Watching Movies

Hardware and technical stuff
1

So apparently this is now a thing i have to actually think about.

The problem is that i’m not at all sure from all the content providers what the quality of the content will be. I have three potential streaming devices; the Android TV apps, the PS4 and the Apple TV. I can also watch blu-ray disks but not 4k disks. I have no idea if i rent or stream from these devices what the quality of that service will be. If i rent from the Playstation Store, will it stream in 4k? If i watch Netflix on the smart TV app, will it differ from the Apple TV vs the PS4 apps? Should i just rent 4k disks like an old guy because i know when i hold something i stick it into a player, i’m sure of the quality of the thing coming out of it? What about HDR10 content, ect?

Is there any consolidated resource out there that has a side-by-side comparison of all these stores and apps today?

2

I have a new TV and I’ve been trying to figure out sources and content as well.

From what I can tell the original PS4 will not stream 4K nor HDR. Supposedly the PS4 pro will stream 4K Netflix but not HDR? Google results seem mixed. I take it you have the original Apple TV and that’s no good either.

The apps on my Sony are pretty good. It bugs me that Netflix 4K starts streaming instantly at 480i and then builds up to 4K - as a new-found quality snob I’d rather it give me the loading screen for another 10 seconds and then go straight to 4K. Is that a setting? I want that intro video of Planet Earth II to look good, dammit!

For purchases or rentals, it seems like Apple TV 4K with Itunes movies has the best selection, at the best prices, plus better Apps first, and sometimes only on IOS and not on Android. They’ve locked in agreements to upgrade HD purchases to 4K for free, so you can buy an HD version with a bit of comfort if a 4K HDR version is released. So the Apple TV sounds pretty good, but it’s expensive considering I already have the other apps I want built-in, and I prefer Google services for my phone, PC etc.

Google (Movies etc) is behind, limited selection and they seem to charge more, also they don’t upgrade HD purchases to 4K. Yesterday I took advantage of the free 4K movie offer and chose Passengers. It looked amazing, 99% super happy, but a couple times in the movie there was some digital tearing, almost looking like buffer loss. My TV, my router / internet, or Google’s fault? Hard to tell. While Google is behind, I might just stay with them for awhile out of loyalty to the platform.

Also interesting is that the industry is aggressively pricing physical media, seemingly determined to not let the sector die. For example, relatively recent movies such as The Revenant is $20 CAD for UHD 4K, or Dunkirk at $30. So I’m tempted again to have a physical collection, even though it never really panned out for me for blu-ray. However it would require an Xbox One S, and if I were to get that I might as well get the X.

TL;DR - there’s pros and cons to all of the options right now.

3

Next to iTunes, the best choice for high quality 4K streaming movies right now is Vudu. The Vudu app on the LG OLED supports 4K, HDR10, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos audio. Movies look and sound amazing. I have no idea if Vudu supports 4K on other TV’s but you could start there. Pricing is similar to iTunes (no free upgrades to 4K, though).

BTW, 4K movies on Vudu are referred to as “UHD”.

(I found a list of Vudu 4K/HDR supported devices)

I also recommend signing up for the MoviesAnywhere service and linking your accounts to it. When I purchased Mad Max Fury Road on Vudu, it also showed up as purchased in my iTunes and Amazon accounts. The Black & Chrome edition was also included in iTunes for no extra cost. I was pleasantly surprised by that.

I haven’t dabbled in physical media yet. Movies on Vudu and iTunes look better than I expected and pricing is competitive, so my interest in 4K Blu-ray tapered off a bit.

4

I’ve been off of buying movies since it became clear that the winner of the blu-ray vs hd-dvd battle was going to be digital delivery. So, like, a decade ago?

I have only watched movies as they become available on streaming services or from the library, and have only had an HD TV for a few years or so. I’ve probably got about a half-dozen DVDs I’d want in the new HD digital landscape, and the posts here have been super helpful for me to get my bearings. Never heard of MoviesAnywhere or Vudu before.

I guess Vudu is Walmart… eh… but Vudu also has a service to buy digital versions of your DVDs for a couple bucks and - better - get HD versions for five. Took them up on that and got some nice new versions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy for a bearable cost. Never seen them in HD.

Most of my DVD collection I bought when I was living in Germany - so those are useless - but I’ll probably see if I can get an HD version from my Planet Earth DVD. These companies do seem to be at least trying to accommodate consumers by recognizing format shifting and platform lock-in tend to annoy people.

5

Multi-region DVD players are a thing. And most mono-region players can be made multi-region with a remote code.

6

Oh, yeah - I’ve had a combination of region free dvd players and/or AnyDVD since coming back to the states. But they’re useless for trying to get digital copies on these services.