4k vs Blu Ray: Blu Ray now obsolete?

Nov 9, 2014
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So I'm curious what my fellow Ninjas think about the emergence of 4k... and now i see that the tv manufacturers are starting to put out their 8k sets.

Are our OG blu rays now obsolete? Defunct? Kaput? I've spent a decent chunk of change buying collectors steelbooks, and there's plenty more I'd love to have... however?

Do I wait to see if we get new 4k steelbook releases? Or do i go ahead and fill my collection with existing blu ray releases? Is 4k THAT much of an improvement versus the transition from dvd to blu? best buy has a nice selection of 4k movies now... I even noticed 1 or 2 steelbooks. Just wonder if it's time to pause my blu ray purchases and wait for the 4k versions... future proof you know?
 
My two cents.

No, Blu-rays aren’t obsolete and won’t be in any kind of near future, at least not to me. DVD’s still sell more than Blu’s in the market, maybe in the future Blu-ray will take over as the cheaper "standard choice for the average guy", who knows. I think the jump from DVD to Blu-ray was much bigger and more needed than Blu to 4K. But 4K (when the source allows it and with HDR) is also a decent upgrade.

I haven’t bothered with 4K up until now as I have been more than happy with Blu-ray quality. It’s time now to change out the living room TV, so we’re in the middle of getting a 75" 4K TV there and then I will also at the same time get a 4K player and start watching more 4K. But that change happens natural, it’s not been something I’ve pursued to get 4K. Our home theatre with the big screen will still be Blu-ray only for the foreseeable future.

Although I will buy more and more new releases with 4K now, I’m not going to upgrade the rest of my collection. I just don’t think it’s needed because Blu-ray quality is excellent and enough. I see no reason to shell out for upgrading a big majority of my titles, except maybe some highlights. But I’m still working on upgrading from DVD to Blu-ray, because that is really a necessity for me!
 
Going forward i am going to prefer 4k and probably wont buy to many blurays to actually watch. BUT i am not in a hurry to replace my entire collection with 4k upgrades either
 
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I have now upgraded to 4K with the new Panasonic Ub9000 player
Simarly when I moved from DVD to Blu ray I waited a year or 2 to let the dust settle on the technology
Looking at my collection of Blu rays in Steelbook or otherwise I can see that there is a lot of discs I may never view again
I have collected a lot of Disney releases, pretty much all of them in fact.

If you want to see what 4k can do then check out Planet Earth 2 and Blue Planet 2 as the picture is awesome.
I am approaching buying 4k versions of my most favourite movies with more research on reviews of the discs to see if the upgrade is worth it over the Blu Ray. I had already purchased a couple in advance future proofing so to speak.

I have the following so far
Close Encounters of the third kind
2001 A space Odyssey
Bladerunner
Bladerunner 2049
Ghost in the Shell
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight returns
Jumanji welcome to the Jungle
The greatest Showman
Predator

Apart from collecting such as the Disney Mondo Steels and the other Disney Steels it will be 4k for me now

4k is the AV fan's dream format I believe.
 
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4K on the right set up is fantastic. But for me, a true fan of 3D (not for it’s gimmicky side, but for it’s ability to add depth) I have no interest in embracing a format (4K) that offers me personally absolutely nothing.

And while I acknowledge the bugs 3D does notoriously have (requires glasses, viewing angles, darker picture), until there’s another format that offers me the opportunity to look ‘in’ to a movie, 4K is for me a pass.
 
I haven't noticed any degradation in the PQ or AQ on any of my Blu-rays since the emergence of 4K UHD :LOL:

To me, Blu-ray PQ mostly looks simply excellent; I'm in no rush to upgrade to 4K.

I'm hoping that my current 3D TV will last at least a couple of more years to see large displays come considerably down in price and HDR10+ become commonplace on source material.

With a viewing distance of 9', I would need an 85"+ display to see any benefits of the 4K resolution. While with well implemented HDR, 4K UHD certainly can look exceedingly nice, but HDR alone isn't enough for me to even consider upgrading my kit to 4K.

8K is... yes, well, I guess with a projector and a large screen, that resolution could make sense, but for 99.4% (yes, I made that statistics up) of consumers there would be no benefit at all in 8K.

The industry always needs to come up with new, fancy tech they can sell; "8K - sixteen times sharper than HD" looks so good in ads :D However, the physiological limitations of the human eye impose pretty much the same limits to what anybody with a normal eyesight can see. 8K on a less-than-mammoth display is well beyond that.

P.S. I do buy the occasional 4K disc with steelbooks and premium editions; one day I will simply have to get a new TV and a player - nothing lasts forever. Even then, the number of Blu-ray discs currently in my collection that I'd want to upgrade to 4K, would be less than 0.1%
 
Considering you get the blu ray when purchasing 4k movies, i see it as a no brainer, 4k is a massive improvement, its getting bigger each year. I can see by 2020 4k overtaking blu ray sales.
 
I defiantly think there is an improvement from 4K to Blu-ray, more so the HDR than the resolution but I don’t see them taking over blu-rays it DVD’s anytime soon. If it’s a favourite film I will go 4K but the majority of the time Blu-ray is good enough. If they drop the prices I would be more likely to purchase more though.

I still watch DVD’s so I can’t see Blu-rays becoming obsolete any time soon! I think all 3 formats will continue along side each other. DVD’s are still outselling every other format so I wouldn’t worry about Blu-rays going anywhere.
 
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You won't need to replace your blu ray collection. You WILL want to replace SOME of them. And continue to get 4K discs from here on out.
If you have a good 4K TV and good 4K player - the upconvert on Blu rays and DVDs is fantastic. DVD's can look like Blu ray and Blu ray can approach looking like 4K.
But, the real magic is not the 4K resolution bump - but the HDR (be it HDR10, Dolby Vision, HDR+, Technicolor) , wide color gamut and increased Luminence.
For this reason - you WILL want the movies that have spectacle and incredible cinematography on 4K HDR discs.
You can stay with upconversion for your blu rays of Movies where color dynamics, and sparkling clarity and luminosity take a back seat to the screenplay and the drama. (Would 12 Angry Men, or My Dinner with Andre really be better in 4K?)
...And 8K is about as useful as 800K - you cannot see it. (Unless you have a 180"' screen).
 
You won't need to replace your blu ray collection. You WILL want to replace SOME of them. And continue to get 4K discs from here on out.
If you have a good 4K TV and good 4K player - the upconvert on Blu rays and DVDs is fantastic. DVD's can look like Blu ray and Blu ray can approach looking like 4K.
But, the real magic is not the 4K resolution bump - but the HDR (be it HDR10, Dolby Vision, HDR+, Technicolor) , wide color gamut and increased Luminence.
For this reason - you WILL want the movies that have spectacle and incredible cinematography on 4K HDR discs.
You can stay with upconversion for your blu rays of Movies where color dynamics, and sparkling clarity and luminosity take a back seat to the screenplay and the drama. (Would 12 Angry Men, or My Dinner with Andre really be better in 4K?)
...And 8K is about as useful as 800K - you cannot see it. (Unless you have a 180"' screen).
Exactamundo :) AMEN!
 
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4K on the right set up is fantastic. But for me, a true fan of 3D (not for it’s gimmicky side, but for it’s ability to add depth) I have no interest in embracing a format (4K) that offers me personally absolutely nothing.

Yeah! I had just bought a couple 3D movies when I saw the news that 3D tvs were being discontinued. Super bummed. Ended up getting a decent Sony midrange, no 3D :sweat: I do hope 3D comes back one day.

Considering you get the blu ray when purchasing 4k movies, i see it as a no brainer, 4k is a massive improvement, its getting bigger each year. I can see by 2020 4k overtaking blu ray sales.

For me it's more like, do I want to continue to fillout my steelbook collection with some of the nice regular bluray sets that have already come out, or do i wait and see if new 4k steelbook editions come out. Do I risk missing out the steels now with the hopes they come out in 4k? That's what I'm trying to decide.
 
4K on the right set up is fantastic. But for me, a true fan of 3D (not for it’s gimmicky side, but for it’s ability to add depth) I have no interest in embracing a format (4K) that offers me personally absolutely nothing.

And while I acknowledge the bugs 3D does notoriously have (requires glasses, viewing angles, darker picture), until there’s another format that offers me the opportunity to look ‘in’ to a movie, 4K is for me a pass.
Keep in mind, that it isn't an either/or situation.
I have a brilliant 3D 4K tv (Sony Z9D) - and I love 3D. I always get a 3D edition over 4K (despite lamenting the loss of HDR in the 3D).
You can embrace 4K and HDR while also being a fan of 3D. It just means that I watch my 3D when it's 3D, and watch my 4K when there is no 3D.
(And, of course, the Blu rays and DVDs that don't have either, I am fine with in their current state).
 
For me it's more like, do I want to continue to fillout my steelbook collection with some of the nice regular bluray sets that have already come out, or do i wait and see if new 4k steelbook editions come out. Do I risk missing out the steels now with the hopes they come out in 4k? That's what I'm trying to decide.
Believe it or not - many people get the 4K amaray slipcover editions with Blu ray just for the blu ray (and the slip) and sell the 4K (disc only) on ebay.
So, you just buy the steelbook and then get the 4K discs on the bay and replace the blu rays inside the steelbook.
It's not always a guarantee that you will find them - but I have had quite a bit of success doing that.
 
Physical media will slowly die out in the next 5 years 4k will be my last media i own. I am surprised DVD is still around tbh with netflix etc being so popular.
 
Physical media will slowly die out in the next 5 years 4k will be my last media i own. I am surprised DVD is still around tbh with netflix etc being so popular.
Physical media will never die out.
Especially as streaming is an inferior form of viewing. Compression, skinny bit rates, and terrible bandwidth issues, and the lack of lossless audio is only the tip of the iceberg in the inferiority of streaming.
And people like to own their sh*t. Why not take buses everywhere? Because people love their cars.
And streaming is a backdoor cabal for the studios to get back control of their films which they don't like you owning in the first place.
(They want you paying over and over again)

The only reason they went along the primrose path of home video was that it was a cash cow.
Don't kid yourself. You don't OWN any digital media. Physical copies you DO. When cloudbased service cease, or companies dissolve - your digital puchases go *poof* into thin air. I'm sure people who owned digital films on FILMSTRUCK are a little put out by losing ALL their purchases when that service bit the dust.
 
Not to talk about technical issues. I was going to watch Roma, but Netflix kept giving me super ****** quality, I had to turn it off after 5 minutes. When I put on a random episode of something, the quality is normal. I have tried 3 different times starting Roma, and the quality is equally **** every time. (It’s not my bandwith). I guess have to wait until they finally release it physically..
 
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I realize the direction telivision is going but I'm actually planning on cancelling Netflix and going back to cable. I want to be able to watch football and Adult swim again, oh and the news.... Occasionally.

For movies, I always prefer my blu ray copy. I want the full visual and sound quality you can only get from a real disc. I'll never buy digital movies.
 
I realize the direction telivision is going but I'm actually planning on cancelling Netflix and going back to cable. I want to be able to watch football and Adult swim again, oh and the news.... Occasionally.

For movies, I always prefer my blu ray copy. I want the full visual and sound quality you can only get from a real disc. I'll never buy digital movies.
You can have all of it. I have cable - but Netflix, Vudu, Amazon are all apps already installed on the smart TV.