I guess we'll have to watch it on this set:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/z4NJdV7VlM0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Why even issue a press release on this? The audience that's paying attention sees right through it. I guess it's a good way to insult a portion of your customer base while hoping the rest are duped by new upcoming packaging.

This marketing bullshit aside, Sony will be making true 4K content available that gets stored on a hard drive for their 4K TV's. Maybe there should be a separate thread created for that?

while Sony's at it, they should resurrect 8-channel SDDS sound (for digital cinema application) ...

Marketing bullshit aside, I (and every other true film fan with a > 70" set) should be very grateful for the chance to see some poor to medium quality 1080p encodes get 'upgraded' to 35+ mbits/sec 1080p. Hey, TOTAL RECALL and TAXI DRIVER would benefit. I can't wait for these "XtremeBit" Blu-Rays!

Great idea

Have you not seen the remastered release of Total Recall? It's fantastic.

I'm pretty sure they're referring to the remake of Total Recall. Sony doesn't have the rights to the original, but they did the remake.

I'd also bet The Karate Kid is the remake.

Had this been the late 90's/early-mid 00's, you bet they would have.

You are right on all counts:

so under this theory EVERY film from Sony should not only be transferred in 4K for blurays, but includes ALL DCP's that are distributed to theaters (that have 4K projectors).

You know what? I'm starting to get the feeling these could be the same discs, rebranded with the 4K packaging. I know the press release said they would have "high bitrate," but what exactly does that mean? It's subjective and you could already say that many BDs have high bitrates, compared to Netflix or HD broadcasts. I'm not sure about the "expanded color" claim though.

I thought "expanded color" was just another way of mentioning Deep Color (most players, TV's, and receivers have settings for that) but according to Jay G's post that's not possible without new players and a new format.

That is explained in the second like Jay G provided:

There's nothing wrong with Taxi Driver either.

Haven't seen Taxi Driver so I couldn't comment.

Ha- Amazing Spider-Man doesn't look like it's even in 3D!

So with these remasters, would it require a new HDTV or are the existing 1080p ones good enough?

Blu-ray's maximum resolution is 1080p, so any 1080p HDTV is going to show the maximum resolution on these discs (which is the same resolution as on the original Blu-ray releases of these titles).

I liked the quality of the "SuperBit" (Most were done right, a few were good, but not great) from the old DVD days.

Not that it was any newer technology, but they used most of the 8 gigs so a higher bit rate could be used. And on some of the SuperBits they would use a new Master Copy to create the Video.
-Mask Of Zorro, The Patriot and Fifth Element are the ones that stand out in my mind

I love movies that were filmed in IMAX, remastered and then transferred to BR. TDK IMAX scenes are excellent examples of a GREAT Master being transferred to BR with care and blowing me away with VQ.

So, I do not care what they call it as long as they give me a GREAT Master copy with a High Bit rate and using as much of the 50gigs on the BR so I can have the best video quality possible.

I liked the quality of Superbit, too, and didn't mind the branding, when they did it right. What I did mind was being charged a premium for more efficient and careful use of the medium, in lieu of the usual special features. Superbit, with the special features included on a second disc, would've been an excellent line.

150% agree with ever word you wrote.

There were a few Superbits with a 2nd disc of Special Features. They were called Superbit Deluxe editions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superbi...e_.282-Disc.29
http://timefordvd.com/feature/SuperbitDeluxe.shtml

And even some of the 2-disc editions were a sham.

I remember the Punch-Drunk Love release where the movie disc had enough space left over to fit the content of the 2nd disc on it.

There were a few rare Suberbit releases that had the special features all included on the disc with the movie. For example, Closer (although it was very light on special features).

What a fucking gimmick. If any of you buy these titles, you should be slapped.

In their current encodes as of right now:

The Amazing Spider-Man: 25 mbps.
Battle: Los Angeles: 22 mbps.
The Karate Kid: 23 mbps.
The Other Guys: 26 mbps.
Taxi Driver: 24 mbps.
Total Recall: 16 mbps.

Once all is said and done, these Sony titles average anywhere from 25GB (Total Recall) to 37GB (The Amazing Spider-Man) at the most in their current encodes (including audio and video). Even in their current encodes, some of them are reference discs.

Isn't the reason most video encodes on Blu-ray don't go over 40 mpbs is due to the fact that a lot of players' hardware/firmware can't handle it? When you look at the stats, the only discs that come close to reaching that bitrate are IMAX documentaries... and they're right at 40 mbps. A two-hour movie with an average 40 mbps bitrate and one or two uncompressed audio tracks will throw you close to that max capacity size. With that in mind, most of these titles won't eclipse 30 mbps, especially when including uncompressed audio tracks into the mix.

... and it all depends on the source material. A lot of these films were shot and-or mastered in 2K (I'm looking right at you Total Recall). A massive bitrate increase isn't going to significantly improve most, if not all, of these titles based upon their source materials' condition.

Throw your average Blu-ray player now into the mix and the benefit is nil.

It's not a limitation of the hardware, but of the spec. Here's the maximum bitrates allowed by the Blu-ray spec:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#Bit_rate
Total Recall was shot with Red Epic cameras at 5K, and the DI is at least 4K.

http://collider.com/total-recall-set-visit/
http://www.twolightfilms.com/total-r...-the-1990-hit/
http://magazine.creativecow.net/arti...n-total-recall