Streaming movies,sound underwhelming

[michaelw]

On 12/02/2024 at 7:55 PM, Snoopy8 said:

Streamíng services uses Dolby Digital Plus.  5.1-ch audio in Dolby Digital Plus is typically encoded at bitrates between 192-256 kbps.

 

Streaming has upped the ante quite a bit,

 

Dolby Digital/DDP  5.1 is typically 448-640 kbps.

 

A DDP5.1 Atmos stream is 768kbps.

 

But they still sound shitty compared to a good Blu-ray soundtrack.

 

Most glaring is the lack of dynamics in streamed audio.

 

[Zinzan]

Again …. has any one level matched a disc vs the stream of the same movie and then undertaken a comparison?   
 

[dejay]

@Zinzan yes, sort of. While I've not got the kit out to measure the room, I've settled an argument with a friend who didn't think there was much of difference. I cued up Spiderman No Way Home on 4K & streaming, selecting the same action sequence & switched between the two.

 

The difference in depth & bass was obvious. While streaming is improving, it just doesn't quite live up to a disc at this point. It also depends on which streaming service, the movie & what your setup is.

 

If you don't have a dedicated theatre, and are streaming through TV, maybe with a soundbar, you probably won't notice too much other than a flattening of the soundtrack.

[steffanth]

Streaming just does not come close to the sound from a bluray or 4k uhd disk  . . . . . having dts-HD just kills anything streaming can do with sound quality.   I miss that good quality sound, but alas, streaming is the way of things now days and i no longer have the blue ray or uhd player in system.  I was unable to update and add apps for new services on the unit i had so went with a firestick.

[wvcartier77]

I am completely streaming through Roku and Firestick!  I have every app that is possible to have other than Netflix.  I have two homes, so  it just made sense to cut the cord and stop paying two DirecTV bills.  My real regret is not picture quality but sound.  It is inconsistent at best.  Believe it or not, between Roku and Firestick the settings for audio are much different.   Haven't figured out which is better or worse, but there when I use either of the two I have to change the audio volume for one and then fiddle with the receiver settings to boot.  I have found that all channel stereo is the best place.  I have also found that movies lack a lot of the bandwidth one would expect.  Blu Ray and UHD discs are the best for movies.  I see that there are more and more sound bars being sold instead of actual home theatre receivers with the normal allotment of speakers depending on your actual systems capabilities.  This saves a lot of money for the new consumers who don't have to spend money on speakers.   As was mentioned this next generation watch a lot of TV (and listen to music) on their laptops or tablets and even phones, so audio isn't as big a deal as it is for us old farts.  I am sure the different apps and hosts like Roku and Firestick invest a lot of money on their audio delivery, but knowing the end product is computers, tablets and sound bars, they will fall way short of a typical audiophiles expectations!   

[Jeffro]

Yes, while I fiddled and got streaming to an an acceptable level…. geez I miss the bluray movie watching experience.

So this poses the next question;   Is it worthwhile having expensive AVR’s now.? Sure , they will improve things over a $600 AVR but is it overkill considering the audio handbrake of streaming?

[Hi-Fi Whipped]

1 hour ago, Jeffro said:

Yes, while I fiddled and got streaming to an an acceptable level…. geez I miss the bluray movie watching experience.

So this poses the next question;   Is it worthwhile having expensive AVR’s now.? Sure , they will improve things over a $600 AVR but is it overkill considering the audio handbrake of streaming?

You can always choose to continue to buy Blu-rays if you miss it.

 

Best streaming sound I get in my system is when my processor decodes Atmos streams via the likes of Apple TV+ and Disney+. Netflix is usually ok too, binge terribly hit and miss.

 

majority of my streaming sounds pretty good, I started binge again to watch the latest Mission Impossible movie, it sounded so bad I stopped it and will need to grab the blu ray at some stage.

 

its seriously a game of choose your poison, everyone knows the sound quality of streaming isn’t as dynamic as a disc, it’s not going to get me to sell all of my gear though, appreciate it for what it does provide or don’t use it.

[betty boop]

1 hour ago, Jeffro said:

Yes, while I fiddled and got streaming to an an acceptable level…. geez I miss the bluray movie watching experience.

So this poses the next question;   Is it worthwhile having expensive AVR’s now.? Sure , they will improve things over a $600 AVR but is it overkill considering the audio handbrake of streaming?

yes a resounding yes. it’s worth still a decent system … while streaming is not up to disc at this point, it’s still pretty decent ie Armani’s a watered down atmos but it’s atmos and a good system with actual speakers in room, ceiling, decent sub etc will deliver good results beyond sound bars are capable off. 

 

worthy of a decent audio system in my opinion. I say this as we do steam quite a bit also indulge with best possible off disc

 

 

 

 

[betty boop]

15 minutes ago, Hi-Fi Whipped said:

majority of my streaming sounds pretty good, I started binge again to watch the latest Mission Impossible movie, it sounded so bad I stopped it and will need to grab the blu ray at some stage

we started binge again too, am a bit confused with its audio … it’s not so clear like Netflix and apple, Amazon  and such …

 

big block busters and for best experience I’ll  stick to disc. Movies not so sure off, ie not worth buying will stream, same with mini series and such …

[Jeffro]

Im not a "watch a good movie 10 times sorta guy, so for me buying BRD is not a viable option.  Music BRD's different story. I would buy ,and have done so.

Interesting thoughts that everyone has given,thanks for your opinions

[Hi-Fi Whipped]

2 hours ago, Jeffro said:

Im not a "watch a good movie 10 times sorta guy, so for me buying BRD is not a viable option.  Music BRD's different story. I would buy ,and have done so.

Interesting thoughts that everyone has given,thanks for your opinions

I was actually going to say that music blu ray concerts is the main reason I’ve put my system together over the years, for me the sound quality of this is the reference for my system and the only reason I keep tweaking.

 

I'm currently hunting down blu ray concerts and ripping them to mkv and using a Zidoo player to watch them which apart from the ripping process has been the best thing I’ve done in years. All my discs just a click of a button away and the poster wall of the zidoo brings the experience up a notch. Also have a select few movies too so I can remember how good they sound with HD audio.

[blizzard76]

Very interesting thread. I definitely notice a much better audio experience when watching a blu-ray after having watched something on streaming. It’s definitely more than an audio bitrate/codec thing. Almost like they have different mixes for the same movie on streaming that are much flatter sounding. 

[blizzard76]

This reddit post is interesting! Graphs the audio for the same movie on streaming and physical:

 

 

 

[betty boop]

24 minutes ago, blizzard76 said:

This reddit post is interesting! Graphs the audio for the same movie on streaming and physical:

Not surprised at all !!!

[Hi-Fi Whipped]

I started this hobby when it was stereo sound only, then you neeeded pro-logic to get surround, then Dolby digital and DTS and then the HD variants.

 

its all about perspective and the only downside is that its not as good as a disc.

 

Ill take the sound and vision from Apple TV+, Netflix, Disney and Prime any day compared to a 4:3 picture and stereo sound I had back then.

 

Am I the only one that appreciates how far we have come and enjoys it for what it is? 

[GaryT]

17 hours ago, blizzard76 said:

Almost like they have different mixes for the same movie on streaming that are much flatter sounding

ding ding ding.

 

Some mixes are the same source just lossy vs lossless, and in general most people wont tell the difference as long as the signals arent pushing the up against limits of the lossy codec (rare but it happens), many streaming releases have less dynamic range, lower peak levels, less LF in the main channels, hard sub-bass/infrasonic cutoffs, sometimes a slight vocal/dialogue boost etc etc. those are also the features that the lossy codec struggles with, so that is another reason for the intentional changes to the sound.

 

So while you will often struggle the difference between E-AC3 and TrueHD (link for blind test files, good luck) for content that stays in the bounds of the codec, a huge number of physical disk releases have significantly better sound, regardless of the codecs and bitrates.

Edited November 20, 2024 by GaryT

[MattyW]

I went particularly low tech in my home theatre setup as streamed content from Netflix/Amazon are my only sources via a media PC. The media PC is a necessity for access to a web browser so my wife can watch her streamed Chinese movies and TV shows:

 

Phillips 8x TDA1387 USB only DAC > Schiit Syn > Topping PA3s > high efficiency (mostly around 96db) speakers. The TDA1387 whilst low end has a natural sound to it, and I'm using pure Duelund RCA cables which colours things in a particularly natural way. Now I know there's a HUGE amount not coming through though given Netflix/Amazon are stuck in the 90's as far as surround goes I find naturalness and depth and solidity of the sound to be far more important. The setup is absolutely Schiit for music but very very sonically pleasing for movies and TV.  One of the big advantages of the TDA1387 DAC for me is Windows has a normalisation plugin which is supported on this DAC where most newer DAC's don't have the plugin available. Apparently not compatible. This means that quieter spoken scenes can be easily heard and loud explosions etc don't wake up my daughter or annoy the neighbors.

 

Besides it gives me simplifier operation given I only turn the projector and Schiit Syn on or off. No inputs to select or anything like that. All very very simple which suits me to a T.

Edited November 21, 2024 by MattyW