4K Blu Ray - Going in the same direction as Laserdisc ?

[Al ears]

That post drags things off topic and into the sort of contentious areas that are not intended to be discussed here. Please don't do this.

Agree. This post should be removed as per forum rules

 

[Arron]

Not according to this:

The Dark Tower 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Review

The Dark Tower might not be a great film but it's a reference 4K UHD Blu-ray

www.avforums.com

Reference status for picture and sound quality.

Human beings in difference of opinion shocker!

It had been a while so I put spun up the discs last night and jumped to the bit that previously stood out. The chapter where Jake meets Roland in the mountains is far better on BD than on 4K. The 4K has been oversharpened to the point it looks fake/digital and the colourisation is unnatural. The BD looks far more real and natural.

Maybe it's just Dark Tower 4K doesn't play nice with my Panasonic DP-UB820. More likely, the options chosen for the compressor on the 4K weren't set as well as they could have been. Many others have noticed this problem with 4K discs, e.g. Oblivion is one I was champing at the bit to see in 4K but was told not to bother.

 

[dhp]

As someone who has built up a fair sized collection of Physical Media (4 K Blu Ray / Blu Ray / DVD ) I cannot help but Notice that the number of 4k Players / Blu Ray Players available seems to be in fairly rapid decline ! , Oppo, Samsung and pioneer / Onkyo appear to have stopped production of Physical Disc players. Only Sony and Panasonic appear to have a selection of players available and neither has launched any New Players in the last 18 months or so that i am aware of . I'm looking for a New 4k Player but there seems to be a dwindling selection of players available and many retailers seem to have very limited stock. The Covid pandemic may be an issue but still !

The Only New Players that have been launched recently are the 2 Reavon Players. Only the UBR-x200 at 1499.00 (ouch !) is a universal Player. I wonder what players are going to be available in 2 -3 or 5 Years from now ? . I Remember the Journey that Laserdisc took in so far as there was a wide range of Players from several Manufacturer's at Launch , but over time it dwindled to the stage where only Pioneer hung in but even then they eventually stopped manufacture .

Out of warranty Machines are not cheap to have repaired and rely on the manufacture's keeping a comprehensive stock of replacement parts.

I genuinely don't think there will be 8K physical Media , so 4k Blu ray could be the end of the line. I hate the thought of only having Streaming Media available , but equally hate the thought of having 1100 discs that I cannot play .

I'd be very interested to hear other thoughts on this subject.

Well , since I posted this thread things have moved on ! . I have a Cambridge Audio CXU Blu Ray player, That had to go in for a repair . It's back now and working as well as ever 😊. I'm going to check out ripping movies and see if it's something I can take on board. It's in my plans to buy a new Oled tv next year and I refuse to get involved in the big Oppo rip off ! ( I.e people trying to sell second hand Oppo 203 players for up to and beyond, twice the original asking price ) so for now I've bought a refurbished pioneer blu ray player as a back up to my current blu ray player and Also bought a Panasonic UB 9000 4k player with a 5 year warranty . For now it will only come out of the box for the firmware to be updated. I've got a Panasonic ub900 which is still working perfectly. I'll swap it out for the ub9000 when I get the new TV . As to the Future of 4k blu Ray and the player's to watch them on. We will have to wait and see !.......

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Just started watching Brian Cox's Universe, having recorded it to HDD. This usually results in recordings indistinguishable from Freesat broadcasts. If so, the black depth on the first one was utterly dreadful. Long live physical media!

Just started watching C4's Close To Me, and again, PQ and black depth are pants. I'm sure physical media will go the way of the dinosaurs, but hopefully not within my lifetime.

 

[Tinman1952]

Well , since I posted this thread things have moved on ! . I have a Cambridge Audio CXU Blu Ray player, That had to go in for a repair . It's back now and working as well as ever 😊. I'm going to check out ripping movies and see if it's something I can take on board. It's in my plans to buy a new Oled tv next year and I refuse to get involved in the big Oppo rip off ! ( I.e people trying to sell second hand Oppo 203 players for up to and beyond, twice the original asking price ) so for now I've bought a refurbished pioneer blu ray player as a back up to my current blu ray player and Also bought a Panasonic UB 9000 4k player with a 5 year warranty . For now it will only come out of the box for the firmware to be updated. I've got a Panasonic ub900 which is still working perfectly. I'll swap it out for the ub9000 when I get the new TV . As to the Future of 4k blu Ray and the player's to watch them on. We will have to wait and see !.......

I also recommend MakeMKV for ripping movies. Have used it for years without any problem. 👍

 

[dhp]

I also recommend MakeMKV for ripping movies. Have used it for years without any problem. 👍

I've read positive comments from people who rip their movies, so will check it out ! 😊, but for now physical media will be my main choice 😊

 

[davidf]

Watched a few films today, and decided to watch The Man Who Knew Too Little (Bill Murray) as it was on Prime as I’d never seen it before. Couldn’t believe it was in standard definition. Looked horrible, so watched it without my glasses on…

I then fancied revisiting Arlington Road (Jeff Bridges), which I have on DVD, but it’s in a box in the loft along with hundreds of other DVDs to sell - wasn’t even listed on Prime or Netflix!

 

[Arron]

I've read positive comments from people who rip their movies, so will check it out ! 😊, but for now physical media will be my main choice 😊

Can't remember how long it took -- probably 2-3 hours -- but I tried the experiment of ripping ~10 DVDs using MakeMKV and setting up Plex. Watched one film and knew I was never going back. Obviously the film was exactly the same as before, it's the Plex experience that makes the difference.

 

[Tinman1952]

Can't remember how long it took -- probably 2-3 hours -- but I tried the experiment of ripping ~10 DVDs using MakeMKV and setting up Plex. Watched one film and knew I was never going back. Obviously the film was exactly the same as before, it's the Plex experience that makes the difference.

Exactly...plus it is silent...no whirring disc drive! 👍

 

[dhp]

Can't remember how long it took -- probably 2-3 hours -- but I tried the experiment of ripping ~10 DVDs using MakeMKV and setting up Plex. Watched one film and knew I was never going back. Obviously the film was exactly the same as before, it's the Plex experience that makes the difference.

Was it 2-3 hours to cut 10 ? DVD's . How long to rip blu rays ? 😊

 

[Tinman1952]

Was it 2-3 hours to cut 10 ? DVD's . How long to rip blu rays ? 😊

Blurays on average are about 25GB so it usually takes me about 50 minutes per disc. I used to spend hours and hours converting with Handbrake to try and save storage space but now storage is so cheap I don't bother...just use the full rip. 👍

 

[dhp]

Blurays on average are about 25GB so it usually takes me about 50 minutes per disc. I used to spend hours and hours converting with Handbrake to try and save storage space but now storage is so cheap I don't bother...just use the full rip. 👍

That makes sense. Once its done, it's done 😊

 

[Arron]

Was it 2-3 hours to cut 10 ? DVD's . How long to rip blu rays ? 😊

Yup, 2-3 hours to rip ten discs and setup Plex. Had never used it before. There was quite a lot of looking at webpages trying to figure out things like proper naming conventions and stuff like that. Obviously, ripping speed depends on your various drive speeds. @Tinman1952 is right that BDs are much slower, that's why I started with DVDs.

The only problems I had were with me not knowing stuff or with 90s DVDs that were poorly encoded.

 

[Alantiggger]

(Please refer to forum rules - commenting on moderation is not permitted.)

 

[Deleted member 197450]

(inappropriate content deleted)

It’s not like the good old days is it Al?

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Just started watching Brian Cox's Universe, having recorded it to HDD. This usually results in recordings indistinguishable from Freesat broadcasts. If so, the black depth on the first one was utterly dreadful. Long live physical media!

I watched the last one on blu ray - much better, but the special effect scenes were still lacking a little black depth.

 

[manicm]

I just bought and watched the new Dune Blu-ray. Streaming sound will just not match the quality on disc. No way. Unless you opt for Sony's service on their latest TVs which will require a hefty broadband connection, and assuming Dune etc is available.

I still believe in the need for disc players, but 4k is where I draw the line. I'm not at all interested in 8k.

 

[dhp]

I just bought and watched the new Dune Blu-ray. Streaming sound will just not match the quality on disc. No way. Unless you opt for Sony's service on their latest TVs which will require a hefty broadband connection, and assuming Dune etc is available.

I still believe in the need for disc players, but 4k is where I draw the line. I'm not at all interested in 8k.

I've had the same experience
When it comes to sound quality disc is definately superior. 8k will only ever appear via some sort of streaming service. Never on a physical media format. For my part, I updated my disc players over the Christmas break. I now have 2 4k players and 2 blu ray players. That will keep me going for a good while. Long term I'm looking at ripping my collection to something like Zappiti .

 

[davidf]

Sound wise, with 4K discs now mostly incorporating DTS:X and Atmos soundtracks (which sound far more spacious than Master Audio and TrueHD soundtracks), they’re way ahead of streaming. Streaming is based around Dolby Digital, or at best, Dolby Digital Plus - which is DVD territory. Even streamed Atmos soundtracks are based on this.

I’ll be investigating Sony’s streaming service soon, as well as Disney+.

 

[dhp]

Sound wise, with 4K discs now mostly incorporating DTS:X and Atmos soundtracks (which sound far more spacious than Master Audio and TrueHD soundtracks), they’re way ahead of streaming. Streaming is based around Dolby Digital, or at best, Dolby Digital Plus - which is DVD territory. Even streamed Atmos soundtracks are based on this.

I’ll be investigating Sony’s streaming service soon, as well as Disney+.

I've experienced Disney + and Netflix. They are good as far as streaming is concerned but definately not as good as 4k blu Ray. Even 4k blu ray with only DTS Master Audio in place still offers a more expansive and dynamic sound compared to what's available on streaming platforms

 

[Rui]

are we already living on George Orwell´s 1984, or the movie made about it in the 80´s ? 8K?the I.R.S agents will enter your house by the tv screen, or a married man can go to a girls house through the 8k television, in pijama?

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

I think you might have to explain that one!

 

[vanlisur]

Laserdisc was the format that first got me into home theater. When I went to college back in the 1990s, VHS was still the standard for watching movies at home. I encountered my first LD player at my work-study job and never looked back. The picture quality on a Laserdisc was significantly better than VHS, and most movies were letterboxed to their original theatrical aspect ratios. Even better, many discs offered cool features like audio commentaries and behind-the-scenes documentaries that were incredibly fascinating and novel innovations a film student like me ate up and couldn’t get enough of. wendy's lunch time surveyzop.com

 

[podknocker]

I love my Sony 4k blu ray player. It plays any disc, any audio and any video file, CD ROMs being the exception. It's built like a tank and for £249 it was a bargain. I use it as a spare CD player and it is proper HIFI sound. Even on an average TV, a while back, the picture quality was incredible. It came with a free Spiderman film, on 4k and although that's not my kind of film, the stability and image depth/detail, were superb. I've had a variety of streaming options and never found the same quality, that you get from 'broadcast quality' physical media. I'm hoping Sony's Bravia Core app, has the quality, to do the new panels justice. I did watch Bladerunner 2043 on blu ray and then 4k blu ray and I couldn't see any difference. Perhaps a new panel and player might resolve this. I'm prepared to abandon blu ray and 4k blu ray, if streaming genuinely gives the same quality. The sound quality, on discs, is such an improvement, even when decimated down to 16bit PCM. I'm unable to fit home theatre into my living room, but I have heard the latest sound formats and they are as good as going to the cinema and without the noise from other people and their snacks etc.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

but I have heard the latest sound formats and they are as good as going to the cinema and without the noise from other people and their snacks etc.

Makes a lot of difference, doesn't it?

As does being able to pause to go to the loo or top up a drink...