this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2025
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High resolution ≠ clarity (atomicpoet.org)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org to c/movies@piefed.social
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High resolution ≠ clarity.

Plenty of so-called “4K” streams look worse than a 1080p Blu-ray—smeared shadows, mosquito noise, blocky skies. Resolution is just pixel math. Clarity is bitrate. And that’s where streaming falls flat.

Netflix 4K HDR? Around 15–17 Mbps. YouTube 4K? Maybe 12–20 Mbps if you’re lucky. Compare that to a 4K UHD Blu-ray spinning at 80–100 Mbps—with peaks past 120. That’s not a rounding error. That’s five to ten times more data flowing into your eyeballs.

Streaming services throttle because they have to. Bandwidth is limited, people watch on phones, and adaptive compression keeps everyone from buffering. It’s accessible, yes—but it’s not the “true” 4K people imagine.

Which is why even a decade-old 1080p Blu-ray often looks sharper, cleaner, more alive than the 4K stream that’s supposed to replace it. More data means more picture, every single time.

4K streaming is marketing. Blu-ray is the truth.

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[–] falidorn@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago

You can achieve 4K streaming from your own computer with Plex/Jellyfin. Unfortunately you’re right about streaming clarity but it doesn’t matter much of people watch on their phones with subtitles or they watch it as a second screen while scrolling.