I got a LG C1 tv, upgraded netflix to 4k streaming ... and was disappointed, until I started watching bluray.
It's not technically streaming because any movie that you rent first has to be fully downloaded to local storage on one of their devices. And you're talking $6K for an entry-level device, just for the privilege of being able to rent/buy movies from their store:
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/kaleidescape-compact-...
However, rentals/purchases are equivalent quality (if not bit-for-bit identical) to Blu-ray media.
The company was started by one of the founders of NetApp back in 2001, so it was way ahead of its time. I guess it's survived by sticking to the niche high-end audio-visual market.
Core Pure Stream has a max bit rate of 80 Mbps. So yes indeed, it's comparable.
This is silly though: "To enjoy at the highest speed of 80 Mbps, you need an internet speed of 115 Mbps or faster. Ethernet (wired LAN) connections are limited to 100 Mbps due to the TV's product specifications. Therefore, to enjoy 80 Mbps with the Pure Stream™ functionality, you need to connect to a Wi-Fi router that supports IEEE 802.11 ac/n (wireless LAN)."
https://www.sonypicturescore.com/faq/EN/us
Why would Sony hamstring their TVs with a fast-ethernet port?
Also, I wouldn't buy a Sony TV just for this service. Seems like a weird value add.
Compression artifacts bug me as well but if I’m watching something great, I forget about them pretty quickly. Same goes for black and white movies or foreign movies with subtitles. If it’s good, that all disappears.
An aunt of mine even positively preferred fullscreen, distortion be damned.
Here in the middle of nowhere, the public library's selection is slim, recent, and popular. It's hard to find classics or art house or cult film - the kind of things that nobody streams because streaming service libraries are slim, recent, and popular. I can use InterLibrary Loan to borrow up to 3 DVDs at a time.
The "borrowing" time is time from request to time of return, then I can request 3 more. This works out to about 3 DVDs a month.
I was doing DVD.com for another ~12 a month. Total about 15.
Now that fifteen movies is become three, I may have to see if I can get a library account from the local university and also ILL through them.
Yet another way in which streaming content providers seem to be incentivizing piracy. You can certainly pirate a full-quality blu-ray copy of a movie.
The bigger problem with Netflix 4k though is that the "look" of every show is extremely uniform -- to the point that its almost like the same people made every show! This is suspected to be due to the small set of "approved" equipment Netflix requires the producers/cast/crew to use and standardized post-processing. They should allow more freedom in that respect -- many non-Netflix shows these days have a lot more personality simply because they don't have that muted/desaturated Netflix look.
No idea why they don’t up the bitrate considering bandwidth is extremely cheap and they do a lot of peering.
We have H.266 / VVC that is a lot better at the smaller details. Would love to see it being tested for those who are extremely sensitive to artifacts.
Some 4k movies are phenomenal - like 2001.
But some are sort of unreal in a different, uncanny valley way. I think it is HDR, or maybe the digital cameras they use. Almost like low contrast.