Ultra HD Blu-ray set to arrive by the holidays

Gabe Carey

Posts: 51   +0

It's time to get excited, videophiles, as the Blu-ray Disc Association has announced that it will begin licensing the UHD 4K video format on August 24, with expected "product announcements from various companies" coming this holiday season.

While nothing is certain, it's safe to assume this means both Ultra HD Blu-ray discs and their accompanying players will make their way to market. Though many Blu-ray disc players today bear 4K upscaling functionality, the result is but a faux impersonation of authentic 4K video, often producing jagged and significantly blurrier visuals.

In addition to bolstering a sharp 3840x2160 resolution, Ultra HD Blu-ray brings a greater range of color and frame rates of up to 60 frames per second for the Peter Jackson fans out there. Granted you have both a TV and content that supports it, high dynamic range video will also be present. As expected, Ultra HD Blu-ray players will bring backwards compatibility with standard 1080p Blu-ray discs as well.

In an attempt to rectify a problem found in the current Blu-ray format, UHD Blu-ray plans to introduce a "digital bridge" feature that will allow users to create an authorized digital copy of the disc.

Although, presently, many Blu-ray discs ship with either an Ultraviolet copy or a copy in an alternative digital format, these are infamous for their strict digital rights management policies which limit usage profusely.

ExtremeTech reports that some of this controversy may be nullified in the Ultra HD Blu-ray format as users will allegedly be able to transfer disc content to a hard drive, ousting the need to swap discs. Moreover, UHD Blu-ray will let users export digital copies of their discs to authorized devices, namely smartphones, tablets, and portable hard drives.

While streaming services like Netflix and YouTube have instituted 4K video support already, bandwidth speeds have largely failed to keep up with the format's demanding requirements. Although 1080p HD video only requires about 5Mbps for smooth sailing, Netflix suggests a beefy minimum of 25Mbps for Ultra HD video streaming. With the downswing of the optical disc format, Ultra HD Blu-ray discs may solve problems for both customers and disc makers. It's a win-win.

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This format as a consumer product didn't need to exist: it will stand as a monument to American ISP endless greed.
 
Well, I know I could care less about 4k. Useless to me as a consumer...
 
It is a good news, to some extent.

But there is so little today that deserves the 4K treatment. Hollywood conveyor today is like McDonald's.
 
After some googling I found that the discs will have 66GB as standard (double layer), with some being 100GB (triple layer). Would have loved to see it in the article. It's a tech site, I want tech details.
 
Well, I know I could care less about 4k. Useless to me as a consumer...
I'm puzzled as to why you care so much about it and also say it is useless to you?

Because it represents the pressure of the planned-obsolescence economy. Which we have to care about if we purchase, er, anything, these days. Short-sighted bean-counters run the world. Quite of concern to any human being, really...
 
This format as a consumer product didn't need to exist: it will stand as a monument to American ISP endless greed.
And now it is time for a view from the other side of the fence -

Since streaming services compress their offering to such a high extent, IMO, the endless greed exists on the streaming service end.

UHD-Blu-ray, like standard blu-ray, offers significantly higher quality video and audio. Netflix's DD+ does not compare to Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD-MasterAudio tracks on standard Blu-ray disks, and you can bet that no streaming service will offer Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. Netflix, using the Windows 8.1 app, is the only service to offer a higher quality audio track, yet that, DD+, is still light-years behind what is offered on Blu-ray

So steaming services are serving up a bunch of compressed junk that cannot compare in quality to even first-gen bluray. A properly mastered first gen blu-ray disk requires a streaming rate of at least 18 Mbps where as Netflix's HD offering requires 5Mbps. Those figures alone give an idea of the compression factor that steaming services employ.

Now some people may not care about this as is obviously evidenced by most of the responses to this story, but there is enough of a market out there that the blu-ray people feel confident that releasing yet another hard copy format is a worthwhile endeavor.

Also, there is no guarantee that steaming services will continue to offer your favorite movies. But the hard copy will allow you to view them for as long as you have a player that can read the disk.
 
This format as a consumer product didn't need to exist: it will stand as a monument to American ISP endless greed.
And now it is time for a view from the other side of the fence -

Since streaming services compress their offering to such a high extent, IMO, the endless greed exists on the streaming service end.

UHD-Blu-ray, like standard blu-ray, offers significantly higher quality video and audio. Netflix's DD+ does not compare to Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD-MasterAudio tracks on standard Blu-ray disks, and you can bet that no streaming service will offer Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. Netflix, using the Windows 8.1 app, is the only service to offer a higher quality audio track, yet that, DD+, is still light-years behind what is offered on Blu-ray

So steaming services are serving up a bunch of compressed junk that cannot compare in quality to even first-gen bluray. A properly mastered first gen blu-ray disk requires a streaming rate of at least 18 Mbps where as Netflix's HD offering requires 5Mbps. Those figures alone give an idea of the compression factor that steaming services employ.

Now some people may not care about this as is obviously evidenced by most of the responses to this story, but there is enough of a market out there that the blu-ray people feel confident that releasing yet another hard copy format is a worthwhile endeavor.

Also, there is no guarantee that steaming services will continue to offer your favorite movies. But the hard copy will allow you to view them for as long as you have a player that can read the disk.

Right and even now people struggle to stream compressed video. If people had 100mbps to 1gbps connection like they were supposed to be getting by know thanks to the tax breaks and basically free money all ISPs got with the 1996 Telecomunications act most people would have sufficient speed for a lot better video quality with less compression.

So by your reasoning, Streaming services cannot do better so is their fault, even though they are not the ones providing the cripplingly slow internet access but it was in fact ISPs that received money and did NOTHING with it it in terms of upgrading their infrastructure, most of them still on ****ing copper cables in fact (same cables they've had in place for decades now)

Please go back to the drawing board with that argument.
 
This format as a consumer product didn't need to exist: it will stand as a monument to American ISP endless greed.
And now it is time for a view from the other side of the fence -

Since streaming services compress their offering to such a high extent, IMO, the endless greed exists on the streaming service end.

UHD-Blu-ray, like standard blu-ray, offers significantly higher quality video and audio. Netflix's DD+ does not compare to Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD-MasterAudio tracks on standard Blu-ray disks, and you can bet that no streaming service will offer Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. Netflix, using the Windows 8.1 app, is the only service to offer a higher quality audio track, yet that, DD+, is still light-years behind what is offered on Blu-ray

So steaming services are serving up a bunch of compressed junk that cannot compare in quality to even first-gen bluray. A properly mastered first gen blu-ray disk requires a streaming rate of at least 18 Mbps where as Netflix's HD offering requires 5Mbps. Those figures alone give an idea of the compression factor that steaming services employ.

Now some people may not care about this as is obviously evidenced by most of the responses to this story, but there is enough of a market out there that the blu-ray people feel confident that releasing yet another hard copy format is a worthwhile endeavor.

Also, there is no guarantee that steaming services will continue to offer your favorite movies. But the hard copy will allow you to view them for as long as you have a player that can read the disk.

Right and even now people struggle to stream compressed video. If people had 100mbps to 1gbps connection like they were supposed to be getting by know thanks to the tax breaks and basically free money all ISPs got with the 1996 Telecomunications act most people would have sufficient speed for a lot better video quality with less compression.

So by your reasoning, Streaming services cannot do better so is their fault, even though they are not the ones providing the cripplingly slow internet access but it was in fact ISPs that received money and did NOTHING with it it in terms of upgrading their infrastructure, most of them still on ****ing copper cables in fact (same cables they've had in place for decades now)

Please go back to the drawing board with that argument.
Well, I expect nothing but a straw man argument, and the kind of cr^p you cite is what happens when regulatory bodies do nothing with regulations but let isps get their way. It is going to take a while for net neutrality to work itself out, but I know that in my area there is fiber from a firm other than one of the "big ISPs" or gagme is starting to be rolled out to the end user.

In the meantime, until until the US catches up with the rest of the world, hard media is the only means that people have for uncompressed HD or UHD.

Even still, satellite services, which should be subject to less bandwidth restrictions, also broadcast compressed data, and offer nothing better than standard DD, not even DD+, as well as highly compressed video streams.

Like it or not, even if the US was a fiber nation, the streaming services almost certainly would not offer video/audio of the same quality as hard media because it will cost them much more to do so.

Perhaps substituting real thoughts for expletives is something worthy of your consideration.
 
Although 1080p HD video only requires about 5Mbps for smooth sailing, Netflix suggests a beefy minimum of 25Mbps for Ultra HD video streaming.
Hmm, I wonder how/if ISPs will adjust their fair usage policies to accommodate this significant increase in bandwidth?
 
This format as a consumer product didn't need to exist: it will stand as a monument to American ISP endless greed.
And now it is time for a view from the other side of the fence -

Since streaming services compress their offering to such a high extent, IMO, the endless greed exists on the streaming service end.

UHD-Blu-ray, like standard blu-ray, offers significantly higher quality video and audio. Netflix's DD+ does not compare to Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD-MasterAudio tracks on standard Blu-ray disks, and you can bet that no streaming service will offer Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. Netflix, using the Windows 8.1 app, is the only service to offer a higher quality audio track, yet that, DD+, is still light-years behind what is offered on Blu-ray

So steaming services are serving up a bunch of compressed junk that cannot compare in quality to even first-gen bluray. A properly mastered first gen blu-ray disk requires a streaming rate of at least 18 Mbps where as Netflix's HD offering requires 5Mbps. Those figures alone give an idea of the compression factor that steaming services employ.

Now some people may not care about this as is obviously evidenced by most of the responses to this story, but there is enough of a market out there that the blu-ray people feel confident that releasing yet another hard copy format is a worthwhile endeavor.

Also, there is no guarantee that steaming services will continue to offer your favorite movies. But the hard copy will allow you to view them for as long as you have a player that can read the disk.

Right and even now people struggle to stream compressed video. If people had 100mbps to 1gbps connection like they were supposed to be getting by know thanks to the tax breaks and basically free money all ISPs got with the 1996 Telecomunications act most people would have sufficient speed for a lot better video quality with less compression.

So by your reasoning, Streaming services cannot do better so is their fault, even though they are not the ones providing the cripplingly slow internet access but it was in fact ISPs that received money and did NOTHING with it it in terms of upgrading their infrastructure, most of them still on ****ing copper cables in fact (same cables they've had in place for decades now)

Please go back to the drawing board with that argument.
Well, I expect nothing but a straw man argument, and the kind of cr^p you cite is what happens when regulatory bodies do nothing with regulations but let isps get their way. It is going to take a while for net neutrality to work itself out, but I know that in my area there is fiber from a firm other than one of the "big ISPs" or gagme is starting to be rolled out to the end user.

In the meantime, until until the US catches up with the rest of the world, hard media is the only means that people have for uncompressed HD or UHD.

Even still, satellite services, which should be subject to less bandwidth restrictions, also broadcast compressed data, and offer nothing better than standard DD, not even DD+, as well as highly compressed video streams.

Like it or not, even if the US was a fiber nation, the streaming services almost certainly would not offer video/audio of the same quality as hard media because it will cost them much more to do so.

Perhaps substituting real thoughts for expletives is something worthy of your consideration.

5G is on it's way don't you know. From what I have been reading the big cell carriers want us to consume more video on our phones. You know what that means, right? More data consumption to feed the masses and more opportunity to pull those dollars and coins from our wallets. We all want mass quantities of video and data now, we can't get enough it seems. Oh, the humanity! ;) Just keep feeding the machine and enjoying our free time. Keep our heads on the screens. Don't stop, never gonna stop. It's too late.
 
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