DVD vs Blu Ray vs 4k Blu Ray

beaker_07

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I have a large collection of dvd's, a growing number of Blu Ray and no 4k Blu Ray as i don't have a player.

To the best of my knowledge my blu ray player and av amp will upscale my dvd's to 1080 hd picture quality and similarily will upscale my blu ray to 4k quality is this correct - i feel as if i may have missed something in my understanding of upscaling theory??

There are a growing number of sources for very cheap blu ray disc's here in the uk the pound shop chains are now stocking more and more - is there any need to rush out and get a 4k blu ray player when my current sysyem will upgrade to 4k quality? Therefore if i have a favourite dvd film which i can get relatively cheaply from the likes of amazon on blu ray is that not a better solution until more true 4k discs are avaiable?
 
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FunkyMonkey

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No. DVD is not even in the same ball park as blu ray. Can't believe people still buy new release DVDs when they actually have a Blu ray player.

4k blu ray: don't bother unless you have a screen at least 65inches, unless like me you got one for 8 quid for kingsman service and paid only a fiver more for 4k copy of revenant which included blu ray disk anyway.
 
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I didn't find the Samsung k8500 much good or the Panasonic's but have found the Oppo 203 very good but still has a few niggles. Perhaps wait until some more reviews and players come out. I still love Blu ray and DVD.
 

beaker_07

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Thanks when I'm buying a new disc it is always a blu ray as you say what's the point of buying a DVD when you have bought a blu ray player. My question was more meant to be is it a good idea quality wise to replace favourite DVD's with a blu ray if it is at a reduced price - sorry for any misunderstanding.
 
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FunkyMonkey

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beaker_07 said:
Thanks when I'm buying a new disc it is always a blu ray as you say what's the point of buying a DVD when you have bought a blu ray player. My question was more meant to be is it a good idea quality wise to replace favourite DVD's with a blu ray if it is at a reduced price - sorry for any misunderstanding.
Only if you are going to watch more than once. Else just stream on HD. Depends on your formula. In my world,a Blu ray is only worth buying if I am likely to watch at least twice and even then I very rarely pay full price. Only on films I cannot wait to watch as I don't visit the cinema any more except for James Bond!
 

Gray

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It sounds as if you understand that, all else being equal, upscaling will always be a compromise over native sources going into appropriately native displays.

As you say though, you may well be able to get some bargain Blu-Ray discs and find that your current player (or TV) does a good upscaling job. At £1 (or less) each you wouldn't be losing too much if you decide to go for 4k versions later.

Don't ask me to recommend a film though. I know I'm unusual but I've never bought a film (on any format) and, even more strange but true, I'd honestly struggle to name 10 films that I've ever watched (TV or cinema and at one time, working for Rank, I had access to free tickets!)
 
To answer your question about upscaling, any equipment in the chain can be set to upscale the picture. The first equipment that has been set to upscale will be the one doing it. It cannot be upscaled again. For example, if you have a blu ray player connected to AV receiver which is then connected to the TV, and all are capable of upscaling. If you disable upscaling in the blu ray player, the AV receiver will upscale the picture. If even the av receiver's upscaling has been disabled, then the TV will do the job. If all are set to upscaling, it will be the blu ray player doing the job. In my experience, AV receivers are poor upscalers. Best to leave it to the TV or blu ray player to do the job. Experiment and see which one is the best.
 

Benedict_Arnold

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beaker_07 said:
Thanks when I'm buying a new disc it is always a blu ray as you say what's the point of buying a DVD when you have bought a blu ray player. My question was more meant to be is it a good idea quality wise to replace favourite DVD's with a blu ray if it is at a reduced price - sorry for any misunderstanding.
Thirty years ago people were asking "is it worth replacing my [worn out] LPs [or cassette tapes] with CDs?" The answer then was probably the same as the answer now: "if it's a DVD you watch regularly, possibly, if you want to, but if it's one of those you bought on a whim or to impress an ex-girlfriend don't bother". Technically a DVD has a maximum resolution of 720 x 576 pixels at 25 frames per second or 720 x 480 at 30 frames per second (as used here in the US). A Blu-Ray has a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 x 24 frames per second, progressive scanning (each line is redrawn every frame) or 60 frames per second interlaced (every second line is redrawn each frame). So a Blu-Ray has 5 times as many pixels as a UK DVD, six times as many as a US DVD. Jump to 4K Blu-Ray and the pixel count jumps to a maximum of 3840 x 2160 x 60 frames per second, so 4 times pixels more than a regular Blu-Ray, 20 or 24 times more than a regular DVD. Put another way, without upscaling a regular DVD would take up the top third of the far left quarter of a 4K TV screen, with the rest blank. A VHS tape, by comparison is only 333 x 576 (PAL) or 335 x 480 (NTSC in the US) or the top sixth of one eighth (1/48th) of a 4K TV screen! How upscaling works is either to repeat pixels vertically and horizontally to fill in the blanks and create large "pixels" to fill the screen or to average them to achieve the same results. Different quality players, receivers and TVs use different quality upscaling, generally the more expensive ones using more sophisticated averaging or interpolation methods.
 

beaker_07

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Thanks everyone for your help. I think I might replace or supersede some of my favourite DVD film's on blu ray if I can get them at a good price as there are more pixels the upgrading is not having so much to do. What would a vhs video look like upscaled to 4k I have quite a few old tapes about should I just throw them out as I dread to think of the quality I would get reproduced and the tapes will continue to deteriorate over time. I still have a couple of the recorders in the roof space?
 

Benedict_Arnold

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If you can get them to play at all, probably just like a VHS.
My wife was watching a local terrestrial TV station this morning showing some drivel or another taped in the60s, and probably bought on VHS at a local Blockbuster closing down sale, on our 4K TV, and it still looked terrible.

Then a black and white Lassie episode came on, and guess what? It was still in black and white...
 

Frank Harvey

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DVD is a heavily compressed format. Any upscaling is only upscaling what is there - no magic can make a DVD look like a Bluray. Upscaling 1080p Bluray to UHD Bluray is a lot closer as Bluray (whilst still compressed) is far less compressed than DVD. Upscaling is a sort of "fill in the blanks" type affair, and depending on the quality of the upscaling can be a little bit hit and miss.

Favourite DVDs should be swapped out for Blurays - UHD discs, depending on your outlook, can wait until there's a decent choice available. My standard Bluray collection is continuing to grow.
 

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