Buy HD content now or wait for 4K?

[EthanAlexander]

11 minutes ago, Jonesy Jones said:

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?

Never made any DCPs but I'm very picky and can spot TV crap like "motion smoothing" from a mile away so I'll give you my thoughts:

If you force SDR to display as HDR, or force Rec709 to display BT2020, 9 times out of 10 it looks weird. Sometimes it works but it's like forcing an old mono Beatles track to play stereo... it just isn't right. 

On a more general note, once you start experiencing the true contrast and color that come from actual HDR content it's very hard to go back to SDR material. It's got a depth to it that is almost like watching in 3D. 

But again, I generally forget about all this after watching for about 5 minutes and I get into the film... Unless we're talking the motion smoothing gimmicks. I never get over that ; )

[Damphousse]

We've been here before.  I remember people who amassed large VHS libraries.  The difference was those things stayed relevant for a lot longer.  Blurays have barely gotten a chance to crack the market and we are on to the next format.

As far as video viewing I'm not buying anything until the HDR stuff gets sorted out... and affordable.

Blurays are now cheap enough you can buy a few movies that you really want.   But there is no way building a library of those things is going to make economic sense.  How many movies do you rewatch frequently?

If you are in a family situation and you get something that the kids like I can see.  But again that is a special situation.  Indiscriminately amassing blurays doesn't make sense.

Five years from now the HDR landscape is going to look very different.    With Dolby vision HDR vs HDR10 vs HLG vs HDR10+ competing that killed any desire I had to get a 4k TV...  not that I had much desire at all to begin with.  Unlike most of the VHS days we know some radical things are coming pretty soon.  I'm just chilling with what I have and we'll see in a few years.  1080p plasma is working for me right now.

Streaming is definitely not as good looking as physical media.  But Blurays are obviously going to be obsolete soon and we need to see where the HDR format wars are going to end up before buying into that generation.

[webrunner5]

47 minutes ago, Damphousse said:

Five years from now the HDR landscape is going to look very different.    With Dolby vision HDR vs HDR10 vs HLG vs HDR10+ competing that killed any desire I had to get a 4k TV...  not that I had much desire at all to begin with.  Unlike most of the VHS days we know some radical things are coming pretty soon.  I'm just chilling with what I have and we'll see in a few years.  1080p plasma is working for me right now.

Streaming is definitely not as good looking as physical media.  But Blurays are obviously going to be obsolete soon and we need to see where the HDR format wars are going to end up before buying into that generation.

Yeah I agree until someone is the winner with the HDR standard I am sitting it out.

Well they do have 4k HDR Blu-rays now. Why would they "go away"? They are the best thing since Sliced Bread.

https://www.amazon.com/LG-4K-Compatibility-Upconvert-Ethernet/dp/B077KXYTGG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1514920427&sr=8-2&keywords=4k+hdr+blu+ray+player

[Mattias Burling]

Bluerays will be relevant for as long as there are players. Comparing to what people said before streaming was invented is not so relevant imo.

Its like with cameras. Just because a new one is out doesn't mean the old one is bad.

[Damphousse]

17 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

 

Well they do have 4k HDR Blu-rays now. Why would they "go away"? They are the best thing since Sliced Bread.

I should have been clearer.  I meant blu-ray in the traditional sense... 1080p.  HD blu-ray discs are dirt cheap but I would rather wait for 4k AND HDR.  If I buy a 1080p disc now I just wonder how many times am I actually going to watch it before the 4k HDR box set is selling on Amazon at a deep discount.

 

[Damphousse]

11 minutes ago, Mattias Burling said:

Bluerays will be relevant for as long as there are players. Comparing to what people said before streaming was invented is not so relevant imo.

Its like with cameras. Just because a new one is out doesn't mean the old one is bad.

It depends who you are.  For the vast majority of movies I simply would not get the use out of it before I could get the 4k HDR version for the same price or cheaper.

1080p Blu-rays simply never reached the level of market penetration DVDs did and they are already obsoleted.  4k may end up being a reasonable point to get off the resolution train and combined with whatever HDR format wins there may be a point in a few years where more aggressive library building makes sense.

It's like cell phones.  I can't imagine a cell phone 3-4 years from now being amazingly better that what we have now.  There will come a time when it makes sense to get off the consumer upgrade treadmill but for now I don't think we are there yet with Blu-ray discs.

[webrunner5]

22 minutes ago, Damphousse said:

It's like cell phones.  I can't imagine a cell phone 3-4 years from now being amazingly better that what we have now.  There will come a time when it makes sense to get off the consumer upgrade treadmill but for now I don't think we are there yet with Blu-ray discs.

I think we will see folded zoom lens in Cell Phones in a pretty short time and that will be a Total game changer for them!!

[Julien416]

2 hours ago, Damphousse said:

It depends who you are.  For the vast majority of movies I simply would not get the use out of it before I could get the 4k HDR version for the same price or cheaper.

1080p Blu-rays simply never reached the level of market penetration DVDs did and they are already obsoleted.  4k may end up being a reasonable point to get off the resolution train and combined with whatever HDR format wins there may be a point in a few years where more aggressive library building makes sense.

It's like cell phones.  I can't imagine a cell phone 3-4 years from now being amazingly better that what we have now.  There will come a time when it makes sense to get off the consumer upgrade treadmill but for now I don't think we are there yet with Blu-ray discs.

I don't get your point. 

VHS looked like shit, even when they were the standard... 1080P blu ray, even in SDR, will still look good for quite a while... You know, 2K looks fine in my not so up to date IMAX theater -  but the screen is only 25 meters large, you may have a bigger one...  

I don't know why anyone would need absolutely need 4K right now... BTW Most of the movies from 1993 to 2015 were released in 1080p... When I'll get a fancy 4K oled, i'll be glad to get 4K movies, yet I am pretty sure my BR collection will look just fine.

By the way I still have to meet one producer IRL who heard of HDR and rec2020. Gear addicts do not count.... I am extremely skeptical by nature about those so called revolutions. I directed a 3D feature back when it was supposed to be the next big thing. Been there, done that. 

[Mattias Burling]

3 hours ago, Damphousse said:

It depends who you are.  For the vast majority of movies I simply would not get the use out of it before I could get the 4k HDR version for the same price or cheaper.

 

Well if the negatives gets rescanned I would consider it. But blueray will be sufficient for me until that happens.

But its not just the greater quality of blueray that makes me but my favorite movies on it. It saves me time and money as well.

Like I said. It depends on who you are and where you live.