Why Now Is the Ideal Moment for Starting Your Own Blu-Ray Library

Key Takeaways

• Blu-ray quality is superior to streaming thanks to needing less compression, offering a better viewing experience.
• Blu-ray discs include extra features like commentaries and documentaries, which are lacking on streaming platforms.
• Blu-ray players are common, offer high quality audio, and don’t require an internet connection. You may already have a console that can play these discs.

There’s no disputing the convenience offered by streaming services, but they’re far from perfect. Service fragmentation, rising subscription prices, and poor-quality streams are just some of the reasons you might want to invest in shiny discs instead.

Blu-Ray Quality Is Vastly Superior to Streaming

Being able to stream video over the internet at 4K resolution with a swipe and a click is magical, but there’s a cost. Video streams are compressed for maximum efficiency, to save the content provider bandwidth costs and to serve viewers with modest internet connections. As a result, quality suffers.

A 4K Netflix stream uses around 3.5GB to 7GB per hour , so around 7GB to 10GB for a 90-minute long film. By comparison, a Blu-Ray disc can hold up to 128GB of data. Ripped Blu-Ray movies at decently high bitrates in efficient formats like HEVC routinely hit 50GB, 75GB, and 100GB or greater in size.

One area where you’ll notice the difference is in dark scenes, where streaming compression causes macro blocking. This is visible as small squares in dimly lit scenes where detail has been lost. It’s unsightly and can obscure some of the finer details in the scene. It’s especially frustrating if you have a fancy OLED TV that can produce perfectly inky blacks .

Blu-ray discs also use compression, but this compression is nowhere near as aggressive since the bandwidth limitations aren’t as stringent. The same can be said of audio, which requires less compression in physical releases for the same reasons.

Don’t be blinded by the “4K” label either; resolution isn’t everything. A 1080p Blu-ray disc can look better than a 4K stream, assuming your TV can do a decent job of upscaling the image .

Rediscover Extra Features and Audio Tracks

One of the best things about scoring a DVD back in the day was all of the extra content you’d find on the disc. Audio commentaries allow you to get more out of your favorite movies, offering a unique way to rewatch productions while learning more about how they were made.

Unfortunately, these have seemingly been lost in the switch to streaming services. Netflix lets you switch between different languages but doesn’t include any alternative commentary.

Outside of a few trailers and teasers, you’re also unlikely to find special features on streaming platforms. Not so with a Blu-ray release, which can include documentaries about production, interviews with cast and crew, alternative endings (including theatrical and region-specific endings), and weird promos and posters.

Not every release includes this much content, but if you want to take a deep dive into a film you love then it’s worth seeing what you get with the physical release.

You Probably Already Own a Blu-Ray Player

The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X both include Blu-ray drives, so if you have a current-generation console then you already have a Blu-ray player that can handle Ultra-HD releases. Each of these can also handle standard 1080p Blu-ray releases, which means they’re a great place to start if you’re thinking of grabbing a few discs.

Kris Henges / How-To Geek

These consoles are passable Blu-ray players. They lack support for “premium” HDR standards like Dolby Vision and HDR10+ , but you do get regular old HDR10 which looks great and is well-supported in modern releases. If a disc supports Dolby Vision or HDR10+, the older HDR10 format is used as a fallback.

Both consoles support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, though you’ll need to set these up depending on which system you’re using and your format of choice. You should be able to pass through audio to your receiver or sound bar without getting the TV involved, handy if your TV doesn’t support a format (and won’t pass it through).

If you aren’t much of a gamer you can start your Blu-ray habit with a sub-$200 player like the Panasonic DP-UB150EB (which lacks Dolby Vision) or spend slightly more on something like the Sony UBP-X700M (Dolby Vision but no HDR10+). At this stage, we’d recommend avoiding anything that lacks a 4K output.

Some Films Will Never Look Better

4K, or Ultra HD, represents something of a ceiling in terms of quality for many movies. For some, 4K is overkill because many films that were shot digitally (or converted to a digital intermediate) only reached resolutions of 1080p or 2K. This is especially true for content made for TV.

But even 35mm film, which represents most of the movies shot in the last century, has its limits. This format is equivalent to around 5.6K resolution, that is to say marginally better than 4K but nowhere near 8K. In this regard, a 35mm to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release is about as good as it will ever get for many of your favorite movies.

This is before you consider that many digital effects were rendered at much lower resolutions, which is why early CGI can look so bad on a modern TV at 4K or even 1080p resolution.

Corbin Davenport / How-To Geek

The upside is that many movies are getting the 4K treatment. For many movies, one final 4K release is worth it for archival purposes. 8K transfers simply won’t be worth it because the image isn’t going to look appreciably better, at least not without getting AI upscaling involved.

In other good news, the difference between 8K and 4K on a regular-sized TV at a normal viewing distance is negligible. So when you finally upgrade to that 8K MicroLED of the future, your old Ultra HD Blu-ray discs will still look good.

The bottom line is that, unlike DVDs which are significantly inferior to even standard 1080p Blu-ray discs, modern Ultra HD Blu-ray discs will have a lot more staying power in your collection.

There’s a Thriving Second Hand Market for Blu-Ray Discs

You don’t need to spend big on a collection to get started, since Blu-ray has been around for a while now. This is especially true of standard 1080p Blu-ray releases, which can be picked up for a few dollars (or less) at thrift shops, flea markets, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace. 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays are a bit harder to find at bargain bin prices, but they’ll get there eventually.

I picked up the Director’s Cut of sci-fi noir essential Dark City last weekend for AU$1 (about $0.65). It’s packed with commentaries and “making of” special features, and I don’t even need an internet connection to watch it. It’s one of many films that has yet to receive the 4K treatment, so it’s still the “best” copy you can find.

Tim Brookes / How-To Geek

I pay for Netflix, Apple Music, and Game Pass, and I don’t think twice about it. But it turns out that owning physical media in an era of digital everything has its charm. Blu-rays are new enough that they lack the “retro chic” of vinyl, ubiquitous enough that they’re far easier to find than old video game cartridges, and they also happen to take up way less room than books.

You don’t have to own everything. Buy your ten favorite films, the movies you watch each year at Christmas or Halloween, and the shows you binge frequently and you’re sorted. You can always sell or donate what you don’t like or need, or just pass them on to a friend.

No Internet Required

As someone who spends almost all day every day doing something on the internet, it’s nice to not have to rely on the internet for everything. Even many video games require a constant connection, especially subscriptions like Game Pass and live service titles.

Blu-rays buck the trend. They’re the final boss of high-quality, physical media.Who knows if we’ll see another format after Blu-ray ?

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