4K Blu-ray Confirmed, Coming in

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by raygendreau

A new article from Whathifi Pulls together what is known to date.

http://www.whathifi.com/news/ultra-h...u-need-to-know

Re pricing for the new UHD BR players. The closest equivalent players are the PS4 and Xbox 1, which are around $400. So, two to three times would be a price range of $800 to $1,200. This assumes that the UHD-BR players have internal storage. Take $200 off the price range if they don't.

They specifically stated no initial UHD Blu-ray players are in the $1,000 range. I'd say the most expensive will hover around $600.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

They specifically stated no initial UHD Blu-ray players are in the $1,000 range. I'd say the most expensive will hover around $600.

Where did you see them specifically state that?

According to the WhatHiFi article they had this to say but it's far from definitive.

As for the Ultra HD Blu-ray players, these are set to be "two to three times the cost" of HD machines according to Martin. With the cost of Blu-ray players ranging from under £100 right up to £500, this leaves plenty of room for speculation.

[raygendreau]

The key word in this quote from Ron Martin, Panasonic is: 'equivalent'


"Clearly, the first-generation machines won't be cheap.

"It will be high to start with, relatively speaking," Martin said. "But it won't be as severe as some launches in the past. Maybe two to three times the cost of equivalent HD players. But that will drop over time."

http://www.whathifi.com/news/ultra-h...568cUiqKHek.99

The closest you can come to an equivalent are the two consoles I mentioned in my last post. Can you think of another player that would be anywhere near equivalent?

[Kirsty_Mc]

Originally Posted by What HiFi

In terms of your display, your 4K TV won't need to have the HEVC codec. The players will be able to work out what your TV is capable of and downscale the disc's content accordingly.
Read more at http://www.whathifi.com/news/ultra-h...GYzI7kfzaZI.99

What the hell does this mean? Surely the player will decode and send a HDMI signal! I would treat what these lot say with a bucket of salt, it seems that they are just repeaters and probably not very accurate ones at that.

[raygendreau]

Originally Posted by Kirsty_Mc

What the hell does this mean? Surely the player will decode and send a HDMI signal! I would treat what these lot say with a bucket of salt, it seems that they are just repeaters and probably not very accurate ones at that.

Yes, the new UHD BR players will decode H-265 HEVC and send the uncompressed content to the TV via HDMI. They will also have down converters that will strip HDR from a UHD BR HDR or from a BD HDR if your display is not HDR ready. It will also down convert a UHD BR to 1080P if you do not have a UHD display. That is what he is referring to.

If you have a smart UHD display, and it has Netflix, Amazon apps, the display will have a H-265 HEVC decoder and it will take the UHD stream directly without a player.

[reanimator]

Fox to Be First Studio to Create All Movies in High Dynamic Range, Ultra HD for Home Viewing

The future of UHD just got a big shot in the arm...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/beh...-create-796952

[Brightstar]

can someone tell me when they will start selling 4k OLED TV'S? (only LG is the company selling them) I would like to see all 4k tv's go OLED.

[Geoff D]

I like the bit about how the prices "won't be as severe as some launches in the past", that's encouraging. Then we get the bit about "equivalent" players though. I know I keep mentioning the Panasonic BDT700 but it's the nearest thing to a full 4K player without actually playing 4K and it costs about £400/£500, so two or three times that =

[jono3000]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I like the bit about how the prices "won't be as severe as some launches in the past", that's encouraging. Then we get the bit about "equivalent" players though. I know I keep mentioning the Panasonic BDT700 but it's the nearest thing to a full 4K player without actually playing 4K and it costs about £400/£500, so two or three times that =

I really can't see them being more than £500. They won't sell players that cost more than the 4K TVs.

[bailey1987]

Looking at amazon and only using players that are in stock by amazon the cheapest player is the Samsung-BD-F5100 at £48.99 the dearest is the Panasonic-DBPMT700EB9 at £566.28 OPPO have an exspensive one at £1175.00 on there but it's a third part seller selling a multi region model so you will be paying for it chipping as well for that reason it's not included

Cheapest Samsung £48.99:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-BD-F...ay+disc+player

Dearest Panasonic £566.28:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DM...ay+disc+player


Excluded OPPO £1175.00:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/BDP105D-Mult...ay+disc+player

Quick math

£48.99 * 3 = £146.97
£566.28 * 3 = £1,698.84

Obviously we are looking at launch prices between £146.97 - £1,698.84 that's here in England.

[jono3000]

There are now a large number of 4K TV owners in the UK who purchased/will purchase their TV for £500-£1000.
There is no chance of them spending the same amount again for an Ultra HD player.

[bailey1987]

Originally Posted by reanimator

Fox to Be First Studio to Create All Movies in High Dynamic Range, Ultra HD for Home Viewing

The future of UHD just got a big shot in the arm...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/beh...-create-796952

Well that gives us a rough estimate at what the launch titles could be

20th Century Fox
Upcoming Releases

Poltergeist (2015) 5/22/15
Spy 6/5/15
Paper Towns 7/24/15
Fantastic Four 8/7/15
Hitman: Agent 47 8/21/15
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials 9/18/15
Victor Frankenstein 10/2/15
The Peanuts Movie 11/6/15
The Martian 11/25/15
Alvin and the Chipmunks The Road Chip 12/23/15
Joy 12/25/15
The Revenant 12/25/15

Previous 2015 releases:

January 9, 2015 Taken 3
February 13, 2015 Kingsman: The Secret Service
March 6, 2015 Unfinished Business
March 27, 2015 Home
April 10, 2015 The Longest Ride


There's only really Poltergeist that stands a chance, titles released in august will only have a four month window there likely to be released in January. Anything up to Hitman: Agent 47 after that I can't see it happening.

Out of all the releases this year there's only Poltergeist that I have made plans to see the rest I will probably never see, I hope Poltergeist is a launch title along with the original three films Mabry even the TV series.

[raygendreau]

Fox is more interested in delivering UHD content digitally rather than on physical media. Their primary interest in UHD BR HDR is in the Digital Bridge. Samsung was the first manufacturer to partner with Fox on this, so you can expect that their first UHD BR player will support UHD digital downloads from the internet as well as from the physical UHD BR. Digital download from either source will access the digital bridge for delivery to mobile devices.

http://homemediamagazine.com/high-de...tnership-34092

“"Ultra HD Blu-ray may also include a digital bridge option to enable consumers to move their owned content from the disc to other devices such as a media server, mobile device, SD card etc. so they can enjoy their content throughout the home and on the go," said the BDA spokesperson.”

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/vid...rival--1293613

“The SCSA is planning three different delivery modules for its content packs – a trial version available in a limited way today as a test for 4K playback through the M-GO over-the-top (OTT) service on Samsung’s 4K Video Pack media player; a full-feature set that will be delivered at launch in the next few weeks and a third will provide content to a special 4K portable tablet from Qualcomm, for mobile playback.”

http://hdguru.com/scsa-readies-forma...nload-service/

I think you have to view the UHD BR as a well conceived plan to accelerate the move from disc to digital and as Panasonic’s Ron Martin said:

“And will Ultra HD Blu-ray be the last disc format we see? Even Martin is prepared to concede that's almost certainly the case... but never say never.
"As of today, yes. We'll see how mature digital distribution networks become. You could probably say the same about the next-gen of terrestrial broadcasts. We think this will be the last iteration of this but we're certainly open to discussion."

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by reanimator

Fox to Be First Studio to Create All Movies in High Dynamic Range, Ultra HD for Home Viewing

The future of UHD just got a big shot in the arm...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/beh...-create-796952

@Penton: I thought you said we weren't gonna get a lot of HDR content first up? Looks like certain studios are taking this seriously.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Teazle

Now if I watch in pitch darkness on a projection screen (currently 188" diag, viewing about 10.5' back), supposing I upgrade source and PJ, is it even possible to enjoy HDR without burning my eyes out?

Pitch dark room? At that viewing distance, with a screen that large? Nobody I know of has tested for that….admittedly, that scenario could be difficult on zee eyes. Perhaps possible for viewers to enjoy without any discomfort if the content was manually graded at 4,000 nits and then tone mapped to conservative HDR (~ 400 nits).

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

@Penton: I thought you said we weren't gonna get a lot of HDR content first up? Looks like certain studios are taking this seriously.

I didn’t expect any major to so quickly embrace/implement from end-to-end what was preached for
from over 2 years ago

With new movies (recent theatrical releases), let’s hope to see a constant flow from the front end (master creation) to the back end (unencumbered Ultra HD Blu-rays), like there is now with standard dynamic range Blu-rays for new feature films.

[rdodolak]

Let's not forget that some are well aware of the many disadvantages of streaming content. Physical media will be around for quite a while.

And the BDA is confident Ultra HD Blu-ray discs will deliver better performance than 4K streaming services. Ron Martin, VP of Panasonic's Hollywood Lab and a crucial player in the development of Ultra HD Blu-ray, told What Hi-Fi?: "[A disc format] is the only repeatable, reliable way to do it. Streaming has certain advantages but many disadvantages."

[bailey1987]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

Let's not forget that some are well aware of the many disadvantages of streaming content. Physical media will be around for quite a while.

I agree, my household has too many people connecting to the internet at one time, buffering even 360p videos on YouTube can be a pain if too many are online, and that's with a BT infinity subscription.

I sometimes wonder what the rest of the house is doing because I can be crawling along with an Ethernet connection.

I have all but given up with wi fi I only ever use it for internet surfing, or when no one is in the house, if even I have to stream a video I either get lucky or switch the PS4 on.

I noticed speed improve when my sister moved out but recently my dad discovered YouTube and it's been a nightmare ever since

[rdodolak]

Something else that is interesting is that UHD BD doesn't allow for SD content or extras; they'll either have to be in 1080p or 2160p. Studios will no longer be able to just port over the same old SD content without making an effort to give consumers HD content.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

Something else that is interesting is that UHD BD doesn't allow for SD content or extras; they'll either have to be in 1080p or 2160p. Studios will no longer be able to just port over the same old SD content without making an effort to give consumers HD content.

That's easy... they're pretty much forgoing extras anyway. Gone are the halcyon days of laserdisc deluxe editions with a complete and honest film school in a box.