Buy HD content now or wait for 4K?

[Jonesy Jones]

First let me say that it is my goal to soon wean myself from Netflix and build up my own library of digital content. The hit to my data consumption is growing and since much of what I watch is reruns, I might as well just own it.

My question though is, should I begin buying readily available HD content now, or should I wait until it starts to become available in 4K? (Or how about 4K HDR?)

I own neither a 4K TV, nor anything HDR, but I expect that'll change at some point soonish. So I couldn't even tell you how big a difference it is viewing 4K content on a 4K TV vs. HD content on a 4K display. Is it noticeable? Worth getting the 4K source material? How about watching SDR content on an HDR display? 

These different deliverables are great for TV manufacturers but horrible for content creators as I believe my exact question and dilemma is stalling the purchasing for consumers the world over. 

So how about it? What should I do?

[PannySVHS]

 

I would buy good quality movies in great quality. There are some awesome Blurays out there. Ever watched the HD release of the Red Shoes for some Technicolor glory or some of the awesome classics? They do 4K scans nowadays but deliver in HD on Bluray. I think it would be worth it to buy great quality HD content rather than waiting for its 4K counterparts.

[IronFilm]

Don't shoot me please.... but whenever I'm downloading new videos from my favorite "source" then I look out first for 720p HEVC, as that hits the sweet spot for me for acceptable quality but tiny size for some casual entertainment viewing.

[kaylee]

@Jonesy Jones  for me it depends on the content... like if im thinking about getting the x-files, originally shot on 35mm, on bluray, then that 1080p is great, and idk how much a 4k scan of that film would be beneficial at all, at least to that show. that grid of 1920x1080 pixels is plenty of space to reproduce the film scans and have them look awesome

however if i wanted to buy something that originated in 4k, then id totally want a 4k disc or whatever

4 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

Ever watched the HD release of the Red Shoes for some Technicolor glory or some of the awesome classics?

^^^^^^ 

i watched mary poppins in hd the other night it was frickin amaaazing

[jonpais]

Do not buy regular HD content. For that matter, don’t get 4K HDR content either. SDR stuff looks great on a 4K HDR OLED display. Keep using Netflix and pay the monthly fee. It is much less expensive than starting a collection of discs. 

[webrunner5]

I am a super big fan of Blurays! Top notch quality output, and I save all my photos to them also.

[Jonesy Jones]

14 hours ago, kaylee said:

like if im thinking about getting the x-files, originally shot on 35mm, on bluray, then that 1080p is great

X-Files is actually exactly one of the shows I'm looking to buy. And great point. Even though I've heard 35mm equates to 4K res, I wonder how noticeable the difference would be. 

14 hours ago, jonpais said:

Keep using Netflix and pay the monthly fee.

You're missing the point Jon. We're slaves to Netflix. Since becoming a subscriber it almost seems like if it isn't on Netflix... it doesn't exist. And every few months I can always pay for a month or 2 of Netflix and binge watch whatever I've missed. 

[kaylee]

1 minute ago, Jonesy Jones said:

X-Files is actually exactly one of the shows I'm looking to buy. 

haa! thats so funny. i love that show. mulder would be so happy with all the ufo news right now

the irony is that ultimately the HD release of the x-files needs a fair amount of work in my eyes: as you may know they didnt have a bunch of the original 35mm footage for establishing shots, and also some effects shots, so they stick out like a sore thumb in SD. i mean they look really ridiculous. and they redid all the type (had to), but somehow managed to oddly change the famous typewriter font. wtf. i could remake that font in like a few days. So lame!!! 

3 minutes ago, Jonesy Jones said:

Even though I've heard 35mm equates to 4K res, I wonder how noticeable the difference would be. 

ive heard that too lol. im no expert but imo film scans can get too sharp. the film grain is perfectly noticeable in a lot of xfiles scenes in 1080p, itll just be sharper grain in 4k

dont get me wrong, id scan it in 4k, work in 4k for sure, but i dont think youre loosing much with an HD output is what im sayin. but i have to laugh bc in this case id welcome a 4k xfiles re-re-release so they could fix those goddam missing shots ?

[jonpais]

I pay the monthly fee, never watch it. all their customers should be like me. buying discs can be addictive too. i paid thousands of dollars to amass a crazy collection of dvds. when a new edition came out, i’d buy that one too. then came blu ray. tons of money out the window. sold a bunch on ebay, but took a big hit. collecting dvds is a waste of money. i much preferred renting back in the day. anyhow, not sure what you mean if it’s not on netflix, it not existing. and keeping netflix doesn’t mean you can’t purchase the occasional disc. my subscription only runs $11/month for HDR content. My rent includes internet, so that’s not an issue. Maybe it’s expensive where you live.  if you really are addicted to netflix though, good luck weaning yourself off it.

[Mattias Burling]

I stream in 720p, looks great. And for my favorite movies I get them on blueray.

[UncleBobsPhotography]

In my opinion, owning physical movies is a waste of space and money. The format will be outdated the next time I want to watch it, and it's faster to find it online than to prepare my pop-corn anyway. I might be slightly biased since I haven't owned a DVD player (or a Bluray player) the last 14 years.

[Mattias Burling]

None of that is true for me. I guess it depends on what you like to watch, where and at what quality you want to see it. 

For me anything but streaming and buying the favourites on disc makes zero sense. Saves me time, alot of money and gives me a richer experience. 

[jonpais]

In Vietnam, genuine blu rays and dvds are unavailable. Shops only sell dvd rips off the internet. Around $1 or $2 I believe. And most retailers won’t ship movies or music to Vietnam. I thought, well certainly I should be able to pay for a download...  wrong again! hehe I used to be gaga over Korean movies and television dramas. I lived there for five years. Most theaters didn’t have English subs, and tv didn’t either. So my only choice was to buy dvds and blu rays. Oh, and film festivals always had subs. Back then, I used to write about movies, so having a copy was pretty indispensible. 

[EthanAlexander]

I used to buy blu rays for the movies I wanted in the highest quality, but the convenience of digital (iTunes) outweighs that now. I can tell a difference in picture quality, but after watching for 5 minutes I forget about it and get into the movie. 

I recommend buying iTunes now because they are automatically upgrading HD to 4K HDR as it becomes available - for free! I bought a 4K Apple TV and my movies look fantastic now. I can barely tell a difference between them and the few 4K HDR blu rays I have. 

The ONLY exceptions are Christopher Nolan movies, which display the full 16x9 IMAX sequences on blu ray, but stay at 2.35:1 on iTunes. I don't get why, especially since Tron Legacy switches between the two aspect ratios on iTunes.

TLDR: Buy iTunes movies for the free 4K HDR and convenience of the cloud.

[Jonesy Jones]

37 minutes ago, EthanAlexander said:

I used to buy blu rays for the movies I wanted in the highest quality, but the convenience of digital (iTunes) outweighs that now. I can tell a difference in picture quality, but after watching for 5 minutes I forget about it and get into the movie. 

I recommend buying iTunes now because they are automatically upgrading HD to 4K HDR as it becomes available - for free! I bought a 4K Apple TV and my movies look fantastic now. I can barely tell a difference between them and the few 4K HDR blu rays I have. 

The ONLY exceptions are Christopher Nolan movies, which display the full 16x9 IMAX sequences on blu ray, but stay at 2.35:1 on iTunes. I don't get why, especially since Tron Legacy switches between the two aspect ratios on iTunes.

TLDR: Buy iTunes movies for the free 4K HDR and convenience of the cloud.

Really good input Ethan. Thanks a ton.

EDIT: One thing to note is that the 4K content on iTunes is streaming only, no download. Which is kind of ridiculous since the vast majority of people don't have the bandwidth to support 4K streaming. Not to mention we are living in times of uncertainty about bandwidth, which is much of the reason I am hoping to wean myself from constantly streaming content.

[fuzzynormal]

On 12/28/2017 at 12:07 PM, Jonesy Jones said:

First let me say that it is my goal to soon wean myself from Netflix and build up my own library of digital content. The hit to my data consumption is growing and since much of what I watch is reruns, I might as well just own it.

My question though is, should I begin buying readily available HD content now, or should I wait until it starts to become available in 4K? (Or how about 4K HDR?)

I own neither a 4K TV, nor anything HDR, but I expect that'll change at some point soonish. So I couldn't even tell you how big a difference it is viewing 4K content on a 4K TV vs. HD content on a 4K display. Is it noticeable? Worth getting the 4K source material? How about watching SDR content on an HDR display? 

These different deliverables are great for TV manufacturers but horrible for content creators as I believe my exact question and dilemma is stalling the purchasing for consumers the world over. 

So how about it? What should I do?

HA! I rent SD streaming movies to save a buck, can't tell the difference from the other side of the room, so...

[BenEricson]

 

On 12/28/2017 at 5:55 PM, webrunner5 said:

I am a super big fan of Blurays! Top notch quality output, and I save all my photos to them also.

I am also a fan of BluRays. Films and Docs shot on 16mm look so nice on BluRay. Film grain can look pretty garbage when streamed. 

[Mattias Burling]

My experience as well. Love seeing the grain. Its visible on DVD but it really shines on blueray. Even a b-movie like The Room (one of my favourites) looks nice when you see what the film stock has to offer.

[Geoff CB]

Blu-ray all the way for me. I've made DCP's and quality exports for work, and I seem to be able to spot compression a mile away. I've always wished that there was an option in Netflix to load ahead on a video. Any time the compression crops up it yanks me out of the film and I have to pause to let it buffer. Prefer the perfect presentation to Blu-ray, and yes I've started buying UHD. I'm always chasing a higher quality image.

[Jonesy Jones]

2 hours ago, Geoff CB said:

... and yes I've started buying UHD.

What content are you finding in UHD? If you wanted classics like, say, The Godfather, or Jaws, or Shawshank, are they printing these in UHD? Also, are you concerned about HDR. Does a SDR 4K movie look good on an HDR display?