Will Blu-ray ever not be "good enough"?
 

I'm sure people said this when DVD came out, or when computers first reached 1 MB of RAM, but it seems hard to imagine that Blu-ray, or for that matter, 1080p, won't ever be "good enough" in the near or not-so-near future.

Surely there's a limit to what the human eye can resolve, as I'm sure most of us have seen this screen size to distance graph.

And when it comes to audio, Blu-ray discs already have the uncompressed master audio track or a lossless version of it (DTS Master HD or Dolby TrueHD).

Is my thinking way off here, or when 1440p or 2160p become available, will we look back on Blu-ray/1080p and compare it to VHS? Will studios even be willing to put out anything with picture quality vastly better than Blu-ray?

Virtual Reality

It's an interesting point. Very good Blu-rays can approach and almost duplicate the look of the original projected film itself. I have my doubts studios will be offering any higher resolutions on a home video format anytime soon. I believe a couple of studio insiders on another forum expressed some reticence for the possibility of releasing say 4k quality resolution to the general public. If you think the studios are paranoid about piracy now wait until a format comes out that is capable of being identical to the master.

Too soon to tell.

However, if history is a lesson, we've gone through Film, VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, and now this new HD format thingie.

For me to buy in it would take 4k resolution, full color duplication, and hopefully a system that allows each individual aspect ratio to be encoded full panel and detected by new players/displays.

I'm not even sure if the third suggestion is possible.

This is definitely the end of the road for video quality, but you have to start factoring in the limits of the human eye as well. As enticing as 4K sounds you may need a pretty big screen to get a big advantage over current HD resolution.

Yes.

When everyone can start watching movies on thin glass screens (like Wall E or Children of Men) we'll need more clarity.

I want my movies on the holodeck. Full 3D for me. :)

Wait. We've gone through "Film"? Um, I believe that is exactly what the higher resolutions are trying to duplicate. Nothing surpasses the quality of a projected film image.

I think there's no doubt that Blu-ray isn't the last big jump in quality. There's always going to be something new just around the bend.

Yes. Prior to VHS, some feature films were released on Super8 for home viewing. I'm pretty certain Blu-ray surpasses the quality of a projected Super8 reel.

Super 8, yes. But he said FILM. There is a difference. That is like says video disc and referring to Laser and not DVD or Blu-ray.

1080p is going to be good enough for quite some time. Is everyone assuming studios would even want to give us access to 4K quality?

It is very unlikely that 4K prints will be mass distributed. Couple that with the fact that an entire new cycle of promoting, selling, and redistributing proper hardware will be needed as well and more than likely 1080 will be as far as the market will go for a long, very long time.

Pro-B

You are totally correct as far as resolution. I believe this is why you don't see too many full 1920 x 1080 HD resolution monitors in the 30ish inch range or lower.

I'd like to add that the movie studios are looking to 3-D to combat the popularity of home theaters and even illegal copying, and the TV industry is even looking at the same thing, developing 3-D TVs that don't need special glasses. They're both treating it as less of a gimmick like the 50's era and more of a progression of technology.

But before that truly takes off, I believe we'll see new formats that allow less and less video compression. There is always news of advancement of flash memory and various other media memory increases. There was just news that I believe Pioneer has figured out how to put 16 layers on a dvd-sized disc.

Do you think the studios are going to try and stop selling us Terminator 2?

As long as there is a Fifth Element, there will be double dips. This is a truism of all media formats.

Until there is a 3D/Holographic system Blu Ray will likely be the standard for high def. The human eye (for most people) will not be able to see any difference with any higher resolution (short of a 60" monitor).

If you had a TV with morphing capabilities, that would expand up or down dending, it would be possible. In fact, someone should get on that.

Aside from media changes (downloadable, VOD, holographic solid state cubes the size of dice, etc.), I think we won't see any significant format/quality changes until good quality 3D gets replicated in the home.

If they can do said 3D holographically, without requiring glasses, then that will truly be impressive, but that's a looooong ways off.

Even then, it would only improve the quality of "movies" specifically made for such a technology. I don't want to view current and classic films in fake 3D.

When DVD came out, HDTV already existed, so most technologically knowledgeable people knew that there would eventually be a better format out there.

As for 1MB of RAM, that was already higher than the 640k limit of DOS that Bill Gates thought was more than anyone would ever need. I think after a few of those early hardware barriers were broken, very few people reasonably expected any hardware to be "good enough" for that long of a time period.

With 1080i being the highest resolution available in the new digital broadcast standard ATSC, it seems highly unlikely anyone will be offering a TV with a resolution higher than 1080p to consumers. After 50 years of NTSC, ATSC will likely be around for a few decades.

Good point!

I'm definitely not interested in having any cartoons or anything that originated on video or in SD in HD! DVD is good enough for that. And many films I don't care also about having in HD. Mainly want the action or dramas with any landscape photography. Most comedies are fine on DVD. The price for these on Blu Ray would have to be cheaper than or the same price as DVD (including used) in order for me to buy those titles.

Why cheaper? Why not the same price?

Yeah, delivery will be the next big change, not presentation. Because really, a spinning disc is a pretty crappy delivery system. Sorry, Edison.