[Mr Peabody]

I have two 4k TV's, with the purchase of my Samsung I got a free 4k player, I haven't moved to a 4k player for my Sony yet.  I have one 4k disc.  Both TV's have great picture quality with Blu-ray.

My hesitation on buying more 4k  movies, I read reviews on a couple 4k movies, one being a new release, the review says though the PQ was good it wasn't shot in full 4k.  Some reviews of older titles actually said the Blu-ray was better.  There are stellar reviews of PQ for things like Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Planet Earth 2, in fact, Home Theater Review did a recent article of Top 10 4k discs for 2017.  One was even the 4k version of the original Blade Runner, they somehow did a 4k scan of the original master print.  I hate that I might have to read a review of every 4k title I may buy to see if the purchase is worth the extra money.  Remember when Blu-ray was first hitting and the PQ on  Fifth Element was so bad there was a recall and the movie was replaced with a better effort?

As someone with both DVD and Blu-ray discs, maybe some 4k to come, it also bugs me 8k is waiting in the wings. 

Then there's also streaming to factor.  As of yet I don't see streaming of a certain resolution matching PQ with the same resolution on disc, yet streaming is continuing to grow.

I'm just curious what others are doing and feeling on 4k.

[OmahawkSCM]

I hear you. I have more blu than I ever did dvd (more disposable income). But, I am hesitantly amassing 4k discs. Honestly, the resolution is not the reason that I really care. I care more about HDR and Atmos. The resolution of BD is already great unless sitting very close to the screen.

How close do you sit when watching content? How big of screen?

[Phil A]

I have one 4K TV and a few other systems with plain old HD (including an Epson 5030 projector in the main system with an Oppo 103D).  I only sit 7 feet away from my 55 inch UHD set (use an Oppo 203).  Regular Blu-Ray still looks great.  I have some UHD movies but I don't buy as many movies as I used to.  Sometimes I'll opt for the 3D version (vs. the UHD), depending on the movie (it's about enjoying the entertainment).  I still have lots of DVDs too (I used to buy more movies).

[richidoo]

4K on Amazon Prime and Netflix looks great to me with 60" sitting 9 feet away. Streaming is the only 4K I have seen, so I don't know if it's equivalent to a disk, but I can't see any flaws like I can with DirecTV HD stream (ghosting around moving objects.)  I have read that disc looks even better than stream. I only have PS3 so can't play 4K discs.

[Mr Peabody]

True, the HDR is actually more help than the extra resolution.  I'm just doing 5.1.

In my main HT room I really wanted a projector but wasn't in the mood to have the minor construction, long story.  So I have a 75" Sony 4k, watching from the sofa is about 11 ft. or so.  The Samsung is a 55" and sitting depends, maybe an average of 10 ft. or so.

When buying 4k discs any concerns over whether the industry is doing the best they can on the disc or cutting corners to get a title under 4k?

I think as hobbyists we're going to consume 4k at least to some extent.

[Big Red Machine]

Like Omaha, I am as interested in Atmos as I am in the video. My new layout moved me to about 10 feet from a 75 inch Sony. 4k on a Sony is fantastic. I've compiled about 25 4K movies and they vary all over on video - full animation is stunning, heavily enhanced movies like Avengers-style don't seem to benefit as much as outdoor scenes without enhancement by studios. I sure hope our 4k machines can be updated to 8k down the road, otherwise I may sit that one out. There really aren't that many titles right now in 4K so dip your toe in and try some more.

[WGH]

How is the sound of 4k movies from Netflix since the 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus stream is typically encoded at bitrates between 192-256 kbps?

The stereo is one part of my 5.1 home theater with Salk HT2-TL fronts, Salk Veracity HT2 C center and home made custom surrounds that have 4 drivers in each speaker. If I get lucky, the sound of Blu-ray movies from Redbox are recorded in Dolby DTS-HD Master Audio with an average bitrate around 6.75 Mbps (DTS-HD supports variable bits rates on a Blu-ray disc of up to 24.5 Mbps) and can sound pretty amazing.

The difference between 256 kbps and 6.75 Mbps looks huge to me but can you hear a difference?

[Larkston Zinaspic]

I don't have many 4k titles yet but they seem to be a bit of a mixed bag. One common criticism I've been reading is that older films typically don't look as good as newer releases, although I'm not sure what you would define as "older", and if true that's a bit disappointing. I've shied away from Close Encounters based on some of the negative reviews I've read. I have the UHD Blu Ray of E.T. and it appears to be very grainy, surprisingly. It's a bit distracting because it looks less like "film grain" and more like digital artifacts to my untrained eye. Meanwhile an older Speilberg feature, Duel, got what looks to me to be a pretty decent transfer for 1080p Blu Ray. It looks much better than I would have expected for an ABC Movie of the Weekend.

Another surprise was that two "Fake 4k" Blu Rays, the first Underworld and the very silly Van Helsing look very good (to me) on their UHD releases. OTOH, The Watchmen is not so great and the so-called Ultimate Cut is a bit of a mess anyway.

Blade Runner and The Fifth Element are fine examples of what "older" titles can look like, regardless of the 35mm film grain visible in the transfer.

The fifth release in the Underworld series, Blood Wars, is currently the dimmest looking 4k disc I've watched so far. The film could have been called Dull and Duller, for various reasons. It looks very filtered and isn't worth watching either way.

It would be interesting to see what an 8k scan would look like for Super Panavision 70mm films like Lawrence of Arabia or 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I'm not sure how further upscaling would benefit current releases. I'm hoping the quality of the transfers will continue to improve regardless of how far they intend to push the resolution.