UltraHD Blurays and players will start coming by Christmas 2015. Still buying blurays

[hazzad]

Given 4K UHD releases will include the BD version i will simply start buying the 4K pack of films i want when they start releasing. Not sure if i will go back and buy any older titles(of which i would only look at titles from the last 12-24 months anyway). But certainly looking forward to 4K releases. I do hope that 3D discs are included in these packs where applicable though. I do realize there is no 4K 3d standard but would be nice if they actually have a 3d package option with 4K 2D disc for those who want it.

[WhySoBlu?]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

No go on hooking up my sound bar with the HDMI cables, or at least not that I could figure out. I used a high speed ethernet cable, as per the manual instructions, but no volume came from the sound bar when I did. I think that it's because there are no HDMI inputs on the TV that are labeled for the ARC (Audio Return Channel), and that's is what is needed for the sound bar to work through that connection.

No worries, though. The sound bar sounds amazing with the digital optical hookup, and that setup is better than using the internal television speakers. Besides, I like not having to use too many remotes.

I've got other movies that I want to watch tonight, but every time I use Mad Max: Fury Road as a test disc for my audio options, I end up watching the whole movie again!

It has a way of sucking you in, doesn't it?

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

No go on hooking up my sound bar with the HDMI cables, or at least not that I could figure out. I used a high speed ethernet cable, as per the manual instructions, but no volume came from the sound bar when I did. I think that it's because there are no HDMI inputs on the TV that are labeled for the ARC (Audio Return Channel), and that's is what is needed for the sound bar to work through that connection.

No worries, though. The sound bar sounds amazing with the digital optical hookup, and that setup is better than using the internal television speakers. Besides, I like not having to use too many remotes.

Yeah, my living room setup is a soundbar with HDMI into the TV and then optical out to the soundbar. Sounds rather amazing really, after I learned there is a "use HD audio" button on the remote I had to hit. It sounds so good I am thinking of replacing the standard receiver and 2.1 setup in my media room with an expensive soundbar.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

No go on hooking up my sound bar with the HDMI cables, or at least not that I could figure out. I used a high speed ethernet cable, as per the manual instructions, but no volume came from the sound bar when I did. I think that it's because there are no HDMI inputs on the TV that are labeled for the ARC (Audio Return Channel), and that's is what is needed for the sound bar to work through that connection.

No worries, though. The sound bar sounds amazing with the digital optical hookup, and that setup is better than using the internal television speakers. Besides, I like not having to use too many remotes.

I've got other movies that I want to watch tonight, but every time I use Mad Max: Fury Road as a test disc for my audio options, I end up watching the whole movie again!

You should try 7.1 next.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

You should try 7.1 next.

My living room in my new place is not quite as conducive to such a system, although it could be done if I wanted to fool with all of the speakers.

I tend to change my mind and make spur-of-the-moment decisions sometimes, though. As evidenced by this 4K television and sound bar in the first place!

[Yojimbo68]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

No go on hooking up my sound bar with the HDMI cables, or at least not that I could figure out. I used a high speed ethernet cable, as per the manual instructions, but no volume came from the sound bar when I did. I think that it's because there are no HDMI inputs on the TV that are labeled for the ARC (Audio Return Channel), and that's is what is needed for the sound bar to work through that connection.

No worries, though. The sound bar sounds amazing with the digital optical hookup, and that setup is better than using the internal television speakers. Besides, I like not having to use too many remotes.

I've got other movies that I want to watch tonight, but every time I use Mad Max: Fury Road as a test disc for my audio options, I end up watching the whole movie again!

Hmmm. Just trying to get my noggin around this. So, you hooked up your Blu-ray player to the sound bar's HDMI input via an HDMI cable. Then using another HDMI cable, you went from the sound bar's HDMI output into the TV? But you got no sound because the HDMI input on the TV does not have ARC? Is that right?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Yojimbo68

Hmmm. Just trying to get my noggin around this. So, you hooked up your Blu-ray player to the sound bar's HDMI input via an HDMI cable. Then using another HDMI cable, you went from the sound bar's HDMI output into the TV? But you got no sound because the HDMI input on the TV does not have ARC? Is that right?

Oh... I didn't realize that I had to unhook my HDMI from my Blu-ray player to my television and run it through the sound bar instead, while hooking my HDMI output from the sound bar to the television.

I just tried that, and it works. Everything sounds good, although I only had a DVD in my Blu-ray player at the moment this morning to test it out. I'll pop a Blu-ray player in after my morning run to finish testing.

I had to change my sound bar source to HDMI for it work, but my television is still set to "Audio Out (Optical)" although there is no optical cable hooked up now. Everything seems to work anyway, but I'll take a closer look at it later.

[tvine2000]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Maybe this time 'The Look And Sound Of Perfect' might actually mean something.

The heck of it is we may well get a sea change of mastering practices in the industry for UHD (Universal and Warners apparently have new regimes in place) but will anyone care, outside of the hardest hardcore videophile with bottomless pockets?

Answer this. Did anyone first care about DVD,Blu-ray,HD-DVD? In your comment just replace the word UHD with any of the others.I'm sure some studio will try to just release upscaled UHD'S,others will do the right thing.
Older movies will need a total restoration and that is not cheap for a studio to do. So yes will see some crappy UHD blu-ray discs. Studios will only put the money into what they consider classic movies and movies that sold well on BD.
Anyone remember when they started using noise reduction to smooth out the picture and lose any detail that was there? The big grain debate? Will see that again also

[Geoff D]

Ah, but the point is that Blu-ray, as it stands at the moment, is capable of extraordinarily good PQ, good enough for most people I'd have thought and certainly better in terms of sheer resolution than the average 35mm theatrical print. Everything else before it was a stepping stone and now that we've gotten there, it really will only be the 'ultras' who'll buy into UHD BD with any great enthusiasm. IMO.

As for grain, HEVC's adaptive block structure means that, if anything, grain is rendered even finer using that codec in conjunction with a 4K source, so "grain management" should be less of an issue than ever. Will there be missteps? Probably, especially with regards to regrading for HDR and studios using 2K upscales, but I think all that DNR/EE shit as we know it (because HDR content needs de-noising to some degree) is finally behind us. There will be all-new points of contention instead.

[Falaskan]

Just had a horrific thought. What if early 4k players aren't region free!

[PenguinMaster]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

Just had a horrific thought. What if early 4k players aren't region free!

Why would they be? Blu-ray players are only region-free through unofficial means. The same will likely be true of UHD players and it will take time for those means to be discovered.

[Falaskan]

I guess I meant won't play region free discs

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

I guess I meant won't play region free discs

The BDs and UHD BDs that are coded region free would have no issues. Region ABC BDs play on region ABC players because they're flagged for each region (or more than one region).

An AB UK BD is still going to play on a region A UHD BD player because it's flagged A.

[Partyslammer]

Originally Posted by 42041

I'm far from convinced UHD will be see significant adoption or offer a significant improvement over blu-ray for most content (frankly, it's very obvious that even most people here are not limited by the resolution of their blurays, but by their eyes vs. their screen size). I'm far from convinced that a 4K LCD will provide an overall better visual experience than a high-end 1080p plasma. Maybe once OLED TVs become more affordable, I'll take another look, but for the time being, I'm planning on sitting UHD out.

Agreed with all your points. Certainly, the slate of initial releases this Fall which are mostly recently released hollow CGI-fests (Fantastic Four?!? Exodus?!?) offers no compelling reason to be an early adopter. If the studios were disappointed that home video 3D releases has never grown past being a tiny niche market, wait 'til they see the first few years of sales for 4K home media.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by Partyslammer

Agreed with all your points. Certainly, the slate of initial releases this Fall which are mostly recently released hollow CGI-fests (Fantastic Four?!? Exodus?!?) offers no compelling reason to be an early adopter. If the studios were disappointed that home video 3D releases has never grown past being a tiny niche market, wait 'til they see the first few years of sales for 4K home media.

They've always put out the LCD titles whenever a format debuts. That's the studios' M.O. They're always afraid of releasing a BIG, POPULAR hit thinking they won't get the sales numbers they expect since the ownership starts out so tiny.

However, it's the ol' chicken and the egg conundrum. Perhaps if they put out some exclusive top transfers of Star Wars, the original un-f--ked with Trilogy fully restored at 4k with both a killer, balls-to-the-wall Dolby Atmos re-mix and a close proximity of the best of the original Dolby Stereo mixes of the day, people may just JUMP at the format.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Oh... I didn't realize that I had to unhook my HDMI from my Blu-ray player to my television and run it through the sound bar instead, while hooking my HDMI output from the sound bar to the television.

I just tried that, and it works. Everything sounds good, although I only had a DVD in my Blu-ray player at the moment this morning to test it out. I'll pop a Blu-ray player in after my morning run to finish testing.

I had to change my sound bar source to HDMI for it work, but my television is still set to "Audio Out (Optical)" although there is no optical cable hooked up now. Everything seems to work anyway, but I'll take a closer look at it later.

I changed my mind, and decided to go back to the way I started, by hooking up the sound bar to the television with the digital optical wire, with the television hooked up to the Blu-ray player with a HDMI cable.

My setup sounds great both ways, with no real differences that I could discern with my ears, but having the sound bar hooked up by HDMI to the Blu-ray player and by another HDMI to television takes a couple of extra steps with the remote control each time I decide to watch a movie. By hooking up the sound bar with the digital optical, as I did to begin with yesterday, I can leave the sound bar remote alone, since the sound bar automatically turns on as the television turns on, and I can control the sound bar volume through the television remote.

I guess that I'm sacrificing true HD audio for the sake of laziness, but both hookup methods sound alike, and any differences are negligible, at best, to my ears.

At any rate, the sound bar improves the audio presentation of my discs to a noticeable degree over using the internal television speakers, and the 4K up-conversion of the Blu-ray and DVD pictures is superb.

I reserve the right to tweak my system again, though, so I'm going to hold in to the second HDMI cable that I bought yesterday.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I changed my mind, and decided to go back to the way I started, by hooking up the sound bar to the television with the digital optical wire, with the television hooked up to the Blu-ray player with a HDMI cable.

My setup sounds great both ways, with no real differences that I could discern with my ears, but having the sound bar hooked up by HDMI to the Blu-ray player and by another HDMI to television takes a couple of extra steps with the remote control each time I decide to watch a movie. By hooking up the sound bar with the digital optical, as I did to begin with yesterday, I can leave the sound bar remote alone, since the sound bar automatically turns on as the television turns on, and I can control the sound bar volume through the television remote.

I guess that I'm sacrificing true HD audio for the sake of laziness, but both hookup methods sound alike, and any differences are negligible, at best, to my ears.

At any rate, the sound bar improves the audio presentation of my discs to a noticeable degree over using the internal television speakers, and the 4K up-conversion of the Blu-ray and DVD pictures is superb.

Gotta speak the truth, but most sound bars (except the premium models) don't have good enough speakers and large enough drivers to really tell the difference between lossy and lossless audio tracks.

Hopefully, at some point you will invest in better audio equipment.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

Gotta speak the truth, but most sound bars (except the premium models) don't have good enough speakers and large enough drivers to really tell the difference between lossy and lossless audio tracks.

Hopefully, at some point you will invest in better audio equipment.

I'm right there with you. My LG sound bar was only $200, but it achieves my goal of having an audio setup that fills up my living room wonderfully well without having to deal with a more complex system that changes the accessibility and simplicity of how the room looks. I just love movies, and I've never been a videophile or an audiophile to any real extent.

My living room is such that I only sit six feet away from the 49" 4K UHD television and the sound bar w/ subwoofer.

This may be a case of "blind man doesn't realize that he is blind because he's always been blind, and deaf man doesn't realize that he is deaf...", but the setup is all good to my eyes and ears right now.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback and suggestions!

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Partyslammer

Agreed with all your points. Certainly, the slate of initial releases this Fall which are mostly recently released hollow CGI-fests (Fantastic Four?!? Exodus?!?) offers no compelling reason to be an early adopter. If the studios were disappointed that home video 3D releases has never grown past being a tiny niche market, wait 'til they see the first few years of sales for 4K home media.

It's a studio mindset that never seems to change. "Let's release garbage titles for the early adopters."

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'm right there with you. My LG sound bar was only $200, but it achieves my goal of having an audio setup that fills up my living room wonderfully well without having to deal with a more complex system that changes the accessibility and simplicity of how the room looks. I just love movies, and I've never been a videophile or an audiophile to any real extent.

My living room is such that I only sit six feet away from the 49" 4K UHD television and the sound bar w/ subwoofer.

This may be a case of "blind man doesn't realize that he is blind because he's always been blind, and deaf man doesn't realize that he is deaf...", but the setup is all good to my eyes and ears right now.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback and suggestions!

Definitely check out EMP Tek (direct sale RBH speakers), SVS, HSU Research, and Ascend Acoustics (all internet direct with superior reputations) for great budget speakers and subs (all the way to audiophile nirvana type equipment). Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, and even Onkyo for receivers. You may have more speakers in the room, but you will be mightily impressed and your love and enjoyment of movies will grow exponentially. I can guarantee it.