Bad news for home theater enthusiasts

@fredrik222 can't be more correct. Kaleidescape is the only way to go when watching movies. 10x streaming's bandwidth. You haven't heard your sound system until you have tried one as your source. Picture is pristine. Both better than Blu Ray. Find your local dealer - they have a demo that they can drop off at your home for you to try out for a couple of days.

I am one of the luddites who still rents DVDs and Bluerays.  One thing few people talk about is depth of catalog.  Netflix DVD rental offers something like 100,000 titles, including many indie and foreign films, as well as music performance videos.  The Netflix streaming catalog is probably less than half the size of the disc rental catalog.  Sure DVD res and audio stink compared to BD and even streaming, but that doesn't matter if DVD is the only format a given film is offered in.  I had about 1000 films on two Netflix rental ques when they announced they were pulling the plug.  Dozens of great films and musical performances that aren't available on streaming will be lost to me forever, unless I want to purchase them, assuming they are even available in disc form.  It's really a shame.  If Netflix would duplicate their disc catalog for streaming, I would pay up for it.  Perhaps a multi-tiered subscription plan, like some other streaming services offer, could offer more indie and foreign releases.  Are you listening, Netflix?  

"Streaming" is a generic term with a lot of variables. That said, file transfer over the internet will be able to exceed the quality of physical media. Same thing with CDs, People think streaming music is not as good as physical media when the "better than CD quality" is already out there in the form of hi-res audio files. Will be the same for video. The only limitations will be what the provider offers, but the technology and infrastructure is already there and capable.

Stinks that physical media will fade away.  When I’ve done a/b comparisons a Blu-ray wins verses streaming but makes sense, the physical discs can hold a lot more data.  Not all streaming services are created equal, Apple TV tends to deliver the best picture sound, Disney Plus also was an early leader.  I’m sure streaming will evolve, hopefully it will.  I will say streaming a movies today that’s Dolby atmos is a step up from where it was several years ago but most services subscribe to the MP3 philosophy, achieving a certain level of information when it comes to soundtracks in movies is good enough, the incremental improvements after that aren’t noticed, Netflix follows this philosophy along with others.  These threads are great as you always learn about new products, I am going to look into the Kaleidescape, didn’t realize there was anything available that upped the ante on what’s possible streaming when it comes to movies.  

dean_palmer

... file transfer over the internet will be able to exceed the quality of physical media ... the technology and infrastructure is already there and capable.

No, the infrastructure is not "already there." Not even close, especially in the US.

Why you think physical media is inherently inferior to streaming?