What's new

Article: 4K Blu-ray Discs Arriving in 2015 (1 Viewer)

OliverK

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2000
Messages
5,713
It was about time this was announced - it is ludicrous to have 4k streaming but no 4k physical disc format.Where is the other thread about the new format by the way? Has it been moved?
 

bruceames

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
777
Real Name
Bruce Ames
The Blu-ray Disc Association counts big studios as board members, including Disney, Warner, Fox, and Sony -- which makes both Blu-ray players and runs its Sony Entertainment studio. Also members of the association are Lionsgate, Universal, and Paramount.
"At one level or another all Hollywood is on board," Matsuda said.[
It's a good start but I'll save my real excitement for when the actual studios say they're on board, and not the BDA president saying to the effect that they'll have to be just because they're a member of the BDA. The BDA has their agenda and so do the studios. They have to look at what has the BDA done for them. Well they have delivered a product that has only attained a 32% market share after 8 years while at the same time they all want to go digital. 4K Blu-ray will be even more niche so the only way I see them being enthusiastic about it is if prices are set high enough to offset low volume. That means not just bumping up the price $5 while including the other 4 discs in the combo and calling it a day. All that does is help extend the life of a medium that hasn't delivered that much to begin with, while perhaps slowing down the transition to digital which they are so eager for.
So no this would have to be truly niche for the people with large displays and for collectors of physical media. Like Towergrove said, Laserdisc levels. Well Laserdisc thrived at such low volume because it wasn't cheap.
Also I think players will not be "stand alone" anymore but will require an internet connection to play back 4K discs. Sony themselves seem to be behind this as much as anyone, so I would be surprised if just an electrical outlet was necessary for the new players. It's great to have the data on disc because it's the best storage medium and I don't think download speed will be up to snuff for some time. But I think there may be strings attached to make it a digital purchase, something like what Microsoft wanted to do with the Xbox One before they backed off. But if that's the worst case then I can live with it because at least the data will be on disc and I won't have to worrying about crappy bitrates from streaming.
Anyway good news but for me the real good news are a few of the major studios say they're on board. Sorry if it comes off as too pessimist but I can't help but see this from other points of view besides the BDA and Blu-ray fans.
 

bruceames

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
777
Real Name
Bruce Ames
Ethan Riley said:
If 4k requires an Internet connection, then why would I bother with buying it as a physical medium in the first place?
Having it on disc is a huge advantage so you don't have to worry about having too slow of an internet connection or having to wait x hours for a movie to download (where even then the movie will be tied to one device that the HD is connected to).

The internet requirement would only be for authentication and probably only for a few seconds so any connection will do. If that's too much to ask for then the end user probably isn't that much interested in 4K in the first place.

Again, just trying to see this from the studios point of view. We all know how much noise they've made on digital the last few years, but no one (besides the president of the BDA) has made a peep regarding 4K Blu-ray.

The First Sale doctrine has been a thorn in the side of media for a long time. It doesn't apply to digital sales and that's why Microsoft wanted to go digital with the Xbox One, just having the disc so people wouldn't have to wait x hours for a download and for them to be able to a physical product to touch and see as all collector's do. I hope it doesn't come down to that but the signs so far don't look too promising.
 

bruceames

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
777
Real Name
Bruce Ames
Keith Cobby said:
I am suspicious of this internet connectivity. You may be able to buy a disc but to activate/run it will require authorisation?
That's what Sony has gone on record as wanting, at least for digital. If they want it for digital, then I can't imagine why they wouldn't want it for disc-based purchases as well. After all, disc is still digital bits on disc and all studios are clamoring for more control over their content. And with nearly everybody having internet these days, they're not worried about losing sales to people who don't have it (practically all of those who don't have at least a whiff of internet probably can't afford 4K anyway).
 

FoxyMulder

映画ファン
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
5,385
Location
Scotland
Real Name
Malcolm
I hope an internet connection is not required, this would likely put an end to importing titles from other regions, i stick the disc into my legitimate Region A player but will it open the pod bay doors, nope, HAL tells me it can't do that, apparently it's got my IP and doesn't want to play nice, studio's want too much control over content we have bought dozens of times over.

It'll be a few years before the tech catches up with what the disc is capable of, TV's/Projectors still can't do Rec 2020.
 

bruceames

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
777
Real Name
Bruce Ames
FoxyMulder said:
It'll be a few years before the tech catches up with what the disc is capable of, TV's/Projectors still can't do Rec 2020.
Yeah good news is that it's got a higher color space and higher frame rate capabilities, both of which can be appreciated from normal viewing distances. Guess I'll have to buy another 4K TV to take advantage of it when the time comes.
 

rsmithjr

Screenwriter
Joined
Oct 22, 2011
Messages
1,228
Location
Palo Alto, CA
Real Name
Robert Smith
From the perspective of the user interested in quality, it seems to me that streaming will always be inferior to packaged media in terms of the actual results, provided packaged media stays in business. The reason is that streaming providers will always care less about the quality of their masters from many perspectives, and decisions about things like bandwidth will be made on the basis of cost and convenience rather than quality.

From the perspective of the studios, there is still a lot of money to be made in packaged media compared to streaming. We pay good money for Blu-ray disks of titles that are available on Netflix and Amazon for a small fraction of the cost of the Blu-ray disk. The business has its share of problems, but given that new digital masters are being created anyway (for archival purposes as well as all distribution channels), pumping out Blu-rays (2K and 4L) seems like a sound business strategy.

I don't think the first-sale doctrine is as much of a concern as it once was. Studios see that they can continue to resell titles that have been released multiple times in various formats. Renting and borrowing are way down from what they were.
 

Persianimmortal

Screenwriter
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
1,376
Location
Canberra, Australia
Real Name
Koroush Ghazi
rsmithjr said:
From the perspective of the user interested in quality, it seems to me that streaming will always be inferior to packaged media in terms of the actual results, provided packaged media stays in business.
True, but how many users are interested in quality? Blu-ray has proven that most are not. Hence 4K Blu-ray will be DOA.
 

FoxyMulder

映画ファン
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
5,385
Location
Scotland
Real Name
Malcolm
Persianimmortal said:
True, but how many users are interested in quality? Blu-ray has proven that most are not. Hence 4K Blu-ray will be DOA.
It could be DOA because most studio's might not support it, just like Dolby Atmos, where only two studio's are so far supporting it. Or it could become a nice little niche market, higher prices, smaller sales, some happy UHD owners, who knows.

All they need to do is put out a 4K re-mastered edition of Spartacus, make it an exclusive and not available on blu ray and they would pull me in, i'd probably buy a handful of discs and several years later buy the equipment to watch them on. :lol:
 

Persianimmortal

Screenwriter
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
1,376
Location
Canberra, Australia
Real Name
Koroush Ghazi
From the article at the beginning of this thread:
Consumers who've bought copies of the same movie in VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray aren't necessarily going to buy another version in Blu-ray 4K, and movie studios aren't necessarily going to go to the trouble of remastering existing movies to take full advantage of the new format. But for new movies, already often produced in 4K versions, the decision to support the format is a lot easier.
So again, I'm really not sure how exciting 4K Blu-ray will be for those of us who primarily prefer catalog titles. As for boutique providers doing niche UHD catalog titles - let's remember how much whining and squealing there's been over Twilight Time's premium prices. Catalog lovers seem to have champagne tastes but only allocate a beer budget for them, so I don't see that niche going anywhere but straight into the toilet!

Sorry to sound like such a negative nelly regarding 4K Blu-ray, but it really does seem like another example of the hardware manufacturers pushing something onto consumers where there is absolutely no demand.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,710
Messages
5,121,076
Members
144,145
Latest member
treed99
Recent bookmarks
0
Top