True 4K Blu-ray - why I will mostly skip if released

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Hi all....I am finding it hard to get excited about this tech....

But apparently not writing about it. Dude, too funny , I was just passed this PM from another member…..http://www.avsforum.com/t/1483393/tr...ip-if-released

You must be an activist on an anti-4K mission, bouncing from forum to forum *to get the word out* to the folks in every province.

Reminds me of the good ‘ol days on AVS during the format war where this sort of multiplex forum canvassing was a daily occurrence.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

But apparently not writing about it. Dude, too funny , I was just passed this PM from another member…..http://www.avsforum.com/t/1483393/tr...ip-if-released

You must be an activist on an anti-4K mission, bouncing from forum to forum *to get the word out* to the folks in every province.

Reminds me of the good ‘ol days on AVS during the format war where this sort of multiplex forum canvassing was a daily occurrence.

And your point? You are posting this as if you found the treasure of the sierra madre or something. Are you saying Blu-ray.com is the only home theater forum you belong to? That is quite limiting yourself.

Based on the content of your posts it appears that you are much more emotionally invested in at least the concept of this technology than I am. The purpose of this thread was merely to discuss opinions of whether we'd be peddled snake oil or not with a potential future Blu-ray 4K format, as this is common practice in the A/V industry. By posting in another forum, I was able to get opinions of much more people.

Regarding your other points, you can slag off on Joe Kane all you'd like but he has been a constant reliable reference for home video technologies, certainly moreso than the average anonymous forum member. Therefore I highly value his opinion.

All the theory aside two things have become abundantly clear from these discussions. You can count the number of films that are true 4K (all the way through the whole process) on one hand, and even if you were to get one of those rare true 4K movies you need a massive screen to see the difference between 4k and 1080p unless you are sitting 3ft away from it. It was shocking to learn so many "shot in 4K" films had 2K effects and/or post which would make a 4k release essentially a 1080p upscale.

Bottom line, I still do not see the value of this tech for home theater (at least on the source side). For commercial theater, yes. But for home theater, this is the equivalent of DVD-Audio for me - a heavily-marketed technical difference that will be largely undetectable by the majority of consumers given calibrated sets and same masters.

4K does have merits for PC, medical, commercial, etc... But for Blu-ray movies I just don't see it being significantly beneficial or practical.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Bottom line, I still do not see the value of this tech for home theater (at least on the source side). For commercial theater, yes. But for home theater, this is the equivalent of DVD-Audio for me - a heavily-marketed technical difference that will be largely undetectable by the majority of consumers given calibrated sets and same masters.

4K does have merits for PC, medical, commercial, etc... But for Blu-ray movies I just don't see it being significantly beneficial or practical.

Hey Ruined.

Tech will always evolve. You're comparison about DVD-Audio is spot on. That said, there is no harm in advancing resolution beyond what average joe sees. The most notable difference from any seating distance playing back 4K is color IMO. I doubt there is room for native 4K optical media to boom in today's digital world.

[Flatnate]

Won't lie, I admit that I have a subscription to Widescreen Review, so I get a lot of Joe's technical write-ups sent through my mailbox. To a lay person with at least more than a casual interest it becomes very easy to trust him on almost everything he says. Granted I am fully aware that the publication got it's start as a Laserdisc review magazine, so I can see how there would have been bias in the past. Gary's introduction articles are often industry op-eds, and at times have been long winded. Most of the time, he makes some good points about the state of the CE industry even if I don't always agree with him on every aspect. They are definitely very "brick and mortor store-centric" bunch over there. On the other end of the spectrum you have guys like Andrew Robinson making statements like how he thinks Magnepan should go direct consumer with the likes of SVS Sound and HSU. Point is we all take our bias's and experience with us when we talk about new tech. You can try to be objective in a review, or a discussion of new tech and I value that objectivity but the more I read the more I realize that old biases and opinions permeate everything. That's ok, I value other's opinions, you just have to be able to spot it as opinion, and that takes some experience. It's good to have a reminder that even Joe K, isn't immune from it either.

For me, my opinion is still out on 4K. We have so much to nail down yet with HDMI 2.0, the colorimetry, source content specs (I think . I think it would be cool to see DisplayPort on sets, but what do I know?! I saw the 65 inch Sony LED again the other day at Best Buy. Looked great hooked up to the server, granted the couch was maybe five feet from it, and it looked almost hyper saturated. There are things the industry can do to make this compelling but it's not there in its current state (see, that part was my opinion there). I know this, I wouldn't buy anything without HDMI 2.0!

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Ruined

And your point? You are posting this as if you found the treasure of the sierra madre or something. Are you saying Blu-ray.com is the only home theater forum you belong to? That is quite limiting yourself.

Based on the content of your posts it appears that you are much more emotionally invested in at least the concept of this technology than I am. The purpose of this thread was merely to discuss opinions of whether we'd be peddled snake oil or not with a potential future Blu-ray 4K format, as this is common practice in the A/V industry. By posting in another forum, I was able to get opinions of much more people.

Regarding your other points, you can slag off on Joe Kane all you'd like but he has been a constant reliable reference for home video technologies, certainly moreso than the average anonymous forum member. Therefore I highly value his opinion.

The point is that, at least in this case, the multiple forum listing(s) of the original itemized post comes off, not as an incentive to gather opinions but rather just another anti-something crusade, in this particular situation, 4K. Not to mention your inaccurate quoting of a “reliable” expert who was either technically wanting or technically biased (due to HD DVD affiliation) during the format war -- which doesn’t go over too well with longtime members of the Blu-ray movement.

Ruined, show me some ‘balance’. I don’t care too much for negative campaigns against some/any pastime/hobby which may be of interest to others, but not to you, as it’s just like disparaging something like 3D if one has absolutely no interest in that format. Heck, if you really don’t like it, ignore it, but don’t go on a mission negatively criticizing some new technology.

As far as my “emotional investment”, I own and use a 4K camera (the brand will remain anonymous) and I inform those of both the strengths as well as what many would consider practical weaknesses (https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...id#post7856932 ) and real pitfalls ( https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...od#post7832414 ) of 4K delivery options and consumer displays which I believe, personal value-regardless, will someday be as ubiquitous as 1080p TVs are to 720p TVs with the mainstream public. So…the evolution of this new consumer format, I find a lot more interesting than many other topics on consumer audio/video forums.

Kind of reminds me of the early days of Blu-ray with Ben ( https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...en#post7929866 ) which were quite intriguing. Anyway, my attitude is rather than being a negative contributor to a technological advancement, think of ways to improve it - https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...te#post7325076

Rather than spending all your time thinking of reasons to condemn it.