Interesting, and on reading that review further in this case at least the reviewer confirms no discernible difference between it and other releases. I guess we do have to be careful to see through the marketing, back to 4k's in my collection there are certainly some that I just don't see the point in them being done, but others are great - perhaps it's an excuse/reason to give some old films a good restore as the 4k market presents a return for doing the job. But the marketing thing to watch for is all of them proclaiming HDR in use when some reviews show this barely to be the case in some releases.
Serious fans having to own multiple copies of the same isn't unusual, even now. 4k Elephant Man disc from Europe plus the US Criterion blu. 4k Crash disc from Europe plus US Criterion blu. Stuff like Sweet Charity on Kino and UK Indicator having unique worthwhile bonus stuff. Another annoying thing about some 4k disc releases are remastered blu rays of the same movie that are forced bundled and not available separately. If I want a nice blu-ray of Unforgiven I have to get the 4k package(twice what I want to pay in Canada) since the stand alone blu is the old HD master. This applies to a few other movies. I haven't gone 4k for a couple reasons. Aside from $$ and gear upgrades, the big reason is there's still less than 20 movies or so I'd pay USD$25+ to buy. I've gone thru the blu-ray.com 4k disc list several times. I don't go for superhero/CGI stuff and classic movies are stuff I've seen to often to get excited. I refuse to stream. Boutique labels getting into Suspiria/Elephant Man/Crash is starting to get interesting for me. I'm still floored by deeper cut newly done 4k mastered blu-rays by Criterion/Kino/Warner and vote with my wallet in that direction.
If you need a new TV what you gonna buy? 4k of course. 4k player is to follow or you already had one. 4k movies then will be no brainer. At least it's how it worked for me. I only like very few movies, and buy them when they are on sale. In Canada it's a challenge sometimes. The 4K I have are great, and as a bonus bluray movies shows much better on 4K gear. But if I didn't need a new TV I would not bother.
Worth it to me. I just got the Mad Max 4K and it is gorgeous. The regular Blu-ray is nothing to sneeze at, but I am glad I got the new reissue.
They may be using older masters but those that have been up scaled usually are because the film was not finished in 4K or are go(ng to be limited due to the format it was shot/finished in. Some projects are going to be forever trapped in a lower resolution and upscaling IS the only option.
That's fine, but they need to be *completely* open about what master they are using. If I own a movie on Blu-ray, why would I pay for a 4K copy if all they are doing is a slightly better upscale from what my TV and/or UHD player is already doing?
Some releases would be dead in the water with that info, and deservedly so. Online reviews have killed many project who try to use inferior masters or wonky color timing.
Which is why I was stunned that my Spider-Man 2 Superbit had a bonus running commentary track with Tobie Maguire and J. K. Simmons that they did for a simulcast.
I understood the reason for the lack of video extras on Superbit titles, but there was no reason to omit commentaries. Those take up very little space and wouldn't have made any difference whatsoever in terms of picture quality. I continue to assert Superbit was a scam: a way Sony could sell you less for more $$$ and pretend they're doing you a favor...
The challenge in the future will be finding any drives that can play/rip them. Probably wise to buy a couple spares if you are young.
My biggest issue with streaming is lossy sound. I’ve been listening carefully since 1981. First on vinyl, then CD. Video sound distracted me with VHS via a linear Dolby Stereo VCR with an onboard stereo tuner. Then the big leap to laserdisc. Slightly better picture but lossless pcm stereo sound. Boy did that LD soundtrack distract me from a deficient picture. DVD was a disappointment to LD lovers. I was thrilled with lossless Blu-ray audio. Why in the world would we accept compressed sound on streaming video? Slightly off topic. I helped a friend buy a surround and projection system from a big box shop. I upgraded his system to 7.1 Atmos and I supplied the Paradigm timbre matched in wall, in ceiling, rear box, and powered subwoofers. Perfect sound but the big box upscaling Epson projection was horrible. They swapped out for a Sony 4K HDR and a light rejection screen. Wow. We watched a $2 1080p Blu-ray rental of Tenet last week. Blacks are black. The Atmos receiver extracts overhead information from a 5.1 track. On a 120” screen sitting 14’ away, I don’t think Steve has to visit a theater again. The bar, dart board, pool table a powder room are steps away. I gifted him my cheap Blu-ray library and two new 4K UHD titles. I’m looking forward to UHD Skyfall and Incredibles. The downside, no audience community and his fiancé is an early bird who falls asleep when the lights are off.
I have over 30 4K UHD discs now. I would say that only half of them look significantly better than the Blu-rays and maybe six of them are so much better that I would qualify them and being a different experience than the Blu-rays. There's a reason why so many films were mastered digitally in only 2K. That's the absolute best you could expect from a projected 35mm film print.
This started happening to me around a decade ago and is one of the reasons I stopped going to the movies. Lights out and I'm gonna have an expensive nap.
To the OP thread-opening question, I don't know. But the screenshots of the new Rollerball 4k restoration look mighty impressive: Rollerball 4K UHD - James Caan It's hard to believe that a film released in 1975 looks impressive with a 4K restoration.
I enjoy them? Are they worth investing in? No. That’s what the stock market, gold and 4o1k’s are for.
I have started buying movies on the format, if I do not already own it on Blu-ray. They usually always include a regular, 1080p Blu-ray and digital code with it anyway. I just don't think it's worth it to me to go back and re-buy everything again in 4K unless the 4K remaster is such an improvement over the original Blu-ray that it is warranted. I suspect at some point soon, studios will quit making 1080p Blu-ray discs and just stick with DVD, 4K Blu-ray and digital/streams.
I suspect that the studios will quit making 4K Blu-ray and just stick with Blu-Ray discs, digital streaming and DVDs. Sales of 4K discs and players are very small. Blu-ray has a much larger catalog that 4K will never, ever see.
