There’s plenty of hubbub in the physical media space these days. 4K Blu-ray players are experiencing a rash of price increases as they become increasingly harder to find. And much to most collectors’ chagrin, Sony has announced the end of PlayStation disc production starting in 2028. That isn’t where consumers’ issues with the media tech giant stop. The company also recently deleted over 500 movies and shows from the PlayStation Store and customers’ libraries due to a licensing agreement expiration. This included popular titles such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It’s another clear indicator that digital sales are not permanent and there’s a safe harbor when buying media in the physical format.
There are a lot of changes on the horizon when it comes to entertainment media, but when has this ever changed? The only thing that is constant in the world of technology is change. However, many of these hot news items have had collectors knuckling down and buying physical media. Notably, CD and vinyl purchases are seeing a surge in sales amid the digital future reckoning. But it’s not all doom and gloom for fans of physical formats. 4K Blu-ray isn’t going anywhere any time soon, and many are acknowledging the clear benefits of 4K movies on disc that are not translating into streaming and digital formats. In particular, you’re bound to get a far better audio experience with a 4K Blu-ray that Netflix simply can’t provide.
Bitrate limits and the Netflix bottleneck
Compression is being presented as Studio Quality
Despite a seemingly open-ended playing field, streaming giants like Netflix actually throttle your audio output. When you look back at Netflix’s promise to bring “studio quality” audio to the platform, the company sold consumers on the idea that Dolby Atmos and 5.1 supported devices will finally see better potential with the service. Bitrates were touted as shifting from 192 kpbs up to 640 kpbs for 5.1 and 448 kpbs to 768 kpbs with Dolby Atmos for members subscribing to a premium plan. This expansion in the bitrate became a selling point, signaling greater audio detail and quality from the streaming service. To put it bluntly, this is like driving on a donut instead of an actual tire. When compared to Blu-ray, 768 kpbs is laughable. Blu-rays with audio formats like Dolby TrueHD have a bitrate of up to 18,000+ kbps. Comparatively, 768 kpbs feels like a severe bottleneck for data and detail, does it not?
You may have heard the terms “lossy” and “lossless” in technical circles. Streaming utilizes the former, and for good reason. Netflix doesn’t want your favorite shows and movies to find themselves in a constant buffering state. Therefore, a limit is placed on audio. The audio restriction is what is considered “lossy” compression, where subtle nuances and details within the audio that might otherwise be missed or go unnoticed are removed as the audio is actually presented in the compressed format. Frequencies are reduced, and the bass is flattened. Detail is lost, hence the term “lossy.”
Lossless compression that retains every detail with true dynamic range
Blu-ray discs are just built different
Blu-ray, especially 4K, compresses the entire audio package originally curated by the studio to fit on disc. But nothing is actually lost when it’s “unzipped” (much like a zip file) which brings us to the term lossless. Nothing is truly lost, and there’s a larger data highway on the Blu-ray format to provide ultra-detailed audio that you simply won’t get with modern streaming services. Dolby TrueHD also enables a dynamic bitrate on disc. The output rises with busy scenes containing a lot of sound.
Have you ever found yourself punching your volume button on your remote more when streaming and less when playing a disc natively? That’s because of the industry guidelines for dynamic range among streaming distributors. Standards have been set that streaming platforms target in order to keep volume from spiking dramatically. This also affects bass sound impact. Streaming platforms are ultimately controlling the range at which your audio can shift given the circumstances on screen, making a film less immersive. Now, for example, if you are a parent to an infant trying to get some sleep in the other room, Netflix’s dynamic range control is likely ideal by mitigating any unexpected jarring volume spikes in the audio. But for cinephiles who want to watch a film the way the studio intended, the native format with no such restriction is the optimal choice.
Blu-ray has long been the best choice when it comes to viewing movies and shows. This is nothing new. But it’s important to consider what you might be missing if you have strictly resigned yourself to only watching your favorite entertainment on streaming services. When I said that Netflix and your favorite streaming platforms are throttling your audio experience, I meant it, and it’s happening in more ways than one.
