Streaming is great but having the content on a hard drive will almost always beat it. I don’t deny that I stream a lot, but sometimes I’m a little put off by the quality. So-called “HD” from Netflix and other streamers has gotten better in previous years but it’s always going to suffer in comparison to a non-streaming experience. In fact, most streaming “HD” is closer in quality to a DVD, while even most streaming 4K won’t beat a good Blu-ray disc.
If you care about quality at all when you watch movies at home, you’re going to want to use DIRECTV Cinema instead of streaming. You can stream from DIRECTV Cinema in a lower-quality mode, but if you really care how things look you’ll love the 1080p/24 and 4K/60 downloads from DIRECTV. They don’t come in real time, meaning that you may have to wait a few minutes to watch the movie depending on your internet speed. The wait is definitely worth it.
DIRECTV Cinema titles are as close to going to the theater as you can get without a physical disc. Whether you’re looking at HD or 4K you’re going to get pristine picture and excellent sound, far better than you’d ever see from a streaming experience.
You see, the dirty little secret of streaming is that even if you have a really fabulous internet setup with tons of bandwidth, the movie still has to come from a server somewhere else, and you’re dependent on the internet every step of the way in the middle. If there’s congestion anywhere between you and the servers, the stream will slow down to accommodate it. It’s very rare to get top, top picture quality from the moment you sit down until the moment you walk away from the TV… unless you’re using DIRECTV Cinema.
DIRECTV Cinema downloads are always top quality, there is never any loss of quality along the path. If there is congestion, the download goes slower which means it takes longer to get to you, but the quality is always excellent!
If you want something live, check out channels in the 100s for movies on right now! You can even pre-record them and choose when to watch them. You won’t be charged for a movie you record until you watch it and if you don’t watch it you’re never charged. Some movies will even record for you in a special hidden area of the DVR so they’re available for you to watch right now in full quality. Look for the green circle next to movies if you can watch them right now. Now, how convenient is that?!?
If you’re looking for some dumb movie or TV show to watch in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep, I certainly don’t blame you for streaming. Hey, that’s what I do sometimes. But if you’re really invested in your home theater setup, why aren’t you getting the best possible quality when you watch a movie you really care about?
