| Munkeh111 said: I think we also shouldn't pretend that digital downloads are all rosey. Netflix is obviously online only and the rest only let you use their files in a restricted environment and on certain devices. Blu-rays and DVDs may be more of a pain, but you definitely own your content 4K blu-rays might be interesting, but I doubt I'm going to be getting anything capable of playing them for a few years and it will more likely be my computer monitor than my TV, I want 4K Star Citizen! But in general, I don't find the digital/Netflix/blu-ray quality gap to be all that much. For visually spectacular movies, I'll go to the extra effort, but even on a 100" display, "digital" content looks great. I will, however, be rewatching Star Wars/LotR on Blu-Ray only. Those films need to be properly enjoyed |
Sub $1000 4K pc monitors are coming next year.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7563/dell-24-uhd-up2414q-gets-a-price-28-uhd-4k-3840x2160-announced
24" 4K 60hz IPS panel is now available for $1400, in spring they'll add a <$1000 28" model.
The gap between digital and blu-ray is pretty big depending on the movie. However heavy special effect movies made in the early digital era like lotr and the new star wars movies are not all that great on blu-ray. They were rendered and mastered in 2K, while earlier 35mm movies have resolutions close to 4K. Blu-ray is only 2K ofcourse, but as with pc games, downsampling from a higher res always looks superior. The best looking blu-rays are those made from 70mm film. Baraka and Samsara, scanned from 70mm in 8K, mastered in 4K, downsampled to 1080p look absolutely stunning and make lotr look murky in comparison.
The blu-ray version is still a huge step up from dvd, and decent step up from HD digital (plus the quality goes up between films), yet the real bonus is the lossless sound. (and extras if you're into that)
Movies are currently filmed with 5K cameras. (at least some overhead for 4K movie releases) Still not the IMAX quality of old but ahead of 35mm film. It won't be much longer before TODD-AO 70mm from the 50's is bested as well, NHK already has a 8K studio camera in production.
