Excellent 4K iTunes (NON HDR) film comparison to BluRay review

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

So the non HDR 4K version of Die Hard beats the BluRay and the reviewer finds that the audio is comparable to the discs DTS HD audio!
Interesting findings for sure. This will get the armchair purists heated!

 

[George Dawes]

for the average action movie i think this whole purity of sound debacle is misguided

in my experience the difference between an itunes version of say iron man 3 and the blu ray is hardly worth noting

boom , bang , crash etc

not exactly pushing the boundaries of high fidelity is it ?

i'm more than happy with the itunes version thx

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

for the average action movie i think this whole purity of sound debacle is misguided

in my experience the difference between an itunes version of say iron man 3 and the blu ray is hardly worth noting

boom , bang , crash etc

not exactly pushing the boundaries of high fidelity is it ?

i'm more than happy with the itunes version thx

Hey Mr Dawes that's really interesting with regards to audio. I'm really happy that in 2012 I decided against going to BluRay route. I agree with regards to audio, when connected to TV speakers, the bluejays that i've heard sounded flat, identical to DVD sadly. Mind you, that was with a SONY BluRay player which to me has often sounded thin, just like a SONY DVD player that I had way back in the olden days.
I tend to watch iTunes Extras on my MacBook Retina and films on my Eurostar journeys on my iPhone X more than on a TV at home.

 

[BellsWhistles]

Its all about what your happy with. Some people don't mind less. Other's appreciate when it is more. As an opinion, I disagree with George. I do notice and appreciate the difference. I have a setup which allows the differences to be noticed. I hope that Apple will license and incorporate Dolby Atmos audio. UHD discs beat the pants off of Blu Ray, where audio is concerned. Picture is better as well. Itunes 4K is good, but not equal. There is a bit more quantizing in the streamed version. It's all about bandwidth.

With that said, there are movies that I will buy for streaming and not bother with buying a disc. Streaming is easy, which wins in a lot of cases.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Its all about what your happy with. Some people don't mind less. Other's appreciate when it is more. As an opinion, I disagree with George. I do notice and appreciate the difference. I have a setup which allows the differences to be noticed. I hope that Apple will license and incorporate Dolby Atmos audio. UHD discs beat the pants off of Blu Ray, where audio is concerned. Picture is better as well. Itunes 4K is good, but not equal. There is a bit more quantizing in the streamed version. It's all about bandwidth.

With that said, there are movies that I will buy for streaming and not bother with buying a disc. Streaming is easy, which wins in a lot of cases.

Brilliant points there my friend and my GOSH, what is taking Apple so long to implement Atmos? It's truly bizarre isn't it as they are so committed to ATV and iTunes.
I guess that because you are in the USA, you are able to buy 4K UHD BluRay. What I can say is how very very few titles are available here in Europe. In fact, not one that i'd be interested in. I'm even seeing titles going straight to iTunes and not even making BluRay let along 4K BluRay - some aren't even making it to DVD! - Paris Can Wait being an example - great film!!!
Maybe Apple have a truly stunning plan for the audio side of ATV and iTunes up their sleeves OR maybe, they think that many of its customers don't notice the difference - iTunes music staying at 256AAC being an example. But I hope they truly perfect the iTunes experience as in reality, that's the way that it's going. Will there be any discs released in 5 years time? I'm not convinced judging by Hollywood's lack of interest in it.

Brilliant editorial here - food for thought but I guess that we knew this...
https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1519123680

 

[George Dawes]

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[err404]

I know this is slightly off topic since it was HDR, but I found that dark areas of Blade Runner 2049 on the iTunes 4K HDR stream to be distractingly jumpy with bad compression artifacts.
This was disappointing compared to Alien Covenant which was remarkably clean on iTunes 4k.
I didn’t vote because while I find the iTunes quality capable of being very good, the results are sometimes inconsistent.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

I know this is slightly off topic since it was HDR, but I found that dark areas of Blade Runner 2049 on the iTunes 4K HDR stream to be distractingly jumpy with bad compression artifacts.
This was disappointing compared to Alien Covenant which was remarkably clean on iTunes 4k.
I didn’t vote because while I find the iTunes quality capable of being very good, the results are sometimes inconsistent.

Hi Err404, have you reported this to iTunes? I think that it really helps for Apple to know about this as it effects the viewers experience of their services and products! Eddy can then go and kick a** at Hollywood Seriously, some technical dept' needs to adjust their quality control/assessment!

 

[err404]

Hi Err404, have you reported this to iTunes? I think that it really helps for Apple to know about this as it effects the viewers experience of their services and products! Eddy can then go and kick a** at Hollywood Seriously, some technical dept' needs to adjust their quality control/assessment!

Good point. Reporting issues does have an effect. The last time I provided feedback to iTunes (Orville had lead-in ads for every episode) they just apologized and refunded my purchase. I wanted the show, so I repurchased it a couple of months later. To my surprise the lead-in ads are no longer there.

 

[Rigby]

Good point. Reporting issues does have an effect. The last time I provided feedback to iTunes (Orville had lead-in ads for every episode) they just apologized and refunded my purchase. I wanted the show, so I repurchased it a couple of months later. To my surprise the lead-in ads are no longer there.

This is common practice on many TV shows by Fox/FX. They show these ads/trailers while the show is new and later remove them. Some other shows (e.g. The Walking Dead) also show short lead-in trailers during the first run that are later removed.

 

[err404]

Rigby, good to know. Interestingly they don’t do this in other services, like Hulu. I hope they realize that this practice makes me less likely to purchase their shows. Those lead-ins with that announcers are amazingly annoying. There is a reason I don’t subscribe to cable.