Sony "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray Titles May 14 and July 16

[s2mikey]

And the point of this, other than a profit milking, is what exactly? Movies look and sound better than they ever have if you have good gear. This 4K, 10K 500K talk reminds of the phrase "diminishing returns" or something like that. Going from 480 to 1080 is one thing. Anything more than that and many people just cant or dont care about any trivial difference.

Stoopid. Wait, I know, there are some in this hobby that have 33 foot screens and sit 5 feet away from them. OK, OK, you can get the 4K upgrades then.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

That's my feelings on this. Studios like Sony and WB are cranking out rereleases when they have plenty of unreleased catalog titles to offer.

I'm not throwing stones at WB. They're doing a great job with catalog titles.

However, Sony absolutely positively sucks when it comes to catalog. Awful. I'll give a pass to Paramount (as they're 2nd worst) but we'll see what happens with WB.

[Ben_UK]

What happens when actual 4K discs come out at 4K resolution? What a nonsense.

[lgans316]

Stupid and cheeky move by Sony

[Frightener22]

I agree with the majority here that Sony has no business attempting to crank out 4K titles when they have a wealth of catalog titles they haven't even touched yet. I just wish they would get over themselves and at least allow people who license from them the ability to create new special features. Well, it's a new year so hopefully in addition to these 4K experiments maybe they'll dig into their back catalog for traditional Blu-rays but I'm not holding my breath.

[The Great Owl]

After reading through this thread, I've arrived at the conclusion that my first HDTV purchase, the LG 32'' 1080p LCD that I purchased one month ago for $300, should continue to rock my world for years to come.

I'm no expert, but the 4K restoration Blu-ray of Lawrence of Arabia looks like a dream in my living room. That's good enough for me.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

I'm not throwing stones at WB. They're doing a great job with catalog titles.

However, Sony absolutely positively sucks when it comes to catalog. Awful. I'll give a pass to Paramount (as they're 2nd worst) but we'll see what happens with WB.

Don't get me wrong. WB is my favorite of the big studios for catalog output, but IMO they have too many rereleases when that effort should be used on unreleased titles.

[zbinks]

Another half-baked concept from Sony to muddy up the waters?

Unless they intend to move forward with triple or quadruple layer discs, there doesn't seem to be much room for them to really max out the bitrate. The Amazing Spider-Man already takes up 38,671,607,808 bytes for the film itself on the existing Blu-Ray.

[eddievanhalen]

Originally Posted by A.MONK

The Blu-ray version of Superbit?

I was exactely thinking about two words: "Superbit" and "Gattaca".
If Gattaca is to be re-released from a 4K master with a DTS-HD Master Audio track, bring it in, I'm buying.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by zbinks

Another half-baked concept from Sony to muddy up the waters?

Unless they intend to move forward with triple or quadruple layer discs, there doesn't seem to be much room for them to really max out the bitrate. The Amazing Spider-Man already takes up 38,671,607,808 GB for the film itself on the existing Blu-Ray.

There's still around 11.3GB left to use.

[blonde_devil]

i said it on the main page, what a crappy bunch of titles to release. release something older that will impress people, not newer movies. Release Spiderman and show that a 10 year old movie can look as good as the latest one. but these are probably cheap/easy for them to release since they are newer so they are already mastered better than most.

[I KEEL YOU]

Originally Posted by zbinks

Another half-baked concept from Sony to muddy up the waters?

Unless they intend to move forward with triple or quadruple layer discs, there doesn't seem to be much room for them to really max out the bitrate. The Amazing Spider-Man already takes up 38,671,607,808 GB for the film itself on the existing Blu-Ray.

You never know what new opportunities the advances in software could offer. Many early Warner releases have bit rates in low 10s, not even twice the bit rates of good DVDs, yet they're legit 1080p transfers and look decent considering the low bit rates.

[BLeClair12]

I don't see this catching on for years, if it all.

Truthfully, won't it only affect those who have the room for massive screens? Surely there can't be a discernible difference between 1080p and 4K if you're watching on a 50 inch screen or smaller. The average consumer can't afford/doesn't want/doesn't have room for anything larger than 55" at best. I just don't see this working with anyone than other than uneducated, gullible consumers and true videophiles who truly can see a difference.

I saw The Amazing Spider-Man at a theater with newly outfitted 4K screens and tech. I couldn't see a damn bit of difference. It was crisp and clear - just like my regular, local digital theater. I spoke to a manager afterward about it, simply out of curiosity, and he said he'd been following the trend for a couple of years and truly didn't believe in it, but it's what corporate wanted.

[joie]

4K mastering for 1080p is a good idea. It gives a "compression artist" more to work with. Some titles (beside the Sonys) are from 4K masters and they often look better than 2K masters (some (many? most?) of which may have been done for DVD, before Blu-ray).

Really, all 35mm film should be scanned at 4K.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by joie

4K mastering for 1080p is a good idea. It gives a "compression artist" more to work with. Some titles (beside the Sonys) are from 4K masters and they often look better than 2K masters (some (many? most?) of which may have been done for DVD, before Blu-ray).

Really, all 35mm film should be scanned at 4K.

one would hope, but I'd think with some of the smaller video companies/distributor's it's a cost thing.

[blu-ray-neil]

Originally Posted by metaridley

lol I remember buying into the whole Superbit hype way back in the day. My fellow DVD-collecting friends made fun of me for doing so and in retrospect they were right to. Definitely not falling for it again.

I agree with you 110 percent! I was another one who fell for that Superbit hype until the industry finally admitted that the DVD format could not hold all the data needed for both improved PQ and DTS 5.1 sound on one disc. Furthermore, they also admitted that all the channels were not being totally utilized. Disbelievers need to go back and read the forums of that time period. In fact, what sold me on Blu-ray's years ago was when I compared my SUPERBIT version of BLACKHAWK DOWN to the Blu-ray version.

[Slasherob]

Just wait until Monster starts releasing $200 4K HDMI cables that people are dumb enough to buy

[Robonaut]

Originally Posted by metaridley

lol I remember buying into the whole Superbit hype way back in the day. My fellow DVD-collecting friends made fun of me for doing so and in retrospect they were right to. Definitely not falling for it again.

I dunno, I actually seem to recall that the Superbit DVDs I had were noticeably better than many normal DVDs.

[guile]

What a bunch of BS!! 4k and 1080p in the same sentence? Please!!

The only thing I'm surprised they didn't mention was The Fifth Elelement for the 400th time!

[neo_reloaded]

The BDA has created a task force to evaluate 4K, HFR / HFR 3D, color space extensions, etc. - this is mentioned by Andy Parsons, Chair of the BDA US Promotions Committee in an interview back in October '12.

If they DO decide to go ahead and add 4K to the specification, how will Sony market their releases?

"ACTUAL 4K THIS TIME, NO BS!" Edition