Five days in, here are my thoughts:
1. Stunning, stunning, stunning.
2. Superb video clarity, colours, etc. And most importantly not even a hint of stutter, which has plagued me in plex when playing high bitrate content. (Wonder how they managed it. I mean, if they can deliver this for Bravia Core, they should be able to deliver this for all content)
The Imax enhanced films are totally worth it. Especially the older ones that have been remastered.
3. Audio: beyond real!
My speakers are still as they were when i calibrated them a year or so ago. But, hear me out boys, their top shelf dts decoding made me understand proper envelopment!
With Atmos, i knew there was envelopment, but i always wondered if the ceilings (while i could discern them) were really doing good duty.
With neural:x, there was no doubt! With the same avr and room correction settings, they were way much bolder and fuller than atmos on the Bravia Core movies.
(There was a point where I happened to be standing under a celing speaker, and the only sound i heard is from that speaker!)
I even tried switching for the same scenes between atmos and neural. Hands down, dts is the winner. That fullness is something i have never experienced with atmos even at higher dbs.
But here's the bad news.
4. Library: While without any doubt Core has given me the most movie joy in my room, there is a grand total of 31 Pure Stream movies, while the larger Core library is around 150-200 films.
And the thing is, with this tiny spread, what people like us will be interested in is new releases mastered well. So, it is totally not worth the 2500/year.
5. Who should sign up:
Anyone with a Core supported TV. Login is free. (30-day trial for select titles) And then you can purchase movies.
I, for one, have already decided that, while i may not subscribe, will pay the 700-800 asking price for new movies to watch. Equalizer 3 will be at home on Bravia Core and not in theatres. (kidding, if it is imax, i will watch it in theatre too; else, home is where i will catch Old Denny Boy )
6. So, what's all the fuss about:
I think Sony is trying a proof of concept streaming service, where the USP is high bit rate and all the audio options blu-ray gives you.
They are basically using Bravia users as test customers to figure how many people: 1. Truly have the bandwidth for high quality content, and 2. Are willing to pay for it.
7. How can Sony succeed?: If it collects good data from people like us and gets excited to roll it out on LGs and Samsung sales figures.
And eventually to any TV user with high bandwidth.
All said, great service. Am glad somebody called out the lie of the other streaming services. (Think of it as the movie equivalent of a Tidal lossless or a Prime Music HD)
Netflix streams at an average of 25 mbps, apple claims 40, and let's not talk about disney or prime.
So, very good, but not worth a subscription.
Final word: Bravia Core is for people with:
1. An enabled TV,
2. Have over 150 mbps stable connections,
3. Willing to pay 700 bucks for an Imax-lossless audio combo.
Not for:
1. People with varied interests, who would be better off sticking to rips.
All in all, a worthy effort, which will become pointless if the library is not expanded/service is not rolled out to other TVs.
As of today, this is just an experiment that i hope collects lots of good data for Sony, and convinces them for a wider rollout.
Nonetheless, this remains the best streaming platform purely on what it offers to the user.
Unfortunately, this is how all our streaming should be. Maybe, others will learn fast.
