1080p Downloads Of 4k Movies On Prime

[DatsDaJunt]

Perhaps we’re assuming that Amazon is serving an actual file vs a dynamically generated stream from a very high quality source. Would be equivalent to on-the-fly transcoding to match target and based on things like target capabilities, network speed, etc. In that case you could potentially have a lot of variability.

The file is already encoded.

 

[RedFox 1]

The file is already encoded.

Some of those UHD movies in actual UHD can be over 50gbs ( if not encoded)

 

[Lowpro]

That's because it is a straight download. Whatever is on the CDN gets downloaded, decrypted and wrapped in an mp4. That's it.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

And that's a beautiful thing. Really enjoying my AnyStream subscription. Amazon and Netflix should be thanking Redfox as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I don't stream. Never have, never will and yet, here I am paying for a Netflix streaming subscription and renting Amazon Prime titles where prior that was never the case.

 

[testiles]

The one on the left is CBR @ 10,000 -- the one on the right is VBR

Ah, I didn't realize.

I guess I'm overlooking it - where can I see that in the MediaInfo display?



T

 

[Watcher0363]

And that's a beautiful thing. Really enjoying my AnyStream subscription. Amazon and Netflix should be thanking Redfox as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I don't stream. Never have, never will and yet, here I am paying for a Netflix streaming subscription and renting Amazon Prime titles where prior that was never the case.

It took me a couple of months to realize that Anystream was not just another novelty app. But actually an necessary evolution in the video storage and collection arena. With physical dvds going the route of vinyl, always there, but in a niche market way, the market for Anystream will only grow. But there will never be more than a few apps that can do what it does, well. Success of those apps will rest on the one who gets what the user needs most from their app, at a good price point and prolong functionality.

 

[RedFox 1]

It took me a couple of months to realize that Anystream was not just another novelty app. But actually an necessary evolution in the video storage and collection arena. With physical dvds going the route of vinyl, always there, but in a niche market way, the market for Anystream will only grow. But there will never be more than a few apps that can do what it does, well. Success of those apps will rest on the one who gets what the user needs most from their app, at a good price point and prolong functionality.

Well said Watcher0363

 

[Ch3vr0n]

'physical DVDs going the route of vinyl', lol sure. They've been saying that for the past 10 years.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Lowpro]

'physical DVDs going the route of vinyl', lol sure. They've been saying that for the past 10 years.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

I've got 25 Amazon pre-orders at present, all for Blu-ray releases coming out this month though July and that's my idea of cutting things back with respects to my Blu-ray spending. There's another 12 titles I've love to pre-order as well, but I decided to exercise some self-restraint. Well, for now anyway.

 

[RedFox 1]

I've got 25 Amazon pre-orders at present, all for Blu-ray releases coming out this month through July and that's my idea of cutting things back with respects to my Blu-ray spending. There's another 12 titles I've love to pre-order as well, but I decided to exercise some self-restraint. Well, for now anyway.

I personally think it's really cool to have a great bluray collection of discs, I wouldn't have said that about VHS but discs are easy to store and really cool to own. While some people don't buy them anymore ( me being one) its because of cost, not because I do not like discs. Plus I am the type of person that once I see a movie, even if I love it, I really do not have to see it again,. but everyone has different likes and dislikes. Enjoy your collection Lowpro.

 

[Lowpro]

Plus I am the type of person that once I see a movie, even if I love it, I really do not have to see it again.

Here's my perspective on that. Whether I plan to watch a given Blu-ray more than once is beside the point. I'm not purchasing Blu-ray's to build a collection. That's just the icing on the cake. Even if I only intend to watch something once I'll still purchase the Blu-ray. I purchase the Blu-ray, because it delivers a consistent high quality experience with no strings attached. It's just my home theater system, my Blu-ray player and the Blu-ray disc. I want that experience whether I intend to watch something a second time or not. In fact, I especially want that experience on the first viewing which is the same thing as my only viewing if that ends up being the case. It's no different than when someone goes to see a movie at their local cinema, albeit on a smaller scale.

With Blu-ray there's also no surprises. It's a format with standards. With Blu-ray I know what I'm getting. I want to know what I'm getting when I spend my money on something. With Blu-ray I know what aspect ratio the given presentation will be in, what specific audio and subtitle tracks are included, what bonus features are offered if any and so forth. And if the product packaging isn't detailed enough I can confirm any of the details I'm looking for at websites like Blu-ray.com. And yes, the icing on the cake is that I own the disc. I can watch the disc as much as I like. My friends and family can watch the disc as much as they like. I could sell the disc to someone. And all the while, no strings attached. No Internet connection needed. No online subscription. That's a beautiful thing.

As I mentioned previously, if it weren't for AnyStream I wouldn't be paying for these streaming subscriptions. Accessing all this streaming content the traditional way is not friendly to the consumer. You have no idea what you're getting. None of these streaming providers disclose the aspect ratio of a given presentation. Saying a given presentation is in "Widescreen" doesn't cut it. That could mean anything and certainly doesn't mean the presentation is in the original aspect ratio which is important to me. The same for the audio. It's bad enough the audio is lossy and not lossless like we get with Blu-ray. Saying the audio is "English" just adds insult to injury. That doesn't tell me anything. Am I getting 2 channel audio, 5 channel audio, low quality Dolby Digital, higher quality Dolby Digital Plus, what?

I look at it this way. My purchasing a Blu-ray is no different than someone who paid to watch the same title via cable, satellite or some streaming provider. Whether any of us watch the given presentation a second time is beside the point. Either way, we're all paying to watch the content that initial time. The difference in my case is that I'm paying for a higher quality experience, a theatrical quality experience with no stings attached. Yes, I own the disc(s) which provide for repeat viewings or viewings by family members and friends, but again, what I'm really paying for is that higher quality experience, knowing what I'm getting ahead of time, knowing what aspect ratio the feature presentation will be in ahead of time, knowing what audio and subtitle tracks are included ahead of time.

People talk about cutting the cord all the time. Well they're really not cutting the cord. All the content they consume is still being fed to them through a cord, their ISP. Sure, there are many benefits naturally over traditional cable or satellite TV. It's still not cuttting the cord though. In the end everyone is still paying to watch what they watch. All these streaming subscriptions can really start to add up. The same for people's cable and satellite televsion bills. I can purchase a lot of used/new Blu-ray's each month for the same money. I have subscribed to DIRECTV off and on over the years, but purely for the sports programming and content not traditionally released on DVD or Blu-ray. Basically since the DVD format I've only watched movies and TV shows on disc. If I missed out on something so be it. I don't care. There are more important things in life than sitting on my rear end watching television.

I'll also mention this. I've purchased many TV seasons and movies on Blu-ray at the same cost or less than the watered down version being offered by some online content provider. In fact, I just purchased a Blu-ray from the bargain bin at my local brick and mortar store for the same price as the streaming rental. Why I keep buying these Blu-ray's is mystery to me. Why would I want to watch a movie on Blu-ray that weighs in at 36GB, is in the correct aspect ratio with 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, a Blu-ray that also includes a commentary track and bonus features? Why would I want to watch that when I could spend the same money purchasing or renting the stream that weighs in at 8-10 GB if I'm lucky, includes lossy audio and may or may not be in the proper aspect ratio? To each his own, but this "streaming is the future" nonsense is not a future I will ever be taking part in.

 

[RedFox 1]

Here's my perspective on that. Whether I plan to watch a given Blu-ray more than once is beside the point. I'm not purchasing Blu-ray's to build a collection. That's just the icing on the cake. Even if I only intend to watch something once I'll still purchase the Blu-ray. I purchase the Blu-ray, because it delivers a consistent high quality experience with no strings attached. It's just my home theater system, my Blu-ray player and the Blu-ray disc. I want that experience whether I intend to watch something a second time or not. In fact, I especially want that experience on the first viewing which is the same thing as my only viewing if that ends up being the case. It's no different than when someone goes to see a movie at their local cinema, albeit on a smaller scale.

With Blu-ray there's also no surprises. It's a format with standards. With Blu-ray I know what I'm getting. I want to know what I'm getting when I spend my money on something. With Blu-ray I know what aspect ratio the given presentation will be in, what specific audio and subtitle tracks are included, what bonus features are offered if any and so forth. And if the product packaging isn't detailed enough I can confirm any of the details I'm looking for at websites like Blu-ray.com. And yes, the icing on the cake is that I own the disc. I can watch the disc as much as I like. My friends and family can watch the disc as much as they like. I could sell the disc to someone. And all the while, no strings attached. No Internet connection needed. No online subscription. That's a beautiful thing.

As I mentioned previously, if it weren't for AnyStream I wouldn't be paying for these streaming subscriptions. Accessing all this streaming content the traditional way is not friendly to the consumer. You have no idea what you're getting. None of these streaming providers disclose the aspect ratio of a given presentation. Saying a given presentation is in "Widescreen" doesn't cut it. That could mean anything and certainly doesn't mean the presentation is in the original aspect ratio which is important to me. The same for the audio. It's bad enough the audio is lossy and not lossless like we get with Blu-ray. Saying the audio is "English" just adds insult to injury. That doesn't tell me anything. Am I getting 2 channel audio, 5 channel audio, low quality Dolby Digital, higher quality Dolby Digital Plus, what?

I look at it this way. My purchasing a Blu-ray is no different than someone else paying to watch the same title via cable, satellite or via some streaming subscription. Whether any of us watch the given presentation a second time is beside the point. Either way, we're all paying to watch the content that initial time. The difference in my case is that I'm paying for a higher quality experience, a theatrical quality experience with no stings attached. Yes, I own the disc(s) which provide for repeat viewings or viewings by family members and friends, but again, what I'm really paying for is that higher quality experience, knowing what I'm getting ahead of time, knowing what aspect ratio the feature presentation will be in ahead of time, knowing what audio and subtitle tracks are included ahead of time.

People talk about cutting the cord all the time. Well they're really not cutting the cord. All the content they consume is still being fed to them through a cord, their ISP. Sure, there are many benefits naturally over traditional cable or satellite TV. It's still not cuttting the cord though. In the end everyone is still paying to watch what they watch. All these streaming subscriptions can really start to add up. The same for people's cable and satellite televsion bills. I can purchase a lot of used/new Blu-ray's each month for the same money. I have subscribed to DIRECTV off and on over the years, but purely for the sports programming and content not traditionally released on DVD or Blu-ray. Basically since the DVD format I've only watched movies and TV shows on disc. If I missed out on something so be it. I don't care. There are more important things in life than sitting on my rear end watching television.

I'll also mention this. I've purchased many TV seasons and movies on Blu-ray at the same cost or less than the watered down version being offered by some online content provider. In fact, I just purchased a Blu-ray from the bargain bin at my local brick and mortar store for the same price as the streaming rental. Why I keep buying these Blu-ray's is mystery to me. Why would I want to watch a movie on Blu-ray that weighs in at 36GB, is in the correct aspect ratio with 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, a Blu-ray that also includes a commentary track and bonus features? Why would I want to watch that when I could spend the same money purchasing or renting the stream that weighs in at 8-10 GB if I'm lucky, includes lossy audio and may or may not be in the proper aspect ratio? To each his own, but this streaming is the future nonsense is not a future I will ever be taking part in.

You are a very interesting fellow. I am an old man, I live on Social Security, and a little bit of savings that I had during my lifetime. I had my fun, but as I said before everybody’s likes and dislikes are different and also everybody has priorities. Right now my priorities are just to wake up every morning. LOL. I can tell you enjoy your cinema very much and I am happy for you. Maybe if this technology was available when I was your age I would’ve done the same thing. I am glad that you enjoy what you do, keep it up.

 

[Lowpro]

You are a very interesting fellow. I am an old man, I live on Social Security, and a little bit of savings that I had during my life come I had my fun, but like I said before everybody’s likes and dislikes are different and also everybody has priorities. Right now my priorities are just to wake up every morning. LOL. I can tell you enjoy your cinema very much and I am happy for you. Maybe if this technology I was available when I was your age I would’ve done the same thing. I am glad that you enjoy what you do, keep it up.

To each his own for sure. I don't spend a lot of time watching movies and TV shows actually. When I do I prefer a more theatrical experience. I make it an event. It's not the local cinema, but 150" diagonal from 16 feet away isn't bad. It's still a big screen experience and a more intimate one. My parents are in their 70's. Well, my mother joins the 70 and over club with dad this year. They live vicariously through me. Every Sunday night I have them over for a movie. It's a great way to end each weekend before I jump back in the bump and grind on Monday morning.

 

[RedFox 1]

To each his own for sure. I don't spend a lot of time watching movies and TV shows actually. When I do I prefer a more theatrical experience. I make it an event. It's not the local cinema, but 150" diagonal from 16 feet away isn't bad. It's still a big screen experience and a more intimate one. My parents are in their 70's. Well, my mother joins the 70 and over club with dad this year. They live vicariously through me. Every Sunday night I have them over for a movie. It's a great way to end each weekend before I jump back in the bump and grind on Monday morning.

You are a good son, I am in the 80s club, my son lives nearby and checks on me frequently, he has a job that takes up a lot of his time but he always makes time for me, he has been working from home during this pandemic. I bet your movies came in quite handy during this time that we have spent a lot of time at home. Bless you.

 

[VonB.]

AnyStream doesnt support 4k, period.

Geez. That's not what they are saying. They are suggesting downloading the 1080p version from the 1080p listing, and then downloading the 1080p version from the UHD listing, and then compare the two. Although they are the same movie, they are different stock numbers, therefore different versions of the same movie on the content delivery network.

Same can be said with movies that leave one provider and go to another. For example, a movie downloaded through a STARZ subscription is not the same as the same title when downloaded through IMDB or AP. Both are "Some Movie Title" at 1080p, downloaded via AS through AP, but are completely different in sizes and bitrates.

 

[Ch3vr0n]

And how are you going to download the 1080p version from the UHD listing if the UHD version isn't offered to AnyStream? Right, you can't.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[zanetti]

And how are you going to download the 1080p version from the UHD listing if the UHD version isn't offered to AnyStream? Right, you can't.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

it says right in the title. 'cliffhanger 4k UHD'. click on that, and yes you can go as high as 1080p, no doubt. then, go and select 'cliffhanger' and repeat procedure. both are 1080p, same runtime, same movie, same resolution, even same parameters (HIGH@L4), but different bitrates and file sizes. its weird, totally. since ive downloaded a few non-UHD titles over the weekend and got a few over 13mbit files. weird. as said before, i dont think AS is the culprit, but rather amazon which turns out to be all over the place, subtitles wise also.

 

[VonB.]

And how are you going to download the 1080p version from the UHD listing if the UHD version isn't offered to AnyStream? Right, you can't.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

I am sure you are aware that you can search for a UHD movie, go into it, click the Download button, and although not presented with the option to download the movie in UHD resolution, you are still allowed to to download the movie in 1080p resolution.

What they are saying is that if you do this, you may get a different result than if you went into the non-UHD version of the movie itself. For example, Knives Out (UHD) is movie ID # B081X8G4BY, whereas Knives Out (HD) is movie ID # B081W68DP2. Although both movies are the same title, you may get a different bitrates for the 1080p downloads from the two different movie id's because they are different content id's.

 

[Lowpro]

UHD Blu-ray releases often include the given movie on Blu-ray as well. In some cases the Blu-ray is sourced from the same updated transfer used for the UHD Blu-ray. In other cases the Blu-ray is identical to a previous Blu-ray release. I'd imagine the same is at play with what's being discussed here.

 

[zanetti]

UHD Blu-ray releases often include the given movie on Blu-ray as well. In some cases the Blu-ray is sourced from the same updated transfer used for the UHD Blu-ray. In other cases the Blu-ray is identical to a previous Blu-ray release. I'd imagine the same is at play with what's being discussed here.

interesting. that and CBR vs VBR are intriguing reasons. but again, how is that feasible for amazon? why provide two different streams of same resolution for the same movie? why provide a 14mbit stream and a 7mbit 1080p stream? wouldnt it be more cost effective to just offer the same 7mbit 1080p stream for both UHD and non-UHD versions of the same movie? this is really weird and thus far ive attributed everything to amazon prime being a complete mess. missing resolutions, incomplete subtitles, subtitles in all caps, subtitle lines over two lines, timing issues, awkward file sizes sometimes... the only thing that has a 100% success rate for me over at prime are audio streams. not a single glitch thus far. cheers!

 

[Vzxy]

interesting. that and CBR vs VBR are intriguing reasons. but again, how is that feasible for amazon? why provide two different streams of same resolution for the same movie? why provide a 14mbit stream and a 7mbit 1080p stream? wouldnt it be more cost effective to just offer the same 7mbit 1080p stream for both UHD and non-UHD versions of the same movie? this is really weird and thus far ive attributed everything to amazon prime being a complete mess. missing resolutions, incomplete subtitles, subtitles in all caps, subtitle lines over two lines, timing issues, awkward file sizes sometimes... the only thing that has a 100% success rate for me over at prime are audio streams. not a single glitch thus far. cheers!

It's only because those are two different titles in the AP system. A lot of this has to do with licensing and the 4K version may only be available in certain regions. When your players tries to fall back to a lower resolution for any reason, it doesn't try to find the other copy of that title in the system, it just grabs the lower res stream from the current title. The non 4K title is basically there for other regions. It's just how HLS works really.