It Looks Like Criterion is About to Go UHD.

People must still be buying them, otherwise I don't think Criterion would bother to make them.

 

Yeah I'd imagine DVDs do still make them a lot of money. On the mainstream market they sell like 3xs as much as UHDs, and more than BR discs still.

Still, they're a massively outdated format, and Criterion's ridiculous picture boxing on some titles make them lose even more resolution. To me, the only use for a DVD these days is for films that never made it too BR. Even then, a lot of DVDs used 1080p transfers that can be found on digital platforms like iTunes.

 

when they move to 4K they will replace them with a 4K /BD package...

 

yes, but BD players play DVD as well...

 

Maybe eventually, but the 4K rollout is going to be slow. I don't see them alienating that big part of their consumer base.

Has anyone stopped making DVDs?

 

not sure I'm not following DVD...on occasion I am forced to buy a new DVD when they don't release a BD...

 

It is very telling that DVD has yet to die. Big box stores like Walmart stock more DVDs than BDs. There are many catalog releases and box sets that continue to be released exclusively on DVD. That’s something that did not happen with VHS when DVD hit the scene. I’m a BD user myself but I buy a DVD when that’s the only way to get a release (like the Wonder years complete series). 4K doesn’t stand much of a chance if at all.

 

DVD won't die. I buy 4K myself, when available, but I did buy the Andre The Giant HBO documentary on DVD at Walmart because it is only available on DVD. Even though Blu-Ray players are dirt cheap, people still buy DVDs, probably because they are cheaper.

 

Would probably go over better here, as it seems standard for current UHD discs to also include a blu. But who knows?

 

I imagine that it just increased their production costs without increasing sales, and there likely wasn't much data to show that the move made their DVD customers upgrade to blu ray players. I'm not very big on "4K" for home viewing, as I think most of it is upscaled 2K being advertised as 4K. But I am curious about which titles get the UHD treatment.

 

I don't buy this as Criterion themselves admitted they're a pretty long way off from making 4K UHD releases a viable format for their business model in the recent HTF interview. They do 4K masters but still deal in BD exclusively for the time being and are focusing on getting the new streaming channel off the ground and better realized.

 

I meant that there are tons of DVD owners who don’t own Blu-Ray. This, they should still release DVDs.

 

OK, gotcha...funny, Blu-Ray are sometimes cheaper than DVD!

 

The dynamic color HDR spectrum is noticeable to me. It really depends on the film itself though, the transfer.

 

I admire those who have complete Criterion libraries. Titles starting coming so fast it was impossible to keep up. Financial concerns have had me reducing to a handful of titles I didn’t want to give up.

Most of their catalog is essential for lovers of world cinema.

 

So untrue, resolution is the least noticeable part of the 4K Ultra HD experience. This is the single biggest upgrade I’ve ever experienced for home video viewing, a massive game changer to finally see the colour space change and add in HDR...immediately noticeable even on the smaller 4K sets.

 

Agreed, the added color volume is instantly perceptible. Another huge step forward is the control of luminance. Check out a show like Stranger Things where the 1st season is in 4K SDR and the later seasons in Dolby Vision, the difference is stark. All those stylized shots with flashlights in the dark look so much more realistic when those flashlights are clearly brighter than the background vs just being white colored beams.

If anything projectors have a long way to go with regards to color volume and HDR. Better off with an OLED, or a high color volume LED with good backlight control like the higher end Sonys and Samsungs, but even a modestly priced 4K HDR set should show the benefits.

 

I get that there's more to it than 4k and that 4k may in fact be the least important part of the standard, but this kind of hyperbole makes me more skeptical, not more likely to be persuaded.

 

Hyperbole aside even the theoretical Rec. 2020 color space (which no consumer TV can hit) is still well within the range of human's visible spectrum. It's not like audio standards where we are reaching beyond the measurable point of human perception, we're still not even able to represent all the colors we can see in the real world. The increased shades of colors on some films really is great, as is the added contrast control, and I think anyone with a remotely sensitive eye can tell that it "looks different". Together it forms a much stronger leap in color and light control than the jump from 480p > 1080p, but to be fair the resolution gain isn't anywhere near as impressive. The idea is now more dynamic range and color volume can be preserved from the RAW camera files or scanned from older filmed elements than we were able to capture on any other format, including 35mm film projection.

 

It is amazing what my 4K OLED screen can show. The dynamics of the increased range is even more impressive than the increased resolution, which is a much bigger deal than I thought. I'd been trying to convince myself that NTSC > 1080p was a much more dramatic difference than 1080p > 4k. But if anything, the latter is more dramatic and the dynamic range has much to do with it. People saying they don't care or won't notice simply aren't paying attention.

Anyway, much of this thread seems to ignore the fact that everyone is moving to streaming. We are lucky to get 4k discs for the time being but I'm concerned it will not last long.

 

I'm rocking a 4K OLED too Greg, got mine via Panasonic Canada employee discount for about 70% off, 65" 950EZ series. Had it ISF calibrated a few months ago by Mike Osadciw. No amount of superlatives oversell the picture increase I've gone through, and this from a former massive fan of plasma technology. I replaced my 60" VT60 Panasonic plasma and haven't looked back once, it's such a huge upgrade watching the best 4K Ultra HD discs and if this is the last physical format, I'm not left wanting.

I have no intentions of replacing my 600+ Blu-ray collection, but for movies I know I will watch more than once coming from studios like Sony who are delivering the goods better than any other studio when it comes to 4K, titles like Stand By Me coming up next Tuesday are a no brainer.

When Criterion start releasing UHD, I'll similar blind buy titles I love as I currently will with Sony's catalogue. Really hope we get Silence of the Lambs Criterion UHD.

 

Vinyl is actually growing (I know, it’s audio not video but it’s a physical format), but if a format (vinyl) seeing only 30,000 units A YEAR from its TOP selling title of the year is being supported, why wouldn’t a video format be that’s seeing 18,000+ titles moved in a single week of a title that isn’t even a new release? The Lion King was released on UHD4K Dec 2018 and saw 18,481 copies moved representing $370,000 retail.

Panasonic and Sony both announces new UHD players on display at CES 2019.

Panasonic doubles-down on 4K Blu-ray with UB450 and UB150 players

CES 2019 News: Sony announces UBP-X800M2 4K Blu-ray player

 

Isn't the Sony basically just an X700 with Dolby Vision added? And you still have to enable it manually.

As for the Panasonics, you can't buy one in the U.S., only the EU at this point.

 

It took me about two weeks to start to wrap my brain around all the improvements I was seeing. Even right out of the box, with the awful filters on, I knew I was seeing something far beyond what was capable on my Kuro plasma screen that I had for a decade considered reference level quality. So far I've replaced Ex Machina, Alien, Gladiator, the Harry Potter set for my kiddo, Black Hawk Down, the Dark Knight trilogy, Saving Private Ryan and a few others that I watch repeatedly. All very worthy upgrades. I'm loving the ride and hope it goes on for a much longer stretch of road.

 

Good thing I stopped buying new Criterions years ago. I've sold off about half of them now. Still have over 100...