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I still like owning physical copies of stuff that I really like and want to watch over and over, I've been switching to digital media a lot more. Almost completely digital music for at least a decade, although I miss independent record stores, and more recently switching movies to digital as well. I know Tank does digital a lot, too.

 

I recently discovered there's a whole world of people selling digital codes super cheap, based on people buying digital media and selling the digital codes. I've gotten some good stuff super cheap, with uvspider.com being the best site I've seen so far, mainly because it's an aggregator. I picked up Jurassic Park 4K for $1.59, and Karate Kid 4K for $2.39. Prices can fluctuate pretty quickly depending on who is selling it, but it's been a great, easy way to get some great content without paying full price.

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Ive pretty much moved over to digital primarily with the exception of vinyls from artists where I want to own the physical, and the occasional cheap blu Ray.

 

I had a massive collection of DVDs and Blu Rays but unfortunately a while ago my house was robbed, and the main thing they stole was the entire collection which had some irreplaceable pick ups. After that, iTunes became the place I primarily buy movies (if not on Netflix)

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I picked up Olympus Has Fallen for $1.29, All The Money in the World for 95 cents, and the Batman show from the sixties for $15.98.

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Not if you have a good internet connection. I've watched full 4K stuff streaming and it's every bit as beautiful as the disc. I even did comparisons. If there's a difference it's beyond me.

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I'll make a change. At 1080p, the difference is minimal if any. At 4K, it exists, but is still the difference to me if I can get digital cheap enough. I don't need to repurchase the Harry Potter movies, but getting them 4K digital for super cheap is worth it. I picked up all 8 for $16.

 

Blu-ray being upscaled with the 4K player look better than normal Blu-ray as well.

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The thing I find amusing about people talking about the superiority of physical media is that 99% of most content is created digitally. No music studio records to tape anymore. All TV shows are shot digitally. And unless it's being directed by Tarrantino, Nolan, or Spielberg, movies aren't shot on film either.

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Sure, but that data isn't compressed. Digital media is more compressed than physical, which is way more compressed than what's being filmed.

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Most of the time I don't think that compression is an issue, but there are cases where physical is objectively superior. There are a lot of variables, though, and the convenience of digital makes it worth it.

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Sure, but that data isn't compressed. Digital media is more compressed than physical, which is way more compressed than what's being filmed.

You're not WRONG per se, but even a 4k presentation of a film has gone through a process. No matter what we see, it's been through a process.

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Audio compression is super easy to tell differing qualities. A 3mb mp3 sounds like utter shit compared to a 300mb FLAC or ALAC for instance.

 

I imagine the difference between video is similar. But I don't particularly like 4k as it is TOO Much detail and crisp. And a resolution that size for gaming is too much for me as you cant read text boxes or inventory screens cause they are so small. Also for FPS games the field of view on 4k is so huge and detailed you can't really see where the enemy is coming from. Our natural focal view is actually pretty narrow so wide resolutions like that can mess with performance.

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Sure, but that data isn't compressed. Digital media is more compressed than physical, which is way more compressed than what's being filmed.

You're not WRONG per se, but even a 4k presentation of a film has gone through a process. No matter what we see, it's been through a process.

Sure it definitely has. True 4K is hundreds of terabytes per hour. A 4K disc maxes at around 100 TB. But digital video, whether downloaded or streamed, is significantly less than that. It has to be in order to get the broadest support for the services. With all my hard drives combined I don't have that kind of storage. So you lose quality, the only question is how much. There is a distinct, if minor, difference. The argument that it's already processed is kinda like saying it's already processed so old RealPlayer videos are fine.

 

It's funny that we're debating it, since in the end I think we would both say "Yeah, there's probably some difference but it's not enough to matter."

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The highest bitrate for UHD Blu-ray is 128 Mbit/s for a 100 GB disc (just over 50 GB/hour), which is lower than I thought it was. Streaming bitrate will be significantly less than that, but the encoding will be more optimized than on the disc version because there's more space on the disc (so stuff on the disc that could be compressed more without noticeable quality loss is left alone). Not the easiest thing to compare.

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Sigh. I knew it was GB and not TB. I'm going to blame the pain pills.

 

But, anyways, Netflix, per my router, rarely exceeds 10-20 Mbps. Same with any other service. Even with optimization, the chance of the quality being the same is low. I have 500 Mbps internet, and a wired connection, so it's not that my connection can't handle more.

 

But, really, this is silly and pointless. The real answer is that the average viewer won't notice a difference, especially without doing a direct comparison.

 

The biggest difference is in upscaled Blu-ray versus regular Blu-ray. 4K can be jarring and especially can make special effects look bad. I watched Bumblebee in 4K and had three thoughts: the effects were really good, this is the best live action Transformers movie, and it looked more real than reality.

 

For a lot of things, I think I prefer 1080p as a maximum resolution. I don't need to see every pore of every actor, or every single hair. I don't notice that about the people I see in my normal life. But for certain things, especially big effects movies, it's great.

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I have both a large video and music collection. Movie wise I don't buy a lot of movies anymore. I realized I was only watching them once. There are a few Blu-rays I have never watched.

On the music side there are only a few bands I still but CDs for. Since 80% of what I listen to my wife doesn't care for, streaming is best because I'm listening through headphones anyways.

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