4K capable media players ?

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Mark

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#138603 10-Jan-2014 10:49

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.

wellygary

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#964418 10-Jan-2014 11:52

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

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#964430 10-Jan-2014 12:20

Try 2016?

gehenna

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#964432 10-Jan-2014 12:21

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

Talkiet

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#964443 10-Jan-2014 12:31

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

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#964448 10-Jan-2014 12:42

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

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#964513 10-Jan-2014 13:45

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

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#964551 10-Jan-2014 14:18

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.

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tehgerbil

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#964569 10-Jan-2014 14:38

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

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#964711 10-Jan-2014 16:14

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

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#964855 10-Jan-2014 18:54

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

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#964867 10-Jan-2014 19:18

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. :)