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Comment by lelanthran | Hacker News Reader

> I personally prefer Linux, but what’s holding me are the streaming services (netflix, amazon, etc), I can only watch SD content if I’m on Linux,

I hadn't noticed. Wife's 43" TV is connected to a linux box with firefox that is used for Amazon Prime, Netflix AND Disney+.

I haven't noticed poor picture and assumed it ran at 1096x1080. I will certainly have to check this out.

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Turns out, for me, watching on a 43" screen in SD is no different to watching on a 43" screen in FHD because I don't use my glasses when watching TV.

I can't really say that it has made a difference to my enjoyment of the shows I watched[1]. It is something to keep in mind for if we ever replace that TV with a 60" one.

[1]I just now compared a FHD download of "My Name Is Earl" to the SD Disney+ version and did not see a stark enough difference to switch away from Linux.

Yeah a big screen is only exciting for the first few times you watch a show. Then it just becomes the screen. We used to watch TV on a 19 inch CRT from clear across the room, and we enjoyed the shit out of it. The TV is not what made the show good or bad.

It was cool to go to someone's house who had a big TV, but now everybody has a big, high-res TV. Most people aren't even utilizing the resolution their TVs are capable of.

Just like most people are fine with a Sonos speaker or soundbar (IMO, they sound like any other crappy integrated speaker), most people would probably not care above 1080p.

For at least Netflix, there's no way to stream above 720p since Widevine only allows security level 2 on Linux.

Back in 2020 I couldn't stream from Amazon at a higher res than 720p from linux (tried every browser), as soon as I dual booted to Windows the quality improved a lot.

Could it be that you are using Plex, Kodi or similar that might allows you to stream at a good quality?

I'm guessing that (like myself) he probably just isn't that picky about it. The only IQ issues that I see that frequently bothers me is washed out dithering in dark scenes or low quality due to connection hiccups. I don't think UHD would improve either of those.

> I'm guessing that (like myself) he probably just isn't that picky about it.

Correct, see my reply to myself upthread.

I just checked on Ubuntu Desktop in Firefox and yes, Full HD is not an option.

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