Sunday 8 September 2013

4K Answers And Questions Answered And No Need For Red Ray

Is It Really The Best Thing To Happen To Home Cinema
Since High Definition...?
Read On And I Will Try And Tell You What I Have Heard And Know.
Now I read a lot of Home Cinema Magazines, Blogs, Webpages and Have A few Friends in the Home Cinema Business and some of the rumours are true, some not so true.. It's quite funny to see how things snowball into crazy claims and outrageous fables and myths..
Now I'm no expert at all I just only believe it when the people I know and things I read ALL come to the same conclusion.. And that's when Fiction becomes fact.
 
Why Should I Get Excited ?
Do you remember when you first saw and heard about High def.. Brilliant wasn't it, Well, Start getting the same feeling about 4K..It is here, Its here to stay and it is the future. Just imagine your HD image 4x better.. Your High Resolution photo's you took showing all that detail your eyes missed until you loaded it on to your screen.. Now that makes me excited...
 
But I Want A 4K TV/Display Ain't They Super Mega Expensive?
Well as you ALL know every 'New' product or concept is expensive until that is it gets established and just like the DVD player I imported way back 1996 was well over £400, the Blu Ray player was around that to, when the one I wanted came out. (and we are not talking PS3 here) and the same goes for Plasma, LED, LCD and 3D.. All you need to remember is things move at such a fast pace in our hobby.
When Sony released there first two 4K screens along with LG they where priced at £25,000 and £22,000 respectively for a 84" display... Now you can pick up a Sony 55" display for £4,000 and the 65" for just over £6,000..and that's within a year and a half...
 
Ok Then You've Got Me I'll Have A Butchers, But Are They Any Good?
You still need to remember it is still early days when it comes to 4K, and believe me when I say this it is indeed game changing when it comes to US the HD fanatics and collectors. If you want absolute pure clarity and eye popping detail then 4K is the way to go no doubt in my eyes. When the Director films in 4K there should be no difference to you when you watch it back on your 4K screen and that's the whole point of it. You have to remember 1080p is downscaled from the original 4K master so you, We, All of us ARE missing out on so much colour, detail, contrast and clarity. So if you buy a 4K display it should be the holy grail of Home Theatre.
 Of course, while we wait for native 4K films and content to arrive the real big question is what about my HD stuff I have now, and the answer to that is sit back and let the TV's upscaler do its job just like you used to do when you put a DVD in your Blu Ray player. Get the most out of it..Blu Ray upscaled will look even more well HD. And if you can get hold of Mastered in 4K Blu Rays like 'The Amazing Spider-Man' then It's only going to enrich the colour and contrast.
 
Upscaling Blu Rays Sounds Wicked, But What About Genuine 4K material ?
Well at the moment there is not that much around unless you have a very High End PC with a 4K capable graphics card, and if you do then you can watch a small amount of content form some sites and there is a small collection on YOUTUBE'S dedicated 4K channel, so yeah there is a little about for you to watch on your new display.
But for me as a early and very much dedicated Blu Ray movie collector things have got a little more exciting over the last couple of months.
 
What Was That You Mentioned About A 'New' Blu Ray Specification ?
The Blu Ray disc association has been working with a lot of groups on how to best accommodate 4K and its probably the best news I've heard since 4K was released. And when NOT if the 'New' recommendations are accepted, we will get a new generation of 4K Blu Ray Players as well as a new catalogue of 4K discs
It's all down to the compression technology used and the standard that has been put forward has to be adopted. The biggest codec gaining pace is HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) hopefully becoming and heralded as a long term replacement for H.264 ( the HD coding) HEVC is powerful enough to let 4K deliver even over terrestrial TV. It's out in Korea already beaming its way around the country and streaming in Japan.
But there is more than one compression format out there and the battle has only just begun, what with Sony and Netflix teaming up to establish a compression format of its own called Eye IO in the states. Sony is going to launch its 4K streaming service using that codec. So in my eyes our physical discs are only advancing not being replaced.
So in my eyes there is no need to replace ALL my Blu Ray collection as it will look better on my 4K display when I can afford one and when they eventually become the norm. Better still for me to just have to buy yet another Blu Ray player and buy my next movie on 4K is much better than replacing my complete collection because of some 'New' streaming service that I don't own called 'Red Ray'.
which wont read my BD discs and it will mean I will have to replace everything, instead of enjoying what I already own but on a sharper, clearer display with a much bigger colour gamut.
Sounds like the future is safe and sound to me.. phew now I can sleep easy
take care guys and I hope you enjoyed my little known knowledge about the 'New' 4K standard.
 
 
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Glad you probably wont need to replace your prized collection ?..
Or is it not your thing?..
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