When you go to sites to download movies, TV, etc, you are presented with a list of what is available. I understand the different modalities, such as 720p,1080p, and 2160p, and their corresponding size. My question is, why are there so many individuals uploading the same item, and why would someone choose a large file over a smaller one? Do they have unlimited space on their hard drive, or think a 15 gig presents better than a 1 gig in HD? I have seen 2160p programs and 1080p on my 2160p TV, and I can’t tell the difference. My vision is perfect.
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I prefer 4k 2160p resolution Dolby vision or HDR and lossless audio for movies which are remux’s so Blu-ray quality. These are the largest files size’s and the best quality you will find.
I can see the difference between 720p HD and 2160p 4k but is more noticeable the larger the screen display is imo.
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Some people and their equipment are still not able to stream the higher resolutions. That being said, using something like stremio, even though it’s p2p , the higher resolutions I find are more likey to buffer a bit but if you move down to lets say 1080p, you usually won’t have that even with very few peers. I do that often if a source is not playing smoothly. You’re also right about how good are your eyes and also the ability of the device to upscale a 1080 p to 2160p and the Onn pro does that all the time.
Does the ONN upscale 1080P to 4K? Asking because I always play 4K streams if they are available and I can defintely tell the difference between 1080P and 4K.
Yes it does and as mentioned 2160p is 4K UHD with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels
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2160 and 1080p i can’t tell the difference…when downloading movies i go for the smallest 1080P 10bit file i can find? looks perfect on my 75" LG…have gotten many compliments on the pix quality
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Modern TV’s upscale lower resolutions. Obviously higher end TV’s will have better upscaling.
Ringtings usually mention the quality of upscaling on TV reviews as do some other reviewers.
1080p resolutions doesn’t usually have Dolby vision, HDR10+ and HDR dynamic ranges they are usually SDR.
But some may not be interested in Blu-ray quality or those higher quality ranges found on Official VOD streaming services that charge an extra premium to access that content.
I only stream. I haven’t downloaded anything to keep in years. With that being said I usually go for the biggest size. My reasoning is that if I watch a movie/tv show it’s usually quite a long time before I watch it again (if I ever do) I figure I might as well watch it in the best possible quality. 90% of the content I watch is from an emby share so the storage is on them. If I was storing them myself I’d go mid size 1080p using x265 encoding. Seems to be a good balance of size and quality
They encode same content for viewing on different devices.
Most people who want to keep content would like to have the best quality they can get
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I like bigger files size 80GB DV and UHD HRD and version like uncut and remastered and so on.
Back in the day, I had top of the line stereo, TV, Surround Sound, the best we could afford. Now, I’m happy with the basics, the simpler the better. I don’t compare TV specs and ruminate for days what to buy. I don’t even have surround sound or home theatre and don’t long for it. I choose 5GB size movies max, If the picture is not quite as good, it’s fine. The smaller the file, the easier it is to FF and less likely to buffer from what I understand.
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Absolutely correct. The smaller the file, the less buffering you will likely get and easier to FF or even go back. Unless it’s an epic movie, I don’t really care that it’s not the absolute best quality there is. Same with sound, if it’s a musical, then yes, going to run it through my stereo system. Only 5.1 but still a great system.
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You have many interesting questions, When I first started many years ago, I just happened to find Troypoint, and that was the best thing that happened to me that day. It started me on this journey of streaming movies and shows at my leisure rather than waiting for a free to Air one. I live in Australia, and now use Surfshark for all my streaming, so I travel around the world, digitally to watch a program. I pay for a 50 MB internet service and find that usually 1080 will cause a lot of buffering, so I usually go to 720p and it plays with no distruptions. Quality is reasonable, the main thing is , I get to watch something ,when I want. I am grateful to all those guys out there that make this possible, whilst keeping themselves safe from Prying eyes, who resent us the ability to do this.
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Hey Wizz,
I also have a 5.1 Denon AVR that handles DD+ and DTS. If I ever upgraded to Atmos, I would probably get lost in the technology to the detriment of simply enjoying the surround sound. Plus, I would get a headache trying to follow the sound coming from 8 directions! As I said, I also have “only 5.1”, but couldn’t be happier. Enjoy.
Mine is a Yamaha 5.1 and supports all of that. It’s many years old but still probably better sounding than most of all the new stuff failing wanting to have things like Atmos. I seriously don’t need that. I have ESM speakers for my front speakers, were previously used as studio monitors, a Mission centre speaker that was gifted to me that cost more than everything else I have together but the sound from it is amazing. Back speakers are just a pair of ones older than Moses but they are just rear speakers, work just fine in this setup. I don’t need anything better or different unless this breaks in which case after making up new swear words, I will find something else.
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Rule of thumb: (at least this is what I use). 720, 1080p That’s about it. Size of the file matters. The larger the file, the more you will run into buffering. Stick with the smaller files and the 2 qualities listed above. I can’t tell the difference and you probably won’t notice either
Homer
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For me it’s always 4K if it exists. I run close to 400MB over Wifi and rarely if ever get buffering (No VPN)
I don’t scrape for anything less than 1080p. I focus on 4K, HDR and HDR 10. I never care about the size. I have 150+ down using a VPN and rarely get any buffering, and if I do it’s usually fixed by switching server locations.
I’m confused, which isn’t surprising 
but wasn’t the original question regarding torrents and not streaming?
I would assume that if somebody has several terabytes of storage then they would probably want the best possible download.