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

[jamesdevil]

Originally Posted by blu-ray_girl_fan

No, I'll take high-quality transfers PLUS Bonus Features for less money than what Sony is charging.

Let me know when that comes out.

[42041]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

and why buy something that pretty much throws all the extras into the wind?

That's a personal judgement call; I'd take the most marginal improvement in the movie quality over the usual set of bonus features. I bought Taxi Driver the day it came out and I've never watched the special features on it (and that is true of many other discs). I just couldn't care less if the disc has them or doesn't.

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by nagysaudio

So what do you do in the case of Ghostbusters? 4K scan and no extras, or blown out washed out garbage with extras? Which do you buy?

Neither.

Originally Posted by jamesdevil

Let me know when that comes out.

Ben-Hur
Casablanca
Lawrence of Arabia
etc. for catalog titles

as well as just about any major studio theatrical release from 2011 onwards

[Dragun]

I don't know much about the expanded color thing but Sony is advertising 4K as a special mastering technique when quite a few Blu-Rays from various studios have been transferred from 4K scans or DIs. Seems to me like a restaurant that advertises, "we use salt!"

[motorheadache95]

I'm pretty much with blu-ray_girl_fan on this one. For the most part this seems like a gimmick like Superbit DVD. I'll wait for reviews to make any final judgements on this 4K line, but a lot of these titles were already mastered from 4K sources, and I seriously doubt I would notice any real PQ improvements.

The exception to this is of course is Ghostbusters, since it actually got a new fresh remaster after the problematic master used for the first release.

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by Dragun

I don't know much about the expanded color thing but Sony is advertising 4K as a special mastering technique when quite a few Blu-Rays from various studios have been transferred from 4K scans or DIs. Seems to me like a restaurant that advertises, "we use salt!"

+1

[jamesdevil]

Originally Posted by blu-ray_girl_fan

Ben-Hur
Casablanca
Lawrence of Arabia
etc. for catalog titles

as well as just about any major studio theatrical release from 2011 onwards

I'm talking about for these Sony titles which is the entire point of the thread.

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by jamesdevil

I'm talking about for these Sony titles which is the entire point of the thread.

Even better -- you're admitting that Sony can't get it right.

[jamesdevil]

Originally Posted by blu-ray_girl_fan

Even better -- you're admitting that Sony can't get it right.

I don't think I was saying Sony 'got it right' nor do I care. I just find some of these discs desirable and am purchasing them. Pretty simple. I don't make a habit of repeatedly posting in threads about products I have no intention of buying where people are trying to get information (at least that is how I use this forum). Continue your one woman diatribe though. I'll enjoy my discs tomorrow.

[mrpink134]

Originally Posted by jamesdevil

I don't think I was saying Sony 'got it right' nor do I care. I just find some of these discs desirable and am purchasing them. Pretty simple. I don't make a habit of repeatedly posting in threads about products I have no intention of buying where people are trying to get information (at least that is how I use this forum). Continue your one woman diatribe though. I'll enjoy my discs tomorrow.

At what price? Paying extra just for a barebone release, that's not going to be that much of a difference if any at all? Marketing gimmick at its best! These are not real 4k releases

[jamesdevil]

Originally Posted by mrpink134

At what price? Paying extra just for a barebone release, that's not going to be that much of a difference?

All of which is completely subjective, no?

[joie]

Originally Posted by JohnDoe NY

Go back to your troll cave anon!

Are you still stalking me? You've been suspended at least twice, you know.

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by jamesdevil

I don't think I was saying Sony 'got it right' nor do I care. I just find some of these discs desirable and am purchasing them. Pretty simple. I don't make a habit of repeatedly posting in threads about products I have no intention of buying where people are trying to get information (at least that is how I use this forum). Continue your one woman diatribe though. I'll enjoy my discs tomorrow.

Some of you have been posting that you don't care about Bonus Features. However, some of us like Bonus Features.

If you don't care about Bonus Features, you don't have to watch them. However, if discs don't include Bonus Features at all, no one will be able to watch them.

If people buy these feature-less releases, that'll only encourage the studios to forego Bonus Features. This is a real loss b/c a lot of filmmakers have said that they learned how to make movies by watching Bonus Features on Criterion LaserDiscs as well as DVDs from various distributors. Some of your favorite filmmakers would not be making some of your favorite movies if Bonus Features didn't exist.

[joie]

Originally Posted by blu-ray_girl_fan

Some of you have been posting that you don't care about Bonus Features. [...] Some of your favorite filmmakers would not be making some of your favorite movies if Bonus Features didn't exist.

Some of my favorite filmmakers were making my favorite movies before Bonus Features existed.

If you're so opposed to gimmicks, why aren't you opposed to Bonus Features?

[42041]

Originally Posted by blu-ray_girl_fan

If you don't care about Bonus Features, you don't have to watch them. However, if discs don't include Bonus Features at all, no one will be able to watch them.

Such things will be weighed by market demand. As I don't watch them, they don't really enter my purchasing equation.

[BrandonJF]

Originally Posted by nagysaudio

So what do you do in the case of Ghostbusters? 4K scan and no extras, or blown out washed out garbage with extras? Which do you buy?

I think people who have a problem with this (and it's a legit gripe, IMO) would say that there is really no reason why it needs to be one or the other. They did the same thing with their SuperBit releases - they had their nice little pie charts showing how all of that disc space was being used for audio and video, even though there was often plenty of free space left over. But, unfortunately, this is the way Sony decided to go. It's not a huge deal for me - in the case of Ghostbusters, I'm fine keeping my old disc and I got the new one. It's been long enough since the original release came out that a remaster doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth. I'm not quite sure what they are thinking with something like Total Recall, though. I can't imagine any improvement will be that noticeable and they only offer the theatrical cut. Also, the marketing is just ludicrous. I've seen so much confusion - not just in this group, but from sites reporting on these discs. It may even be intentional.... studios did the same thing with DVDs, though, where they would often tout a high-def transfer. The words "High Def" weren't prominently displayed in a banner on the front cover artwork, though. I think more people will think these are actually magical higher resolution discs than those who will know exactly what they are.

I'm only gonna bite on these if a complete remaster was done and they aren't just using the same source with a slightly higher bit rate. But, if this marketing gimmick gets us some past mistakes corrected, then fine. I'll gladly take a better looking Ghostbusters for $15.

[BrandonJF]

Originally Posted by blu-ray_girl_fan

If people buy these feature-less releases, that'll only encourage the studios to forego Bonus Features.

That isn't going to happen. Some of these titles have already sold a ton of copies with the bonus features. There is no shot these releases will outsell the originals. This is Sony dusting off an old marketing gimmick that must've been somewhat successful in the past. But, it sure wasn't successful enough to make featureless discs "standard".

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by BrandonJF

That isn't going to happen. Some of these titles have already sold a ton of copies with the bonus features. There is no shot these releases will outsell the originals. This is Sony dusting off an old marketing gimmick that must've been somewhat successful in the past. But, it sure wasn't successful enough to make featureless discs "standard".

I hope you're right, though I'm astounded that people are okay with Sony giving us discs with 10 to 20 GBs of free space. Why not max out the transfer, even if the extra bits don't yield any increase in picture/audio quality?

Originally Posted by BrandonJF

Also, the marketing is just ludicrous. I've seen so much confusion - not just in this group, but from sites reporting on these discs. It may even be intentional.... studios did the same thing with DVDs, though, where they would often tout a high-def transfer. The words "High Def" weren't prominently displayed in a banner on the front cover artwork, though. I think more people will think these are actually magical higher resolution discs than those who will know exactly what they are.

Exactly, all of which is completely unnecessary and avoidable.

[Darkstream]

Originally Posted by joie

Some of my favorite filmmakers were making my favorite movies before Bonus Features existed.

Mine too, but I still love Bonus Features.

If you're so opposed to gimmicks, why aren't you opposed to Bonus Features?

Bonus Features are gimmicks?

[42041]

Originally Posted by blu-ray_girl_fan

I hope you're right, though I'm astounded that people are okay with Sony giving us discs with 10 to 20 GBs of free space. Why not max out the transfer, even if the extra bits don't yield any increase in picture/audio quality?

Blu-rays are limited to 40MBPS video. A 1hr 45min film with 3MBPS of audio/subs with the video bitrate maxed out will come out to around 32GB. So it's quite possible these discs are pegging the bandwidth of the format (anyone know if Sony ditched their stupid lossless dubs for these discs?).
Should Sony have squished some extras in that space? Yeah. Do I care? not really....