4K Blu-ray Confirmed, Coming in

[RedIsNotBlue]

Really? Ultra HD seems pretty clear cut. What you are suggesting seems actually more confusing for me. And I seriously doubt the cases are going to look identical to Blu-ray.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by AK65

Ultra HD Blu Ray just seems confusing for average consumers since Blu Ray is already HD. Should've just called it Red Ray or something and have red cases.

The name further affirms my prediction that the new format will be to Blu-rays what SACD is to CDs, in that there will be a sustainable market for the format, but it will probably only appeal to a small niche crowd.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

So… do people think this is because the alliance was hastily formed/organized and all major studio/consumer electronics companies haven’t had the time to thoroughly study the situation so as to determine if membership caters to their individual profit lines (i.e. *what’s in it for me?*)….or, are there already some *wildcatters* out there who prefer to go it alone rather than joining any such consortium at least for the time being.

The Big S is conspicuous by its absence. I've been talking up Sony's growing dislike of physical media for a while, and seeing as they've actually *got* a 4K delivery system in place (albeit only for you lucky Yanks) coupled with the biggest studio library of 4K-mastered content, it's no surprise to me that they're dragging their feet re: the UHD Alliance.

I hope to God that they don't try and go it alone because the last thing 4K BD needs is a format war, but then Sony have always been an extraordinarily wilful company, always wanting to do their own thing and create their own little ecosystem of content no matter what product of theirs you were buying. Trouble is, the days of the Walkman and Trinitron are long gone and it's just another tech company which commands nothing like the brand loyalty that it once did - but the execs still think it does, which is what's so worrying re: Sony's long term future.

[AK65]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

The Big S is conspicuous by its absence. I've been talking up Sony's growing dislike of physical media for a while, and seeing as they've actually *got* a 4K delivery system in place (albeit only for you lucky Yanks) coupled with the biggest studio library of 4K-mastered content, it's no surprise to me that they're dragging their feet re: the UHD Alliance.

I hope to God that they don't try and go it alone because the last thing 4K BD needs is a format war, but then Sony have always been an extraordinarily wilful company, always wanting to do their own thing and create their own little ecosystem of content no matter what product of theirs you were buying. Trouble is, the days of the Walkman and Trinitron are long gone and it's just another tech company which commands nothing like the brand loyalty that it once did - but the execs still think it does, which is what's so worrying re: Sony's long term future.

Are they implying they will drop the disc drive in the Playstation 5?

[kristoffer]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

Sorry saw the thread topic assumed you were discussing players not UDTV's. When I commented on the lack of 3D interest I was talking about the relative marketplace as a whole is very lackluster to any 2D to 3D conversions anymore, maybe not the best choice of wordage.

You also have this very recent news
Dolby & Warner Bros. Announce First 4K Dolby Vision Titles, including 'The Lego Movie' and 'Edge of Tomorrow'



I sure everyone is wondering about why "The Lego Movie"?

It says early 2015, but 4K Blu-Ray won't launch till late 2015. So is this only 4K downloads?
And where will you be able to buy these movies?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by AK65

Ultra HD Blu Ray just seems confusing for average consumers since Blu Ray is already HD. Should've just called it Red Ray or something and have red cases.

It sure as hell will add typing time to my posts as I can spit out 4K BD with my fingers much quicker. Forgive me now, if in the future, I occasionally fall back to ‘4K BD’ in my postings for the sake of expediency, rather than ignorance.

[bailey1987]

Originally Posted by kristoffer

It says early 2015, but 4K Blu-Ray won't launch till late 2015. So is this only 4K downloads?
And where will you be able to buy these movies?

This is a good question, so what's the answer?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

...the last thing 4K BD needs is a format war,

For forum discussion though, the idea does get the heart a pumpin!

Where's Amir et al.?

You’ve got a give a tip of the hat to Panasonic for taking leadership on the ULTRA HD BLU-RAY™ front during press day.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

For forum discussion though, the idea does get the heart a pumpin!

Where's Amir et al.?

You’ve got a give a tip of the hat to Panasonic for taking leadership on the ULTRA HD BLU-RAY™ front during press day.

So... is Sony going to try and monkey up the works and be the little brat this time around like Toshiba was during the HD-DVD debacle, but this time with cloud services?

With the basic Ultra HD disc specs laid out by Panasonic (one of the bigger and more influential BDA members) I don't see how downloads or streaming services could realistically offer these features and quality (plus lossless object audio) for quite a few years to come. The U.S. infrastructure is almost third world compared to some industrialized countries... with outrageous ISP charges too.

Then it leaves their movie servers vulnerable to major hacking attacks, which will come sooner than later... Sony should know this better than any of the other studios.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Do you expect CE HEVC HDCP 2.2 chipsets capable of supporting 12-bit to be readily available (at volume) for incorporation into ULTRA HD BLU-RAY™ players in time for their expected launch date?

It just makes good sense to design a native 4k player to support as wide a gamut as possible. I know with present displays we're not there, but hopefully with recent OLED, quantum dots technology, or something else seen at CES 2015 in a very few years it might indeed be attainable.

BTW on your first comment I figured you were discussing signal dynamic range, and I lack necessary insight into that industry topic.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I hope to God that they don't try and go it alone because the last thing 4K BD needs is a format war, but then Sony have always been an extraordinarily wilful company, always wanting to do their own thing and create their own little ecosystem of content no matter what product of theirs you were buying. Trouble is, the days of the Walkman and Trinitron are long gone and it's just another tech company which commands nothing like the brand loyalty that it once did - but the execs still think it does, which is what's so worrying re: Sony's long term future.

It might even be worse than that. They might not be chasing Triniton or the Walkman: they might still have Betamax dreams.

And I blame Apple. Betamax and the PS/2 had all but killed the idea of overly proprietary approaches and then Apple had to come along and **** everything up.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

It just makes good sense to design a native 4k player to support as wide a gamut as possible. I know with present displays we're not there, but hopefully with recent OLED, quantum dots technology, or something else seen at CES 2015 in a very few years it might indeed be attainable.

BTW on your first comment I figured you were discussing signal dynamic range, and I lack necessary insight into that industry topic.

I'd expect the first Ultra HD discs might have a P3 gamut mapped to Rec. 2020 and most current non-film based movies will be 2k upconverts (those with baked in 2k DI masters). Native celluloid based films in good shape that just need a 4-6k telecine scan will probably have the most detail to work with. The cinema masters are just sitting there waiting. Whatever is the cheapest solution usually wins out in Hollywood home video departments.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

For forum discussion though, the idea does get the heart a pumpin!

Where's Amir et al.?

You’ve got a give a tip of the hat to Panasonic for taking leadership on the ULTRA HD BLU-RAY™ front during press day.

I was thinking the same thing. They've been heavily into Blu-ray since the beginning and have been tinkering with the format recently (MGVC) so it's only right that they're in pole position to inherit the mantle, as it were.

As for the name of the format, you don't always have to type Ultra HD Blu-ray, as UHD BD will get the job done with only one more keyboard press than 4K BD.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by octagon

It might even be worse than that. They might not be chasing Triniton or the Walkman: they might still have Betamax dreams.

And I blame Apple. Betamax and the PS/2 had all but killed the idea of overly proprietary approaches and then Apple had to come along and **** everything up.

That's a good point. That's not to say that Sony ever gave up on proprietary this, that and the other while Apple began its ascent to the top (I should know, I was trying to sell all of that kooky Sony gear from 1998-2014), but the astonishing success and cult-like appeal of the Apple brand (combined with them prices!) only made Sony even more convinced that their approach would work and that all they needed was that one killer bit of tech to make it happen all over again.....but it didn't.

[Selaboc]

Originally Posted by AK65

Ultra HD Blu Ray just seems confusing for average consumers since Blu Ray is already HD. Should've just called it Red Ray or something and have red cases.

Technically Red Ray would be DVDs, since the Blu-ray got it's name from the blue laser it uses instead of the red laser that DVDs use.

[dublinbluray108]

There is something here very exciting on 4k Blu-ray players including 4k TV's by Sharp, Sony and LG.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30695528

[Richard Paul]

Originally Posted by jono3000

More on Panasonic player https://www.avforums.com/news/panaso...y-player.10997
Press Release http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...300015515.html

That prototype Ultra HD Blu-ray player is impressive and hopefully most of the BDA agrees with Panasonic.

Originally Posted by JohnAV

I was being critical of the Panasonic BD player not being designed with 8/10/12 bit per color depth in mind.

12-bit video would be nice but it would delay the launch of the format.

Originally Posted by JohnAV

It just makes good sense to design a native 4k player to support as wide a gamut as possible. I know with present displays we're not there, but hopefully with recent OLED, quantum dots technology, or something else seen at CES 2015 in a very few years it might indeed be attainable.

The Rec. 2020 color space is about twice the size of the Rec. 709 color space. When going from 8-bit video to 10-bit video you get four times the precision for each color and 64 times the number of color combinations. 12-bit video is mostly for HDR which can have a maximum brightness 100 times higher than what is currently used for TV.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Some companies are conspicuously absent as pictured from one of the CES 2015 press conferences…

So… do people think this is because the alliance was hastily formed/organized and all major studio/consumer electronics companies haven’t had the time to thoroughly study the situation so as to determine if membership caters to their individual profit lines (i.e. *what’s in it for me?*)….or, are there already some *wildcatters* out there who prefer to go it alone rather than joining any such consortium at least for the time being.

If its the latter then it's more the content side that would concern me. If Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Paramount, & Universal are going some other way (or their own individual ways)...then the whole 4K BD thing is dead in the water already.

That said, I'd be shocked if Sony weren't onboard 4K BD, so I'm thinking it's more the former and will remain optimistic for the time being...

[Geoff D]

IIRC Paramount and Universal exclusively backed HD DVD at one point or another, so it wouldn't be a huge surprise that they'd want to upset the apple cart again. But Sony, man......

This quote from an analyst in the BBC article linked above about sums it up for me:

There's an enthusiast market for the very best in video and audio material, and disks will be a very good way to deliver that content [and] if the industry can get its act together and bring the standard to market soon, then it has potential. But the window is beginning to close as the momentum is very much towards video on-demand over the net.

[David M]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

You’ve got a give a tip of the hat to Panasonic for taking leadership on the ULTRA HD BLU-RAY™ front during press day.

Agreed on your last point. I've always admired Panasonic's enthusiasm for BD.