Thanks for this thread. Very helpful. I drove over to Best Buy and a new TV looks cheap enough to at least make me think about it.
That's how I feel. I will buy new stuff in a 4K combo if the price is right but if I already have it on Blu, it's good enough for my tired old eyes. Plus with all the titles that get left behind every time they come up with a new format, I think you need to be format fluid anyway. The upscaling even for old DVD's is pretty great these days too.
Like many things in life, the real answer is "it depends". Mainly on how you answer/feel about the following questions: Do you have a 65" or bigger TV and sit <12ft away? Do you adjust/calibrate your TV based on objective tools, or just eyeball things until "they look right"? Do you use the "motion smoothing" setting on your TV? Do you mind using streaming services to watch 4K content (a substantial portion of 4K films and >95% of all 4K TV shows are only available via streaming, no 4K disc version available). Do you ever watch a Blu-ray and think "I think they scrubbed just a hair too much film grain out of this transfer"? It kinda hurts to count, but I'm sure I have 100+ 4K UHD discs, and 200+ 4K titles in my iTunes. Everything from the bog-standard stuff to more eclectic imports like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Not sure what your streaming situation is, but with an Apple TV 4K and >100Mbps internet, it can be incredible. Most streaming services (iTunes, Movies Anywhere), use advanced codecs with custom encodings of the movie/show that will easily rival the disc. And in the hundreds(!) of cases where no 4K or even Blu-ray Disc exists, of course the streaming 4K version going to beat what you're used to.
Correction to the above, just did a quick count of my 4K movies, and it looks like closer to 400 titles. See if you can spot the ones that aren't on 4K disc
I only buy 4K titles when they are on sale for a great price and they get outstanding reviews for PQ.
I've bought a couple and they look pretty good, though the jump from Blu-Ray typically isn't as noticeable. I've heard great things about the 4K Lord of the Rings set, which I'm hoping to pick up at some point. Like others have mentioned, physical media when it comes to movies and TV is dying. I doubt we'll see physical releases in the next 5-10 years.
In my opinion it's well worth it, but I would suggest it will need some investment in a 'decent' TV, doesn't have to be OLED a high end LCD is just fine that has the right features/specs. And also investment in time in getting that set up and calibrated correctly, making sure all the enhancements etc are disabled and configuring the TV against something like the Spears and Munsil 4k UHD test disc - their website has some good guides on how to do it - but even then a pro calibration would be even better, something I plan to have done at some point. A decent player is needed of course, I would recommend the Panasonic UB820 or similar as it has tone mapping options and supports dolby vision and hdr10+, but my older samsung was still quite capable as far as picture quality was concerned. As for the movies, it really does depend so check the reviews that give the detail, there have been some great 'remasters' on UHD, Blade Runner, 2001, Matrix, Alien, Jaws, Fifth Element etc, but some back catalog have been ported to 4k just because - Pans Labyrinth was a let down for me for example. Atmos is something I'm yet to dip my toe into, I'm interested in others views on if worth replacing a decent pre-atmos amp with an Atmos capable one.
I picked up the UB420 for my home theater ( no DV on JVC projector). So far I like it. For regular blu-rays the up conversion is excellent. Watched Lucy and Avatar on blu-ray and the picture was outstanding. I've fiddled around with the tone mapping features on certain 4K discs. I t does help on certain titles that are a bit dark. There is a bit more tweaking with this player compared to my sony X800. I have the player outputting SDR/BT2020 to the projector with optimizer turned on. I got it before Xmas with the $100 off promo going on- so no brainer for me.
Not to denigrate those who enjoy this tech, and can manage it, but I don't think Home Entertainment should be this complicated.
I buy some second hand 3d blurays and like to watch them with my PSVR. Local used media chain always has a few and they are cheap. $3 to $10 mostly. More for Marvel, Disney stuff.
My family streamed the new Pixar animated film Soul last night, the picture was outstanding, probably the best streamed content I’ve seen. My Apple TV 4K connected to a 43” Vizio M series TV with Dolby Vision did right by the Ultra 4K stream. In general streamed content utilizing Dolby Vision is noticeably better. Given the TV sets I had, I never bothered with Blu-Ray, DVD was good enough. But last January’s purchase of a 4K set got me thinking it was time to reassess, and in November with all the great sales on I chose the Panasonic DP-UB820 UHD player which was $350. I’ve been very happy with it’s ease if use and picture quality. It does a great job of upscaling DVDs, which is particularly important as we have hundreds here. It also has no issues with playing old discs in the proper aspect ratio, unlike the Pioneer DV79avi I was using previously. As for UHD discs, I recently bought a few and haven’t had a chance yet to watch them in full. But I did scan through the 4K remaster of 2001: A Space Odyssey and was very impressed. The UHD/BD combo was only $15 Black Friday weekend. Back in the laserdisc era the CAV multi disc version set me back $65, closer to $110 when you factor in inflation. That such high quality can now be had so cheaply is fantastic.
I didn't think I would see the improvement I'm seeing going from HD to 4k. Have 2 LGs, 65", 77" calibrated by one the top guys in industry. Certain films are finally being done justice like 2001 & Lawrence of Arabia just to name 2. HDR and the wider color gamut are fantastic improvements along with the true black capability of OLED. The Mandalorian looks and sounds fantastic
It would appear that ship has sailed. Seems like you can't even buy a set these days that doesn't require you to jump through several hoops just to turn the damn thing on.
This right here! Remember those wonderful $100 MSRP laserdiscs that were so desirable? Now we get picture and audio quality that literally push the limits of what is captured on the original negative, at a fraction of those LD prices.
I started to buy 4K discs last year. I don’t have many because I buy the digital version through iTunes usually from $4.99 to $9.99 each. Apple TV 4k cone to is really good. We only have one 4K tv and it’s in my office upstairs. I need to replace our 60” family HD TV in a month or so and that one will be 4K so I might buy more discs once I compare the difference with the disc to the download on the big tv.
Apple TV + Dolby Vision is a very effective way to get into 4K. It's been great to see some of the HD films I purchased get the free-to-stream 4K upgrade, where many of them offer Dolby Vision and Atmos. Was nice to see all my Marvel Universe films purchases get the 4K bump. https://www.reddit.com/r/iTunesMovieDeals/ is a great resource for tracking iTunes discounted films, and there is Best iTunes Deals: 4K Movies as well And yep, I don't miss those laserdisc prices. I do miss the large format artwork sometimes...
I've had a front projection set up for many years with an 8 foot wide screen and sit about 11 feet. I have been thinking about a new projector that can do 4k etc. There are some issues. I don't trust (believe) streaming 4k would be any better than a blu-ray disc. Right now a blu-ray disc kills any HD stream I have seen from various services. In fact, I'll take a good DVD over most HD steams. There is no comparison when it comes to the audio quality, then streaming provides you with artifacts like crazy. Not even close to a blu-ray disc. So what makes me think that streaming 4k would be any better? Answer: nothing. Thus, my only option would be buying discs to enjoy the better quality of 4k UHD. Not going to happen. Bought a bunch of laser discs, then DVDs, then blu-rays. I'm done with that game. I can still rent blu-rays and the quality is great. If I could rent 4k discs, then it might change my thinking because I don't want to build up yet another disc library.
Answer: try with your own eyes and setup? 4K streaming titles are <$5 to own, can be played back on <$150 hardware, and there are hundreds 4K titles that look fantastic, have Dolby Atmos/Dolby Vision and will never be on a 4K UHD disc.
Where do I start? I had to look on Google to learn that 4K means higher resolution. Since I have not been unhappy with what DVD has given me from decent quality movies since the 1990s, I see little advantage in getting on the Update bandwagon.. Actually, I only got a Blu-ray player a few weeks ago because many movies were no longer available as DVD. Got a new TV (slightly larger than our 10 or so years old 37" Panasonic flat-screen) at the same time. We also have PVR (or DVR) to deliver cable and allow us to record and save programs for later viewing. Not into any streaming at this time ... Well, the nice fellow from the AV store delivered the new set and began to program it and the 3 remotes (one for TV, one for Blu-ray Player and the PVR remote) in some fashion, but we probably don’t know what he did, and have had constant problems of one sort or another since then. Each remote has perhaps 30 or so buttons, each Brand product name may be giving different names for similar functions, on-screen messages are too complex, and basically its just too confusing for us, and we have lost the ability to select source reliably, or even to program recordings... I guess there is a theory that an AV engineer one can make one of the remotes the Master, but the result for me is confusion. I should add, we are in our 70s, and have a small room for TV viewing...
John B, you need to call the "nice fellow" back to your house and explain what he did & what does what. Don't be embarrassed to take notes. At most you should have 2 remotes, 1 that controls the usual TV\DVR functions, usually the cable or satellite remote and the TV remote for streaming apps. Or buy and have him program a universal remote that controls everything. There several remotes that can be voice controlled as well. I hate remotes with lots of buttons most makers have wised up about usability & simplified their remotes with motion sensitive back-lighting etc. Sony was the absolute worst about cramming 50 teeny buttons for discrete functions. I hope this helps. Technology is worthless if it's too complicated.
I was also on the fence a couple of years ago and finally decided to make the jump. I got the jvc 790 projector and last year got the panasonic 900 player. At the time I said I won't upgrade my existing blu rays to uhd but slowly that's exactly what has happened. Even with projectors being limited to hdr playback for me the difference is still significant. Off course I do still have far more blu rays and they still look excellent.
I think to really judge fairly I need a new projector? Maybe not, what you are saying is stream 4k content displayed at 1080p. Then compare that to blu-ray at 1080p. OK, worth a shot.
