4K Blu-ray Confirmed, Coming in

[hajiketobu]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

It is not only that but the BD player is the first step. What use is it if it can rread and send out a 50i signal but the AVR can't handle it and so can't pass the video (if one is attached)? or the TV?

What has 48fps progressive signal to do with 50fps interlaced signal?

[FilmFreakosaurus]

I can't think of a single reason why Ultra HD Blu-ray and UHD's cannot support PAL frame rates of 25p and 50p without the need for some sort of wonky conversion for NTSC/ATSC countries. And no reason PAL countries cannot do the same for ATSC compliant media.

These are digital displays and not CRT's we're dealing with any more. They can switch on the fly.

Just as dumb as the BDA not natively supporting 30p for Todd-AO films or 48p for certain HFR movies.

[Esox50]

So let's assume the first waves of Ultra HD Blu-Rays come out in October/November 2015. What are your guys guesses for the handful titles coming from each major studio?

Here are some of my wild guesses...

Sony - Bram Stoker's Dracula, 5th Element, something James Bond maybe Casino Royale to tie in with the new movie (does Sony/Columbia own the home video rights to the Daniel Craig Bond movies?)

WB - Man of Steel & Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy (I think Man of Steel is a slam dunk with the Batman vs Superman coming March 25, 2016...though i guess they could hold it til 1Q16.)

Fox - True Lies (isn't this ready to go, seems they've forgone 1080P and will go right to ultra HD), Aliens, maybe Star Wars? (with Lucas out of the way, and the new movie coming? Assume fox still has rights, and Disney take rights to new films?)

Disney - Avengers: Age of Ultron (one of the first day & date Ultra HD titles), Ant-Man (another day & date title), Frozen (though not sure if this is/was rendered in 4K?), Armageddon (or some other Bruckheimer release like National Treasure or Pirates of the Caribbean? Seems Bruckheimer movies are always in the early releases on a new format)

Universal - Jurassic Park series (also to tie in with the new one day & date), Fast & Furious (seems like a no-brainer with the new one coming in April)

Paramount/Dreamworks - Transformers (pick one), Gladiator (this one is in good shape from what i heard)

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts. A mix of usual suspects we see on any new format (DVD, Blu-ray), theatrical tie-ins, and eye candy. Of course, in the past studios have waited for penetration prior to putting some of the big guns out, but we'll see. Times have changes, and i think to compete with streaming and keep the format afloat, they may push some big titles out sooner. Lots also depends on what shape the films and their transfers themselves are in, which i profess i have no inside knowledge. Should be interesting...

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts.

I'm disappointed.
No thoughts on/about Catherine Z-J in The Mask of Zorro for UHD? You no longer carry a torch?

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I'm disappointed.
No thoughts on/about Catherine Z-J in The Mask of Zorro for UHD? You no longer carry a torch?

Haha, oohhhhh yeah. I forgot that one. I bet you're right, those films will hit from Sony. I'm sure if i went and looked at my BD collection...more would seem like likely candidates.

I hope this time around I don't get threatened to "get my lights punched out" over Bram Stoker's Dracula. Remember that one? lol...

Edit: Ahhhh, the memories...
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=8342

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Haha, oohhhhh yeah. I forgot that one.

I thought you might be slipping so I had to remind.

[Taygan315]

Originally Posted by Esox50

So let's assume the first waves of Ultra HD Blu-Rays come out in October/November 2015. What are your guys guesses for the handful titles coming from each major studio?

Here are some of my wild guesses...

Sony - Bram Stoker's Dracula, 5th Element, something James Bond maybe Casino Royale to tie in with the new movie (does Sony/Columbia own the home video rights to the Daniel Craig Bond movies?)

WB - Man of Steel & Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy (I think Man of Steel is a slam dunk with the Batman vs Superman coming March 25, 2016...though i guess they could hold it til 1Q16.)

Fox - True Lies (isn't this ready to go, seems they've forgone 1080P and will go right to ultra HD), Aliens, maybe Star Wars? (with Lucas out of the way, and the new movie coming? Assume fox still has rights, and Disney take rights to new films?)

Disney - Avengers: Age of Ultron (one of the first day & date Ultra HD titles), Ant-Man (another day & date title), Frozen (though not sure if this is/was rendered in 4K?), Armageddon (or some other Bruckheimer release like National Treasure or Pirates of the Caribbean? Seems Bruckheimer movies are always in the early releases on a new format)

Universal - Jurassic Park series (also to tie in with the new one day & date), Fast & Furious (seems like a no-brainer with the new one coming in April)

Paramount/Dreamworks - Transformers (pick one), Gladiator (this one is in good shape from what i heard)

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts. A mix of usual suspects we see on any new format (DVD, Blu-ray), theatrical tie-ins, and eye candy. Of course, in the past studios have waited for penetration prior to putting some of the big guns out, but we'll see. Times have changes, and i think to compete with streaming and keep the format afloat, they may push some big titles out sooner. Lots also depends on what shape the films and their transfers themselves are in, which i profess i have no inside knowledge. Should be interesting...

Like your list!! I also think Avengers 2 will DEFINITELY be one of the initial first 4K releases,imo. Would LIKE to see The Hobbit trilogy, Dark Knight trilogy, Star Wars 1-3, and Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy as well.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Taygan315

Like your list!! I also think Avengers 2 will DEFINITELY be one of the initial first 4K releases,imo. Would LIKE to see The Hobbit trilogy, Dark Knight trilogy, Star Wars 1-3, and Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy as well.

Maybe Lord of the Rings Trilogy from Warners Bros (New Line). Word is Peter Jackson was converting to 3D, so maybe they did some work on it to get it ready for 4K too. Who knows.

[Jimmy Smith]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Maybe Lord of the Rings Trilogy from Warners Bros (New Line). Word is Peter Jackson was converting to 3D, so maybe they did some work on it to get it ready for 4K too. Who knows.

All the digital effects in all of Peter Jackson's Middle Earth movies were rendered in 2k so it would require an expensive re rendering of all the effects so I wouldn't count on it

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith

All the digital effects in all of Peter Jackson's Middle Earth movies were rendered in 2k so it would require an expensive re rendering of all the effects so I wouldn't count on it

But then its a catch 22, right? If most SFX have been rendered in 2K, then studios are going to be missing some of their biggest titles, or they will have to "suck it up" and just get it done.

I agree, its going to be very interesting to see what makes the cut though...

[Richard Paul]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Hm. Still no 30p support, nor 48p for HFR.

30p is easy to do with 60p so I would not consider that to be a problem. As for 48p the $50+ worth of video processing that would have been needed for 60 Hz displays to convert unwatchable motion into poor motion was likely the reason that 48p was rejected. It is also a bit early to know which HFR frame rate might be used by the studios or when it will be used by more than a handful of movies.

Originally Posted by hajiketobu

Actually 50Hz is more of a global standard, than 60Hz. 60Hz is only America and Japan.

A more complete list would be the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, and Brazil.

Originally Posted by hajiketobu

Why do those guys at the BDA always make the same mistakes by not supporting different framerates? Is it so hard to allow all framerates?

Well it increases the cost of the player and that can be a large increase depending on the complexity of the video processing.

Originally Posted by hajiketobu

A perfect format would support all framerates, just like on a computer.

A computer is very different than an SoC in cost, functionality, and power efficiency. For example not many consumer computers can currently software decode HEVC video at 4K at 60 fps with 10-bit video and a bit rate of 100 Mbps.

Originally Posted by hajiketobu

You could say that 60Hz is an industry standard, yes, but it is not a global standard.

I would mention that there was an effort with UHDTV to make 120 fps into a worldwide standard. It didn't happen but it was the closest the broadcasters got to making one.

[reanimator]

Originally Posted by Esox50

What are your guys guesses for the handful titles coming from each major studio?

To sell the merits of advanced UHD picture and sound, I'd expect to see a lot of current-release eye candy. So yes, some of this summer's blockbusters will be first out of the gate. Then we'll see a mix of catalog titles done right.

I want to say the last release of WIZARD OF OZ used an 8K scan, and it's an enormously popular title. Warner's also has this new 4K remaster of GOODFELLAS about to hit, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it pretty quickly on UHD-BD. CASABLANCA and GRAVITY are likely candidates too.

Paramount will certainly issue INTERSTELLAR on UHD-BD sooner rather than later, but I wouldn't expect to see STAR TREK or INDIANA JONES for a while.

Disney has been sitting on a 4K restoration of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA that I'd hope would be one of their first UHD-BD releases.

Sony will hopefully bury us in UHD-BD offerings. We waited a long time for LAWRENCE OF ARABIA to release -- I suspect it will be one of Sony's very first UHD-BD titles.

[slickkeng]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Keep hoping.

60fps was SMPTE standardized as an additional frame rate (as well as others) for D-Cinema back in 2009. For 48fps, even years earlier than that, as it’s included as mandatory support (at 2K rez) in the original DCI spec.

Let’s see, it’s now 2015, and since those higher non-24fps frame rates have been offered to filmmakers, I’d say they’ve hardly embraced the higher alternative fps options for presentation.

It seems a bit short sighted since UHDBD is being touted as the last physical format and the BDA wants to future proof the format somewhat. Would it be really that hard to put 48p in the spec? I know that TV manufacturers have to follow suit as well as the movie studios but is it that difficult to leave the option in there. It seems that there is movement towards HDR, immersive audio, expanded color gamuts to give 4k a bigger oomph factor. Why not be prepared and include HFR as well? Hopefully the BDA will have the foresight to future proof UHDBD by supporting HFR.

[hajiketobu]

Originally Posted by Richard Paul

I would mention that there was an effort with UHDTV to make 120 fps into a worldwide standard. It didn't happen but it was the closest the broadcasters got to making one.

Yaaaasss i'm all for 120fps! This is the future. I would love an universal standard. As you probably know, the problem is that content filmed in PAL regions looks better with 25/50/100 fps under artificial light. So there will always be 100fps and 120fps, sadly. A true universal frame rate would be as high as 600 fps But it would play anything. Very unrealistic, maybe in 50 years More realistic, or more of my vision of the future, would be 600Hz displays in every household in all regions that are fed with 100 and 120fps content and have no problem displaying any of the common framerates from 24-120fps. Problems solved. The only thing left out would be 18, 48,72 and 96 fps.

[Geoff D]

These lists are all well and good guys, but you know that most of the modern movies you're quoting were finished at 2K, right? Heck, I'll bet cash money that avengers 2 will get a 2K finish also.

[Jimmy Smith]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

These lists are all well and good guys, but you know that most of the modern movies you're quoting were finished at 2K, right? Heck, I'll bet cash money that avengers 2 will get a 2K finish also.

Not to mention it's in 3d which the specs don't support. The best candidates are recent Nolan flicks. Interstellar had all its effects rendered in 4k or higher on some scenes so I hope it's not far off

[Geoff D]

If anything's in 3D you can pretty much guarantee that it'll be a 2K finish, Sony movies aside (where they do separate 4K 2D and 2K 3D finishes).

[halon]

Originally Posted by Rocklandsboy

I watched one film with HFR - The Desolation Of Smaug - and I never want to watch another. It was awful. Unnatural. Off putting. Take it away!

I'm the complete opposite. I love 3D and I really love HFR 3D. The difference is night and day. If every movie were HFR 3D I would not complain!

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by Taygan315

Like your list!! I also think Avengers 2 will DEFINITELY be one of the initial first 4K releases,imo. Would LIKE to see The Hobbit trilogy, Dark Knight trilogy, Star Wars 1-3, and Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy as well.

I assume you mean star wars 4-6, since the prequels were shot in 1080p.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Richard Paul

30p is easy to do with 60p so I would not consider that to be a problem.

Wouldn't doubling every frame cause some oddball motion artifacts?


At least with 1080/60i it's still a true 30fps.