Let’s kick things off with a disclaimer: I will not be reviewing the movie itself—which is amazing in every way, but rather the 4K digital presentation on Apple TV.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) provided us with the digital code. Because I typically review physical media, I do have high expectations when it comes to digital copies.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
- Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
- Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Mark Ruffalo, Jon Bernthal, Jacob Batalon, Sadie Sink, Florence Pugh, Liza Colón-Zayas
- Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 145 mins
- User Rating: ★ 7.9
Unfortunately, the first code provided by SPHE for the CosmoGo app had compatibility issues with the Android TV software on my Sony X900H display, which only played in 360p (that’s 36x fewer pixels than 4K). When I brought this to Sony’s attention, they kindly provided an alternative code for Apple TV.
Having reviewed physical media since 2001, I’ve been apprehensive about diving into digital copies, as I often found their quality lacking compared to discs. That being said, I found Apple TV’s presentation of Spider-Man: Brand New Day to be quite solid.
After my ill-fated experience with CosmoGo, which refused to stream above 360p, the Apple TV video quality stood out sharply. Streaming compression usually leads to visible artifacts, but I didn’t notice any from my primary seating position. The colours were bright and vibrant, and the picture was highly detailed without crushing the black levels. The shadow details remained visible in dark scenes.
While the picture was excellent, the audio did require some extra volume to hit my preferred listening level. Typically, I watch my 4K discs around -34 dB on my receiver, but I found I had to bump this digital version to around -22 dB to match those levels. This is fairly expected, as streaming tracks often feature lower audio levels.
Once adjusted, I was able to take full advantage of the Dolby Atmos soundstage. Hearing Spidey swing through the surround channels was awesome. The movie features a lot of action and certainly gave my dual subwoofers a workout. I did find the LFE to be slightly soft, but that could just be the sound mix itself rather than a limitation of the stream. I’ll have to compare this when I get my hands on the physical 4K disc.
In the future, I hope to get codes across multiple platforms to see how digital ownership and stream quality vary between them. For now, if you can’t wait for the 4K disc, this digital Apple TV version will absolutely hold you over.
