Which high end 4K Blu-Ray player are people buying these days?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the What HiFi community: the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products.

Tinman1952

Well-known member
Streaming relies on your internet connection whereas a 4K Blu-ray doesn’t, so until everyone has reliable high speed broadband, (Starlink while expensive looks like the best for rural communities) 4K Blu-ray will be way better than a streaming service for those that like true cinema immersion. (Assuming you have a big screen of course (Anything less than 65” is pointless)

There is always the problem that even though you have bought something on a streaming service, it might not be there forever. (As Apple owners found out some years ago)

Bill
Well today everything relies on an internet connection to some extent.
Personally I would never again pay £25 for a new 4K release when I can get it for £13.99 or even much less after a few weeks.
Saying anything less than 65“ is pointless is a bit ‘sizeist’….😁
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deleted member 2457

michael hoy

Well-known member
Judging by the replies, I guess nobody is buying high end 4K players anymore!
I am and will still do so. That's why i am waiting to see what the Reavon is like when launched.
Physical media for me all the way with some personal rips on my NAS.
Only way high end from the 4k player is a kaleidescape with full fat studio downloads. Downside is it costs alot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deleted member 2457
I bought an Oppo 203 a few years ago so I could buy 4k versions of the films I really loved, rather than buying normal blu ray and then replacing. Pretty happy with it, though older films vary pretty significantly in how they transfer to 4k. In terms of buying straight away or waiting for the price to drop - depends on how much I love the film.

Dolby vision seems like a slightly poor relative to HDR from what I can see, and it seems like HDR adds as much to older films as the enhanced resolution.

I'm disc all the way (with the odd bit of streaming where there's no alternative), but come from an age group where collecting felt important. My (adult) kids have no physical media to speak of, other than eldest's vinyl.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deleted member 2457

abacus

Well-known member
DV is HDR; the only difference is that most TVs cannot display the full HDR range so DV is used to map it to lesser brightness screens (Mainly OLED) so you don’t lose anything from the picture. (If you have a higher QLED TV then for most films DV is irrelevant as they can easily cover the full HDR range, however some films have such a high brightness level even QLED requires mapping of the picture to get the full details)

Bill
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deleted member 2457
D

Deleted member 2457

Guest
DV is HDR; the only difference is that most TVs cannot display the full HDR range so DV is used to map it to lesser brightness screens (Mainly OLED) so you don’t lose anything from the picture. (If you have a higher QLED TV then for most films DV is irrelevant as they can easily cover the full HDR range, however some films have such a high brightness level even QLED requires mapping of the picture to get the full details)

Bill
That makes sense why Samsung doesn’t adopt it. (y)
 

michael hoy

Well-known member
I bought an Oppo 203 a few years ago so I could buy 4k versions of the films I really loved, rather than buying normal blu ray and then replacing. Pretty happy with it, though older films vary pretty significantly in how they transfer to 4k. In terms of buying straight away or waiting for the price to drop - depends on how much I love the film.

Dolby vision seems like a slightly poor relative to HDR from what I can see, and it seems like HDR adds as much to older films as the enhanced resolution.

I'm disc all the way (with the odd bit of streaming where there's no alternative), but come from an age group where collecting felt important. My (adult) kids have no physical media to speak of, other than eldest's vinyl.
Most kids / younger generation don't seem to care about quality, they just want it now.
Most of them only know MP3 for music.

I have to say that DV looks really good on my setup.
 
D

Deleted member 2457

Guest
I have sold a lot of my 4K Blu-rays on eBay and AVF none of them I watch again, so if you are paying a cheaper price on Apple TV App that makes up for it in my view and only enjoying them at least once then good for you. Most Blu-rays or 4K Blu-rays I watch once and never again. The only ones I do watch again are my music Blu-rays and I think one music 4K Blu-ray Disc has been released and that was a rubbish band in my view.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tinman1952

Tinman1952

Well-known member
Interesting - though aren't DV and HDR two separate ways of aiming for the same thing*? There was a piece in WHF a year or so ago which did a side-by-side and reached the same conclusion as I did - that DV was less bright and dynamic in terms of colour palette than HDR.

*They are: High Dynamic Range (display and formats) - Wikipedia
Dolby Vision IS HDR so I assume you mean HDR10.
The main difference is that Dolby Vision is a dynamic system which can change the tone mapping scene by scene or even frame by frame to your display.
HDR10 has static metadata for the whole film and doesn’t change.
It has nothing to do with maximum brightness….
 
D

Deleted member 2457

Guest
Samsung refuse to adopt it because they will not pay the licence to Dolby!
Thats why they push HDR10+ their own dynamic system…..🙂
I thought the licence fee was really cheap to pay?
 

abacus

Well-known member
Dolby Vision IS HDR so I assume you mean HDR10.
The main difference is that Dolby Vision is a dynamic system which can change the tone mapping scene by scene or even frame by frame to your display.
HDR10 has static metadata for the whole film and doesn’t change.
It has nothing to do with maximum brightness….

You are both right and wrong, DV does indeed map to the TV as it is an end to end system, however if a TV can produce a maximum brightness (Dynamic range) of 700nits and the HDR image has a brightness of 1000nits (4000 & 10,000nits are 2 others) then the mapping reduces the brightness (Dynamic range) to 700nits to give a balanced picture between white & black..

Bill
 

Tinman1952

Well-known member
You are both right and wrong, DV does indeed map to the TV as it is an end to end system, however if a TV can produce a maximum brightness (Dynamic range) of 700nits and the HDR image has a brightness of 1000nits (4000 & 10,000nits are 2 others) then the mapping reduces the brightness (Dynamic range) to 700nits to give a balanced picture between white & black..

Bill
Yes I absolutely agree Bill. 👍
I am just a little perplexed by this preoccupation with maximum brightness. Especially when this applies to tiny areas of specular highlights. I can see the difference up to 1,000 nits especially with some games rather than films. 4000 and 10000 nits seems more like spurious marketing to me.
Near black levels have a much greater effect on picture quality.
My LG OLED can be dazzling at times and I would rather not have my retina burned out if possible….😁
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deleted member 2457
Dolby Vision IS HDR so I assume you mean HDR10.
The main difference is that Dolby Vision is a dynamic system which can change the tone mapping scene by scene or even frame by frame to your display.
HDR10 has static metadata for the whole film and doesn’t change.
It has nothing to do with maximum brightness….
The problem seems to be that HDR and HRD10 have specific commercial and technical meanings, but both (and DV) are forms of high dynamic range (lower case). So basically Wikipedia is correct.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deleted member 2457

Tinman1952

Well-known member
The problem seems to be that HDR and HRD10 have specific commercial and technical meanings, but both (and DV) are forms of high dynamic range (lower case). So basically Wikipedia is correct.
OK. But you seemed to be confusing the general term ‘HDR’ with the different systems of Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HDR10+
The ’technically better’ systems are the dynamic ones….Dolby Vision and Samsung’s HDR10+ 🙂
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deleted member 2457

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts