ?!! Is it worth?! Or you have to “crank up “ the volume?! Please , I wanna hear many , opinions, positive or negative experiences 😉 Is the difference very very huge, with a disc 🤷‍♂️ Thanxxx

Probably relies on the experience of the rater. I';ve only compared audio, but my son can't tell my different speakers apart, but they're night and day to me...

The first question to ask yourself is, how good is your eyesight, has it been tested recently? The second question is, are you using the best streaming source for 4K movies? Apple has been shown, on several YT channels, to offer the highest bit rates & quality. Cheers!

Interesting. For sure, if the streaming and disk clips are played one after the other, the average person will have difficulties determine which is the streaming or disk. Comparaison must be side by side, not one after the other. As a collector and using streaming, I can 100% tell you that disk look and sound better in ALL movies I purchase over the years. Streaming look often mediocre when comparing images side by side.

Well done 👏🏼 👍🏼 to you all and thank you 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

What a fun comparison! Its like a pepsi challenge😅 I have fiber 1000/1000 and i play 4k blu-rays and regular blu-rays on my lg oled and older projektor. There is a very notisabl difference on the oled. All physical media looks and sounds a lot better. The reason the diffence was so small has to be beacause you used streaming HQ fikes from your home network. It you had used netflix, hbo or amazon. Then I dont think they would have been in doubt. I almost always dislike the sound when streaming, it lacks clarty, detail and especilly bass. Bass is the mind killer😊 No bass no fun. Streaming on my old projektor looks terrible. While blu-ray is ok. I need to save up for a new one😂 For me its the sound of DTS HD and dolby Atmos, thats important. Sometimes the streaming sounds very good, but i varys a lot.

I'd love to hear if these folks changed their mind about discs or ripped versions or are saying "yeah, I don't really care. Streaming is good enough".

Interesting... But u hav to look at the whole picture of things. Streaming Only looks good to Ppl that dt really hav a eye for quality of picture. And equal for sound as well. Put it this way. When a highly popular movie that comes out on streaming that Millions r watching quality is Bad. It won't compare to 4k at all. And buying a disc is cheaper then streaming. They will Always find more & more ways to keep charging Ppl to stream any content. I already hear Ppl spending over $300 a month jus to stream🙄The main thing about the disc is u own it 4ever. No, added fees, glitches or limited viewing. But i will give streaming credit for being able to watch unseen movies b4 i buy.

I put a old dvd on predator 2 and the sound was through a Samsung q700b 5.1.4 from standard dvd player compared to ps5 the standard dvd is far better and the sound quality was very good to there is noticeable differences from dvd blue disc to streaming

Although we already knew the answer to which is better it's still valuable to "test" now and then to see how much closer streaming is getting. I'd like to point out that, even in this panel you are dealing with existing bias as they were already expecting physical to be the better " correct " source. What wasn't made clear, although I think I know what the answer is, but were any of the streamed titles actually from the Apple (iTunes) library rather than streaming service like Netflix. Run the same test using a streaming service compared to the same movie purchased on Apple.

Of course,physical disc.

Pretty awesome clip! They might even got more right if you upgrade to the Epson LS12000, not that your epson 6050 is slouch or bad it’s a fantastic projector… but you get the full amount of 4K amount of pixels displayed on the screen with the LS11000 and LS12000 now. Love your channel finishing up work on my home theater, it’s nearly complete.

Did you let them ALSO HEAR THR DIFFERENCE??? People focus on watching Difference (I understand why) but physical media sounds much better & clearer also. I just purchased $1300 worth of 4k movies

now do film vs 4k

Disc all day long

audio is a dead giveaway, DDP atmos is vastly different than TrueHD Lossless Atmos track

If you had a true 4k projector they would get 100% right. All Epson projectors have the screen door effect and are not 4k,not even the new Epson can compare to Sony and JVC. Not to take away from the fun video you made❤ Loved this comparison video ❤

Compared to 1080i uncompressed analog video, any compressed video seems dull and harsh.

What projector is being used? It looks like an epson which isn’t a true 4k projector. So how could this test be valid?

It's obvious that in a purely technical sense, discs are better, BUT I think this proves the point: for MOST viewers, streaming is already high enough quality that it does not PERCEPTUALLY MATTER. It's like comparing CD quality to high res lossless: we know one is technically superior, but when you're just enjoying the experience, nobody cares about except diehard cinephiles. Use whatever media you like, but I legitimately think that most people, unless they have poor internet connection or an extremely high end dedicated movie theater, would be more than happy with streaming, especially iTunes or the "high end" services (Netflix, Disney+, etc).

Streaming is not as good as 4k disc even dolby atmos

Everyone knows that discs are "better". They contain more data. But the annoying people that act like streaming is "trash" because they're insecure that they spend more money on discs and hate that people are perfectly fine with streaming are infuriating. This video proves that streaming can be perfectly fine for most people. And IMHO, Movies Anywhere has easily the best combo of sound and audio for streaming. Vudu is good but MA is slightly better.

If someone owns a home theatre, they will definitely be a nerd, and they will definitely know the difference. Regular audience won't care for the most part. It all matters just for the nerds.