Answered 4K blu-rays - worth it?

Vladman

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Hi,

First of all, apologies if I'm not posting this in the correct forum.

This is really a generic question, something I've been wondering about for a while. Only recently, I've finally upgraded some of my equipment, mainly the projector and AV receiver (all equipment in my signature) to 4K.

I own quite a few old blu-rays. Which 4K technology has rendered kind of obsolete. Exactly the same as what happened with old DVDs when blu-ray arrived.

I'm just wondering if it's worth it buying a 4K blu-ray player, and then investing in discs, if all of it will become obsolete again, in 2-3-4-whatever years, when 8K goes mainstream...?

I know everyone says only physical media can give top class 4K performance (vs streamed 4K content, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc, which I have), but still... It's such a PITA having to switch equipment and discs every 4-5 years, not to mention the cost.

What do you guys think?

Thanks.
 
I'm surprised no-one has asked this before.
 
Ultra HD Blu-ray discs can hold much more data than standard Blu-ray discs, so they can deliver full 4K resolution along with enhanced color and contrast. I think it's worth the effort and price. It produces sharp and textured picture quality. Movies with HDR are particularly striking – closely matching the vibe of the full theater experience.
 
Yes without a shadow of a doubt IMO.

I made the leap to 4k last year and the increase in picture quality ranges from good to staggering, dependent on the disc.
 
I just upgraded from a blu ray player to a sony 4k blu ray player, and the difference is quite stark. It upscales all the blu ray to 4k HDR. Plus the 4K Blu rays really do look amazing. And I've only got a 50" 4K TV - so I imagine on a projector it would look beautiful.
 
I just upgraded from a blu ray player to a sony 4k blu ray player, and the difference is quite stark. It upscales all the blu ray to 4k HDR. Plus the 4K Blu rays really do look amazing. And I've only got a 50" 4K TV - so I imagine on a projector it would look beautiful.

Er, not quite - normal "HD" blu-rays are not capable of HDR. Only 4K Blu-rays themselves are HDR capable.
 
Er, not quite - normal "HD" blu-rays are not capable of HDR. Only 4K Blu-rays themselves are HDR capable.
Dolby Vision is HDR. Sony DV players can 'force' Dolby Vision on blu-rays. As the output from the player when using forced DV kicks the TV into a DV viewing mode, the blu-ray can be said to be upscaled to 4K HDR i.e. the TV thinks it is HDR and displays the picture as HDR. Different to 'HDR effect' which is a SDR viewing mode.
 
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I just upgraded from a blu ray player to a sony 4k blu ray player, and the difference is quite stark. It upscales all the blu ray to 4k HDR. Plus the 4K Blu rays really do look amazing. And I've only got a 50" 4K TV - so I imagine on a projector it would look beautiful.


Saying it upscales blu rays to 4k HDR is a bit off a misleading statement. If you have "fake" HDR, it's from the TV side and it isn't how it's meant to look, and upscaling a blu ray is nowhere near the same as regular 4k discs
 
Saying it upscales blu rays to 4k HDR is a bit off a misleading statement. If you have "fake" HDR, it's from the TV side and it isn't how it's meant to look, and upscaling a blu ray is nowhere near the same as regular 4k discs
With forced DV the 'fake' HDR processing is done on the player.
A/B comparing the same movie on blu-ray with forced DV and the UHD doesn't show as much difference as you seem to think as far as I've seen. Yes, the UHD is better but not hugely so imo for many discs except where the UHD is using a 4K DI (or 35mm 4K scan).

It all depends on how well the blu-ray was mastered. For recent movies the blu-ray and UHD discs often are using the same base mastering and if the UHD looks good so will the blu-ray.
However for many old titles the only way to get the new re-master blu-ray is to buy the UHD which includes a re-mastered blu-ray in the package. And in that situation it's pointless choosing to play the blu-ray over the UHD.

In the past when there was a £10 extra price premium for the UHD over the blu-ray it may have made financial sense to buy the blu-ray over the UHD but now with these £10 for a disc sales we've had recently, not so much. In some cases the blu-ray costs as much or even more than the UHD. Bumblebee blu-ray at Zavvi £10.99, UHD at Zoom and Zavvi £10.
 
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With forced DV the 'fake' HDR processing is done on the player.
A/B comparing the same movie on blu-ray with forced DV and the UHD doesn't show as much difference as you seem to think as far as I've seen. Yes, the UHD is better but not hugely so imo for many discs except where the UHD is using a 4K DI (or 35mm 4K scan).

It all depends on how well the blu-ray was mastered. For recent movies the blu-ray and UHD discs often are using the same base mastering and if the UHD looks good so will the blu-ray.
However for many old titles the only way to get the new re-master blu-ray is to buy the UHD which includes a re-mastered blu-ray in the package. And in that situation it's pointless choosing to play the blu-ray over the UHD.

In the past when there was a £10 extra price premium for the UHD over the blu-ray it may have made sense to pick the blu-ray over the UHD but now with these £10 for a disc sales we've had recently, not so much. In some cases the blu-ray costs as much or even more than the UHD. Bumblebee blu-ray at Zavvi £10.99, UHD at Zoom and Zavvi £10.

Each to their own but the fake HDR is bad, it only boosts the brightness levels, so what? You can do that with your TV settings on a blu ray. It gives more of a "pop" in highlights..it's still SDR
 
Each to their own but the fake HDR is bad, it only boosts the brightness levels, so what? You can do that with your TV settings on a blu ray. It gives more of a "pop" in highlights..it's still SDR
As your details show you don't have a DV capable TV or a player capable of forced DV perhaps you haven't seen the difference with your own eyes between forced DV (HDR) and the fake HDR Effect done on the TV?
Forced DV is not SDR as it plays in a HDR viewing mode.
 
As your details show you don't have a DV capable TV or a player capable of forced DV perhaps you haven't seen the difference with your own eyes between forced DV (HDR) and the fake HDR Effect done on the TV?

Either way they are both fake HDR..so I'm sure the difference is minimal
 
Either way they are both fake HDR..so I'm sure the difference is minimal
It isn't...
I've A/B compared (for the same title) a blu-ray with HDR Effect, same Blu-ray with forced DV and the UHD. The results for a blu-ray using forced DV is much closer to the UHD than with a TV HDR Effect.

I'm not saying the blu-ray forced DV (HDR) is perfect (or that it suits every disc) but when considering double dipping and replaceing a good blu-ray with the UHD the question arises, is that £20/£25 going to be worth it over what I can get with the blu-ray? In many cases it's not. £10 to replace is another matter especially if that then means an atmos soundtrack vs a True HD/DTS5.1 soundtrack.
 
Would I buy previously owned films new at up to £25 a pop, not a chance.

However there's some bargains to be had second hand or special offers.

I picked up a 4 film 4k collection off amazon the other day for £20, films I enjoy as well so you don't have to pay daft prices for the format.
 
I'd rather watch 3D bluray over UHD, the small improvement isn't worth the inflated prices.
Same I was only thinking whilst looking at the Zoom 4K offers. the difference from standard Blu ray to 3D is way bigger than to 4K apart from steelbooks I never bought a full price 4K disc.
 
I'd rather watch 3D bluray over UHD, the small improvement isn't worth the inflated prices.

Weird as I have found the HDR to offer a fairly substantial improvement over standard Blu-ray.
 
4K Blurays are worth buying but not at the inflated prices being asked, mainly for new/recent releases. I would never pay more than £20 for a disc. There are plenty of offers around now and you can build up a decent 4K collection for an average price of £10/£15 per disc. I also believe we will continue to see prices fall, partly driven by Apple TV i-tunes.
 

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