Is your Disney+ broken ??

[Mike Hoxbig]

Sticking to subject, it sounds like Disney+ needs to implement some decent codecs...

I'd settle for just a working app, that allows you to actually watch a video...

 

[noxibox]

All this talk about AV1. But reading about it on Wikipedia it's unclear which streaming services actually uses it, and uses it for all their content. Very little info on Netflix. A few old articles about limited uses of AV1 but no new articles that I can find.

Youtube seems to be using it but limited still as it's too slow to encode all content to AV1. Only used for high view (millions view) youtube videos. So if you are not into main stream content on YT not much benefit for you there either.

DSTV and Showmax? ERrm....in another 10 years perhaps? LOL.

And then we have Disney. Hmmm. They cant even sort out their current crap. Crap apps, Crap servers with slowdowns and buffering. I have no hope for them. If they invest in AV1 they will also most likely use in their Disney First World product/apps. Not in their Africa/India/Middle East targeted Disney Third World app (aka Hotstar).

A few are using AV1. If you're asking which services only support AV1 then the answer is probably none. Support for other codecs isn't going away anytime soon. Netflix will stream AV1 if your hardware supports it, but they'll also stream it in other formats and you'll still get 4k HDR if that is what you want.

AV1 would actually make sense for Disney from the point of view of reducing the bandwidth requirements, but even if they supported it they'd also continue to stream in other formats for many years to come.

Being Google I can imagine YouTube might decide to turn off other codecs to stick it to certain competitors, but even they are probably more likely to continue offering alternatives for those who demand 4k HDR on YouTube for whatever reason.

For you ? Sure .

That's my point. Often AV1 gets listed as a universal killer feature that everyone should have on their list of high priority features. But really it only matters right now and probably for years still to a subset of users. All things being equal I'd take the device with hardware support for the latest codec, but it is seldom the case that all things are equal. Does the Mi Stick 4k offer me all the features of an nVidia Shield Pro? The answer is no, and I may care more about those other features.

There are still plenty running xDSL
There are still plenty running 20Mbs fibre
There are still plenty that run mobile / metered connections who'll love a 30% reduced bill

And I'd steer someone facing those limitations towards putting AV1 higher on their list.

AV1 is available. It's ready. It's being adopted by more services.
It enables more options and flexibility - today, it may take the 16Mbps to 10Mbps at the same quality - next year it may increase the bitrate back to 16Mbps and offer 30% more quality / HFR / 10 bit video

I suspect it wouldn't offer more quality based on past experience with codecs. I also expect that any new fancy video feature would require a new television. So I'd be buying a box with a feature I don't need right now and won't notice if I don't have it, with the plan of maybe replacing the screen before the end of the media box's life. But my actual experience is that there is always something in the chain that is behind and I am very unlikely to replace my entire system to keep up with the latest and greatest. Besides which if I am going to be replacing my receiver, buying more speakers and a new television to get the latest features the media box is going to be a very tiny expense in comparison.

Of course I also mostly watch films and series, which I want to be at 24fps if at all possible, so if a new codec encouraged the use of higher frame rates I'd view that as a downside.

It is - or going to be - a pre-requisite for any new Android TV device going forward. If there is a new Shield, it'll have AV1 for sure .

But if someone was looking at a Shield now, it had all the features they actually wanted and they don't have any compelling reason to need AV1 it would still make sense to just buy the Shield.

That can be said about any technology - why bother to move forward with anything ?
Why better cameras on phones ? Why faster CPUs ? Wasn't last years A14 enough ?
Why 5 speakers over 2 ? Why 7 over 5 ? I can hear the movie anyway ?
Why higher resolution screens ?

Personally ? I'm not going to drop R5,000 on a Shield that cannot do YouTube HDR or AV1.

That's the point, those are your requirements. Clearly the Shield Pro has no other compelling features for you.

As for the rest I'm not saying technology shouldn't advance. But yes, last year's A14 is more than enough and would be for several more years. Doesn't mean Apple should stop making improved processors. It does mean there is no compelling reason to buy a new phone every year. Same goes for desktop CPUs. You're right that there isn't a huge difference between a 7 speaker and 5 speaker system, but my actual analogy was more like why would I buy a 5 speaker system now when all the content I watch and am likely to watch on YouTube is effectively in stereo? Going down to mono would lose something.

 

[elf_lord_ZC5]

See My post #95

Suggest you use your desktop to view:

The above is the number of formats that YouTube has available for a Video, each resolution has a AV1 encoded version.

So you may not need to get anxiety fits about AV1, just yet, you will gain by being able to take advantage of it right now.

 

[noxibox]

Hotstar vs. Disney+: What's missing on Hotstar compared to Disney+ in the US

Turns out Disney+ Hotstar in India isn’t as feature-rich as its US counterpart

www.androidpolice.com

Disney+ South African App Tested – 720p Upscaled to 4K Across TV Apps

Disney+ is available in South Africa and after spending a few days testing out the different versions of the South African app, we have determined the quality.

www.glitched.online

Disney+ – How to Tell if You Got The Horrible Hotstar Version in Your Country

There are two versions of Disney+ available. Disney+ Hotstar doesn't have IMAX, Extras and bad streaming quality while the other is a better premium version.

www.glitched.online

Disney Hotstar only used in third world countries where Disney assume streaming consumption is on mobile devices and data limited. Lower bitrate streams and a crippled app with less functionality for Hotstar. From what I read about constant buffering complaints during primetime (when their Netflix works perfectly) they clearly also have less servers for Disney Africa region leading to congestion and slow down.

But they're not really even assuming consumption on mobile. They can't justify having 4k video with only stereo sound on a 4k television. If they were only focussed on mobile why even have a native application on a television? More likely they have a bunch of people working independently and no clear feature requirements. That would allow some clown to request or write an application with 4k video support because the screen is 4k, but assume the owner would only ever watch using the television speakers.

Buffering appears to be device dependent. You can easily find comments from people using certain devices never having any buffering issues.

The other thing though is that Disney had a lot of bugs in their applications in the US and it took a long time to fix them, so this could all just be general sloppiness. On other hand even now the Netflix app is not the same on every device. Some features are just missing, for no apparent reason.

 

[Dolby]

.

Sure

 

[elf_lord_ZC5]

But they're not really even assuming consumption on mobile. They can't justify having 4k video with only stereo sound on a 4k television. If they were only focussed on mobile why even have a native application on a television? More likely they have a bunch of people working independently and no clear feature requirements. That would allow some clown to request or write an application with 4k video support because the screen is 4k, but assume the owner would only ever watch using the television speakers.

Buffering appears to be device dependent. You can easily find comments from people using certain devices never having any buffering issues.

The other thing though is that Disney had a lot of bugs in their applications in the US and it took a long time to fix them, so this could all just be general sloppiness. On other hand even now the Netflix app is not the same on every device. Some features are just missing, for no apparent reason.

Basically what a lot of us have already said.

 

[noxibox]

AV1 - encoded material

The above is the number of formats that YouTube has available for a Video, each resolution has a AV1 encoded version.

So you may not need to get anxiety fits about AV1, just yet, you will gain by being able to take advantage of it right now.

But now put it side-by-side and do a blind test asking people to tell you which video is AV1 in a situation where network speed isn't a factor. Is there a visual difference between the AV1 stream and the VP9 stream? I could only take advantage of AV1 if it offered a visual improvement.

 

[Dolby]

.

I think you have a very different view on things to most people though

 

[elf_lord_ZC5]

But now put it side-by-side and do a blind test asking people to tell you which video is AV1 in a situation where network speed isn't a factor. Is there a visual difference between the AV1 stream and the VP9 stream? I could only take advantage of AV1 if it offered a visual improvement.

I doudt you would see a visual difference between an AV1 stream and the same VP9 stream, if you had no network constraints. Speed is not the major issue, network stability is in my opinion a bigger cause of buffering.

A slower line which is not spiking all over the place, will give you much better viewing experience than a line 3 times faster that is spiking all over the place.

Very few of us in this country, can claim to have absolutely stable internet connections. Thus not gaining any value from a codec that is far more efficient than whatever their current go to codec is.

But if you have a stable internet connection, appreciate it, and appreciate that it is not the norm.

Speed is not a magic silver bullet for streaming media, it can help, tho, but for higher resolutions, it is a requirement.