Note: this is still a WIP, feedback and comparisons welcome. See service notes for more details.
Table of content
- Movies Anywhere
- Microsoft Store
- Google Play (HEVC)
- Peacock
- Netflix
- iTunes / Apple TV+
- Amazon CBR (regular encode)
- Stan
- Amazon CBR (updated encodes, 2022+, select originals only)
- Paramount+
- Hulu
- Hotstar
- Amazon VBR (DASH)
- Showtime
Undetermined: Vudu, Rakuten, Chili, FandangoNow (defunct)
- Bravia Core non-IMAX Enhanced
- Bravia Core IMAX Enhanced
- Movies Anywhere
- Microsoft Store
- Max
- Disney+ / Star+
- Netflix
- Peacock
- iTunes / Apple TV+
- HBO Max
- Paramount+
- Hulu
- Stan
- Hotstar
- Amazon (regular encodes)
- Showtime
- Amazon (updated encodes, 2022+, select originals only)
- Disney+ / Star+
- Netflix
- Max
- Paramount+
- Amazon (updated encodes, 2022+, select originals)
- iTunes / Apple TV+
- Peacock
- Movies Anywhere
- Hotstar
Undetermined: Google Play, Peacock, Crave, Vudu, Rakuten, Chili
- Disney+ / Star+
- Amazon (old VBR V1, unknown-2018)
- Movies Anywhere
- Amazon (CBR)
- Crunchyroll (see notes)
- Max
- Netflix
- Amazon (new VBR V2+, 2018-)
- HBO Max
- Microsoft Store
- iTunes / Apple TV+
- Stan
- Kanopy
- Paramount+
- SkyShowtime
- Peacock
- Amazon HEVC
- Hulu
- Hotstar
- Tubi TV (720p, still better than Crave 1080p)
- Crave
Undetermined: Google Play, Microsoft Store, Vudu, Roku
- Paramount+ (SD-only content, 4500 kbps)
- Google Play
- Crackle (old 6000 kbps streams)
- Disney+
- HBO Max
- Netflix (here at their best with rare ~3000 kbps encodes)
- Paramount+ (HD+ content, 800-2500 kbps)
- Max
- Stan
- iTunes
- Amazon
Undetermined: Movies Anywhere, Microsoft Store, Peacock
- Disney+/Star+ - 768k + DD-EX
- Netflix, Apple TV+/iTunes, Paramount+, Hotstar, HBO Max - 768k
- Movies Anywhere, Max, Peacock - 640k
- Microsoft Store - 576k
- Amazon - 576k (DV titles only), 448k
- Vudu - 576k/448k (seemingly no pattern to which titles get which)
- Stan, Rakuten - 448k
- iTunes - 640k DDP
- Vudu - 448k DDP
- Royal Opera House (UK) - 960k DDP
- Netflix - 640k DDP
- Amazon - 640k DDP (see notes)
- Google Play - 384k DDP, 384k DD, 384k DTS-E
- Stan - 384k DDP, 448k AAC (suffers from clipping issues)
- HBO Max, Microsoft Store, SkyShowtime - 384k DDP
- Peacock - 384k DDP, 192k DDP (old)
- Rakuten - 256k DDP, 576k DDP (ocassional), 768k DTS (rare, probably worse than DDP)
- Disney+/Star+, Max, Vudu - 256k DDP
- Paramount+ - 384k DD (rare), 192k DDP
- Royal Opera House (UK) - 320k AAC
- Google Play - 256k AAC, 128k Opus
- HBO Max - 384k DD, 256k DDP
- Amazon - 224k DDP
- Rakuten - 192k AAC, 320k AAC (ocassional)
- Netflix - 128k AAC, 128k DDP, 192k xHE-AAC (very poor support)
- Disney+/Star+, Crackle, Crunchyroll - 128k AAC
- Peacock, SkyShowtime - 128k AAC, 96k AAC (old)
- Vudu - 128k AAC, 128k DDP
- Max - 128k DDP, 128k AAC (rare)
- Hulu - 64k AAC
Higher tier = higher quality, higher position within a tier = higher quality. All services presented at their best, some fluctuate more than others (e.g. Max and Netflix).
- Tends to have a slightly off AR on all encodes (except 16:9/4:3)
- UHD: select originals, mostly big titles (2022+) have updated encodes
- UHD: DASH/VBR SDR streams are significantly worse than SmoothStreaming/CBR
- UHD: gets a lot of smeary artifacts when pushed to its limits
- UHD: new HDR encodes have worse quality and blocking artifacts (https://slow.pics/c/TgoUGQ87)
- HD: tends to have a green tint from improper rounding
- HD: VBR V1 (unknown-2018) > CBR (never changed) > VBR V2+ (2018-)
- SD: CBR usually wins, VBR is ocassionally better on grainier content (typically if it has 500+ kbps more bitrate than CBR)
- Tends to have low quality subtitles on non-original content (no quality standards)
- Audio suffers from volume issues (overamplification, clipping)
- UHD: a lot of content gets DO streams at 17-19 Mbps, they beat previous ones
- UHD: older streams used to be 16 Mbps, those beat 12 Mbps and <16 Mbps DO streams
- UHD: new CBR streams are 12 mbps
- HD: bitrate varies widely, tends to be higher on less popular titles; highest recorded bitrates: ~9100 kbps (H.264), ~8000 kbps (HEVC)
- HD: 5000 kbps QC stream exists, and is comparable to MPL of the same bitrate, sometimes loses with lower-bitrate HPL
- SD: BPL is rarely better than MPL/HPL, even if it has a slightly higher bitrate; MPL can reach 2000+ kbps bitrates in some cases
- Has DNR applied, particularly noticable on UHD content
- UHD bitrate between 12 Mbps and 26 Mbps
- HD bitate between 5 Mbps and 10 Mbps
- Apple TV+ are always on the upper boundaries of bitrates (10 Mbps HD, 20-25 Mbps UHD)
- Old 720p streams from the iTunes app are better (at least when they're not anamorphic)
- Good streams at all quality tiers, but subpar non-atmos audio
- Dolby Vision streams now tend to have higher bitrate than HDR (16 vs 12 mbps)
- Some Atmos encodes were tagged as Dolby Surround EX, so it might play as 7.1 (or might be mistagged).
- apps.disneyplus.com (MENA) is an entirely different backend, same as Hotstar (see below)
- UHD: Decent, but performs much worse than you'd expect given its bitrate
- HD: garbage
- HDR streams are only PQ10
- HDR/DV tend to have much higher bitrate than SDR
- SDR is quite decent given its bitrate, but almost always loses to Amazon/iTunes chanenls
- All of its content is available on iTunes/Apple TV channels and Amazon. HD and UHD SDR are best from Amazon, UHD HDR/DV as well as SD from Paramount+ itself
- UHD SDR rarely exists, most titles only get HDR/DV
- All SD content is upscaled to HD
- All content currently available in HD on Amazon (with dupe frames, 23.976->24 FPS), it's a toss up quality wise
- Frame rate is dependent on region (US is 23.976, EU is 25 spedup, LATAM is 29.97 with dupe frames), other than UHD content.
- All SD content is upscaled to HD
- SD/HD bitrate varies a lot, beats HMAX at the higher end
- SD/HD are quite good even with lower bitrate
- Has Dolby Vision profile 8 and profile 5 (latter only on select titles)
- All content currently available in HD on Amazon (with dupe frames, 23.976->24 FPS), it's a toss up quality wise
- Frame rate is dependent on region (US is 23.976, EU is 25 spedup, LATAM is 29.97 with dupe frames), other than UHD content.
- Okay UHD streams, nothing else
- Uses Dolby Vision profile 8 and HDR10+
- Older Dolby Vision encodes have terribly low bitrate
- Always constant bitrate: 2160p - 25 Mbpps; 1080p - 8 Mbps
- Pretty much best source for UHD SDR/HDR streams
- DV is denoised and inferior to other source
- 1080p is a mixed bag. Sometimes wins with Amazon, sometimes it loses
- IMAX Enhanced streams have DNR
- Fairly rarely ripped
- Has good UHD, best source for UHD content not on MA
- Sometimes beats MA at lower bitrates
- HD is alright, but not worth using over Amazon
- All their content is on Amazon (HD only), iTunes/Apple TV channels and Paramount+
- HD is best from Amazon, UHD HDR/DV is best from Paramount+, SDR from Stan where available
- Not worth using, UHD is terrible despite decent bitrates (15 Mbps)
- Only source for a lot of UHD content
- Sometimes falls apart completely
- E-AC-3 audio is always best; their AAC 5.1 has clipping issues
- Those utilize entirely the same backend and the same encodes
- NOWTV despite utilizing some of the same backend appears to be worse
- Peacock/SkyShowtime support 23.976/24 and 25 FPS; NOWTV always has PAL speed up
- Dolby Vision is denoised
- UHD significantly better than HD
- High content overlap. Foxtel has higher bitrate and is slightly better, but both are terrible
- Always has PAL speedup
- Old SD streams were 6000 kbps CBR ~486p (640x486, 656x488, 720x486), unfortunately they seem to be gone now
- New SD streams are downscaled to fit under 640x480/720x480 (632x480, 640x476, 712x480) and have maximum bitrate of 1350 kbps
- Usually overall best for animation, live action needs more testing
- Only 2.0 audio, often has issues with accidental mono tracks
Note: new, original content preferred to discount any lower quality masters
- https://slow.pics/c/9rDEOTqt
- https://slow.pics/c/YJ9ol2UG
- https://slow.pics/c/tuCqYTja
- https://slow.pics/c/mOSJz9DM
The DVs (P5) I saw from MA were all grainy and of very good quality.