The TV in your living room is most probably a Full HD model with around two million pixels and very nice it looks too. However, when you go to the cinema you’re watching films projected with a whopping eight million pixels. Ultra HD Blu-ray is a new standard for movies on discs which will bring cinema-quality films into your home. And the difference in visual quality is startling.
This guide will discuss what you need to watch these new high-detail movies in terms of kit and what TVs and players are available today. We’ll also look at the various movies and discs that are set for release at launch. And finally we’ll discuss in some more technical detail the differences between the current Blu-ray format and the new Ultra HD one.
4K or Ultra HD - confused?
4K and Ultra HD are often used interchangeably, which can be confusing, so let’s nip this one in the bud first. 4K is the current standard for digital cinema projection, the vast majority of films in the UK are now shown in this format. When you go to the cinema you’re watching a film with a 4K resolution of 4,096x2,160 pixels.
Ultra HD is the consumer standard for TVs. This has a slightly different resolution of 3,840x2,160 pixels, because this is exactly four times that of the current Full HD standard (1,920x1,080). Many manufacturers refer to their TVs as being 4K when in reality they all have this slightly lower resolution.
With so many pixels the difference between 4K and Ultra HD is negligible in terms of detail. However the 4K is a slightly-more widescreen aspect ratio at 1.9 to 1, rather than Ultra HD’s 1.78 to 1. This means that 4K movies transferred to Ultra HD will have to use slender black bars at top and bottom, or have the edges of the screen sliced off.
With this exception though, the two terms are practically interchangeable and manufacturers of kit and discs are generally using both. The new discs are officially called Ultra HD Blu-ray, but they all have ‘4K’ written on them too, just in case you’re more familiar with that term.
What do I need?
To watch Ultra HD Blu-rays in your home you’ll need three things: An Ultra HD TV, an Ultra HD Blu-ray player and an Ultra HD Blu-ray movie to play on it.
4K/Ultra-HD TVs were laughably expensive at the beginning of last year but have since plummeted in price, leaving anyone who bought in early looking pretty sick. You can buy such a TV from as little as £450 today, and so it’s well worth paying the extra over a Full HD set.
Check that your chosen TV has both HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 in order to work with the Ultra HD Blu-ray standard, most sets have this but if you see a bargain then look closely at the specs before buying. Our current favourite TVs are … 1403351
No current Blu-ray player or games console can play the new Ultra HD Blu-ray standard. So you’ll need a new player in order to play the new discs, plus of course you’ll need some Ultra HD Blu-ray movies to play on it.
What Ultra HD 4K Blu-ray players are available?
None at present in the UK and we’re still awaiting release dates. Samsung has announced a player, officially called the Samsung Ultra HD Blu-ray Player (UBD-K8500) 1403873. It demoed it last September at the IFA show in Germany. Although that points to a European release soon, to date it’s only available for pre-order in the US, where it will cost $400. Samsung will start shipping players to customers sometime in March.
Panasonic has also shown off a player, known as the Panasonic Ultra HD Blu-ray player DMP-UB900. 1404250 This looks to be a top-end model, with dual HDMI outputs and lots of extra aimed at audio enthusiasts. We’re not convinced any of that is really neccesary, but it’s bound to push up the price of the player with rumours from AVForums stating it will be under £700 but not by much.
More recently, at CES, Philips announced its own player, the Philips Premium Compact Design 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player BDP7501. This breaks away from the usual Hi-FI component format for something that’s only as big as it needs to be, a change we applaud but which might not sit well with those who like their AV racks of same-sized kit. The player will cost $399 and is scheduled for a May 2016 launch, no news on a UK release yet.
Technically speaking all the players here essentially do the same job, they play Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. They all support HDR (high-dynamic range) for better colour depth and contrast and will all support streaming 4K services such as Netflix, though exact services are largely to be confirmed.
What Ultra HD 4K movies can I watch?
With modern movies shot in the 4K format (see above) transferring them to Ultra HD Blu-ray will be a doddle compared to the trials and tribulations of moving celluloid movies to the original Blu-ray format upon its release. That means you can expect to see lots of Ultra HD blu-ray movies from of the off and quality really shouldn’t be an issue with the format. So who’s announced what?
Warner Bros. has promised to release 35 titles before the end of 2016. The first titles to be made available will be Mad Max: Fury Road, San Andreas, The Lego Movie and Pan. Of which Mad Max and Lego should sell brilliantly.
20th Century Fox is planning on releasing 100 movies by the end of the year. Initial releases will include: Exodus: Gods and Kings, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Fantastic Four, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Life of Pi, The Maze Runner and Wild. There’s something for most people in there, plus some dross of course.
Sony is also releasing movies this year. Initial launches will include The Amazing Spider-man 2, Salt, Hancock, Chappie, The Smurfs 2 and Pineapple Express - which isn’t exactly a stellar line-up in my eyes
All these discs are aiming to be be on sale in March and many are already availabel to pre-order on Amazon.com
The new boxes are clearly marked with 4K and Ultra HD
Can I buy discs overseas
It looks as though Ultra HD Blu-ray discs will be region free, with no geographic locking system currently being discussed. This means you can import your discs from wherever you want and won’t have to wait for UK releases. Don’t rush off to Amazon.com quite yet though, as we’ll be confirming this nearer the release.
There will be copy-protection though and leaked documents have even hinted that some discs may require an internet connection to authenticate themselves on first being played.
