4K Digital vs Standard Blu-ray only

[yanksno1]

Hi, I've noticed lately a bunch of movies have 4K Digital releases, but only Standard Blu-ray releases (no 4K ones). Dog (2022), Licorice Pizza (won't buy that one haha), Airplane!, Memory (2022) being some of them I've noticed. So far, only think Memory actually looked 4K quality where the others looked basic 1080p up-scaled. I think The Black Phone is another one.

I remember one video by Films At Home saying one strategy some studios are doing is releasing only the Standard Blu-ray first, 4K Digital online and then releasing a 4K Blu-ray later pissing collectors off and having them double dip there. I think this happened with The Contractor, but not sure.

I might be asking this in the wrong forum, but are you guys buying the Standard Blu-ray in cases like these or the 4K digital release?

[meremortal]

It's kind of a tricky situation. Most of the time I'll just get the blu.

[NDcowboy]

With my money I’d buy the disc every time. I’ll double dip if I love the movie. I don’t mind streaming if it’s free (with ads). I hate the idea of streaming 4k as the stars need to align for non buffering video.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by yanksno1

I might be asking this in the wrong forum, but are you guys buying the Standard Blu-ray in cases like these or the 4K digital release?

4K digital.

Even if the upgrade from 2K to 4K isn't a big difference, the HDR/WCG is usually an improvement. That being said, even 4K SDR can have quite lovely PQ, as I recently watched "Jingle All The Way" recently in 4K SDR digital, and it looked fantastic.

[nickg]

is it a native 4k remaster on digital or an upscale? sure hdr can help a lot, but if its the same master just upscaled with *streaming hdr* tossed on. yeah no disc all the way.

[kannibaliztik]

Originally Posted by nickg

is it a native 4k remaster on digital or an upscale? sure hdr can help a lot, but if its the same master just upscaled with *streaming hdr* tossed on. yeah no disc all the way.

Can you clarify what you mean? 4K digital streams are not just 'upscaled with streaming hdr', whatever that means.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Originally Posted by nickg

is it a native 4k remaster on digital or an upscale? sure hdr can help a lot, but if its the same master just upscaled with *streaming hdr* tossed on. yeah no disc all the way.

Jingle All the Way was 35mm, and Fox did a real 4k SDR scan and remaster of the OCN before the Disney merger. Granted, digital streams have lower bitrates and compression artifacts, but if the source is different and new master it can look better than the BD overall (if that uses an older/very problematic HD master).

Keep in mind with digital streams that some retailers/providers have better A/V quality than others (Amazon Video and Apple TV look the best with Google Play and Vudu being the worst). Titles with lots of grain fare the worst with compression, with some being block city and others smoothing out to mush. Some PV and ATV streams in 1080p can rival BD equivalents, but this tends to be for newer films shot on digital. Of course there are cases with sequences containing fast moving shots and activity that can cause the compression on digital while the disc version stays a consistent healthy bitrate (most of the time, and even physicals don't always have the best compression methods depending on encoding and disc compacity).

Generally it varies on both sides.

[nickg]

Originally Posted by kannibaliztik

Can you clarify what you mean? 4K digital streams are not just 'upscaled with streaming hdr', whatever that means.

the type of dolby vision streaming uses is worse than what uhd discs use.

if its not a native 4k video i'll choose the disc over the 4k stream for better bitrate.

[Rizalxsd9]

contractor 4k

[kannibaliztik]

Originally Posted by nickg

the type of dolby vision streaming uses is worse than what uhd discs use.

[lgans316]

Originally Posted by nickg

the type of dolby vision streaming uses is worse than what uhd discs use.

if its not a native 4k video i'll choose the disc over the 4k stream for better bitrate.

Haha. Nice try.

[yanksno1]

Originally Posted by SpaceBlackKnight

Keep in mind with digital streams that some retailers/providers have better A/V quality than others (Amazon Video and Apple TV look the best with Google Play and Vudu being the worst).

I thought it was Vudu, Apple TV being the best with Prime Video, Google Play being the worst.

This Die Hard 4K Blu-ray release I'm watching right now isn't anything to write home about. Think I'll stick with my standard Blu-ray set on this one.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Originally Posted by yanksno1

I thought it was Vudu, Apple TV being the best with Prime Video, Google Play being the worst.

This Die Hard 4K Blu-ray release I'm watching right now isn't anything to write home about. Think I'll stick with my standard Blu-ray set on this one.

What I mean by Apple TV is playing iTunes purchases/rentals on a ATV device has better PQ than the iTunes download on a PC. The ATV channels have relatively solid PQ and ScreenPix has loads of stuff for only $2.99 a month.

[yanksno1]

Just watched Beast (2022) the other day and this is one of those titles (at least so far). But the 4K DV picture actually looked great, and the Atmos soundtrack was decent enough (but not great or anything). Wouldn't be surprised if it comes to 4K Blu-ray soon. But I'll buy this over the Standard Blu-ray cause it was a pretty good 4K picture.

[JG85]

So it appears it depends on the movie on whether 4K digital is better than a 1080p blu-ray disc? I was going to make a thread about this until I saw this thread made already. But if let's say I own for instance "Wrath of Man" on blu-ray already would the 4K digital give me a better picture than the physical 1080p blu-ray?

[avs commenter]

Originally Posted by JG85

So it appears it depends on the movie on whether 4K digital is better than a 1080p blu-ray disc? I was going to make a thread about this until I saw this thread made already. But if let's say I own for instance "Wrath of Man" on blu-ray already would the 4K digital give me a better picture than the physical 1080p blu-ray?

Of course. 4K HDR beats HD. Unless you have a real crappy Wi-Fi situation

[cleeve]

Originally Posted by JG85

So it appears it depends on the movie on whether 4K digital is better than a 1080p blu-ray disc? I was going to make a thread about this until I saw this thread made already. But if let's say I own for instance "Wrath of Man" on blu-ray already would the 4K digital give me a better picture than the physical 1080p blu-ray?

It's not really a "depends on the movie" situation. 4K HDR streaming is going to look better than a 1080p blu-ray disc, as long as you're using a quality streaming service and your internet is up to snuff.

[JG85]

Originally Posted by cleeve

It's not really a "depends on the movie" situation. 4K HDR streaming is going to look better than a 1080p blu-ray disc, as long as you're using a quality streaming service and your internet is up to snuff.

Oh, okay. How about if the 4K digital movie doesn't have HDR but only just says 4K like "Robocop" 4K digital for instance?

[stonesfan129]

Originally Posted by yanksno1

I might be asking this in the wrong forum, but are you guys buying the Standard Blu-ray in cases like these or the 4K digital release?

I'm buying digitally these days. It's just so much easier to deal with. My parents and I share our collection between two different homes. There are lots of deals. I don't think I've ever paid more than $10 for anything apart from new releases that I want to watch now.

I will not re-buy anything that doesn't redeem digitally though. Like if I can't scan the UPC and get a digital copy for $2, then I'm not buying it again. In those cases, disc gets ripped/compressed a bit and stuck on an external hard drive and I serve those up through Plex.

[jtheys]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

I'm buying digitally these days. It's just so much easier to deal with. My parents and I share our collection between two different homes. There are lots of deals. I don't think I've ever paid more than $10 for anything apart from new releases that I want to watch now.

I will not re-buy anything that doesn't redeem digitally though. Like if I can't scan the UPC and get a digital copy for $2, then I'm not buying it again. In those cases, disc gets ripped/compressed a bit and stuck on an external hard drive and I serve those up through Plex.

This. Exactly. Agree 100%.