Fake 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
01-11-13 | 03:25 AM
#1
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DVD Talk Legend
Fake 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
Sony to launch 4K digital distribution network this summer, 'mastered in 4K' Blu-ray discs
CULVER CITY, CALIF. (January 7, 2013) – To compliment the electronics industry's launch of 4K Ultra HD Televisions, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) is proud to leverage its growing 4K asset library to present "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray™ titles. While maintaining the studio's commitment to the highest possible quality Blu-ray releases, the "Mastered in 4K" offering takes these efforts even further.
"Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray releases will feature titles-such as The Amazing Spider-Man™, Total Recall, The Karate Kid, Battle: Los Angeles and The Other Guys-sourced from pristine 4K masters and presented at high-bitrate 1080p resolution, with expanded color showcasing more of the wide range of rich color contained in the original source. When upscaled via the Sony 4K Ultra HD TVs, these discs serve as an ideal way for consumers to experience near-4K picture quality. SPHE also plans to utilize available high quality 4K masters for select upcoming new release Blu-ray titles. "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray Discs can be played on all existing Blu-ray Disc players.
"The electronics industry's groundbreaking launch of 4K Ultra HD TV has given us reason to even further elevate our Blu-ray offering," said David Bishop, President, SPHE. "This spring, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is excited to deliver a complementing lineup of 'Mastered in 4K' Blu-ray titles, offering consumers the best possible picture and sound quality to be experienced on the latest HDTVs."
Leading the adoption of 4K content in cinema, home entertainment and broadcast, Sony Pictures builds on its renowned professional equipment expertise along with the company's wealth of knowledge in both 4K acquisition and home entertainment. These "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray titles-paired with the native 4K titles for Sony's 4K video distribution service, which is planned to be launched in summer 2013 in the US-demonstrate Sony Pictures' holistic commitment to 4K and to the launch of this exciting new hardware into the market.
SPHE will release this initial wave of more than 10 "Mastered in 4K" titles starting in Spring 2013, with rollout to select international territories soon thereafter.
Visit Sony Home Entertainment on the Web at www.SonyPictures.com.
Source
CULVER CITY, CALIF. (January 7, 2013) – To compliment the electronics industry's launch of 4K Ultra HD Televisions, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) is proud to leverage its growing 4K asset library to present "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray™ titles. While maintaining the studio's commitment to the highest possible quality Blu-ray releases, the "Mastered in 4K" offering takes these efforts even further.
"Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray releases will feature titles-such as The Amazing Spider-Man™, Total Recall, The Karate Kid, Battle: Los Angeles and The Other Guys-sourced from pristine 4K masters and presented at high-bitrate 1080p resolution, with expanded color showcasing more of the wide range of rich color contained in the original source. When upscaled via the Sony 4K Ultra HD TVs, these discs serve as an ideal way for consumers to experience near-4K picture quality. SPHE also plans to utilize available high quality 4K masters for select upcoming new release Blu-ray titles. "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray Discs can be played on all existing Blu-ray Disc players.
"The electronics industry's groundbreaking launch of 4K Ultra HD TV has given us reason to even further elevate our Blu-ray offering," said David Bishop, President, SPHE. "This spring, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is excited to deliver a complementing lineup of 'Mastered in 4K' Blu-ray titles, offering consumers the best possible picture and sound quality to be experienced on the latest HDTVs."
Leading the adoption of 4K content in cinema, home entertainment and broadcast, Sony Pictures builds on its renowned professional equipment expertise along with the company's wealth of knowledge in both 4K acquisition and home entertainment. These "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray titles-paired with the native 4K titles for Sony's 4K video distribution service, which is planned to be launched in summer 2013 in the US-demonstrate Sony Pictures' holistic commitment to 4K and to the launch of this exciting new hardware into the market.
SPHE will release this initial wave of more than 10 "Mastered in 4K" titles starting in Spring 2013, with rollout to select international territories soon thereafter.
Visit Sony Home Entertainment on the Web at www.SonyPictures.com.
Source
01-11-13 | 04:46 AM
#3
DVD Talk Legend
Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
So they'll still only be 1080p as they're "mastered in 4k discs" and not actual "4k discs" ?
Sounds like Sony's BD version of SuperBIT.
Sounds like Sony's BD version of SuperBIT.
01-11-13 | 04:51 AM
#4
DVD Talk Hero
Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
Until the price of the TVs come down, no one cares about software.
01-11-13 | 05:50 AM
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Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
I don't see the old titles selling well since most people who want them on blu-ray probably already have them. There is little incentive to double dip.
When it comes to new releases, I'm curious to see how they price them and whether they will still be releasing 'normal' blu-rays.
When it comes to new releases, I'm curious to see how they price them and whether they will still be releasing 'normal' blu-rays.
01-11-13 | 08:55 AM
#8
DVD Talk Legend
Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
It is just marketing because some titles have already been mastered from 4K, even catalog titles such as Blade Runner (more than 5 years ago) and Warner's ultra-resolution titles (Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, et al.).
One good thing that MIGHT come from this is that they may be more quality-conscious with these titles if they feel they will be scrutinized more closely. Although, that won't really matter until they start releasing catalog titles with this label, as recent theatrical releases tend to look very good anyway.
One good thing that MIGHT come from this is that they may be more quality-conscious with these titles if they feel they will be scrutinized more closely. Although, that won't really matter until they start releasing catalog titles with this label, as recent theatrical releases tend to look very good anyway.
01-11-13 | 09:35 AM
#10
DVD Talk Legend
Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
The discs are not 4k. The movies are "mastered" in 4k and downconverted to 1080p, which is a fairly common practice among all major studios. In fact, all of the titles announced were already mastered in 4k previously, so this is just a new marketing label being slapped onto the exact same discs as before.
It's total BS.
It's total BS.
01-11-13 | 09:39 AM
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Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
I'm very curious how the Taxi Driver disc will look. It will need to have a notably higher bit-rate to justify purchase for many and the impact of the "deep color" function will need to be visible, too. The existing disc is quite a looker and it's hard to imagine how they'll be able to produce something in the Blu-ray spec that will look apparently better in the comparison screenshots potential purchasers of this kind of disc are bound to ogle.
01-11-13 | 09:41 AM
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Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
No, they're not the same discs- they're going to be higher bitrate compressions and use the "deep color" function.
01-11-13 | 09:51 AM
#13
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
4k? Seems like Sony is behind the times.
01-11-13 | 10:03 AM
#15
DVD Talk Legend
Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
These are the perfect gift for people who can't wait to demo them on a player hooked up with Monster cables, with sound pumping through a new Bose soundbar.
01-11-13 | 10:29 AM
#16
DVD Talk Legend
Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
http://www.pcworld.com/article/171223/10_bit_color.html
Neither broadcast HDTV nor Blu-ray support deep color. If a studio released a movie on Blu-ray with 10-bit color, that disc wouldn't work on any existing player. It would, in effect, be a whole new format incompatible with any current disc player.
http://homecinemaguru.com/?p=696
So the only possible advantage these discs can have over the original ones is a potentially higher bitrate (the press release just says "high-bitrate", but not how high a bitrate).
So same resolution, same color depth, and in some cases, same resolution master. AKA, Superbit for Blu-ray.
01-11-13 | 10:29 AM
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01-11-13 | 10:53 AM
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Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
Well, per the press release, they will feature "expanded color showcasing more of the wide range of rich color contained in the original source", so maybe they're just going to use a different LUT (re-mapped color) or something. In any case, it's, again (if you believe the press release), not going to be the same discs as the existing releases of these titles.
01-11-13 | 11:26 AM
#20
DVD Talk Legend
Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
I don't know about CLUT, but Blu-rays all use 8-bit YCbCr 4:2:0, so same color space and subsampling.
In any case, it's, again (if you believe the press release), not going to be the same discs as the existing releases of these titles.
01-11-13 | 11:28 AM
#21
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01-11-13 | 02:28 PM
#22
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
The advanced picture quality of the current Blu-ray discs aren't dominating the home video market, I'm not sure what they expect out of marketing the same 1080p blu-ray that has been re-mastered (and compressed) from a 4K master?
It was like issuing DVDs that were mastered in HD. Sure, it looked better but it still had the limits of being a 480p DVD.
With all of the theatrical versions being mastered in 4K, wouldn't making any disc (including the DVD) from the 4K master just be a logical process?
It was like issuing DVDs that were mastered in HD. Sure, it looked better but it still had the limits of being a 480p DVD.
With all of the theatrical versions being mastered in 4K, wouldn't making any disc (including the DVD) from the 4K master just be a logical process?
01-11-13 | 02:33 PM
#23
DVD Talk Legend
Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
I've got some "mastered in 1080p" DVDs for sale if you guys are interested. 
01-11-13 | 02:33 PM
#24
DVD Talk Legend
Re: 4k Blu-ray discs from Sony this summer
I think it's to help sell their upcoming 4K TVs. The big problem with a 4K set is going to be the lack of content in 4K. With these "4K Master" discs, they're looking to trick consumers into thinking there's content available for these new 4K TV sets.
01-11-13 | 03:18 PM
#25
DVD Talk Legend