I am very happy with 4K streaming, and don't even play Blu ray's anymore, nor the need to buy 4k discs. But that's just me.
To me, good 4 streaming is fantastic and for me if plenty good in most cases. However, for films I really like I still prefer the 4k disk. One such example is when I bought the last stars wars film "rise of skywalker" on 4k disc. On Disney plus, the film is dolby atmos audio with dolby vision HDR. The 4k disc is also dolby atmos with no dolby vision but plain ol' HDR. Comparing them there is no doubt the 4K disk was the superior presentation in both audio and video. I would assume this is due to the much higher bitrates of the audio and video on the disk compared to the streaming version. However, the disney plus stream is probably 80% of what the 4K is, so the streaming is also fantastic, just not quite as good as the disk is.
I simply don't understand the number of new 4K restorations that Hollywood is releasing. For example, the fantastic "Nam" movie, Who'll Stop the Rain? is undergoing a 4K restoration for release as a blu-ray: Scorpion Releasing: New 4K Restoration of Who'll Stop the Rain Prepped for Blu-ray Huh? This is a great little movie, but I just can't imagine that there is much demand for this, especially with the demise of physical media, which has been pushed by the same studios that are restoring this movie. Since Twilight Times released a blu-ray of this movie, and it is still in print, that just makes this decision to release a 4K restoration more puzzling.
I found a working, Sony 4K player pretty cheap at Goodwill, knowing I’d soon need a new player and new TV. I still haven’t bought the TV but I’m looking forward to watching the new format.
Online research - look up reviews and see if they mention it, or visit IMDB and check the "Technical Specs" part of the movie's listing. It'll usually tell you whether the movie was finished at 2K or 4K. This only matters for movies over the era since digital intermediates came into existence. It's all about whether they did that at 2K or 4K...
I'm confused about the audio on the 4k streaming movies from places like iTunes. Is it full HD audio like you would get on a disc or is it some lesser version?
The audio is always compressed/lossy. Although 4K streaming movies are consistently offering Dolby Atmos surround options where available.
It's a shame that this "real or fake 4K" has kept getting traction this long. The audio equivalent would be a band's recording where the bass guitar was recorded digitally, then the rest of the band was recorded/mixed to analog. Is it an analog recording, or not? Would it have sounded better if all the guitars were digitally recorded, but the drums and vocals were analog tape? Actually, the real problem is display accuracy, not 4K or 2K finishing. You could have "real" 4K mastering, but if your colors, luminance and gamma are each off by 8% (and you probably even don't know!), you're getting an image that is demonstrably worse than a 2K image that is professionally calibrated.
And a digital code so you can watch on your mobile devices or connected TV/Amazon FireStick/Roku/Chromecast/Apple TV, etc.
I've yet to take the plunge. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the lower prices on Blu-rays. I'm sure that whenever I finally upgrade my 13-year-old LCD TV, I'll kick myself for not making the switch sooner. Until then, if Blu-ray is good enough for the Criterion Collection, it's good enough for me.
Interesting, thank you. I've never knowingly viewed any monitor that had been professionally calibrated; these calibrations are different from the settings found on your average, modern TV set?
.... not for me. i’m done. vhs to dvd to bluray. enuf is enuf. vinyl LPs are at least something i listen to constantly ... and they bring me much more gratification these days.
Criterion has ALWAYS been slow to move ahead. They were slow to go 16X9 with DVDs, they were slow to go Blu, and they're slow to go 4K...
It only took two years for the first Criterion blu-ray to arrive It's almost been five years of 4K discs. I don't think it will happen. They mostly release old movies/low budget/art films etc that don't need hdr and that jazz. It could also be a region thing no? 4K is free all over the world while most Criterion blu-rays are locked to north america
Beyond blu-ray, 4k restorations can be used for digital sales/tv/streaming/indie theaters or even 4kUHD disc option.
I at first refused to buy it because Warner treated us European fans as nothing more than an after thought but I ended up getting the UK Limited edition when I had a voucher. It is quite beautiful. The colours and contrast are stunning. A must own 4K title imo. If they had only treated the UK/EU cut to 4K it would be my favourite 4K release so far.
I finally got a 4K TV (already had a player and HT Receiver capable of 4K or passthrough) and have acquired a couple of 4K discs. Some are nice, others are “meh” (not much better than the BR), so I’m going to be fairly picky. It would be nice if there were a “Master List” of discs that are actually mastered in full 4K and done well with good sound. Digging through in places that I am aware of is a bit of a chore. (I guess it’s kinda like finding good SACD’s - so many are a waste of time due to limitations in the chain or just poor mastering)
if they are cheap enough I will buy a 4K BD combo for the BD... 4K is for the future......I'm in no rush to upgrade 2 pieces of equipment...