The Official 4K Ultra H D - Blu Ray Thread

[mello yello]

true, true, probably no need for a UHD receiver at this early stage, i was just thinking of the convenience of one HDMI to carry both audio and visual

HDMI video > UHDTV

S/PDIF/Coax to any receiver for sound

2 boxes ticked

however, any marketing guru worth his 458 Italia and bonus package will no doubt conceive or "invent" the "next best audio codec since MP3" marketed as Ultra High Definition Pure Audio, resulting in both requiring an "upgrade" and a zillion threads all over the internet about how one must theoretically sound superior on one side, while most wont be able to discern any audible difference whatsoever on the other

basically how it works isnt it ?

Edited December 6, 2015 by mello yello

[cwt]

true, true, probably no need for a UHD receiver at this early stage, i was just thinking of the convenience of one HDMI to carry both audio and visual

HDMI video > UHDTV

S/PDIF/Coax to any receiver for sound

2 boxes ticked

however, any marketing guru worth his 458 Italia and bonus package will no doubt conceive or "invent" the "next best audio codec since MP3" marketed as Ultra High Definition Pure Audio, resulting in both requiring an "upgrade" and a zillion threads all over the internet about how one must theoretically sound superior on one side, while most wont be able to discern any audible difference whatsoever on the other

basically how it works isnt it ?

Thats how it usually goes mello . The object codecs are unlike what has gone before though [ sort of like the difference between dolby pro logic and discrete audio - better panning of sounds ] so if you can get a demo Ide be curious mate At the very least you can point at your ceiling speakers and say '' thats how serious I am about sound ''

[mello yello]

lol

what ceiling speakers ?

i aint got no ceiling speakers

i dont see no ceiling speakers

we dont need no steenking ceiling speakers !!!!

[JSmith]

Some interesting points...

"Though many believe that 4K Blu-ray is already dead in the water, I think there's also a compelling counter-argument to that sentiment. Whether the world likes it or not, here's why physical media will be sticking around for a while to come."

http://www.techradar.com/au/news/video/-almost-4k-reasons-why-ultra-hd-blu-ray-needs-to-succeed-1306060

JSmith

[cwt]

lol

what ceiling speakers ?

i aint got no ceiling speakers

i dont see no ceiling speakers

we dont need no steenking ceiling speakers !!!!

Yeah ; Ren and stimpy ; now thats entertainment

[mello yello]

Yeah ; Ren and stimpy ; now thats entertainment

will let you know here as soon as it becomes available in UHD ;-)

[JSmith]

will let you know here as soon as it becomes available in UHD ;-)

That will be one high res rubber nipple once out on 4K BD.

JSmith

[MrC]

Some interesting points...

"Though many believe that 4K Blu-ray is already dead in the water, I think there's also a compelling counter-argument to that sentiment. Whether the world likes it or not, here's why physical media will be sticking around for a while to come."

http://www.techradar.com/au/news/video/-almost-4k-reasons-why-ultra-hd-blu-ray-needs-to-succeed-1306060

JSmith

Totally agree ... physical media is not dead. With my slow internet speed (cannot get Netflix HD service), Blu-ray discs are by far the best option in terms of uninterrupted viewing on a large screen with 1080p source.

[tonyjg]

Some interesting points...

"Though many believe that 4K Blu-ray is already dead in the water, I think there's also a compelling counter-argument to that sentiment. Whether the world likes it or not, here's why physical media will be sticking around for a while to come."

http://www.techradar.com/au/news/video/-almost-4k-reasons-why-ultra-hd-blu-ray-needs-to-succeed-1306060

JSmith

What an utterly pointless article. Replace the 4K with just stock standard Blu-ray and you get the same article. There is no justification within this for 4K, apart from some sort of 'fan boi - we need some 4K content because Netflix is providing some'

Why do we have UHD or some sort of 4K TVs in the marketplace currently ? It's because manufacturers need(ed) something ELSE for consumers to buy, given the early adoption of large screen plasmas or LCDs. "hey.. you need to now buy THIS ONE because the picture will be so much better, and you'll be better than your friends". Consumers need to part with their $$$ to keep some of these manufacturers in business.

['As we move into the era of 4K, with UHD televisions and monitors more readily available and affordable than ever, and services like Netflix starting to offer a selection of movies and television shows to stream in 4K, there's a question about how content delivery is going to keep up with the technology.]

and then there's CONTENT.

I would suggest that this author and anyone else take a visit to the 'heartland' of USofA - and see what the B&M stores are stocking on their shelves. Take a trip to Wallymart, Target and Best Buy to see what there is in content and what format. it's definitely not a Blu world over there.

This article harps on about Netflix - the small library that it has (and it is worth noting that it truly is a small library when you give it a try !), and the requirements one needs to actually get a 'simulated' 4K resolution. So Netflix has a title of House of Cards in 4K - wow - what about the thousands of other titles ??

4k is IMO going to struggle. Content isn't always the reason - it comes down to price - and what the B&M stores want to sell.

[mello yello]

Why do we have UHD or some sort of 4K TVs in the marketplace currently ? It's because manufacturers need(ed) something ELSE for consumers to buy, given the early adoption of large screen plasmas or LCDs. "hey.. you need to now buy THIS ONE because the picture will be so much better, and you'll be better than your friends". Consumers need to part with their $$$ to keep some of these manufacturers in business.

business success and failures are based on supply and demand

the marketplace determines what manufacturers will produce, not the other way round

strategies, market research, trial and error, historical data, are all are taken into account

helps to explain why VHS was in demand more than BETA

does the marketplace want a resolution higher than 1080p ? who knows, but if the choice was there I would choose 4K ( probably a curved one because they look so cool, probably for the same reason i would choose a 4C convertible or a Mustang convertible over a hard top, ... because they are so much cooler)

I dont think anyone wants you to chuck out a perfectly good setup just because there is a better one available, although if you do, that would be a bonus sale for them. I think they are aiming at the next generation of consumers who dont have a setup yet and offering them the latest tech.

Edited December 8, 2015 by mello yello

[mello yello]

some sort of 'fan boi - we need some 4K content because Netflix is providing some'

The article is fine, have you seen the latest format ? literally pushing it down our throats

Netflix now have a gas inhaling format now where users can inhale multiple seasons of TV shows

http://www.theonion.com/article/new-netflix-gas-lets-users-inhale-multiple-seasons-33992

LOS GATOS, CA—Netflix unveiled its brand-new fume-based streaming service Monday, finally allowing its nearly 26 million worldwide subscribers to instantly inhale multiple seasons of their favorite television shows in just one sitting, company sources confirmed. “With Netflix Gas, we’re really hoping to tap into a demographic that’s a little more fast-paced, a little more on-the-go, and that just wants to sit down whenever they have the chance and breathe in three or four seasons of, say, Fringe in less than 10 seconds,” said company spokesperson Brian Cohn, explaining the new service is $11.99 per month and comes with a complimentary Entertainment Mask that fits comfortably over users’ mouths and—via a combination of nitrous oxide, vaporized ether, and the gaseous state of the entire series of Sports Night—allows them to transmit all 45 episodes of the show directly into their bloodstreams and into their brains. “Frankly, we think this distribution model is going to be the future of how Americans watch television.” Reports indicate that the media company has already approached director Sam Mendes to create an original drama series based on the life of Al Capone solely for Netflix Gas.

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[JSmith]

Netflix now have a gas inhaling format now where users can inhale multiple seasons of TV shows

http://www.theonion.com/article/new-netflix-gas-lets-users-inhale-multiple-seasons-33992

... will we need fast internet for those 4K shows or just a big fat pipe from the ol' US of A?

JSmith

[mello yello]

... will we need fast internet for those 4K shows or just a big fat pipe from the ol' US of A?

JSmith

Internet is vulnerable to hackers, a pipeline straight through Fiji and New Zealand could cause a war (just ask Syria). Amazon will try and tell you bongs are the way to go, delivered by Amazon drones, just put a cork in it and inhale your favourite TV series

I think I might just wait for the disc versions somehow lol

Edited December 8, 2015 by mello yello

[mello yello]

so which option will favour anti piracy ? because thats the one they will favour, same reason they backed BluRay over HDDVD (region coding)

if they choose to go the VOD route because "its more secure against piracy" then we may as well kiss it all goodbye. A plethora of providers all with different licences

same guy, on a different day

http://www.techradar.com/news/video/why-on-demand-is-the-future-of-cinema-1308991

Edited December 8, 2015 by mello yello

[tonyjg]

The article is fine, have you seen the latest format ? literally pushing it down our throats

Netflix now have a gas inhaling format now where users can inhale multiple seasons of TV shows

http://www.theonion.com/article/new-netflix-gas-lets-users-inhale-multiple-seasons-33992

LOS GATOS, CA—Netflix unveiled its brand-new fume-based streaming service Monday, finally allowing its nearly 26 million worldwide subscribers to instantly inhale multiple seasons of their favorite television shows in just one sitting, company sources confirmed. “With Netflix Gas, we’re really hoping to tap into a demographic that’s a little more fast-paced, a little more on-the-go, and that just wants to sit down whenever they have the chance and breathe in three or four seasons of, say, Fringe in less than 10 seconds,” said company spokesperson Brian Cohn, explaining the new service is $11.99 per month and comes with a complimentary Entertainment Mask that fits comfortably over users’ mouths and—via a combination of nitrous oxide, vaporized ether, and the gaseous state of the entire series of Sports Night—allows them to transmit all 45 episodes of the show directly into their bloodstreams and into their brains. “Frankly, we think this distribution model is going to be the future of how Americans watch television.” Reports indicate that the media company has already approached director Sam Mendes to create an original drama series based on the life of Al Capone solely for Netflix Gas.

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good ol Smell o Vision LOLOLOL

[Tweet]

Sony would probably be better marketing a light weight 4K 'virtual reality' headset for future 4K movies rather than trying to sell to the general public monster 4K TV screens.

The 1080p screens that are in abundance today are going to be around for many years to come and the general populace is usually loathed to throw out a TV that still works.

Surely it can't be that difficult to produce micro miniature screens to fit a headset, they do for projectors. The headset could be connected via an optical cable to the UHD player, this would go to protecting the video data coming from the disc.

Any video data other than to the headset would be downscaled to 1080p. 4K projectors might also access the same optical port as the 4K headset(s).

The consumer is more likely to buy into a product if it offers a different viewing experience than just the flat screen viewing they have now, particularly if the viewing experience is engrossing and interactive.

Oculus Rift was proposing to design such a headset in 2013 and is now in development.

C.M

Edited December 9, 2015 by Tweet

[MLXXX]

Well C.M., I don't recall seeing even 1080p goggles, let alone 2160p. I'd be keen on goggles for personalised stereoscopic 3D (with zero ghosting). But the highest resolution I've come across is 720p.

[mello yello]

and then some will want a fan to add that extra bit of realism when watching Superman

Edited December 9, 2015 by mello yello

[Tweet]

Now that is a stretch of the imagination. He obviously thinks he is flying, but to the observer he is not, which lends itself to ...... 'what is in fact ....reality ?'.

Somehow in the future years I feel the internet will allow us with the aid of such devices to enter into such realms where we can link up with real time events, well almost ....with slight time delays in propagation of the signal and virtually be there in 3D.

It's actually happening now with drone technology. The flat screen is so yesterday.

Here's a link to what should be soon available.

http://heavy.com/tech/2015/07/best-vr-virtual-reality-headset-glasses-goggles-oculus-rift-specs-review/

C.M

Edited December 9, 2015 by Tweet

[MLXXX]

Oculus Rift was proposing to design such a headset in 2013 and is now in development.

C.M., is that the one that appears as the first headset in your link? I see the description in the link for that headset includes this:

Additionally, the Rift promises a stunning resolution of 1080×1200 in both of its OLED screens (2160×1200 total), a 90 Hz refresh rate, and a FOV (field of view) greater than 100°. It even has integrated headphones which provide spatialized HRTF audio.

On May 6, 2015 Oculus VR announced that the consumer version will ship in Q1 2016 with pre-orders starting in late 2015. The price is yet to be announced, but consumer tech experts assume the price of any forthcoming VR headsets will be somewhere under the $400 point.

This post will be updated as more information is released.

Oculus Rift Release Date: Q1 2016

Price: TBA

So the resolution each eye is to be presented with would appear to be 1080 pixels horizontally and 1200 pixels vertically. I wonder what aspect ratio that would be. Would it be close to a square shape?

Usually there are more horizontal pixels than vertical pixels for cinema as normally we have a landscape rather than portrait view. With digital television in Australia we are used to resolutions such as 1920 x 1080, 1440 x 1080, 1280 x 720, and 720 x 576.

A field of view of 100 degrees is much wider than we see looking at a television screen. It seems the image would be quite soft horizontally compared with Full HD.

One of the issues is that the processing power required to create virtual reality images in real time is considerable. The way around that issue is to give the virtual reality headsets limited resolution.

Horses for courses

So really there are different purposes here. Goggles or a headset for non-interactive viewing of a movie could be designed for a roughly 16:9 aspect ratio with a left right total viewing angle of say 40 degrees, and at least Full HD resolution. But virtual reality devices would have close to a square aspect ratio, much wider and higher fields of view, and -- because of processing speed issues, and cost -- a relatively low visual resolution.

One reason for the high processing load is that virtual reality typically requires separate processing for each eye's view, so as to provide stereoscopic 3D.

Sony Personal 3D viewer

Sony released goggles for viewing 24fps movies, the last "Personal 3D viewer" model being the HMZ-T3W, available in 2014. The T3W provides a 45 degree viewing angle, and a 16:9 aspect ratio. The resolution is 1280 x 720 per eye: http://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/head-mounted-display-products/hmz-t3w

These Sony 1280 x 720p goggles, if still available, would not be cheap (over 1000 AUD).

Edited December 9, 2015 by MLXXX

[Tweet]

Here's The Final Oculus Rift, Coming Q1 2016

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/06/heres-the-final-oculus-rift-coming-q1-2016/

C.M

[MLXXX]

That article from June 2015 states "no pixels", suggesting the possibility of an extremely high pixel density, like a "retina display" but provides no specifications regarding resolution or viewing angle.

A blog* on the Oculus site dated 15 May 2015 includes these words:

On the raw rendering costs: a traditional 1080p game at 60Hz requires 124 million shaded pixels per second. In contrast, the Rift runs at 2160×1200 at 90Hz split over dual displays, consuming 233 million pixels per second. At the default eye-target scale, the Rift’s rendering requirements go much higher: around 400 million shaded pixels per second. This means that by raw rendering costs alone, a VR game will require approximately 3x the GPU power of 1080p rendering.

So it would appear the final Oculus will indeed provide only 1080 horizontal pixels per eye. If the viewing angle is wide, as no doubt will be the case, and if these 1080 pixels are not to be individually visible to a human eye, there will need to be a filter to diffuse the light coming from each miniature OLED display (or conceivably a critically out of focus lens arrangement), to create the necessary blur. Blur would help create an illusion of reality. Individually visible pixels would not!


I was able to experience a VR headset for the first time earlier this year at the Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa Tongarewa) in Wellington, as part of an exhibit provided by Air New Zealand for its 75th anniversary. The resolution was extremely limited, very blurry, but in 3D, and did update in real time as I moved my head to inspect the interior of the mock cabin. I thought it an interesting novelty but noted that the visible resolution was definitely below what one would see when watching standard definition television.

An equivalent VR headset with a much narrower field of view could provide much improved horizontal resolution, but the experience might be a bit like looking through binoculars!
_____________

* Wikipedia currently points to the above blog in referring to resolution, at a footnote 3. See the second paragraph of the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oculus_Rift#cite_note-oculus.com-3/

Edited December 10, 2015 by MLXXX

[Tweet]

So it seems to be the number crunching of the video processor that is the handicap at the moment. For straight 1080p Blu-ray video there should not be a problem. 3D video may not be a problem either.

High resolution video games may be though. We'll have to wait and see at it's launch.

C.M

[MLXXX]

So it seems to be the number crunching of the video processor that is the handicap at the moment. For straight 1080p Blu-ray video there should not be a problem. 3D video may not be a problem either.

As you said at post #41 above, "Surely it can't be that difficult to produce micro miniature screens to fit a headset, they do for projectors.". One might have thought so. However, for some reason the best we've been offered so far I believe has been the Sony Personal 3D viewer with just 720p resolution. It was expensive and I'm not at all sure it's still in production. You can order a version for the Japanese market through ebay. Had that viewer provided 1920x1080 per eye, and especially if it had offered higher frame rates, I might have seriously considered it. (But at only 720p, I wasn't interested.)

It's apparent the Oculus Rift to be released next year is targeted at gaming, and wide angle, low-resolution VR.

[mello yello]

we have a UHD player !!!!

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php/topic/207585-new-uhd-samsung-bd-player/

HDR (High Dynamic Range)-ready for extended picture contrast and brightness on compatible TVs

now if i can live with watching KINGSMAN over and over and over till UNDERWORLD is re-released ill be a happy chappie

Kate Beckingsale in 4K, oh yeah

Edited January 6, 2016 by mello yello