Wayne Parham Messages: 18835 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
With a good internet connection, streaming can be really good. Surprisingly good, considering the IP technology underneath it all, which is not meant for real-time signals. IP data is broken into packets which are individually sent, leaving some to potentially arrive late or not at all. But streaming video content is buffered sufficiently that it's more like a download than a real-time stream. The buffering allows time for any delayed packets to arrive.
All that said, physical media takes network connectivity out of the equation which increases stability and potentially quality too. This is especially true for Bluray disks, which generally have high-quality video and audio content.