The quality of movies these days is bad.

Not just the ‘hero’s journey’ template rehash designed to maximize merchandising sales, but also the quality of the end product when it finally arrives at your home through your router.

When my wife and I were searching for TVs to buy, the salesperson extolled the virtues of 4K resolution, color depth, and refresh rate attributes of high-end products, assuring us that these features were necessary to future-proof our purchase.

What the sales pitch failed to mention was the comparatively low quality of video streaming from services like Netflix, Prime Video, Binge, Paramount Plus, Disney Plus, Stan, Kayo, and ABC iView.

You can own the most expensive TV in the world, but if you’re streaming a movie from a server farm, you won’t get anywhere near the cinema experience promised on the label.

I’m a huge fan of physical media for many reasons—one being that ‘they’ can’t decide to censor it after I’ve ‘purchased’ it—and also because of the minimal compression of locally sourced video content.

When you stream a movie, several factors come into play, including your internet speed, any firewalls or antivirus software, the server capability of the service provider, the authentication/DRM of the platform, and whether your “smart” TV can handle the app and is up-to-date.

In contrast, when you play a DVD, Blu-ray, or CD, you simply open the tray and insert the disc.

Think of it this way: someone can text you photos of each page in a book as you read them, or you can bring the book to your home and read it directly. You’ll get the same story, but one will offer a far better experience.

At the end of the day, a 4K Blu-ray will provide about three to four times better picture and sound quality than a 4K Netflix stream. That’s the truth, though not every viewing needs that level of quality.

But we shouldn’t let physical media die just because streaming exists. So if you have a favourite movie and want to enjoy every colour and soundwave, put your $3000 TV to good use and watch it on a disc—you won’t be disappointed.