UHD Blu-ray Disc Association Completes Ultra HD Blu-ray™ Specification and Releases New Logo (1 Viewer)

[Sam Favate]

The Digital Bits has a nice update today on the technical specifications of Ultra, which includes the first mention I've seen that compatibility with DVD, CD, SACD, DVD Audio, and so on, will be left to the individual manufacturers.


http://www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/051315_1300


If the manufacturers are smart, they'll include them all.

 

[Tony Bensley]

The Digital Bits has a nice update today on the technical specifications of Ultra, which includes the first mention I've seen that compatibility with DVD, CD, SACD, DVD Audio, and so on, will be left to the individual manufacturers.


http://www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/051315_1300


If the manufacturers are smart, they'll include them all.

Hi Sam!


In other words, it'll fall to individual consumers to search for Ultra HD Blu-ray Players that will also play their "old" DVDs?


Oh great!

 

[Persianimmortal]

I think the oft-quoted Laserdisc analogy is erroneous. Aside from a host of obvious benefits, like the ability to see a film in its original (widescreen) aspect ratio, noticeably better image and audio quality, and greater durability than VHS, Laserdisc came along at the dawn of physical home media, just as it was starting to pick up pace (and eventually boom with DVD). 4K BD on the other hand offers arguably the least noticeable increase in quality (or any other benefit) of all the formats thus far, and arrives just as physical media is riding off into the sunset.


So I think that suggesting that 4K BD will be a "niche format" like Laserdisc is a bit misleading. It implies that 4K BD will have a steadily growing range of titles and solid adoption among enthusiasts, as Laserdisc did, whereas I believe it will have a smattering of big-name titles, be shunned by many enthusiasts who have format fatigue, and suddenly die off when 4K streaming/download reaches critical mass in a few years.

 

[Dan_Shane]

So I think that suggesting that 4K BD will be a "niche format" like Laserdisc is a bit misleading. It implies that 4K BD will have a steadily growing range of titles and solid adoption among enthusiasts, as Laserdisc did, whereas I believe it will have a smattering of big-name titles, be shunned by many enthusiasts who have format fatigue, and suddenly die off when 4K streaming/download reaches critical mass in a few years.

As much as I hate to agree with this prediction I am afraid I must.


I am keen to see a side-by-side comparison of 1080p vs. UltraHD, but even if I could see the difference it's beyond unlikely that I am going to replace my discs yet again. And this from a person who has always cared deeply about image quality from the old 70mm and Cinerama days.

 

[Rick Thompson]

I just can't see myself upgrading my collection, save maybe for a few of the wide-screen "cast of thousands" epics such as Ben-Hur or The Ten Commandments, or something showing wide vistas (ex: The Big Country).


For the CGI spectaculars and modest cast films, no.


Of course, if they were to do an UltraHD of The Alamo . . .

 

[Tony Bensley]

My guess is that any initial UHD-BD's issued will include the usual suspects.


CHEERS!

 

[Dr Griffin]

I'd like to hear how Blu-rays look upconverted on 4K TVs now, from those that actually have the TVs/Projectors and upconverting BD players. I had posted this request somewhere before, but I don't think I ever got a response.

 

[TheSteig]

I was thinking about all the titles the major studios will release yet again, for certain the upper tier mainstream films "Now in Ultra HD" ( heavy SIGH)

Wizard of Oz

Blade Runner

Alien

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Gone with the Wind

Casablanca

The Terminator

Exorcist

Jaws

King Kong

Ben Hur

Planet of the Apes

ID4

Die Hard

Robocop


They have no trouble releasing these all the time every year , in fact some are getting Best Buy Exclusives next month !

 

[Rick Thompson]

I was thinking about all the titles the major studios will release yet again, for certain the upper tier mainstream films "Now in Ultra HD" ( heavy SIGH)

Wizard of Oz

Blade Runner

Alien

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Gone with the Wind

Casablanca

The Terminator

Exorcist

Jaws

King Kong

Ben Hur

Planet of the Apes

ID4

Die Hard

Robocop


They have no trouble releasing these all the time every year , in fact some are getting Best Buy Exclusives next month !

Out of all those, only Ben-Hur and GWTW might get me to buy -- assuming I can see a difference.

 

[Sam Favate]

I am very shocked the studios are supporting 4k.


I remember when Blu-ray was initially proposed and one studio executive cited, "We are not going to give out master copies of our films to the public."


Now with 4k, the studios are essentially making available the most pristine versions of their library.


And copy protection? They were assured, with Blu-ray, that their films would be protected from piracy. We saw that did not succeed. No matter how much they try to copy protect 4k, we all know the encoding will be cracked and 2160p masters will be available for home duplication or downloads on bittorent sites. I am just astonished that the studios are putting themselves in that position.

I was thinking about this. It must be that the studios simply don't expect to sell very many copies in 4k, and they believe that streaming is the future. Sure, they'll sell a bunch of copies to people like us - probably at a hefty price ("Pristine copies of your favorite movies!") - in physical media, but the rest of the world will be content with what they get from streaming, without the pesky need to have shelves full of movies.


A friend of mine and his wife were DVD enthusiasts; they went for blu-ray even before the format war was settled. But as time has gone on, they stopped buying discs and now rely on streaming. His wife even started selling off their discs! ("Leave her!" I said.) She doesn't want all that space in her house going to movies, that's what it comes down to.


Anecdotal evidence, of course, but it's exactly what seems to be happening.

 

[Bryan^H]

I was thinking about all the titles the major studios will release yet again, for certain the upper tier mainstream films "Now in Ultra HD" ( heavy SIGH)
Wizard of Oz
Blade Runner
Alien
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Gone with the Wind
Casablanca
The Terminator
Exorcist
Jaws
King Kong
Ben Hur
Planet of the Apes
ID4
Die Hard
Robocop

They have no trouble releasing these all the time every year , in fact some are getting Best Buy Exclusives next month !

I'd love to see Close Encounters, and Planet Of The Apes in UHD.
That would be all I need to get into the 4k market.

 

[atfree]

I was thinking about all the titles the major studios will release yet again, for certain the upper tier mainstream films "Now in Ultra HD" ( heavy SIGH)

Wizard of Oz

Blade Runner

Alien

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Gone with the Wind

Casablanca

The Terminator

Exorcist

Jaws

King Kong

Ben Hur

Planet of the Apes

ID4

Die Hard

Robocop


They have no trouble releasing these all the time every year , in fact some are getting Best Buy Exclusives next month !

I'd add The Bridge on the River Kwai and the Bond series to this list. Even then, just a couple of movies will not move me to UHD/4K. Even with my almost 600 BD collection, I still spend the watch majority of my "screen time" watching TV (sports, several network and cable series), probably at a 4:1 ratio. So until broadcast/cable/satellite makes a big move to UHD/4K, I won't be motivated to upgrade.

 

[Matt Hough]

Yep, the first title I felt was missing from this list was Goldfinger. That always seems to be among the first Bond films to get ported to any new format.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

And hasn't there already been a 4K screening of Goldfinger either announced or taken place?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

...whereas I believe it will have a smattering of big-name titles...

And one other thing that's been mentioned on different threads about 4K is that a lot of current Hollywood blockbusters, the titles that in theory might be most appealing to the mass-market crowd, were never even completed at 4K, so it's not possible to put them on a disc in true 4K resolution.


Popular and visually impressive titles like the Marvel movies (Avengers, Iron Man, etc), Gravity, Skyfall, and many more were completed at 2K, so that's what they'll forever be. And then there are plenty of movies that are finished in 4K, for example "The Amazing Spider-Man 2", which had all of the effects work done at 2K, so every time you've got a shot without special effects its in 4K, and then whenever it switches to a shot with an effect, it's down to 2K - so even though Sony is calling it "mastered in 4K" it's not a true 4K experience from start to finish. Will studios release these 2K titles on Ultra HD Blu-ray anyway? I suppose they'd still benefit from the better color that it's supposed to have, but will that be enough of a difference for people to notice, or will they feel let down after buying all of this equipment and finding that the latest and greatest blockbusters look almost identical between regular Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray?


Kind of ironic that it'll actually be far easier and more technically feasible for studios to make 4K copies of anything that was finished on film, but not for a lot of more recent titles. So if you want the most recent Bond movie in 4K, it just can't happen, but if you want "Goldfinger" in 4K, that's no problem.

 

[BernardDB]

I understand that, to appreciate higher definition of the picture, you need a larger screen, or you need to sit closer to the screen.
Shall I then be able to see clearly the edges of a 4K picture with AR 16/9?

 

[Richard V]

I'd like to hear how Blu-rays look upconverted on 4K TVs now, from those that actually have the TVs/Projectors and upconverting BD players. I had posted this request somewhere before, but I don't think I ever got a response.

I have a 4K TV (Sharp), 70" with an Oppo 103 BD player and IMO there is a slightly noticable improvement in PQ, but much depends on the quality of the BD transfer, of course. Where there is a definite improvement is watching a DVD upconverted to 4K by the Oppo. Of course YMMV.

 

[David Deeb]

4K could have a chance if suddenly all the BD players & all the HD TVs were yanked from store shelves, and replaced with equivalently priced 4K players and TVs. And of course the players would have to be backwards compatible. Then, it could move forward as the standard.


If you were buying electronics, you'd get this new format and use it by default.


Of course, average consumers will be further confused by the 3 identically looking products. Strolling Target or Best Buy anymore is already headache inducing, and I love physical media. They have DVDs and BDs all mixed in together, but broken into dozens of sections like "comedy", "drama", "TV", "Under $5", etc. Can you imagine a 3rd media mixed in all that?


Here's a grand idea that the studios should take note, but will never do: drop region coding.


Physical media lovers are worldwide. Let Americans buy European BDs and play them at home. Ship American BDs all over the world. Open up the products to movie lovers & quit treating them as the criminal. I know this doesn't have anything to do with 4K directly, but I do think studios, in their quest to find new revenue streams, will find more success by dropping region coding over reselling 4K "Jaws" or "Goldfinger" to a small group.

 

[Alan Tully]

It's always tempting to knock this stuff, esp. as the public seem to prefer convenience over quality (MP3). But one thing that could help, & that's the size of screens these days. People who were thinking that maybe a 42" telly was a bit big five years ago, are now thinking of 50" or 60"...& of course will there be the discs available? 4K & done right. I'd think this will favour the big epics over the small movies (& it won't do much for b/w). Will the studios screw it up? Will a decent selection be available? Will they overprice it?

 

[TheSteig]

I'd add The Bridge on the River Kwai and the Bond series to this list. Even then, just a couple of movies will not move me to UHD/4K. Even with my almost 600 BD collection, I still spend the watch majority of my "screen time" watching TV (sports, several network and cable series), probably at a 4:1 ratio. So until broadcast/cable/satellite makes a big move to UHD/4K, I won't be motivated to upgrade.

Oh for sure, those were just off the top of my head.. Im sure a few more mainstream titles would be certain, to name a few more

Bridge of the River Kwai

James Bond movies (especially the Daniel Craig ones)

Transformers movies

The Avengers

The Xmen movies

Harry Potter movies

Lord of the Rings movies

The Batman movies

Indiana Jones

Sherlock Holmes - the Downey films

Rocky

Scarface

The Godfather

Lawrence of Arabia

Citizen Kane

Godzilla 2014