DJariya

Question is in the title.

Are you buying 4K discs even though you don't own a 4K UHD TV or player?

and why? Is it just anticipation for getting one at some point and you're just playing the BD's that come with it.

Or is it just because of the sale prices that are almost the same as BDs, but you otherwise have no plans to upgrade your TV or get a player.

Sonic

I think people don't care much for 4K discs because they don't blow out the 1080P version. The difference at times is sub par.

I also think people know 8K is coming. It's already here. So it's the same process all over again.

I haven't been blown away by 4K blu-rays.

E Unit

You answered both of my reasons, I anticipated on getting one and many of the titles that first became available soon dropped in price to within $5 of its blu counterpart. When I got my first 4K TV, I had about 25 titles ready to play.

Now I’ll typically read reviews first, but 99% of the time I’ll buy the UHD, unless it’s a title I already have on blu and that particular movie isn’t one I want to double dip on, then I’ll pass.

Also, for me is the picture quality but also the audio. The right mix of good 4K picture plus audio like Atmos, and the blu will never stand a chance.

Trevor

I’ve bought about twelve so far, with no player. In each case it was $10 or less, and included a BD and digital code. It would have been silly of me to pay the same price for a version without a 4K disc. I may get a 4K player someday, but I’m in no hurry and may never bother.

The Cow

I don't look to buy the 4K version, but if the price is comparable or very close to the BD or it has more features, I'll likely go ahead and get the 4K.

mattysemo247

Same here. If they are fairly cheap and only a few dollars more than the blu ray version, I'll pick them up. And in some cases, the 4K version is the only version available (like the Marvel steelbooks at Best Buy)

I learned my lesson with the 3D discs, especially with Disney. Back then the 3D versions were between $5 to $7 more and I always went with the 2D version to save a couple bucks and I never really thought about having a 3D TV. But once I bought a projector and saw how cool some of those looked on a huge screen, I started tracking down some of those harder to find titles and even double dipped on some movies.

Mike86

I voted yes but not for every title. Basically if there's a deal I'll buy the 4K version. I picked up a few over Black Friday. I've also been getting the Marvel Studio releases since Thor: Ragnarok (that one, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Ant-Man and the Wasp).

Basically my thought is to future proof for when I get a 4K tv and player eventually as long as I'm not over-paying by a lot in comparison to the Blu-ray counterpart.

melasnus

Right now most 4K UHD releases are 5 bucks more than the BD.
The bonus is every (or almost) 4K UHD is packaged with a BD copy of the movie or show.

Not EVERY 4K UHD is sterling.
Often the source material studios use are BD master instead of a proper 4K master.
This has led to a lot of disappointment in the format.
For those that can recall, they did the VERY same fncking thing with the Blu-Ray debut by going with SD masters from DVDs.

However, when 4K UHD is done right it can be pretty stunning.
It's best to read online reviews before buying.

So far, I have about 50 releases and about 5-7 have been disappointing from a video POV.
I already have a fine audio system, making video quality much more important to me than audio.
Of course, YMMV.

Adam Tyner

I did for somewhere around a year. I bought my first Ultra HD Blu-ray titles on day one (Fantastic Four and The Martian), even though I didn't get my first UHD TV until Spring or Summer the following year. In that time, whenever a movie I was interested in was out on Ultra HD Blu-ray, I always opted for that over the Blu-ray release, so I wound up with somewhere around 40 titles (?) before I even had the means to play 'em. I have gone back and re-watched a couple of those in UHD since, but not nearly as many as I should.

Yup. It wasn't really ever at too much of a premium (and I seem to remember sometimes them even being less).

I'm not sure how many people have had the opportunity to compare them. I'd imagine most people don't care, not because of how one stacks up versus the other but because they're not interested in discs at all.

I believe Ultra HD Blu-ray is the end of the physical media cycle. I expect 8K to be exclusively streaming/downloads, and I don't really expect that to be too much of a thing besides.

Ditto! Atmos is just as much (maybe a bit more?) of a selling point to me.

Name some early Blu-ray titles that were upconverted from standard definition. I'm not aware of any from when Blu-ray first launched. (DVD-era high definition masters, sure; straight-up standard definition, no.)

I'm in the camp that HDR is more impactful than resolution, personally.

SterlingBen

I probably wouldn't have purchased one yet but I needed a bigger TV (my 55 wasn't doing it anymore) also I had to get one before 3D wasn't a feature anymore. Thats why I zeroed in on the LG 65C6. Has the 3D, The HDR, The 4K. Also I was way late into collecting Blu-Ray so I decided to jump in early with UHD (only on sale of course). And I have got to say they look amazing, even older titles like ET look so so good in 4K. Ideally a 70" or larger would make them look even better but it was a bit outside of what I wanted to spend on a TV.



There is one instance where I will go with the Blu over the UHD though, whenever it gets me 3D.

orangerunner

I have about twelve titles in 4K but so far have no interest in a 4K player or TV.

I picked-up the combo discs for $3-$5 each on the used market which is what I would have paid for the Blu-ray. Here in Canada, the cheapest 4K players are still hovering around $200.

I don't really want to fall into the cycle of upgrading and am consciously trying to cut myself off at 1080p Blu-ray. For me, the added resolution isn't going add any discernible value to the viewing experience.

PhantomStranger

I've been buying UHDs since they were first available, even before I got a UHD player.

melasnus

In order to fit an entire movie on a single BD layer (25gb), the first batch of BD's used low bit-rate MPEG-2 masters (like DVDs did).
It wasn't until 4 months after the initial BD debut that the dual-layer format was given the go ahead for production.
The first title was Sony's Click.

I am too.
See Ron Howard's Grinch movie with Jim Carrey for how HDR can completely change the movie experience and appreciation.

Dan

Yes, low bitrate high definition masters, but they were not SD masters, which is what you said:
That's an important difference when we're talking 6x the resolution between what you first said, and what Adam said.

Mondo Kane

I’m waiting for 10k. But I’ll probably finally stop at 20k.

Sonic

milo bloom

Both of our TVs are 4K (living room and bedroom) but the only player we have is in the bedroom which is an Xbox One S.

And I've only bought a few 4K discs, and I try to make sure they're combo packs since we watch more discs in the living room (mostly streaming in the bedroom).
So far I have in 4K:
Solo: A Star Wars Movie
The Last Jedi: A Star Wars Movie
Alien Covenant
Doctor Who Twice Upon a Time (it only has a 4k disc in it, was actually disappointed there was a blu combo)

I suppose when we finally get our big Star Wars saga rewatch going, I'm going to have to bring the Xbox out to the living room for those two movies.

davidh777

For the few discs I buy these days, I figure I might as well pay a few more bucks and get the 4K. I've had my current TV for many years and expect I'll have to replace it at some point.

kd5

I haven't yet but I might. Don't have a 4K player or TV, but also don't have a 3D player or TV and ended up buying a couple of 3D+BD+DHDs because of the packaging. The 1st Guardians of the Galaxy came in either a plain single disc BD, no slipcover, while the 3D+BD+DHD was in a really nice package w/slipcover. Same with Captain America: Winter Soldier. Oh, forgot about Thor: The Dark World, same deal. I may do that someday with a 4K package deal, you never know.

cultshock

So far only one of my TV's is 4K and I haven't bought a player yet, but I did pick up my first few 4K discs this past Black Friday because they were really cheap and also included the 2K Blu-ray version, so I thought why not? I'll probably pick up a 4K player to goof around with sometime in the new year.

wishbone

The few 4Ks I have purchased were good deals and I can watch the BD now.This too.

Iron_Giant

Bought JL and Black Panther in 4K before I bought my 65 Inch 4K Samsung on Black Friday.

But know I look at reviews and will only buy movies that are excellent 4K video quality.

I know have 8 or 9 4K movies...4K is a better way to view movies.

I want to buy 3 or 4 old movies now on 4K...Superman the Movie is one of them.

Kurt D

I've always pre-bought, starting with CDs when I still only had a turntable and a tape deck. I only have two or three UHD titles on Vudu so far, though. The thrill is starting to fade, also, I don't believe my eyesight is as acute as 4k anyway ...

Trevor

I’m into film for the stories. While I acknowledge that UHD looks better than HD that looks better than SD and hi-def sound is cool, it’s all bunk if the story doesn’t draw me in. And a story can draw me in on a 5” b&w TV almost as much as a state of the art theater.

Kurt D

Absolutely! In my case, pre-buying isn't generally to upgrade, it's just that if I want something, I will buy the best version I can afford, even if I can't appreciate it yet (or in many cases even play it yet).