Streaming movies

johnny42
johnny42 Posts: 32
edited January 2011 in Electronics
How is the sound quality on streaming movies? I enjoy blueray's because of the SQ of home theather. Streaming is the hot new thing.
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  • jinjuku
    jinjuku Posts: 1,523
    edited January 2011
    johnny42 wrote: »
    How is the sound quality on streaming movies? I enjoy blueray's because of the SQ of home theather. Streaming is the hot new thing.

    From a Netflix perspective no where near DVD/BR as a whole.

    The only title that I was impressed with (an HD title) was the 'Art of the Steal'. Really good VQ on that. SQ? Well it was a documentary so nothing really to go on there.
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  • cokewithvanilla
    cokewithvanilla Posts: 1,777
    edited January 2011
    Streaming from where?? You can stream from a server in your basement and stream whatever you like. It will entirely depend on the quality of the content.

    I am willing to bet that no one is streaming the lossless formats yet. However, I find DD and DTS to be just fine for my purpose... stuff I have ranges from 640kps to 1500+kbps and I honestly cannot tell the difference.... a lot more goes into it than the bit rate.
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  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,385
    edited January 2011
    Vudu HDX are the best in streaming. I use the PS3 for streaming Vudu. Amazon #2, Netflix is not great quaility nor does it have a large library.
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,249
    edited January 2011
    Actually Netflix streams in HD and the movies are DVD quality, but NOT BR quality. Not sure if they stream in 5.1 yet.
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Puritan Audio PSM136 Pwr Condtioner & Classic PC's | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • mdaudioguy
    mdaudioguy Posts: 5,165
    edited January 2011
    heiney9 wrote: »
    Actually Netflix streams in HD and the movies are DVD quality, but NOT BR quality. Not sure if they stream in 5.1 yet.

    But, DVD is SD, right? No matter, though, because for what I pay for Netflix, it's well worth it.
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  • mutelight
    mutelight Posts: 1,054
    edited January 2011
    heiney9 wrote: »
    Actually Netflix streams in HD and the movies are DVD quality, but NOT BR quality. Not sure if they stream in 5.1 yet.

    Netflix is 1080p on the PS3 with Dolby Digital Plus in 5.1. Also, Vudu is the same audio. The best streaming is lossy compression.
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  • Libertyc
    Libertyc Posts: 915
    edited January 2011
    Anybody streaming Netflix via Apple TV?
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  • dvran
    dvran Posts: 280
    edited January 2011
    I use Netflix via Xbox 360.

    The picture looks about equal to 720p to me. What you have to remember is that Netflix will adjust the stream picture quality based on your bandwidth during a test before a movie starts.

    The sound quality flat out sucks, two-channel. What more can I say. My wife thinks I'm crazy because I bit*h about the lack of 5.1, but it really matters to me. I believe the sound quality is better on the PS3, but you need to use a Netflix disc, which is ghey.

    For $7.99/month, you can't beat it. Especially since you can watch shows and TV series'.
    ~Dan

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  • dvran
    dvran Posts: 280
    edited January 2011
    Gotta love the review from "Yourmom69":

    "I stopped at the payday loan store last week to get the cash for this bad boy"
    ~Dan

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  • Libertyc
    Libertyc Posts: 915
    edited January 2011
    What about internet speed? I have a Verizon 768k DSL connection and believe this may be too slow to stream to a 32' lcd. Will the slow speed impact the PQ?
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  • dvran
    dvran Posts: 280
    edited January 2011
    It will take longer to stream, but I think 768k is fine.

    What I did as a cost solution was cancel cable period, which gave me an extra $50/month to play with. So I ended up bumping my web speed up from 3Mbit to 8Mbit for an extra $15/month and got Netflix for $8/month.
    ~Dan

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  • bobman1235
    bobman1235 Posts: 10,822
    edited January 2011
    dvran wrote: »
    It will take longer to stream, but I think 768k is fine.

    That's not the way it works. Netflix determines your bandwidth and compresses accordingly. 768k is painfully slow, and the quality will suffer.
    If you will it, dude, it is no dream.
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  • Glowrdr
    Glowrdr Posts: 1,103
    edited January 2011
    On the Netflix blog there's an excellent explanation of what they're doing for encoding and delivery of streaming video entitled "Encoding for streaming". In that article, under the heading "Delivered Quality", it explains that they use a four bar system of for measured connection bandwidth, for which they deliver 500, 1000, 1600 and 2200 Kbps encodings; for some content, where the source quality is particularly high, they additionally have 3400 kbps encodings which will be delivered if your line speed is high enough. The article also explains that to get a particular encoding, they have to measure a 40% higher connection speed, implying:
    # Bars --Encoding Req'd -- Speed
    Four -- 3400 -- 4760
    Four -- 2200 -- 3080
    Three --1600 --2240
    Two -- 1000 -- 1400
    One -- 500 --700
    (Bit rates are in Kbps).
    So your 2 Mbps line speed should get you (at best) the two bar, 1 Mbps encoding. Remember, depending upon the number of hops through the network between you and the server, the real rate for any connection may be lower than the theoretical maximum for your network service.

    http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1089285
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  • dvran
    dvran Posts: 280
    edited January 2011
    Not true. He's not stuck with a crappy image.

    Netflix will re-stream the movie after about the first 5-10 minutes when a buffer is built up to show a better image.
    bobman1235 wrote: »
    That's not the way it works. Netflix determines your bandwidth and compresses accordingly. 768k is painfully slow, and the quality will suffer.
    ~Dan

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  • Glowrdr
    Glowrdr Posts: 1,103
    edited January 2011
    Ensure that your connection speed is fast enough to enable streaming video. Either a broadband or high-speed wireless connection is necessary, with Netflix recommending a minimum of 700 Kbps, or at least 2.4 Mbps for DVD-quality video. Netflix automatically chooses the video quality based on your connection and that of your Internet Service Provider (ISP), so a faster connection will mean a better picture.

    That statement seems to say otherwise. Netflix will in fact rebuffer if needed, but there is no way to force it into a higher catagory during the streaming process. Buffering happens, its a way of life sometimes. You either have a fast enough connection to support the stream straight-up, or you don't. There is no way that a 5 minute buffer will support a 1.5 hour movie if you don't have the speeds to begin with.
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  • Libertyc
    Libertyc Posts: 915
    edited January 2011
    Thanks for the input guys. Maybe I'll try the free 1 month from Netflix and see if I like it.
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  • mutelight
    mutelight Posts: 1,054
    edited January 2011
    dvran wrote: »
    I use Netflix via Xbox 360.

    The picture looks about equal to 720p to me. What you have to remember is that Netflix will adjust the stream picture quality based on your bandwidth during a test before a movie starts.

    The sound quality flat out sucks, two-channel. What more can I say. My wife thinks I'm crazy because I bit*h about the lack of 5.1, but it really matters to me. I believe the sound quality is better on the PS3, but you need to use a Netflix disc, which is ghey.

    For $7.99/month, you can't beat it. Especially since you can watch shows and TV series'.

    The PS3 offers superior sound and image quality without the need for the disc. As far as the interface, I prefer the 360 but opt for the better image and sound quality with the PS3.

    Once MS adds Kinect support to Netflix, I would expect them to up the resolution from 720p to 1080p, and add Dolby Digital Plus as well.
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