Is it do or die for 4k UHD in 2023? (1 Viewer)

[Colin Jacobson]

It's only a gimmick to entice sales. Businesses always have to innovate and "improve" their products to entice potential customers to purchase whatever they are selling.

From speaking with someone who actually does have an 8k TV (Samsung) the uninitiated (and that's a lot) will probably fall for the marketing.

I drive a 20 year old car.

Why?

Because the new vehicles are no different than the older ones. I am not going to part with my money if the car manufacturers cannot innovate and introduce new technological advances to give me an incentive to make the purchase.

No internal combustion engine vehicle can get any better mpg today than any vehicle made 30 years ago with the exception of perhaps some marginal improvements not worth even mentioning.

I've had Civics since 1995, and my 2021 Civic gets much better mileage than the 1995 version - probably 8-9 MPG on average.

Crud, the 2021 beats the 2015 Civic by at least 3-4 MPG.

Also, there are lots of technological innovations since 1995 - or 2002, in the case of your car.

My car has many different features that just weren't options 20 years ago.

 

[paul pisano]

15 dollars seems quite cheap. Still expensive in these times with inflation.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I've had Civics since 1995, and my 2021 Civic gets much better mileage than the 1995 version - probably 8-9 MPG on average.

Crud, the 2021 beats the 2015 Civic by at least 3-4 MPG.

Also, there are lots of technological innovations since 1995 - or 2002, in the case of your car.

My car has many different features that just weren't options 20 years ago.

Lots of safety innovations in the past 20 years, too. Back up cameras, rear object detection, blind spot detection, etc.

 

[Kyle_D]

Not to mention higher emissions standards. There's nothing wrong with driving an older car if it's still in good condition, but those of us who drive newer vehicles are not suckers either.

 

[Bryan^H]

Well if the rumor of Panasonic pulling the plug on all their 4K players next year is true, it certainly will not help the situation. At all.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Lots of safety innovations in the past 20 years, too. Back up cameras, rear object detection, blind spot detection, etc.

Not to mention higher emissions standards. There's nothing wrong with driving an older car if it's still in good condition, but those of us who drive newer vehicles are not suckers either.

Exactly. The belief that cars are no different today and not improved in any ways perplexes me.

The biggest issue IMO is that they're too complex and there's so much that can break down now.

Not that I've had issues with my Civics in that regard, but newer cars have so much computer technology in them that the opportunities for "home mechanics" to fix their own cars have been much more limited.

As noted, my 2021 Civic gets better mileage than any other Civic I've had - even the 2015. And it has tons of technology that none of its predecessors possessed.

The idea that a car from 2002 is virtually identical to one from 2022 just isn't remotely accurate.

 

[Worth]

Well if the rumor of Panasonic pulling the plug on all their 4K players next year is true, it certainly will not help the situation. At all.

That would leave only Sony and LG.

 

[Kyle_D]

Well if the rumor of Panasonic pulling the plug on all their 4K players next year is true, it certainly will not help the situation. At all.

I have not seen that rumor. Do you have a link?

That would leave only Sony and LG.

There are also niche manufacturers like Reavon and grey market Chinoppo clones, but they hardly count.

Series X and PS5 still support UHD, but the format is not a true selling point for the consoles like DVD was for PS2 and Blu-ray was for PS3, and the next generation of consoles will likely omit disc drives entirely.

Discontinuation of dedicated players will be the true beginning of the end.

 

[Bryan^H]

I have not seen that rumor. Do you have a link?



There are also niche manufacturers like Reavon and grey market Chinoppo clones, but they hardly count.

Series X and PS5 still support UHD, but the format is not a true selling point for the consoles like DVD was for PS2 and Blu-ray was for PS3, and the next generation of consoles will likely omit disc drives entirely.

Discontinuation of dedicated players will be the true beginning of the end.

I've seen the rumor a few times on other like websites over the last year. And I honestly couldn't pinpoint them as I read them months ago in random threads.

Nothing concrete for sure (one of the posts states there is an NDA preventing the info from leaking I remember).

Take with a barrel of salt. But if it does happen you are right, beginning of the end.

 

[Tony Bensley]

It's pretty much impossible to find 4K discs for less than $30 here in Canada. The Criterion Lost Highway is $65 on amazon.ca.

Yup. That's typical Amazon Derp CA pricing for you!!

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Well if the rumor of Panasonic pulling the plug on all their 4K players next year is true, it certainly will not help the situation. At all.

Well, if that's really happening, guess many of us will rush to snap up an extra Panny or two. Maybe I should just finally snap up an 820 the next time there's a good sale for it... as I only have a 420 (though don't really need DV for FP setup) anyway...

Hmmm... the 820 is already back down to $400 right now...

_Man_

 

[Mike Boone]

This.

On the lower end, you have the standard new equipment upgrade where one ends up with a standard 4K blu-ray player and 4K TV because that is what is available. They can now support UHD but the setup may not be the best at outputting HDR. Will those people feel the need to upgrade to UHD disks, especially catalog titles they already have on blu-ray.

On the higher end, you have those that already went with high-quality setups prior to UHD that maybe can't afford to just upgrade all the hardware to be of equal quality in a 4K/UHD configuration. The interest may be there, but they may have a few years yet before they can commit. This is where I currently exist.

You make a good point

Well if the rumor of Panasonic pulling the plug on all their 4K players next year is true, it certainly will not help the situation. At all.

Yes, Panasonic pulling the plug on production of their 4K Blu-ray players would really feel like it was hitting home here, since the only 4K players that we've ever had, are the 2 Panasonic UB820 players that are used in our basement theater room, as well as in our living room.

 

[Robert Harris]

Fortunately, the new 8k council has been formed. We're in good shape. Can't wait for TX Chainsaw Massacree in 8k. We'll see amoebae munching on grain.

Cute little creatures, really. But dour personalities.

 

[Carl David]

Fortunately, the new 8k council has been formed. We're in good shape. Can't wait for TX Chainsaw Massacree in 8k. We'll see amoebae munching on grain.

Cute little creatures, really. But dour personalities.

Magic!!

I will lobby for a 8k restoration of "The Hills Have Eyes".

I would love to see "Basic Instinct" in 8k.

It's perhaps best I don't elaborate as to why.

 

[Mike Boone]

Fortunately, the new 8k council has been formed. We're in good shape. Can't wait for TX Chainsaw Massacree in 8k. We'll see amoebae munching on grain.

Cute little creatures, really. But dour personalities.

Fortunately, the new 8k council has been formed. We're in good shape. Can't wait for TX Chainsaw Massacree in 8k. We'll see amoebae munching on grain.

Cute little creatures, really. But dour personalities.

RAH, I'm assuming that your humorous imagining of seeing " amoebae munching on grain" is an indicator of the sad reality that since the original Texas "Massacree" flick was only shot on 16mm film, the capacity of a well produced 1080p Blu-ray should certainly suffice for being able to present all the detail contained on the OCN of the film, so that the "improvement" which fans of that horror classic are likely to actually notice with the new 4k Blu-ray, compared to the image that their 1080p Blu-ray copies of the film display, is a somewhat more sharp & prominent grain structure. So am I correct to assume, RAH, that you'd call this 4k release a pure cash GRAB from the unwary?

I had noticed that Amazon is currently offering a Pre-order Price Guarantee for the 4k UHD BD of 1974's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, so that 4k fans can lock in that "hotly awaited" 4k disc at the cheap "bargain" price of a mere $32.99. Well OK, such a cost to unwary consumers isn't exactly a bargain, but it could have been worse, since such a counterfeit 4k Blu-ray could have been sold to some fans at its supposedly "original retail price" of $44.98. (Really always get a kick out of seeing a product "discounted" from a supposedly "original retail price", although in reality, NO customer had EVER bought the product while it carried such a high, and purely fictional, "original retail price"!)