Format Differences

[CrYoG]

Blu-Ray & 4K dominate the home movie landscape right now.
Considering if the movie is exactly the same & has the same extras on both formats, is the quality of 4K compared to Blu-Ray worth the $5-$7 (sometimes $10) price increase?

There's a big difference between a movie on video tape & the same movie on DVD.
There's an ok-to-good difference between a movie on DVD & the same movie on Blu-Ray.
But how much is the difference between a movie on Blu-Ray & the same movie on 4K (since they are both Blu-Rays to begin with)?

Take Transformers (2007). The difference between DVD to Blu-Ray is pretty good. But is the difference between Blu-Ray to 4K worth the increased price?

How about Prey. Same exact movie, same exact extras. So is the difference between Blu-Ray to 4K worth the increased price?

[frogmort]

[say,baby]

It depends on two factors. The first is the size of your monitor. If you have a small television then you aren't going to notice a big difference between DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K. If you have a large monitor, especially a projector the difference is going to be huge. This is more noticeable going from DVD to Blu-ray. The reason is that the viewing area is bigger and more detailed therefore, you are going to notice the flaws in the picture.
The second factor depends on the mastering or remastering of the movie. The 4K of Wes Craven's Scream looks a heck of a lot better than the originally released Blu-ray, However, the remastered Blu-ray looks almost identical to the 4K edition. So, it's based on a movie-to-movie basis as to whether 4K is better than the regular Blu-ray.

[CrYoG]

We have a Samsung 50" Crystal UHD TV & a Sony UHD Blu-ray Player.

All our Blu-Rays look really good, so I was just wondering if 4K movies would actually look better.
I'm planning to get the Predator 4-Movie Collection & trying to decide between the Blu-Ray or 4K versions.

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by CrYoG

We have a Samsung 50" Crystal UHD TV & a Sony UHD Blu-ray Player.

All our Blu-Rays look really good, so I was just wondering if 4K movies would actually look better.
I'm planning to get the Predator 4-Movie Collection & trying to decide between the Blu-Ray or 4K versions.

4k without question. The 4K of Predator alone is worth it since it looks like film and not a DNR'd nightmare.

Also, 4K's typically come with BDs either way.

[s2mikey]

In most cases the 4K should be an appreciable upgrade over a blu-ray. There will be exceptions where the difference is very minor or the 4K has too much processing added to it.

To fully enjoy 4K, its worth it to have as large a screen as you can with good equipment in the chain. Good 4K player, Dolby Vision support, etc.

[Darren75]

I made a couple of mistakes when I first started buying 4k's.



I bought the Blu-ray versions of

because it said 'from a new 4k transfer' on the back and I thought that meant it was the 4k's.

Obviously I corrected my mistake once I realized, but having watched the new transfers on Blu-ray and 4k close together I can say that I didn't notice much difference on Robocop or The Exorcist. The Thing was a totally different story, I noticed the difference right away. The scenes outside with the red flares look amazing on 4k.

Maybe it's a John Carpenter thing because I also remember the Halloween 4k being a massive upgrade from the Blu-ray. I have the Scream Factory 4k which is supposed to be better than the other 4k.

[CrYoG]

I'm going to get the Predator: 4-Movie Collection 4K UHD. It's cheaper in the long run & I received the Prey 4K UHD movie for Christmas yesterday.
So it makes sense to have them all in 4K.