4K Blu-ray Confirmed, Coming in

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by ROSS.T.G.

Yeah I think everyone is waiting to see if the boutiques will throw in. As much I beat up on SF I would like nothing more to see them enter with some gems. I’m still surprised we I have several Carpenters on the format,

The irony - given Carpenter's status as an indie filmmaking icon - is that those six (?) UHDs have come from major studios/distributors, if it was left to the indies we wouldn't have anything of his on 4K yet! Same goes for Evil Dead 1& 2 for that matter.

[cochon]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

I'm in a similar situation... can't see upgrading my beloved 1080p Panasonic projector any time soon, but DID just pull the trigger in May on the Oppo 203 UHD player, 'cuz I didn't want to miss out on the last wave of Oppo product. I still have my Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player hooked up as well, so I'm able to toggle back and forth between the two images. Recently, I put in the LAST JEDI Blu-ray on one, and the UHD disc on the other and compared... and did notice a SLIGHT up-tick in detail on the UHD (on my 92-inch screen), due to the UHD's higher disc capacity requiring less/better compression... but frankly, it wasn't enough of an up-tick to go nuts over. What I lost, however, was 24fps playback, since LAST JEDI is encoded with DolbyVision, which only down-converts to 1080 at 1080/60. (If it's an HDR-10 disc, you could retain the 24fps playback in 1080.) Also... the gamma is VERY different coming off an HDR source into an SDR playback environment, so you'll have to compensate with your picture settings. I had to increase the Contrast by 20 on the LAST JEDI UHD disc, to compensate for the lowered white level.

All in all... I personally don't think you gain much in perceived RESOLUTION if you're sticking with a 1080p playback environment like I did, and you might lose 24fps if it's DolbyVision -- which is a deal breaker, for me. Where you DO gain something is the ability to play certain releases that have remastered the movie onto UHD, but have not released a concurrent Blu-ray... like the recent PREDATOR remaster, or THE MATRIX, or DIE HARD. But if it's something like LAST JEDI... or even an older release like E.T., where the Blu-ray is from the exact same source as the UHD disc, I'm sticking with the Blu-ray for now on my 1080p projector.

Hi,

I also use a Panasonic projector which is highly unlikely I will replace anytime soon.The player is a Sony x800. I find the uptick in detail very noticeable, even on movies that are upscaled from 2K, the colours are purer too. That is to a point that now if I want to own a disc there is only one choice for me and that is UHD.

Sure, the conversion from HDR to SDR doesn't always work fantastic but overall I don't need to even think about it. I also have a 65" 4k TV but when it comes to watching movies it's a no brainer. I rather have no HDR and use a lower resolution projector with a UHD disc. May be you have higher expectations than me but at least for me this arrangement is well worth it and highly enjoyable.

[imsounoriginal]

A piece I'm sure most/all of us would disagree with, but worth reading just to see what the masses are likely thinking and why it's more important than ever to try and fight it:

RIP: Why I Stopped Using My 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
Sadly, my reasons for sticking with 4K Ultra are fading away. In fact, I have not purchased a new title in months. And, I would suspect, others are doing the same for quite a few reasons. Here are a few that are guiding my own purchasing decisions.

I will admit, I am a really late adopter to the streaming era of video entertainment.

I have subscribed and unsubscribed from Netflix more time than I care to admit. Until the last six months or so, I was just not into it streaming.

Part of the reason is likely a major bias on my part. I worked for a cable company for over a decade that was ransacked thanks to the competition—think Verizon Fios—and now with over-the-top streaming services making waves and cord-cutting becoming ever more popular, I felt a sense of loyalty.

But there is a bigger reason why, until recently, streaming was not a big part of my entertainment mix: my love affair with my 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player. Well, OK, I have three of them. Please don’t judge. OK?

And, until recently, I considered it the ultimate way to get 4K content in the best possible format to take advantage of my TVs’ HDR capabilities. Xfinity offers very little in the 4K realm and I always have considered their standard HD picture quality—compared to 4K movies on 4K Ultra—horrible looking. Many times I don’t even use the cable connection—I opt for the app-based version of Showtime and HBO when I watch Billions, Homeland or Succession. When I power up my OLED, QLED or TCL 6 series TVs, I want the best picture experience—and I think that is 4K Ultra.

There is also the sound. Until recently, Dolby Atmos was only widely available from my 4K Ultra player. And let me tell you, if you have not experienced Atomos take a ride to your local electronics store, it is quite amazing. Nothing can touch it—for $600 and up you can get a cinema level sound experience that will make your friends and family jealous, to say the least.

Sadly, my reasons for sticking with 4K Ultra are fading away. In fact, I have not purchased a new title in months. And, I would suspect, others are doing the same for quite a few reasons. Here are a few that are guiding my own purchasing decisions.

1. 4K Is Coming to Streaming in a Big Way: Netflix has more and more titles in 4K, as well as other streaming services. Sure, not every title, but many of the top movies people watch and love.

2. Better Sound on Streaming: With an overall upgrade in sound coming to Netflix not too long ago, I suspect this eliminates for many the need to buy a physical disk. You can even find Atmos tracks for many movies now.

3. Cost: 4K Ultra Movies are not cheap—some are $30.00 or more. Also, the players can cost $100.00 and up—sometimes much more. Why bother?

4. The Oldness Factor: Many younger consumers just look at physical media how I would view a VHS tape—simply obsolete. Why bother when streaming is the future? I hate to say it, I completely agree.

5. I Spend a Lot on Streaming Services: I pay for Netflix, Disney+, CBS All Access and Amazon Prime. With all of that content, paying for disks does not sit right anymore.

Anyone wanna buy a few used 4K Ultra players? Just kidding, but I know I most likely won’t buy that many more new titles. Although, I would recommend the last season of Game of Thrones on Ultra 4K—watching the Battle of Winterfell on HDR is a must. On cable, it looks so compressed it takes away from the experience.

via NationalInterest.org

[Paul.R.S]

I'd like to be able to thumb my nose at whatever the "masses" are doing and continue to play in a 4K UHD BD sandbox with my OPPO and eventual huge Sammy QLED, but looking at both the catalog and new theatrical situation over the past 18 months or so, it doesn't look good.

It seems to me that it's not really about what even the "masses" much less any niche group of consumers--regardless of how vocal--are doing. There's a paradigmatic shift towards a new method of content delivery that has compelled an unprecedented merger in the interest of stockpiling "IP" to become more competitive for not just eyeballs on a particular film or show, but subscribers (who pay and may not be watching much at all).

How do "we" "fight" for that which already is not getting released? No UHD BD of The Favourite (but it's in 4K from Apple). So far, no UHD BD of Parasite (but it's in 4K with HDR from Apple). Packaged, Harriet is only hitting 1080 BD but it's already up in 4K UHD with HDR on Apple. I'd love it but am not holding my breath if No Time To Die triggered deeper Bond catalog on UHD BD. Meanwhile, all that pre-Craig Bond is already in 4K with HDR from Apple.

And no new UHD BD players announced at CES earlier this month.

"Fight the Future"?

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by Paul.R.S

How do "we" "fight" for that which already is not getting released?

Exactly.

In the past week I did two digital/disc double dips, Parasite (4K HDR) and Waves (4K DV/Atmos) from Apple, and have both titles pre-ordered on disc (Blu-only with no UHD on the horizon), because the codes do not redeem in 4K HDR.

This is not the first time, e.g., Midsommar, Suspiria, First Reformed, The Girl In The Spider's Web, All The Money In The World, etc., and I'm sure it won't be last. I dropped $40 to import the TGITSW UHD steel book from the UK since it's one of the best UHD discs to date.

The studios could provide 4K HDR/Atmos redemption for Blu-ray codes, but other than Apple's 4K launch, they are few and far between.

The painful part is that with a GigE connection, 4K HDR/DV is superior to Blu in many, but not all, instances. Both Parasite and Waves are phenomenal in HDR.

I miss the lossless for those great soundtracks in Atmos, e.g., Waves. If I only had a sound bar or if I was using TV speakers, lossy vs lossless would not make an appreciable difference other than loudness.

In many cases you cannot buy at any price the best of both PQ and AQ when no US UHD is available, and non-UK imports lack English subs, e.g., Midsommar.

Not to put too fine a point on it, it's getting a little bit out of hand, and my patience, not to mention my wallet, is wearing thin.

[Paul.R.S]

. . . hate to pick on Fox but what they are and are not releasing in what format (and arguably why) is a good example of "the good fight" getting blasted by the jet wash of corporatism.

(Despite its beautiful cinematog by Jorg Widmer) there's not even a BD release announced (yet? Criterion, please?) for A Hidden Life (my fave film of the year), but it's up on iTunes now in HD. Ford v. Ferrari is getting a UHD BD release with HDR10 . . . but it's in DV on iTunes.

[Constitution 101]

I've seen some decent 4K streaming, but not really close to disc quality in the majority of cases.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Paul.R.S

. . . hate to pick on Fox but what they are and are not releasing in what format (and arguably why) is a good example of "the good fight" getting blasted by the jet wash of corporatism.

(Despite its beautiful cinematog by Jorg Widmer) there's not even a BD release announced (yet? Criterion, please?) for A Hidden Life (my fave film of the year), but it's up on iTunes now in HD. Ford v. Ferrari is getting a UHD BD release with HDR10 . . . but it's in DV on iTunes.

Most movies from the majors done in HDR were mastered in Dolby Vision at source and have a DV stream available on one platform or another while the disc may/may not be DV, it's not a new scenario. I don't mean to say that dripping with sarcasm, this has simply been the case since the start so I'm just saying it's Tom Jones i.e. not unusual, especially not for Fox who before this were one of the few studios that consciously avoided DV mastering for home releases (though they still did theatrical DV grades, heh). The outlier here is that a new Fox movie has a home DV grade available at all, but on the face of it this is Disnee's M.O. through and through: DV on stream, HDR10 on disc (note that Foxney Home Entertainment have suddenly dropped HDR10+).

[Paul.R.S]

CGPub: What's your interest level in getting the French or Korean UHD BD of Parasite?

(Dang--according to the site db, neither of these releases has English subs.)

[Paul.R.S]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

. . . (note that Foxney Home Entertainment have suddenly dropped HDR10+).

At this point, who is supporting HDR10+ besides Samsung, Panny (?) and Sony on the X800M2 (even though you have to turn it on and off manually)?

That's another wrinkle for me personally: Focusing on Sammy QLED because unless I'm mistaken they're currently the biggest OLED panels available, why lionize DV when Sammy doesn't even support it?

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by Paul.R.S

CGPub: What's your interest level in getting the French or Korean UHD BD of Parasite?

(Dang--according to the site db, neither of these releases has English subs.)

Bingo. A lack of English subs from Asia and the Continent is unfortunate, because I would definitely pay the premium to import my most sought-after UHD releases.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Paul.R.S

At this point, who is supporting HDR10+ besides Samsung, Panny (?) and Sony on the X800M2 (even though you have to turn it on and off manually)?

That's another wrinkle for me personally: Focusing on Sammy QLED because unless I'm mistaken they're currently the biggest OLED panels available, why lionize DV when Sammy doesn't even support it?

Yeah, it's not exactly been embraced by all though the content side of things is picking up a little in Fox's absence as Warners and Universal have started using it for disc.

[moreorless]

I'd guess one of the main threats to UHD disk releases might well be streaming platforms demanding exclusivity?

[thepotentone]

This year looks bleak for new releases.

There's Heat, and hopefully the oft rumored Carlito's Way.

[Geoff D]

I guess those pre-orders I put in for TGTBATU, Fanny Lye, Donnie Darko, Batoru Royaru and Godzilla '14 were just mirages. Dammit!

[Yogi6807]

Why can’t they come out with 4K army of darkness yet? They came out with both of the evil dead’s already(just in case you didn’t know army of darkness is part 3 of the evil dead series)

[thepotentone]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I guess those pre-orders I put in for TGTBATU, Fanny Lye, Donnie Darko, Batoru Royaru and Godzilla '14 were just mirages. Dammit!

Nothing tickles my fancy.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by thepotentone

Nothing tickles my fancy.

But as long as the format's not actually dead then we're good, yeah?

[Member-425016]

Labels like Criterion continuing to release 4K mastered films on downrezzed standard BD, are in no way shape or form helping the cause. They are hurting it. They must have over a hundred films that could have been released on the format, but damn them anyway!

[Azores26]

Originally Posted by thepotentone

This year looks bleak for new releases.

There's Heat, and hopefully the oft rumored Carlito's Way.

Well, to each their own. This year is looking great to me: "Do the Right Thing", "My Fair Lady", "The Ten Commandments", "Heat", "Donnie Darko", "Shrek", "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", "A Clockwork Orange", "Gravity", "Gattaca", Indiana Jones Collection, etc.

And also possible individual releases of the films included in the Columbia Classics Vol. 1 set, which would be "new" releases to me since I couldn't get the box set.