UHD streaming is there: Finally, there are movies and series in UHD resolution, for anyone who owns a suitable Smart TV, a subscription with Netflix or Amazon Prime Instant video and has a fast internet access. Admittedly, this is a whole series of Wenns. But without such an effort, it was never possible to set your own home cinema at the top of current developments.
UHD niche streams
Nothing less is the live streaming of movies or series in UHD resolution by Netflix and Amazon Instant Video currently. Because Otto normalgucker are currently more concerned with the question, whether online video stores actually provide a much worse offer than the video store around the corner. The Stiftung Warentest has determined this in the test. The founding testers overlooked the fact that one can hardly compare the business models: Have you ever found AlphaHouse or Orange Is The New Black in the video store around the corner? Or do you know a video library that offers free selection for the whole archive for a few euros per month? Just. We do not deal with online video stores in general but with the quality of their UHD streaming.
The data comparison
Only a few films and series are currently available in UHD and even fewer people are likely to see them in front of the high reception hurdles. Netflix, for example, requires UHD streams. Additional costs: Only in the most expensive package for monthly 11.99 euros is it - besides four parallel streams. At Amazon, the UHD streams are in the prime flat rate for all users, but single calls are also expensive. Again, the target group is manageable: the titles can only be seen in the original version - without subtitles. And a few Smart TV models supported Amazon UHD streams. 2017 Panasonic TVs may be Netflix in UHD, but not Amazon.
And the picture quality?
Finally, the Internet data rate also limits the availability of UHD streams. This question was clarified by the first part of the test for which a UHD TV of the type UE55HU8590 from Samsung was used. It shows Netflix as well as Amazon Instant Video in UHD.
Picture gallery
The TV was used on three Internet connections with 6, 16 and 50 Mbps. First question: What data rate is necessary for UHD streams to run at all? Two answers are trivial: 6 Mbps is not enough. Netflix and Amazon ran here at maximum in HD resolution, mostly the resolution was 720p, Netflix managed it after a long time synonymous up to 1080p, but always revealed again and again generous blurs.
At the 50 Mbit / s connection showed both providers their films and series in UHD resolution. With Netflix, it only took a few seconds for the info display 2160p to be displayed, and the sharpness of static and slow-moving scenes became so crisp that they could be enjoyed from a mere one meter distance in full splendor
Amazon Prime dropped more time until full HD became UHD quality. In two starts the testers had to restart the stream of the Mozart series in The Jungle before the TV showed the full UHD splendor.
Exciting it was at the medium-fast connection with 16 Mbit / s. Here only Netflix played its UHD contents in full resolution - but it took much longer than at the high-speed connection, until the UHD stream started. But then he stood in the same quality. Amazon Instant Video remains permanently with Full-HD. In the corresponding DSL router the DSL data rate could be queried. It averaged nearly 14 Mbps.
Linktipp: DSL speed test from connect
By means of the data throughput protocol, the testers followed how the data rate spread over time. In the first few minutes, Netflix passed as much data as the line passed through. After about a minute, the Smart TV showed UHD quality, after five minutes the data throughput was recognizable (see above). This is in line with the technical specifications: According to Netflix, UHD streams have a data rate of approximately 16 Mbps, but the provider buffers larger amounts of data on the device and slows down the streaming in the running movie
Amazon also used the full HD stream also almost the whole DSL bandwidth. The images were sharp and almost free of artifacts - just not in UHD resolution. According to Amazon, the data rate of the UHD streams is also 15 Mbps. However, the bandwidth of the connection was not sufficient.
However, data is only noise and smoke when it comes to the visible quality. The logs compared logically to the fast VDSL connection - which was nevertheless a comparison of apples against pears and plums. Because there are hardly any UHD content available on multiple media. In addition to the streaming services, high-definition satellite broadcasts are available in the Astra test channel, as well as hard disk contents from Samsung or Sony. And the UHD streams. Directly comparable content is rare - possibly some older, UHD-remastered movies like Forrest Gump on Amazon and on hard drive.
The comparison therefore refers to general properties such as detail resolution, color quantization, artefacts and the movement presentation. First realization: The UHD streams, all in the HEVC / H.265 codec, look really impressive. Satellite transmissions in the same codec, but with more than double the data rate, but open up further perspectives. If, for example, Netflix in Marco Polo shows landscape panoramas with any fine pebbles, then these are mostly static images. As soon as movement comes into play, details dissolve quickly. In satellite transmissions, however, the sharpness remains longer.
On the Habenseite, Netflix has a great color resolution: fine blueprints, for example in sky shots, were always stepless, while comparable UHD videos from Amazon showed some vertical lines. Netflix quantizes colors according to his own statement with ten instead of the usual eight bits. This does not seem to be the case at Amazon - but there was no official statement on this.
Compared to the films on hard drive of Samsung or Sony appeared the corresponding Streams of Amazon also a tick less crisp. The older films are nevertheless grateful sources for UHD streams - they were not produced in UHD, but for the new resolution converted. With new UHD contents, Netflix seemed to be a bit more skilful in terms of image quality. There were hardly any artefacts to be seen here, but rather cleverly packaged blurs.
Conclusion
UHD streams with 16 Mbit / s data rate - a few years ago I would have declared anyone crazy, the announces. Clearly, the UHD films from Amazon and Netflix are qualitative compromises. Sometimes a well-made Blu-ray disc looks better than the UHD stream from the net. The weaknesses are, however, packaged at Netflix. So the new streaming technique is always fun!
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