4K Blu-ray Confirmed, Coming in

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Richard Paul

http://www.cnet.com/news/4k-blu-ray-...reaming-media/

The CNET article gives a few more details and says that 4K Blu-ray will be capable of 10-bit video, the BT.2020 color space, a data rate of 50 to 60 Mbps, and 100 percent more signal range for HDR (which might be 100 times more though they don't mention which HDR system they are going to use). Overall it sounds very nice.

I bolded what you personally should be happy for; despite its recent disparaging by talk show 'video gurus'.

Anyway, a tune to work by today ...

YouTube

[MechaGodzilla]

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

Fine by me. Those are the movies I'd want to pick up on 4K anyway.

Oh, there are definitely movies among those I'd pick up as well. I'm giddy just at the thought of what Lawrence of Arabia and 2001: A Space Odyssey could look like.

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'm inclined to think that 4K Blu-ray discs will mostly be a "from here on out" phenomenon, featuring newer films and upcoming films, like the Avatar sequels, future Marvel movies, and such.

I'm sure that quite a few flagship older titles will be released in the format, like The Wizard of Oz, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and such, but I somehow doubt that I'll need to worry about replacing most of my existing Blu-ray collection. My classic film noir Blu-rays, my Fritz Lang Blu-rays, my Alfred Hitchcock Blu-rays, and my Akira Kurosawa Blu-rays are probably pretty safe from becoming obsolete.

I could be wrong, but I sort of hope that I'm not.

Yeah, that's basically what I think too. Time will tell though I suppose.

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Change of strategy for all various internet forum and website ‘video expert’ 4K Blu-ray prediction killjoys….Must now pivot shift debate from *naysaying* (it’ll never happen) to *niche saying* regarding its adoption in order to marginalize the whole technological achievement.

Ah , they do enjoy moving the goalposts further and further back for something they either personally don’t want or don’t believe in.

I don't know if your post was aimed at me, but don't take me for a killjoy. I'm not anti-4K at all, believe me. I'm excited, I'm happy to see it become reality and I think it's got a lot of potential. I just don't want to set my expectations too high regarding how popular it will become with the masses and what we'll get out of it, as in movies that will actually make it to 4K Blu-ray. Didn't mean to come off as negative.

[Geoff D]

Called it! (Although the actual announcement that it's finally going ahead has come earlier than I thought) https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=152

All I can say is it's about ****ing time. My 4K TV's all dressed up with no-one to play with, but 4K Blu-ray will make it all worthwhile. Sweeeeeeeet.

[Jason One]

Apart from the jump to 4K resolution (3,840×2,160) we can also expect 4K Blu-ray to support higher frame rates (up to 60fps), an expanded color gamut along with high dynamic range (HDR), as well as HEVC/H.265 encoding to compress 4K movies more efficiently and allow for higher bit rates.

That's great about 60fps, but I really hope it also supports a lot of other possible frame rates, to hopefully eliminate the conversion issues BD has had with non-24fps material. It should at least have:

23.976
24
25
29.97
30
48
50
59.94
60

That would be fantastic.

[David M]

Very happy to read this - finally, a solid date.
I can already tell this is going to cost me a fortune in getting new encoding and authoring processes set up The cycle begins again. Bring it on!

[Bolty]

Someone mentioned earlier that it might be possible for the 4K Blu-rays to play in CURRENT Blu-ray players (not at 4K resolution of course)---

is that even possible?

Obviously regular Blu-ray would play in 4K Blu-ray players but 4K discs playing in current machines?

Sounds weird to me.

[reanimator]

Originally Posted by MechaGodzilla

I just don't want to set my expectations too high regarding how popular it will become with the masses and what we'll get out of it, as in movies that will actually make it to 4K Blu-ray.

I'm not real concerned if 4KBD catches on with the masses, it just needs to catch on with ME. (and it already has)

If no one minds me putting the cart way, way, WAY before the horse -- here's a few thoughts...

1) Certainly we can expect any movie or TV series currently being shot/finished in ~4K to show up on 4KBD.

2) Sony. Sony has put a lot of eggs in the 4K basket, and will be a big supporter of 4KBD. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, GHOSTBUSTERS, etc. are all prime candidates for early release. I would guess almost any title available on the Sony 4K server would be made available on 4KBD.

3) Recent remasters. All of these recent 4K remasters from other studios, whether its MY FAIR LADY, CASABLANCA, HARD DAYS NIGHT or even TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.

In short, I think there will be a LOT of goodness under the Christmas tree in 2015!

[GenPion]

They say they are deciding between 66 GB and 100 GB discs? I bet it ends up being both, just like Blu-ray has both 25 GB and 50 GB releases.

I am glad to hear movement is being made to make this happen. Unlike some of you, I'm expecting this to be a "niche within a niche" format similar to laserdisc levels of appeal primarily, but will be glad to get the latest Hollywood blockbusters and beloved studio classics released on the format. As well as offerings on some titles from some of the more boutique labels.

[GenPion]

Originally Posted by Richard Paul

http://www.cnet.com/news/4k-blu-ray-...reaming-media/

The CNET article gives a few more details and says that 4K Blu-ray will be capable of 10-bit video, the BT.2020 color space, a data rate of 50 to 60 Mbps, and 100 percent more signal range for HDR (which might be 100 times more though they don't mention which HDR system they are going to use). Overall it sounds very nice.

With that kind of data rate, as long as the source is good, if all encodes are like that gone will be a lot of my headaches from certain studio's sub-par Blu-ray offerings. Sweet!

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by MechaGodzilla

I don't know if your post was aimed at me, but don't take me for a killjoy. I'm not anti-4K at all, believe me...

It wasn't
and I don't .

[HD Goofnut]

50-60 Mbps?!

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Lyris

Very happy to read this - finally, a solid date.
I can already tell this is going to cost me a fortune in getting new encoding and authoring processes set up The cycle begins again. Bring it on!

Be patient David . It will take some time to progress from HEVC software encoding to affordable HEVC hardware encoder implementations….but, zee process has begun.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Bolty

Someone mentioned earlier that it might be possible for the 4K Blu-rays to play in CURRENT Blu-ray players (not at 4K resolution of course)---

is that even possible?

Obviously regular Blu-ray would play in 4K Blu-ray players but 4K discs playing in current machines?

There are wild interpretations flying around the web, many from a few of the usual suspects a.k.a. "DVD is Dead" gurus, but some reputable sources have had this bit:

The updated standard will allow for 4K content to be used on dual-sided 50GB discs, and the Blu-rays will be backward-compatible with existing Blu-ray hardware. The content will have higher frame rates, more advanced compression technology, and both high-dynamic range and a wider color gamut will be utilized.

The direct quotes that hurt: ()

Victor Matsuda, global promotions chair for the BDA and VP of Sony Corp.’s Blu-ray group:

“I think it’s very much in line with what we’ve experienced in the past: Packaged media offers a very controlled, stable, known environment, that’s fundamentally an advantage, compared to streaming services. The more information you’re trying to stream, it becomes more of a challenge for Internet-based services.

One of the advantages Blu-ray and packaged-media formats have is having its own, enclosed, stable environment. We don’t have to worry about … how big the pipeline is from the service provider, whether your monthly data plan is going to affected by the 4K products rolling out.

We’ve always tried to promote Blu-ray as the best of the best, and that’s not only talking about resolution.

There are a lot of things that will continue to separate Blu-ray from other products and services that continue to talk about 4K."

I am almost willing to spend about 30 minutes so that I can quote myself with two posts from a few years ago. But Penton has already patented this practice

Pro-B

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Hey Goofy, another title to add – https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...ed#post9681714
To your growing list - https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=220755

L’arm - https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=218262 has enough for the time being.

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Change of strategy for all various internet forum and website ‘video expert’ 4K Blu-ray prediction killjoys….Must now pivot shift debate from *naysaying* (it’ll never happen) to *niche saying* regarding its adoption in order to marginalize the whole technological achievement.

Ah , they do enjoy moving the goalposts further and further back for something they either personally don’t want or don’t believe in.

You are all fools. Just because the BDA confirmed it, doesn't mean it's going to happen. Streaming will make 4KBD a no-show pipedream. Have faith- it will fail if you just believe!

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by Richard Paul

http://www.cnet.com/news/4k-blu-ray-...reaming-media/

The CNET article gives a few more details and says that 4K Blu-ray will be capable of 10-bit video, the BT.2020 color space, a data rate of 50 to 60 Mbps, and 100 percent more signal range for HDR (which might be 100 times more though they don't mention which HDR system they are going to use). Overall it sounds very nice.

Great! I was hoping they would use HDR. Looks like they are doing it right the first time around.

[SkyAntoine]

80% of the people I know will unknowingly watch SD TV when the HD channel is available. My family only purchased BR players because I told them to and so they can borrow from my library.

If the masses could care less about 1080p then what hope is there for 4k?

[David M]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Be patient David . It will take some time to progress from HEVC software encoding to affordable HEVC hardware encoder implementations….but, zee process has begun.

Exactly, and I wouldn't be surprised if in the early days we see UHD releases using AVC during the transition, just as we saw early HD releases in MPEG-2.

My main concern is who's going to provide the authoring tools now that Sonic/Rovi are out of the picture. Sony Creative bought DoStudio (not a program I enjoyed working with at all) so they seem a likely candidate. My conern is that companies develop their own in-house tools and leave the indies out in the cold.

Everything in time, I guess!

[David M]

Originally Posted by Bolty

Someone mentioned earlier that it might be possible for the 4K Blu-rays to play in CURRENT Blu-ray players (not at 4K resolution of course)---

is that even possible?

Obviously regular Blu-ray would play in 4K Blu-ray players but 4K discs playing in current machines?

Sounds weird to me.

I'd be amazed if it was backwards compatible given that they're talking about HEVC and 66/100gb discs.

[Richard Paul]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I bolded what you personally should be happy for; despite its recent disparaging by talk show 'video gurus'.

I was delighted to find out that 4K Blu-ray would support the BT.2020 (or Rec. 2020) color space and this is the first time that a wider color space has been a standard feature on a consumer video format. I do wonder though which HDR system it will use since I think the Dolby HDR system requires 12-bit video since that is the bit depth used for Dolby Vision.