Blu-ray discs Re-Mastered in 4K

[Viraf P Chinoy]

I've been visiting Amazon.com as well as Amazon.in pretty often during my being online.
I've bought a lot of 3D & Normal blu-ray discs that I watch on my PC's 24" Full HD Asus Monitor.
Normal blu-ray discs are much better than DVD's in terms of Video / Audio quality No doubt about that.
3D blu-ray discs with Nvidia 3D Vision2 Glasses is just over the moon. I saw Jurassic Park pt I & Jurassic World both in 3D & awesome / amazing are mild words.

In the last 3-4 weeks, on Amazon sites a new phrase is commonly seen
" This is a Blu-ray disc remastered in 4k".

While the titles in this category at present are few, they'll of course increase in a few months & hence I've the below queries:-

a. is this a normal blu-ray disc? is it 25 GB or 50 GB or more?
b. If it is BDXL (100 or 128 GB) that it can be read in drives that support BDXL?
c. What will be the difference between a normal Blu-ray & one which is 4k remastered? This is specifically with reference to Video / Audio Quality?? If there is a big difference then of course some of the features of normal blu-ray will have been removed to make more space for the movie itself?? any idea what is deleted?? or is that augmented by increasing the disc size??
d. AM I wrong in saying that it may look grander / better on a 4K TV or 4K Monitor? but will look marginally better on a full HD Monitor than a normal blu-ray??

Spiderman, Angel & Demons are 2 titles that fall in this category at present.
More will follow I'm sure of that.

Any body who has replies to my queries may pls free to do so. Thanks in advance.

Viraf P CHinoy, Mumbai - India.

 

[Viraf P Chinoy]

Pl note I know that Ultra HD is a different format & has its own drive.
It cannot be played in a normal blu-ray player.
But I'm not talking about Ultra HD 4k
I'm only talking about "blu-ray disc remastered in 4k".

 

[captaincranky]

You're essentially asking the same question which CDs used to answer for you. which was, what method was used to master the recording originally, how was it remastered, and how was it output. Which is what that funny,"AAD, ADD, or DDD", on the CD meant.

As far as I'm concerned, this is simply another round of different format, "buy the same crap you already have over again in a different medium". In some cases this might make sense. For example, say you have "Star Wars" on VHS tape in 4:3 format. It makes a great deal of sense to upgrade to a Blu-ray set. Here you're talking about reverse remastering, down scaling instead of up scaling, and doesn't make a lot of sense to ME. With that said, the master should always have more resolution that the print, as even with the digital process, some losses are likely.

As far as buying discs "remastered in Blu-ray" to play on 1080p equipment, IMHO, it's a waste of money. Of course, others will see what they want to see, everyone's results may vary, and everyone's need for status may vary. Me? I'm an old stick in the mud Luddite. Up scaled DVD is fine and dandy for me, as I don't want some BS "connected" Blu-ray player sending information on what I happen to be watching out on the internet.

For what it worth, using Photoshop you can digitally resize photos to the correct aspect ratio, and allow the computer's video card to re scale the image to the resolution available. Again, IMHO, an image of double resolution, (3840 v 2160px.) doesn't look any better than an image which is already 1920 x 1080px. scaled by Photoshop outside of the computer's VGA. (This of course is aimed at "wallpaper display", but ostensibly, the same principles would attach to "the talkies".

Not to avoid your question, I think 4K capture, to 4K master to 4K print would be as good as it gets.

It depends on the original capture image pixel count as to what the up scaled print will look like. You can upscale anything, but it's very hard to add detail which isn't there.

My feeling is, is to wait for 4 K > 4K > 4K content, rather than spring for "copy copies".

Now, if they're going to upscale the 3D stuff, I'd be more willing to spring for that, given your current rig

 

[centrino207]

How are you watching blu ray on your computer?

windows 7 and windows 8 does not support blu ray.

Be it internal or external blu ray player? Windows not have the license agreement to play blu ray movies.

 

[captaincranky]

How are you watching blu ray on your computer?

windows 7 and windows 8 does not support blu ray.

Be it internal or external blu ray player? Windows not have the license agreement to play blu ray movies.

I'm sure you mean well, but I don't as we've really gotten invasive enough to ask such a question.

If you're simply curious, after market software such as Nero and some others, are licensed to play Blu-ray on a PC.

Here's some search results, knock yourself out: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en...are+pc&btnG=Google+Search&oq=&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=

 

[Viraf P Chinoy]

Well I've a common reply both for captain & centrino as under:-

The question is essentially the same that why / how am I playing blu-rays on a PC. ??

I'm sorry but it is very dumb to ask an IT professional with 30+ years such a stupid question.
I've legal Power DVD 16 Ultra as also Nero 2016 Platinum plus the free VLC player 2.2.4

In any of these I can play blu-rays & effects are far better than on a standard TV.
Additionally I've a THX 5.1 Z906 Logitech system with Digital Toslink cable connected so digital audio is too much better sounding that the normal / vanilla analog audio. The control centre of Z906 allows us to connect headphones or we can use USB headphones on the front USB ports of my ATX.

I hope that you would have got the reply to your queries. Thanks

 

[captaincranky]

How are you watching blu ray on your computer?

windows 7 and windows 8 does not support blu ray.

Be it internal or external blu ray player? Windows not have the license agreement to play blu ray movies.

I'm sure you mean well, but I don't as we really haven't gotten invasive enough to ask such a question. (*)

If you're simply curious, after market software such as Nero and some others, are licensed to play Blu-ray on a PC.

Here's some search results, knock yourself out

Well I've a common reply both for captain & centrino as under:-

The question is essentially the same that why / how am I playing blu-rays on a PC. ??

No, actually you're responding to centrino207, as I simply don't give a crap. Otherwise, I'd have asked you myself in my first response.

I've been aware that software is available for PC which plays Blu-rays for years. I even posted a search link to such.

My error was in English syntax. I contracted "we" and "have not", into "we've, instead of "we haven't". My bad, and I do apologize. The corrected sentence is in my above captioned quote in bold @ (*)


EDIT: As far as centrino207 goes, perhaps he (or she?), was simply curious, since it's pretty obvious Blu-ray on PC was an unknown quantity to that poster

 

[EndlessWaves]

Additionally I've a THX 5.1 Z906 Logitech system with Digital Toslink cable connected so digital audio is too much better sounding that the normal / vanilla analog audio.

Actually S/PDIF is a low bandwidth standard and it can't handle the highest quality soundtracks on the disk. The material the DAC in your speaker system's receiver is working with is at lower quality than the material your computer's analogue outputs' DAC is working with.

The improvement in quality is down to better hardware on the end, not the connection. In a sense you're getting better quality audio despite using S/PDIF.