Blurays: Native 4K vs Upscaled to 4K

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Blurays: Native 4K vs Upscaled to 4K

Batman

Mad Scientist
30014 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6217

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#245410 2-Feb-2019 10:33

Hi, I was trying to buy some 4K movies to play on my Xbox ... but it turns out most of the movies I'm interested in are upscaled to 4K. I have a couple of questions:

Is there a site that has a list of all the Native 4K movies?

Are the upscaled to 4K noticably (I mean, if you don't pixel peep) better than the Native 4K movies?

Watching on a 65" TV. Distance about 3m.

SirHumphreyAppleby

2939 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1860

#2171748 2-Feb-2019 11:55

https://4kmedia.org/real-or-fake-4k/

Batman

Mad Scientist
30014 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6217

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2171749 2-Feb-2019 12:00

Thanks. Why is some new movies fake 4K and some old movies real 4K?

SirHumphreyAppleby

2939 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1860

#2171751 2-Feb-2019 12:03

Batman: Thanks. Why is some new movies fake 4K and some old movies real 4K?

It's due to older movies being captured on film, which inherently has higher resolution than digital sources.

Your movies from the '80s are therefore much more likely to be real 4k, whereas movies from the mid-2000s will be upscaled. Digital recording was cheaper than film.

Similarly, a DVD release of a TV show from the '70s is more likely to look better than one from the '80s, when production moved from film to video tape.

Also new 4k films may not have had 4k rendering of CGI elements. Blu-ray.com is a good place to look for reviews and user feedback on releases.

Batman

Mad Scientist
30014 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6217

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2171766 2-Feb-2019 13:12

It's a bit surreal, how something from 2007 was shot in film. Cue Spiderman 3 2007, native 4K with grain!

ARIKIP

246 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 134

#2173578 5-Feb-2019 17:10

Great Format...even upscaled. Problem is the scarcity of certain titles. Im still waiting for 2001 to be available locally. Been available overseas including australia(part of JBs 2 for $40 Deal too..so only $20) for a while.

Sony 77" A80J OLED, Panasonic UB820, Panasonic BD-T460, Apple TV 4K 3rd Gen, Samsung Q990D Soundbar

Wazza69

75 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 16

ID Verified

#2173604 5-Feb-2019 18:21

the other part is that films are often captured at resolutions lower than 4K. The most popular cinema camera by far at the moment is the Arri Alexa which has a resolution of 2.8k. It may not be 4K but film makers love it as it has an incredible cinematic look and amazing dynamic range even if it’s not 4K. Also the whole processing chain needs to be native 4K which often isn’t the case.

Also, the biggest difference in a UHD vs a bluray is actually from HDR but you really need a TV with the required panel brightness to really make use of it.

For a UHD to show what a native UHD with great HDR check out The Reversnt.

Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

Batman

Mad Scientist
30014 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6217

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2173610 5-Feb-2019 18:30

I am finding that the "native 4K" blurays of 2000s movies are incredibly grainy, or I like to say, noisy! and the noise is in ultra high resolution! but it's better than FHD despite that.

Batman

Mad Scientist
30014 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6217

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2173613 5-Feb-2019 18:31

Wazza69: the other part is that films are often captured at resolutions lower than 4K. The most popular cinema camera by far at the moment is the Arri Alexa which has a resolution of 2.8k. It may not be 4K but film makers love it as it has an incredible cinematic look and amazing dynamic range even if it’s not 4K. Also the whole processing chain needs to be native 4K which often isn’t the case.

Also, the biggest difference in a UHD vs a bluray is actually from HDR but you really need a TV with the required panel brightness to really make use of it.

For a UHD to show what a native UHD with great HDR check out The Reversnt.

i have a TCL. it's incredibly unbright. also pretty unblack. rather unsaturated (need to crank saturation to 100 in HDR mode!). but it has HDR10. and I love it :)

so my HDR may not be your HDR ;p

Jaxson

8172 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1332

Trusted

#2181476 17-Feb-2019 12:38

https://mashable.com/article/samsung-wont-sell-blu-ray-players-in-united-states/?utm_campaign=hp-hh-sec&utm_source=internal&utm_medium=onsite#IBVQ6DJW7sqc

There’s a good chance Blu-ray will be the last physical media for films, as streaming takes over.

A lot of films were mastered in 4K and the DVDs were then produced from these sources.
A lot of older film content is therefore available in real 4K, which is pretty cool. Expect a lot of film grain though.