4K Blu-ray Confirmed, Coming in

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by AudioWarrior

Tom Hanks fan, eh? Yeah I would love for them to make a 4k master of Forrest Gump, Green mile, Cast Away...

Woah woah woah, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I love Apollo 13 like it's a family member, but Tom Hanks' other movies......not so much.

[mredman]

One thing is certain this will be very bad for DVD. But Blu Ray sales will rise and very likely become the top format finally

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

http://www.twice.com/news/blu-raydvd....uf4xAMFS.dpuf

Don’t believe everything that is written online. Let’s bookmark that article and revisit one of the assertions made come 2016.

[PenguinMaster]

Originally Posted by mredman

One thing is certain this will be very bad for DVD. But Blu Ray sales will rise and very likely become the top format finally

How did you come to that conclusion? People who are still buying DVD will continue to buy DVD. People who are currently buying Blu-ray will be split: some will still buy Blu-ray, some will buy 4K.

[Tok]

Studios may start phasing DVD out altogether. DVD was decidedly a standard def medium. No reason for SD at this point in the 21st century.

[Esox50]

Penton...I'm in when this is released along with an 80+" panel. This cannot get here soon enough.

[David M]

Originally Posted by Tok

Studios may start phasing DVD out altogether. DVD was decidedly a standard def medium. No reason for SD at this point in the 21st century.

Except for the fact it's still making them money...

[Lentulus Batiatus]

HAving just watched Ghostbusters on the big screen and compared it to my Mi4K disc I don't know how much better 4K discs are going to be. Sure there will be more detail in the image but many many films don't have more detail than 2K does a great enough job of displaying. Certainly some things will benefit but I think anything made on older film stocks, filled with grain or using soft lighting will look nominal at best. Sadly this will do nothing to stop studios from releasing stand-alone DVDs or transition DVD buyers to Blu-ray or 4K. It's going to be niche of semi-niche at best. And likely come with a MASSIVE price-tag.

One day it may become the simple standard and completely replace BD and DVD but that day is a long long way off. And it will only arrive when productions costs between all 3 formats are in the thousandths of a penny and actually costing more to keep all 3 formats alive than killing off the prior 2. Actually it won't be those costs that finally does it, it will be the advent of a new non-disc based format that does. I mean it's 2014 and music is still released on CDs much the same was it was over 20 years ago when much better audio formats can and have come (and gone). Why do we not have DVD audio? or BD audio as a standard now? Or 8GB SD cards with much higher fidelity sound now?

[PenguinMaster]

Originally Posted by Tok

Studios may start phasing DVD out altogether. DVD was decidedly a standard def medium. No reason for SD at this point in the 21st century.

DVDs are in the same situation as CDs and MP3s. They are widely supported by just about every device so people don't want to switch to a format that won't work on everything. If laptops start coming with Blu-ray drives (and good software) as standard then more people will probably be fine with switching.

[DiscoDan]

I agree that laptops, desktops, portable dvd players, etc are the main reason DVD still exists. BDs are pretty much only playable at home, in front a tv. DVDs are the go-to everywhere else.

[PsyTrix]

A part of me was hoping 4K would just be a simple software upgrade to my existing Oppo player - I'm not thrilled about having to upgrade my hardware (besides the tv) to start all over again. There is already talk of 8K which is confusing consumers enough.

[AudioWarrior]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Woah woah woah, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I love Apollo 13 like it's a family member, but Tom Hanks' other movies......not so much.

Oh man! I thought you were waiting for that Splash 4k Remaster....

[I KEEL YOU]

Originally Posted by sarah_wentworth

soon blu rays will join vhs, laser disc and dvd in tech heaven.

Yeah, DVD is long dead and buried with not a single soul visiting its grave. Poor old DVD and its still higher than blu ray sales charts:

http://www.the-numbers.com/weekly-bluray-sales-chart

http://www.the-numbers.com/weekly-dvd-sales-chart

Brings a tear to my eye to see it in this sorry state.

There's a higher chance that 4K blu ray will join D-VHS in tech limbo than ordinary blu rays joining VHS in tech heaven.

And for the record, I'm glad 4K blu ray is coming, like many others on this VIDEOPHILE, NON-ordinary consumer forum. I won't be upgrading my entire collection, but I hope that 4K blus will be released of many of the early Warner blu ray releases and most of Universal's catalog releases.

[Phil92]

I'll wait to see if 4K truly takes off before upgrading my set. I'm happy with 1080p and my set-up for the time being.

[mrpink134]

Interesting read from Bill Hunt, what he say make sense

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/column...ts/090814_1530

[I KEEL YOU]

Originally Posted by mrpink134

Interesting read from Bill Hunt, what he say make sense

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/column...ts/090814_1530

He makes some valid points.

This might be the first time in home video history where a new format is released even though the current format hasn't properly overtaken the old format. Well, it might by the end of 2015, but it hasn't at the time of its announcement. It will be a niche within a niche, as I've read someone describe it.

And the thing that will make it really difficult for 4K to thrive is the fact that hardware upgrade will be a necessity. If a software upgrade was enough or if at the very least the PS4 and XBone consoles were built with 4K discs in mind and could be upgraded, then I would be way more optimistic because it would allow people to upgrade gradually. This way I don't see how the average consumer will be bothered with it.

[Geoff D]

I can't help but think that Bill's being a bit too gloomy about 4K's future, both for 4K BD and UHD in general. Don't get me wrongo, I also believe that it'll be an upgrade too far for most consumers, BUT there are enough enthusiasts and there's enough disposable income out there to make it workable as a niche format IMO.

Hell, if vinyl can survive (and thrive!) in this I'll-rip-it-for-free-from-youtube era (with a fair few people paying top-dollar for esoteric turntables and whatnot) then there's plenty of hope that 4K BD, if positioned correctly in the market, will do alright for itself. No, it won't become the next DVD, but it's kinda disingenuous to use that as a negative because NOTHING will become the next DVD, that was a lightning-in-a-bottle happenstance.

He talks about how Blu-ray 3D is dying (something which also necessitated a completely new product cycle of players, TVs and content) and that's fair enough, but at a glance there's 619 3D software SKU's at amazon.com, with several more high-profile movies available outside the US and plenty more on the way over the next few years, and if 4K BD gets close to those sorts of numbers then I'll be a very happy camper (as long as they're not all Adam Sandler movies, natch).

As for the studios wanting to dumb everything down and destroying their home video departments etc etc, Hunt himself has shown that one man can make a difference with his recent crowing about how he convinced Paramount to release the IMAX edition of STID. So I'm not gonna write off physical media as going to hell in a handbasket just yet.

Originally Posted by AudioWarrior

Oh man! I thought you were waiting for that Splash 4k Remaster....

That's the one movie I was gonna put in as a semi-serious caveat in my last post, but I didn't bother. You read my mind.

[PenguinMaster]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

He talks about how Blu-ray 3D is dying (something which also necessitated a completely new product cycle of players, TVs and content) and that's fair enough, but at a glance there's 619 3D software SKU's at amazon.com, with several more high-profile movies available outside the US and plenty more on the way over the next few years, and if 4K BD gets close to those sorts of numbers then I'll be a very happy camper (as long as they're not all Adam Sandler movies, natch).

Blu-ray 3D may not be getting as many sales as the studios hoped, but there doesn't seem to be any less releases then there were a few years ago. 3D movies in theaters continue to be highly profitable and very few of them are not being released on Blu-ray, the only one I can think of is Frozen (which did get a Blu-ray 3D release in the UK).

[aqupunk]

Does anyone know if the ps4 is capable tech wise of being updated with new firmware to support 4k blu ray? Also so I assume my onkyo 805 reciever will need to be upgraded to do 4k right?

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by PenguinMaster

Blu-ray 3D may not be getting as many sales as the studios hoped, but there doesn't seem to be any less releases then there were a few years ago. 3D movies in theaters continue to be highly profitable and very few of them are not being released on Blu-ray, the only one I can think of is Frozen (which did get a Blu-ray 3D release in the UK).

Sure, I'm just using Bill hunt's example of Blu-ray 3D's imminent death (note: sarcasm ) to show that 4K BD might just be able to get by on its own.