Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek


#138603 10-Jan-2014 10:49
Send private message

Hi all,

Not got anything 4K yet myself, but was wondering if there are any 4K capable media players around ?

I downloaded some 4K material to my Xtreamer Ultra2 (running OpenElec - XBMC) and it chokes on it, even 4K@30fps is too much to handle (my Nexus 5 plays it fine :-)  and also XBMC does not recognise the 4K material as 4K it lists it as 1080p.

So anyone know of any nice (preferrably with an XBMC frontend) media player that's capable ?  (and not hobbled to a small number of video codecs).

Thanks.

Create new topic
wellygary
8312 posts

Uber Geek


  #964418 10-Jan-2014 11:52
Send private message

I think 4K is still caught in the chicken and egg loop, 

They have yet to determine the Codec to be used for 4K blu ray, so until that is finalised I cannot see much happening in terms of players until the content providers get up and running, despite all the hype at CES, I think 4K content will remain very niche for this year.





Batman
Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #964430 10-Jan-2014 12:20
Send private message

Try 2016?

gehenna
8495 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #964432 10-Jan-2014 12:21
Send private message

Would it matter considering your TV can only go to 1920x1080 anyway? Or are you playing it through a computer monitor?



Talkiet
4792 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #964443 10-Jan-2014 12:31
Send private message

gehenna: Would it matter considering your TV can only go to 1920x1080 anyway? Or are you playing it through a computer monitor?


Not a safe assumption anymore... "4K" UHD TVs are available now for under $7k in NZ, and under $1k in the US...

Cheers - N





Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.


Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek


  #964448 10-Jan-2014 12:42
Send private message

gehenna: Would it matter considering your TV can only go to 1920x1080 anyway? Or are you playing it through a computer monitor?


Well an UltraHD TV is on the roadmap for this year some time for us, so I just want to get a feel for what I need to implement to be able to feed it nice images.  4K content is getting easier to find now as well, I understand the GoPro as a 4K recording capability (though not at 30 or 60fps) and since I want one of those that'll be another source.

4K is getting there .. just doubt it'll be broadcast any time soon :-)

Codec wise it seems to be a toss up of H.265 or VP9 ... H.265 has more established pedigree but costs money to implement, whereas VP9 from Google is "free" but would need to attract more than token gesture acceptance from the big media houses as it might be too new for them.




tehgerbil
1102 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Subscriber

  #964513 10-Jan-2014 13:45
Send private message

I'd say the best bet is to keep an eye on the next AppleTV as adandtech found out OSX's 4K support is a tad average, but their final cut pro software has been updated to play nicely with 4k hardware, suggesting Apple are slowly updating their arsenal, suggesting a AppleTV that can play 4k is just around the corner.

Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek


  #964551 10-Jan-2014 14:18
Send private message

I've sort of lost interest in the ATVs at Gen-3 (the unjailbreakable one), the restrictions on file formats is too awkward, it's MP4 containers only.

 
 
 

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.
tehgerbil
1102 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Subscriber

  #964569 10-Jan-2014 14:38
Send private message

If you don't mind the fact it can't install XBMC on it..

Samsung Blu-ray player with built in UHD upscaling

To be fair though OP, I had a media centre PC running an old philips 32" LCD, when I upgraded to a Samsung 40" I found they played basically everything off the USB port, negating the need for my seperate PC. It plays MKV, MP4, AVI etc, and can even handle NTFS USB drives..

Just something to keep in mind. I've played with Sony and their file type support is AVI/mp4 and even then it's very 2/10 will play kinda thing.

LennonNZ
2459 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Trusted

  #964711 10-Jan-2014 16:14
Send private message

VLC should play any content fine. The later versions will even play the HEVC codec. Most likely XBMC doesn't have the correct codecs for the videos you are playing as 4K is just a larger resolution, BUT people tend to use different codecs for the higher sized videos.

I just plug my computer into my TV (Sony 65" 4K) and can play 4K videos (at 30fps). My TV can do HDMI 2.0 at 60FPS but there are no HDMI media players/graphics cards out yet (which do HDMI 2.0)
There is DisplayPort _but_ display port is for computers/monitors .. HDMI is for TV's but there is 1 4K tv I've seen which has DP which can do 60FPS 4K)

There is a 4K hardware media player coming out very shortly (Nanotech NP-1) which is suppose to be great (I am awaiting for mine at the moment)

and yes.. content.. well lack of it. I have a few 4K videos including some DCPs but nothing main stream is out yet (as there is no standard to put them into physical media as of yet)




JimmyH
2886 posts

Uber Geek


  #964855 10-Jan-2014 18:54
Send private message

I'm going to sit tight on 4K for now:

1. Prices for equipment are too high;
2. There's very little worthwhile content out; and
3. The DRM risks are too high.

Number 3 is the most significant. The current incarnation of HDCP is comprehensively broken - it's easy to bypass, and the master key has been leaked. I suspect this means that when 4K players become mainstream they will have a new copy protection specification (HDCP 2.0?) which won't be backwards compatible with existing HDMI sockets for 4K content. This means I would likely be in the same position as the unfortunates who spent up large on the early expensive 1080P tellys, only to have 1080P over component removed from players making their $10,000+ TVs into expensive boat anchors.

I will wait until prices have fallen, and content is available. Most importantly I will wait until the DRM spec is finalised and they have sold enough TVs that they can't risk the backlash of changing it. In all probability, since 1080P is pretty good anyway, I will wait until the DRM has been properly broken and transferring/storing purchased content across a home network is possible.

Buzz Bumble
332 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user


  #964867 10-Jan-2014 19:18
Send private message

tehgerbil:
I'd say the best bet is to keep an eye on the next AppleTV as adandtech found out OSX's 4K support is a tad average, but their final cut pro software has been updated to play nicely with 4k hardware, suggesting Apple are slowly updating their arsenal, suggesting a AppleTV that can play 4k is just around the corner.


Yep, Apple's new Mac Pro (the "Darth Vader spitoon" model) can support three 4K displays at the same time, or six "normal" displays. :)

Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.