Blu ray 1080p decreased resolution.

[ken_redcoat]

So I just noticed, when blu ray discs were first released in 2006 or 2007, the resolution is so good and its near 4k, and the blu ray (1080p regular blu ray) they release today have a decreased resolution???? They're like lower than 720p.

I believe that they're making the 4K UHD format look good by also decreasing the resolution of the regular 1080p blu ray discs.


Have you guys noticed it too?

[HDTV1080P]

4K Blu-ray discs are native 3840 x 2160P and most the time HDR instead of SDR. 2K Blu-ray discs that were released in 2006 are almost 99.9% 1920 x 1080P, and that holds true for 2023 2K Blu-ray releases which are sometimes called standard Blu-ray discs. Standard Blu-ray discs for some documentaries and some movies are 1080i or 720P but we are talking about way less than 1% of releasees. 1280 x 720P Blu-ray releases are hard to find but they exist. Many times for older 2006—2010 2K Blu-ray disc releases the movie is 1080P but the extra features are 720 x 480i.

[CinemaBlu]

Originally Posted by ken_redcoat

So I just noticed, when blu ray discs were first released in 2006 or 2007, the resolution is so good and its near 4k, and the blu ray (1080p regular blu ray) they release today have a decreased resolution???? They're like lower than 720p.

I believe that they're making the 4K UHD format look good by also decreasing the resolution of the regular 1080p blu ray discs.


Have you guys noticed it too?

I know what you mean. I have noticed a decrease in quality. Older DVDs look better than DVDs released during the BD era, and older BDs look better than BDs released during the 4K UHD era, and DVDs released during the 4K UHD era just look like garbage. I've gone back and seen some older DVDs and they don't look as bad as new DVD releases, so there is some truth to what you're saying.

I think it's more about neglect of older formats than a conscious effort to purposely make them bad to make the new formats look better in comparison. I think what happens is that home video producers optimize releases for the best format they'll be releasing a title in and stop making an effort optimizing for older formats, figuring that anyone who cares about quality is going to go for the best format available. They'd kinda be wasting their time optimizing releases for older formats when the people who buy them don't even really care enough about quality to upgrade to the better format.

[HECII]

Originally Posted by ken_redcoat

So I just noticed, when blu ray discs were first released in 2006 or 2007, the resolution is so good and its near 4k, and the blu ray (1080p regular blu ray) they release today have a decreased resolution???? They're like lower than 720p.

I believe that they're making the 4K UHD format look good by also decreasing the resolution of the regular 1080p blu ray discs.


Have you guys noticed it too?

Hello ken_redcoat,

You don't mention what your tv resolution is? If it's a 4K UHD it's probably the tv making the lower resolution disc look bad. I'm still using lower resolution tv's (720 and 1080 P) and all the newer blu-ray discs with 4K restorations look very good, I hate seeing a favorite film (like Freaks from Criterion) has only gotten a 2K restoration because I know it won't look as good as it could if it had received the best possible restoration. I guess with a 2K restore they can always release it again in the future with a 4K and get us for another purchase since 4K is the best it will ever look on a 1080 P or 4K UHD disc.

Regards...

HECII

[Rottweiler30]

Originally Posted by HECII

Hello ken_redcoat,

You don't mention what your tv resolution is? If it's a 4K UHD it's probably the tv making the lower resolution disc look bad. I'm still using lower resolution tv's (720 and 1080 P) and all the newer blu-ray discs with 4K restorations look very good, I hate seeing a favorite film (like Freaks from Criterion) has only gotten a 2K restoration because I know it won't look as good as it could if it had received the best possible restoration. I guess with a 2K restore they can always release it again in the future with a 4K and get us for another purchase since 4K is the best it will ever look on a 1080 P or 4K UHD disc.

Regards...

HECII

This is it in a nutshell. Once youre watching discs that dont have the same resolution as the screen youre watching on theres obviously a noticable drop in quality.

[meremortal]

Resolution of blu hasn't changed. There have been some changes such as going from the MPEG-2 codec to the more standardized and efficient MPEG-4. The resolution of dvd hasn't changed either. Some of the earliest dvd players were limited to composite and s-video outputs. Plus, there unfortunately were a lot of non-anamorphic releases for a few years. Maybe some tvs and players handle upscaling of sd and blu better than others.

[thejoeman2]

There are some truth to this, at least with some studios.

WB in general nerfs the 1080p Blu Ray releases if there is a 4K release. It usually has a bitrate below 20 mbps, even though it has 3 different Atmos soundtracks. It looks like they lazily apply HDR to SDR conversion tone mapping, which makes the picture look flat and blown out with gray blacks. I get it, 4K has HDR, but a Blu Ray was never as flat as some of the half assed releases WB has been/probably still putting out. Please check Matrix Resurrections for reference.

Universal is on the same boat, but with DVDs. Some DVDs do have a higher bitrate, but it still ends up looking like a compressed mess with ringing and MPEG artifacts.

I did watch The Irishman on DVD by Criterion. While it didn't have a high bitrate, it was clearer than most of what Universal is putting out lately for DVDs.