Over the last few weeks, I’ve made a radical change to the way that I enjoy movies at home. That’s right: despite holding a Netflix Premium subscription, I decided to take a break from the service for a while, and change over to 4K UHD Blu-rays.
Why? Well, above all, I wanted to see if the improvement in audio and picture quality was truly worth switching for. But I also wanted to know if physical media could genuinely suffice as an alternative to streaming services, after I’ve enjoyed years of instant access to all kinds of TV shows and movies.
How did it all go? I’ll get to that in due course! But for those interested in my setup, I made use of the Sony UBP-X700K Blu-ray player for this experiment – a model that supports video standards such as Dolby Vision and HDR10, as well as audio formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. I had it hooked up via the HDMI passthrough port on the Marshall Heston 120 soundbar, which is connected to a Sky Glass Gen 2 television.
Now that’s out of the way, here’s everything I learned after ditching Netflix Premium for 4K Blu-ray!
An unrivalled audio-visual delight
As I mentioned, the aspect I was most interested to assess was the audio and visual upgrade 4K UHD Blu-rays could provide over streaming services like Netflix. And in honesty, the difference was greater than I’d expected.
One movie I watched on the Sony UBP-X700K was The Boy and the Heron – a visual and sonic masterpiece from Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki. Mere seconds into this movie, I was struck by the incredible increase in quality 4K Blu-ray could deliver. Vibrant forest environments had a far more rich, natural look to them, while beautifully detailed characters appeared sharper, and motion was handled brilliantly with their every movement.
Just generally, 4K HDR content has superior contrast, and colors look richer and less artificial. When I tried tuning into the same movie over on Netflix – where Premium opens up Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos access – I felt that some colors could look oversaturated, and that black levels didn’t have the same degree of depth.
Arguably the biggest difference-maker, though, was the improvement I realized in audio quality. With 4K discs, I picked up on far better Dolby Atmos effects, with improved tracking and height – as well as cleaner all-round dialogue and bass output. Overall, that meant that the audio-visual experience on 4K was leagues above whatever Netflix could produce – even though it uses the same formats.
So, if you get Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and all that good stuff with a Premium Netflix subscription, why is the quality significantly lesser compared to 4K Blu-rays? Well, that’s down to a couple of things.
First of all, 4K discs are run locally – with bitrates typically ranging anywhere from 72Mbps up to 144Mbps, depending on the size of the disc. Netflix Premium, Amazon Prime Video, and a lot of major streaming services, have around 15-25Mbps to work with. And due to streaming services delivering content over the internet, video and audio gets compressed to ensure smooth, consistent playback.
That combination of higher bit-depth and less compression means that 4K UHD Blu-rays can serve up cinematic experiences that are far-easier on the eye, and even sweeter to listen to as well.
Getting better quality wasn’t the only benefit I’ve enjoyed from switching to 4K Blu-ray. Something that I’ve really appreciated is the beauty of owning a movie… for good.
I’m sure you’ve been there before. You go back to re-watch one of your favorites on Netflix, only to find that it’s been removed. Perhaps you see another one of your go-to flicks is ‘leaving soon’. Or maybe, just maybe, the movie you love is still available, but you can no longer enjoy it in Dolby Vision or with Dolby Atmos audio. Whatever the case, all of this can be frustrating.
Of course, by owning movies yourself, this is no longer an issue. You also don’t have to subscribe to lots of different streaming services to get the movies and TV shows you want – you can purchase them directly, and in better quality!
There’s an emotional side of this conversation that also deserves a mention. The feeling of walking into a store, picking out a new movie or an old classic you want to watch, taking it home, and adding it to your collection… it’s something that can’t be replicated.
I have an extensive video game collection, and to me, it’s more than a pile of discs and cases – it’s a physical manifestation of my love, nostalgia, and reverence for the art form. The same goes for 4K discs, and I’m looking forward to adding more to expanding my collection in coming years.
My verdict: is it really worth it?
So, after all of this, can I see myself hanging onto my Netflix Premium subscription? Will I move entirely over to 4K? Well the answer may be more nuanced.
On one hand, I think that the prices of subscription services are a little hard to swallow. For instance, Netflix Premium costs $24.99 / £18.99 / AU$28.99. That cost has increased significantly in recent years, and I don’t expect it will come down any time soon!
Sure, there are cheaper subscription tiers, but these leave out Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos – surely I want to make the best of my 4K TV and Marshall soundbar combo? Oh, and of course, we’re only talking about one subscription here. If you take into account the additional cost of Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and more, things get expensive very quickly. As someone who also loves Smiling Friends, I’ve been tempted by HBO Max, which is set to come to the UK in March 2026.
However, 4K UHD Blu-rays are expensive. New discs typically cost around $30 / £25 / AU$40, which means that one film usually costs more than a month of Netflix Premium. But when I add the price of the various subscription services I have together, the cost of discs seems less daunting. Pair that with the increased quality and the permanence that physical media provides, and it still feels like you’re getting plenty of value from 4K UHD discs.
Despite all of this, I’m not sure if I’m quite ready to entirely leave Netflix, at least for the moment. Ultimately, the ability to discover new movies, and spontaneously throw on whatever I’m feeling like in a split second, is something I’d struggle to lose entirely.
Still, I’ve had a blast with the Sony UBP-X700K, and I plan to keep purchasing 4K discs when there’s a movie I want to enjoy at its very best – or if I want to keep one of my favorites for good. Since viewing it at the TV testing space in Future Labs, I’ve well and truly got my eyes set on the 4K UHD release of The Mask, which stunned me with its awe-inspiring Atmos effects on the JBL Bar 1300MK2. If you’d like some recommendations for a new disc, though, you can discover some tasty picks in our roundup of the best discs to add to your collection this month.
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harry.padoan@futurenet.com (Harry Padoan)
