Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season 4K UHD (2011)

[Taikero]

Originally Posted by TravisPNW

It really depends on the pricing for me. I'm a new GoT viewer and got all 7 seasons on BF for $72. The blu rays are just beautiful. Easily at the top of non-UHD content I've viewed on my OLED. The Atmos just makes it better.

Would I pay $500 to upgrade the series to 4K?

Probably not... and it's not because I don't like the show. I'm into season 4 now on the way to the season 8 premiere next month. They really made the blu rays too good IMO. Most reviews I've seen have said the same thing.

I'm sure the added HDR will be lovely... but again... it's about the pricing for me.

I've spent anywhere from $20-$35, depending on the season, on each season of GoT. So whereas you spent $72, I have probably sunk $200 into the series (equivalent to about 13 months of an HBO Now subscription).

Having said that, I don't begrudge you the cheaper price you've paid, because I got to enjoy GoT for many years before you did. Early adopters always pay the heavier costs.

----

As for the Blu-rays being too good, well...I think that when you release a product, you should always do your very best to release the highest quality product possible. That also means the 4K Blu-rays for GoT will be stellar, which will at some point encourage me to upgrade from standard Blu-ray.

[Batman90]

Why is everyone keep talking about star trek in a GOT tread?

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by Batman90

Why is everyone keep talking about star trek in a GOT tread?

There’s never a wrong time to talk about STAR TREK.

[ckenisell]

Originally Posted by Filmmaker

There’s never a wrong time to talk about STAR TREK.

Except when it's in a GOT thread.

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by ckenisell

Except when it's in a GOT thread.

“Never” means “never”.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Taikero

I guess my thought process here boils down to: It's not the consumer's responsibility to ensure that the product has the best quality. It's on the content creator to ensure that a proper master is available.

It's not the consumer's fault if your archive process sucks, or your digital intermediates are crap. Fix it.

Sure, but most consumers are fine with DVD quality. DVD still outsells BD overall, let alone UHD. So I don't think there's any... what's the term... cultural push to remaster stuff like old TV shows. I don't think there's any kind of mindset at the studios of "we need to put this out on Blu-ray or it'll fade into obscurity." A DVD release and a streaming release are "good enough" for the vast majority of people.

Same with Game of Thrones, to get back on topic. I'd assume a 4k set will come someday because of its popularity, but it's not like being 1080p forever would be some kind of cultural loss. That's how it aired, and the better compressed BDs are already better quality than most people care about.

[Taikero]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Sure, but most consumers are fine with DVD quality. DVD still outsells BD overall, let alone UHD. So I don't think there's any... what's the term... cultural push to remaster stuff like old TV shows. I don't think there's any kind of mindset at the studios of "we need to put this out on Blu-ray or it'll fade into obscurity." A DVD release and a streaming release are "good enough" for the vast majority of people.

Same with Game of Thrones, to get back on topic. I'd assume a 4k set will come someday because of its popularity, but it's not like being 1080p forever would be some kind of cultural loss. That's how it aired, and the better compressed BDs are already better quality than most people care about.

You're right to say that most consumers don't give a rat's arse about video or audio quality, which is why DVD, cheap earbuds, and other cheap or obsolescent products continue to sell well.

Having said that, my argument always remains that consumers often don't know what they're missing, or at least aren't willing to spend the money to upgrade their experience.

I can say that, even without a resolution uptick, a proper master can make a world of difference. A fairly recent example is the remaster/color timing fix of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, as seen in the Hayao Miyazaki collection and the GKids Blu-ray release. i'd watched the Disney release of Nausicaa numerous times before, however when the GKids version released, I picked it up and started watching. It was like a whole new film, and it sucked me in like never before, and most of that was due to the improved color timing.

So these things matter, for cherished TV shows like Star Trek TOS/TNG, and for Game of Thrones. A proper master with the best color reproduction and lighting with the fewest non-grain artifacts makes all the difference in the world.

Personally, I'm not running a 4K setup yet (it's not my fault that my TV is over a decade old and hasn't bothered to die yet), however I'm picking up 4K titles specifically because I know that the color improvements possible with HDR/Dolby Vision will be worth it.

Obviously, I'm not the average consumer, as we've discussed, however in the long run all parties benefit when a superior product is available. Sure, there are diminishing returns, but more often than not it's worth reaching for better, particularly for older titles that were unable to benefit from recent advances in film preservation, scanning, archiving, digital effects, and reproduction.

Call me an idealist, or nearly so, if you think that's apt. I think that the countless hours people poured into their work are worth taking seriously if you're still selling that work decades later.

[TravisPNW]

Originally Posted by Taikero

You're right to say that most consumers don't give a rat's arse about video or audio quality, which is why DVD, cheap earbuds, and other cheap or obsolescent products continue to sell well.

I definitely care. There's a reason my DVD collection is much smaller. I only buy the ones that aren't available on BD or are OOP and priced ridiculously high.

In the case of GoT... the BD set is outrageously good. Good enough to where I can look at it on my calibrated OLED and say "is that 1080p or 4k?" Yeah it's missing the HDR but IMO the show is so dark most of the time that I can't help but wonder how big of a difference an HDR 4K is going to be.

I'll most definitely take a look once there is more than the first season available... but for now I'm fine with it on BD. I got it for a great price and every time I watch an episode I'm like "Wow this looks so good."

Great show! Finally got into it about halfway thru S3... I'm now halfway thru S4!

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Taikero

Call me an idealist, or nearly so, if you think that's apt. I think that the countless hours people poured into their work are worth taking seriously if you're still selling that work decades later.

Of course, and I hope to see more Television remasters and UHD releases. I won't spend $50 a season on MacGyver but there are shows I certainly have and would, like Columbo, the remaining Star Treks, Stargate, maybe Magnum PI, etc. I'm just saying I don't expect much in that area. Same for UHD outside of basically Game of Thrones and that's it.

[UberMensch]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Of course, and I hope to see more Television remasters and UHD releases. I won't spend $50 a season on MacGyver but there are shows I certainly have and would, like Columbo, the remaining Star Treks, Stargate, maybe Magnum PI, etc. I'm just saying I don't expect much in that area. Same for UHD outside of basically Game of Thrones and that's it.

I would also pay a reasonable sum for shows if they ever have UHD releases. Firefly, Hannibal, House of Cards, Mr. Robot and Rome are some just off the top of my head.

[eddievanhalen]

I'd rebuy the 5 seasons of Fringe on UHD BD even if they are 1080p/2K upscales as I'm sure they were done at over 8 bits (most likely 10 bits) so at least color can be improved.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by eddievanhalen

I'd rebuy the 5 seasons of Fringe on UHD BD even if they are 1080p/2K upscales as I'm sure they were done at over 8 bits (most likely 10 bits) so at least color can be improved.

I still can't figure out what happened to that show. It started off sort of strongly and then fell off a cliff. Part of it, I bet, is that JJ will start a show and then run off to slap his name on something else and his eyes leave the prize. Poorer writers are left to steer the shows. Same damn thing happened with Alias and Lost.

[LaPenta5593]

Originally Posted by TravisPNW

Great show! Finally got into it about halfway thru S3... I'm now halfway thru S4!

Damn it took 25 episodes? I was hooked after the prologue scene in the first episode

[Alwayshappy]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

I still can't figure out what happened to that show. It started off sort of strongly and then fell off a cliff. Part of it, I bet, is that JJ will start a show and then run off to slap his name on something else and his eyes leave the prize. Poorer writers are left to steer the shows. Same damn thing happened with Alias and Lost.

I'm the other way around. S1 was nice, but S2-S5 were fantastic

[Owenjohnston]

Originally Posted by eddievanhalen

I'd rebuy the 5 seasons of Fringe on UHD BD even if they are 1080p/2K upscales as I'm sure they were done at over 8 bits (most likely 10 bits) so at least color can be improved.

I recently bought the BD boxset of Fringe and the first few seasons are only in Dolby Digital 5.1

[Owenjohnston]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Of course, and I hope to see more Television remasters and UHD releases. I won't spend $50 a season on MacGyver but there are shows I certainly have and would, like Columbo, the remaining Star Treks, Stargate, maybe Magnum PI, etc. I'm just saying I don't expect much in that area. Same for UHD outside of basically Game of Thrones and that's it.

I would buy a BD set of Stargate in a heartbeat. I've been waiting for so long but it seems it will never happen Please someone prove me wrong

[Owenjohnston]

Originally Posted by Taikero

Personally, I'm not running a 4K setup yet (it's not my fault that my TV is over a decade old and hasn't bothered to die yet), however I'm picking up 4K titles specifically because I know that the color improvements possible with HDR/Dolby Vision will be worth it.

I gave up waiting on my 6 year old Sony to die, so it's now one of my PC monitors and I got an LG OLED B7. It'll probably die before the Sony does

[stargazeruk]

Originally Posted by Owenjohnston

I recently bought the BD boxset of Fringe and the first few seasons are only in Dolby Digital 5.1

Also the first Season is where warner used 5 disks (not the 4 disk they switched to later) and did the job with encoding properly with high bitrates and 4 - 5 episodes per disk and not the crappy 6 - 8 episodes and low bitrates that they started doing with Season 2 onwards. It's the best looking out of all of them.

I imported on blu-ray this week Krypton and it had 5 episodes per disk but they also were about 9gb each which is out defiantly not normal for crappy warner home entertainment. They actually used up most of the disk space which I was surprised. I wonder if they handed it to warner archive rather then let the home entertainment handle it.

[chas speed]

Originally Posted by Taikero

I've spent anywhere from $20-$35, depending on the season, on each season of GoT. So whereas you spent $72, I have probably sunk $200 into the series (equivalent to about 13 months of an HBO Now subscription).

Having said that, I don't begrudge you the cheaper price you've paid, because I got to enjoy GoT for many years before you did. Early adopters always pay the heavier costs.

----

As for the Blu-rays being too good, well...I think that when you release a product, you should always do your very best to release the highest quality product possible. That also means the 4K Blu-rays for GoT will be stellar, which will at some point encourage me to upgrade from standard Blu-ray.

I feel very lucky that I got in to Game of Thrones late. I got the first 3 seasons on Blu-ray for nothing. I bought the first 2 seasons on DVD for a buck a piece at a pawn shop. I liked them so much that I wanted the Blu-rays, so I sold the DVD's for 8 dollars a season on Ebay and bought seasons 1 and 2 Blu-ray combo for 15 bucks. Then bought a season 3 Blu-ray set for 4 dollars at Goodwill and sold the free DVD's that came with it for 7 dollars on Ebay. I can't imagine how much this would have cost me if I had bought them when they originally came out and I had all the fun of watching these episodes all at once over a period of a month or two.

[Sabre95]

Is $22.99 the lowest this has gotten so far?