4K Blu-ray isn't dying despite Disney and Best Buy's efforts - it's more important than ever
4K Blu-ray isn't dying despite Disney and Best Buy's efforts - it's more important than ever
4K Blu-ray forever
4K Blu-rays have been a hot topic in recent memory. In 2023, Disney announced it would no longer sell 4K Blu-rays in Australia and we here called it a crime for movie fans. Next, Best Buy announced it would no longer stock DVDs or Blu-rays after the holiday season (via Forbes), and from what we can tell, that includes 4K Blu-rays.
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Does this mean that 4K Blu-ray is really dying? The answer is no. In fact, I believe there’s an exciting future on the horizon, especially for cinephiles and movie fans.
Although mainstream 4K Blu-rays may be declining in popularity, there is a growing number of smaller and specialist companies, such as Arrow Films, The Criterion Collection, Shout Factory, 101 Films and more releasing 4K Blu-rays and quite often they are 4K restorations of niche, lesser-known or older movies. This breathes new life into these oft-forgotten titles and gives movie enthusiasts a chance to experience them again at a quality level not before possible.
Even A24, a distributor and slightly more ‘mainstream’ company than the ones mentioned above, is joining the restoration efforts with a 2023 4K remaster of Stop Making Sense, the Talking Heads’ 1984 concert movie.
Recently, I had an experience with a 4K restoration myself, one that brought me a lot of joy. I am a fan of The Warriors, Walter Hill’s gritty movie about a gang that must make its way across New York back to Coney Island through a swarm of other gangs with a bounty on their backs after being framed for a murder. I owned this movie on DVD and loved it. Years later, it was released on Blu-ray and I rejoiced as it meant a better quality picture.
However, I was dismayed to find that the Blu-ray version included a new cut of the movie, which introduced strange comic book panel transitions throughout that quite frankly ruined it. But, if I wanted the better picture this would have to do.
Cut to November 2023 and I read that Arrow Films was releasing a 4K remaster of The Warriors, and it wouldn't just be the Blu-ray version, but also the original 1979 theatrical cut used for the DVD that I loved! Needless to say, I ordered it from the US as soon as I could, and I’m pleased to report it was everything I hoped for.
I know I’m not alone in experiences like this. Other movie fans the world over have been in the same situation, where the efforts of these specialist companies allow them to rediscover a loved movie that may have otherwise been lost, or enable them to see it with a quality level never before possible.
Aside from giving new life and homes to vintage masterpieces, there is another reason why 4K Blu-ray is king and that is sheer quality. Looking at the numbers, 4K Blu-ray offers a higher bit-rate than 4K streaming. A 4K disc can transfer data at 128Mbps, whereas 4K streaming on services such as Netflix and Disney Plus tends to max out at 16-25Mbps. Simply put, this means that 4K Blu-ray can present a movie in a less compressed format, resulting in not only better picture but also better audio.
Audio was the main area where I noted a difference when I tested the same movies on both Blu-ray and streaming, even with my TV hooked up to the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), a budget example of the best soundbars. During my test, the sense of audio immersion from the 4K Blu-ray was levels above streaming, and that’s because 4K Blu-ray carries soundtracks in the lossless Dolby True HD format rather than the lossy Dolby Digital Plus one used for streaming.
This is important for all 4K releases, not just classic or rarer restorations. When we see a movie in the cinema that captures our imagination, we want to take that feeling home with us, and based on what I’ve seen and experienced, streaming doesn’t hit that same feeling the way a 4K Blu-ray disc can.
No one ever talks about bitrate. The bitrate on a blue ray is amazing. You can see the grain of the film, it's as close as you're going to get to a film print (outside of a ripped Blu-ray).
Streaming is garbage. 4K streaming is a lie. Not only are we not equipped (in the USA) with high enough bandwidth, but high bandwidth costs cloud based companies money. So there's an incentive to make the product worse.
The media distribution paradigm we've fallen into is the worse.
To be fair the article does:
Looking at the numbers, 4K Blu-ray offers a higher bit-rate than 4K streaming. A 4K disc can transfer data at 128Mbps, whereas 4K streaming on services such as Netflix and Disney Plus tends to max out at 16-25Mbps.
And, yeah, "4k streaming" is a lie - not sure how they can get away with that.
You caught me. I just came here to rant. 25Mbps for 4K is absurd. I would take a higher bitrate HD stream any day.
Does anyone here have a good blu ray player theyd recommend?
Well of course they'd want to discontinue physical media and transition everyone to streaming. How could they possibly charge monthly subscription dues on physical media, and then disallow access and force a repurchase when a new version/format is available (similar to the music industry in the progression of vinyl->8track->cassettes->CDs)?
I default to 4KBR on any movie I have a genuine interest in. I am also equipped to rip them (no thanks to the industry's increasingly absurd attempts at DRM), so streaming safe digital backups is an option, although it's still a bit heavy to do so without losing quality if you're not really well set up for it.
I could understand the format being dismissed when people were using 1080p SDR displays but man, since OLEDs got popular the quality improvement over streaming is so obvious, especially in older movies with a lot of grain and shoddy digital masters.
I can live with it becoming a cinephile option if I have to, but in the current environment of quality degradation for online services it's still how I'd recommend watching movies.
4k DVDs are amazing quality, but it's a shame they're so expensive. The last one I purchased cost $35 for a 30 year old movie. So I have to really want to see that movie in full quality HD with uncompressed sound.
Honestly, at this point I have a good enough TV that I'd rather spend that much on a 4KBR than on movie tickets and popcorn.
Granted, I live in an area where getting a really good cinema experience isn't trivial, that opinion didn't hold as much when I used to live within walking distance of an IMAX screen. But still.
Yeah I constantly say my home experience is just as good as a movie theater. But then when I go to a nice theater I'm like "so, that was a lie".
It's worth waiting for a sale, you can usually pick them up for half that or more. I often find new releases in eBay too - presumably people buy the, watch it once and decide it hasn't earned shelf space.
Lord Nolan endorses this message
If a movie or show is good and worth rewatching, I'd love to own a 4k Blu-ray copy. Assuming you have a decent TV and speaker system, streaming is absolutely inferior. Even standard Blu-rays can have better quality than the best of streaming.
piracy is better than clinging to old clunky formats
Piracy is better. You talk to much.
you are correct anyway
I am unable to play any 4K Blu-ray I bought. Thanks, DRM and IntelSGX for that. And according to German law, it would be a criminal offense to circumvent the protections on the plastic disc I own.
I'm not saying I'd ever pirate anything. I'm just saying that it's objectively better, cheaper, easier and arguably less criminal than my other options.
The big issue with Blu-Ray is that they kept adding new copy protection schemes to it breaking older players.
Streaming companies have also been screwing people recently too, so there's a very real chance that piracy will just grow. But there is technically nothing special about Blu-Ray's which can't be done by streaming (provided they're willing to use that much bandwidth)
But there is technically nothing special about Blu-Ray’s which can’t be done by streaming (provided they’re willing to use that much bandwidth)
They aren't.
They aren't.
There is one streaming service called Bravia CORE. It's from Sony, and they offer movies at bitrates higher than 4K Blu-ray. However, it's only available on Sony TV's, and they still provide lossy audio.
There's also Kaleidescape, which allows you to buy digital movies that use slightly higher bitrates than 4K Blu-rays, and they use lossless audio. You download it straight to your Kaleidescape hard drive. But it's ludicrously expensive ($4,000 for the player, $24,000 for the 88TB hard drive, and $15 - $25 per movie after that).
Are there any good bluray/CD players that can also be used to RIP the contents on the disc?
The most popular and commonly used software to rip Blu-ray discs is Make MKV. You can find a list of supported drives and the steps you need to take below.
https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19634
Keep in mind that Blu-rays take up a lot of space, around 20-25GB per disc for HD and 50GB+ for 4K. Movies are manageable, but a shows really add up; Farscape is about 900GB without extras.