Why Isn’t 4K UHD Blu-ray Selling & What Does The Future Hold? 

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For me, a 4K UHD is only worth buying if it's a must-see film with a terrific transfer. Anything less and I'll pick the Blu-ray. I have a feeling most people feel the same way.

As a movie collector since the VHS days, having owned many of the same films on tape, Laserdisc, DVD and Blu-ray, I do feel a bit of "upgrade fatigue" when older films are released on 4K. As good as the format is, I have reserved most of my 4K purchases for newer films or those that I have not owned on any of the earlier formats.

4K is awesome and I have replaced most of my favourite bluray’s with 4K versions now but they need to make them the same price of they want to move people to it. Absolutely no reason to charge more. Also, some collections are only available overseas, the need to have borders on these things should go also, seems to me they are cutting off their own nose by having region fixed discs.

Honestly I really love and miss the interactive and creative DVD menus. You don't really see that anymore. Now it's just lazy and cheap.

I am very selective about what I buy/upgrade. Why? I have a good eye, a great TV and have spent hours calibrating for best picture. To be honest I am blown away how disappointed I am at the 4K format. My expectation was high but even my finely tuned eyes cannot see a huge difference between BluRay and UHD BluRay.

I come from being in development and distribution since the mid-80s. The answer here is that the studios went all-in for the "shiny new toy" of streaming... which has turned out to be a debacle of epic proportions. The beauty of physical media and multiple windows was that the same title would get at least tertiary advertising as a movie (or TV series) made its way through the various distribution windows, and for some through a second run of the bottom half of the windows (including sell through prices that increasingly dropped). The big problem is that in their rush to embrace streaming and its vaunted endless riches was that they actively pubicized that DVD-4K was "the past" and was "inefficient" and caused "storage issues." This is what is called a self-destructive self-fulfilling prophecy. Worse, with so many people watching the bulk of their content on phones (very few watch on anything as basic as a decently set up desk top -- among my students, a tablet is about as high end as it gets), the entire market for high end/ high quality disappeared! There's still the crazy high end, but that is becoming increasingly twee and elitist. Add to this monetary issues more than half the population is experiencing post-Covid lockdowns and we see a problem. The GOOD news is that physical media is increasingly becoming a solid niche much like vinyl. While it may seem counter intuitive, the more companies like Kino Lorber take over from the studios, the better. You need a firmly installed base of fans of projects that will NEVER find a spot on the mainstream streaming services to suddenly reverse the trend. Fortunately, "buying" titles has proven to be only for the term a provider has rights to it. Now that censorship is becoming a real threat for legacy titles, there is no greater incentive for people to buy physical media before titles get changes in reality, not just warning labels.

2K upscales are still common for 4K releases and those I don't see major differences. The recent Mario movie was animated in 2K and while the HDR would look nice for the Rainbow Road sequence, the actual detail is virtually the same.

While the majority of my small collection is 4K discs, I think the biggest contributing factor as you mentioned, is that to truly enjoy the full potential of a 4K Disc requires a lot of additional equipment which extends into also being invested in the player, tv, home theater hobby. I think many movie fans who care just about the film might not also care about everything else. Lastly, I think the 4K debate affects audio lovers more than visual lovers. I need the 4k disc for the audio track not the video quality

The thing that I tend to forget is that there's a difference between movie collectors and videophile enthusiasts. For the latter group, things like black levels, dynamic tone mapping, contrast are things that are super important in movie presentation. While old movies don't always transfer well to a higher resolution format, new movies are being mastered in HDR, Dolby Vision, making the presentation of newer films or even TV shows much superior than anything else before it. Honestly, HDR and Dolby Vision are the differentiators in image quality when it comes to new 4k UHD Blu-rays. While 4k and 1080p may not be a big difference, standard dynamic range just doesn't look as amazing as HDR or DV. That is what the movie presentation purist will chase down. While some videophiles may be avid movie collectors, I would say that a good chunk of movie collectors are not necessarily videophiles, and upgrading a movie dear to one's heart to a higher resolution may not matter much to those persons. Which is perfectly fine.

I switched to 480p during your video just to test myself out. The quality change was noticeable, but not remotely close to horrible. You can even still make out most important things with a 240p stream. All this on a 17" gaming laptop. Having a 480p/i picture during the bunny-ear antenna analog TV era would've been GLORIOUS.

A big problem is many have displays that are too small or sit too far back to really notice any resolution differences so basically is the HDR part benefit if their display is up to the task

Hi Geoff, Potent topic… massive fan of the channel and we have had some good chats over the years. I think that anything 1080p blu ray produced over the past five years especially, looks exceptional! with only slight colour grade the difference so barely different to 4k and some 1080p’s also have atmos as well. The only true 4k winners are the old school restorations which mean that only your true enthusiasts are propping up the bulk of the sales

I have close to 900 blu rays and 4K movies combined and until recently included probably 65+ steelbooks most Best Buy Exclusives and I sold about half of them for various reasons but I'm noticing BB has them priced between $32 and $36 now....a bit pricey and if you miss out on some they're soon on Ebay for double that.....and in store selections including video games are less than half of what they were.....everyone tells me to sell 95% of my physical collections but....I like them.....

I was considering upgrading to 4K simply for The Shining, ALIEN, and 2001: Space Odyssey. Otherwise still rocking my 1080p Pioneer Kuro which has been awesome since 2009.

Here in Australia 4K Blurry discs are very popular over here in Australia.

Hi Geoff, great video content and subject, which was intelligently and diplomatically presented. 4K is a ‘luxury’ format. It is the pinnacle of what is available for home entertainment, at this time. For that reason it is still niche, as your statistics show. The cost of entry is prohibitive to too many and that is the barrier to mainstream adoption along with rise of streaming in the last 3 - 4 years. I do think though that things will change. Blu-ray was such a step up from DVD, with backward compatible players at a reasonable price, that for most their is not much advantage to upgrade up to 4K. The cost of 4K players, along with the overly technical benefits that appeal only to a minority (as mentioned in your video) are the barriers I think. Nearly all TV’s on sale now are 4K at fair prices, so that’s not an issue. It is only the higher end OLED TV’s and 4K players that are prohibitively expensive for mass adoption. What I will say is that if you enjoy watching films at home and are technically minded with the available income, there is nothing that matches 4K. Given the choice, I do choose 4K over a blu-ray on most occasions but only when it is justified. However, not all 4K’s are created equal and blu-ray (most of the time) is 90% of what you get - but there are noticeable exceptions, which can also be equipment related. If you have a decent OLED TV and Dolby Atmos speaker set-up then a greater percentage of 4K releases are better and (for me) worth the additional expenditure. What I think is exciting for the 4K format is the re-masters of older films. A proper restoration, with OCN scan, grading, colour timing and remastered audio is the reason to go 4K. Some of the releases over the last couple of years have been staggeringly good. With this is the rise of ‘boutique’ labels such as Kino, Arrow, Vinegar Syndrome, Second Sight et al who are utilising the 4K advantages to create beautiful work at (what I consider) fair prices. Restoring classic cinema is not only essential but is obviously commercially viable for many companies. I think that this a big future in 4K, partly for that reason. You are 100% correct in your synopsis that it doesn’t matter as long as people support physical media on any format. That is what actually matters. Again, I think this is exciting and see a positive future for all physical media formats going forward. Observing the boom in streaming, it appears that fundamental issues are now appearing after COVID - namely that unless it is Netflix or Amazon it is very difficult to make money and therefore difficult to justify. I don’t see Paramount or Lionsgate streaming services surviving and even Disney will have to scale back. Streaming has too much choice and is too cheap. That is great for physical media. There are two other factors that I believe will help physical media. Firstly, the tangible experience of owning and cherishing things you enjoy and that are important to you, with the ability to share that with family and friends if you wish - rather than relying on a corporation or server to still have it available when those moments occur. Secondly and perhaps slightly more controversial is censorship. Whatever our view point, it is happening in literature now and will affect older films going forward. If we only have streaming or digital content then others make decisions for us. There are abhorrent historical events, words, opinions and views that are no longer relevant in today’s society. Progress is made for a reason and I am not against censorship ‘per se’ but I want to have the choice and see a movie in the context for the time. I want to make my own decisions and also reflect on how far society has progressed for the better. A physical disc can’t be altered, as long as equipment is available, it can viewed as intended for years to come. The renaissance of vinyl (and even cassettes!) in the last few years shows that people want tangible and collectible options for the creative art they enjoy. If studios increase their effort on cover art, special features and quality of transfers, the experience cannot be replicated and people will pay for it. I think physical media, 4K and Blu-Ray, has an exciting future but may take a little bit more time.

So I asked this question for myself in Reddit the other day. I have a 4K TV but no player, now I do own a 4K Movie. I asked if it was worth upgrading as I see players (name brand) around $180. Maybe cheaper soon with holidays. The answer I found is it’s not a huge jump in resolution and really benefits modern releases. Many films remastered to 1080p won’t benefit from 4K because the format they used to record. I was also told that I would need to get a TV calibration disc. The ones who really like it said it’s best for home theater setups because of course the resolution and greater audio tracks for surround. One thing I found which is why I do own one 4K movie is it was literally $1 more to buy it off Amazon over the regular Blu-Ray release and it comes with it. If I’m buying a movie and it’s like that I’ll buy more knowing one day I’ll upgrade when the players are cheaper. You did forget to mention that in 2006 the PS3 was the cheapest Blu-Ray player available at around $600 😁

The upgrade between VHS to DVD was mind blowing, from DVD to Bluray awesome, but the upgrade from Bluray to 4K? Meh most of the time. Bluray is always better than DVD, but sometimes you can’t see a difference on 4K.

For me, I opted out of Dolby vision on my Panasonic bluray player. I have a 4k TV, but I would buy more 4k if I could afford a 4k HDR projector. I just justified a JVC rs46(X35).

11:00 This is me! I had no interest in 4k, but my ps5 plays 4k discs and AAA games play at 4k (possibly even more? I’m still new to this and not educated) so I upgraded my tv. And now that I have a 4k player and 4k tv, those 4k releases are seeming more and more worth it for me

Having upgraded to DVD from VHS... And later on to Blu-ray from DVD, I simply have no interest in the expense of now upgrading to 4K. Nevermind the time it takes to do it. My T.V. isn't 4K and I'm not going to buy a new set just to have 4K. Not while my current T.V. is working fine. Also, it just feels like the industry is evolving to new formats just to get people to upgrade yet again. It feels like a money grab. In the end, Blu-ray is good enough for what I need.

I've had my 1080p Samsung tv for 9 years and the picture still looks beautiful. I'm not upgrading until this tv is done for.

Price is a factor. New Oppenheimer Coming out in November is £25 that’s $30 US Dollars. Crazy price. Meanwhile the Blu-ray is £15 and dvd £10.

Since you’re asking, I only buy 4K UHD and even replaced my old non 4K blu rays. Great video thank you !

For me it’s a combination of a couple of factors: - equipment, like you mentioned, is one of them. I’ve spent money on a new Samsung 4K OLED and spending 300 USD on a Blu Ray player and then buying movies I’ve already purchased (some of them twice :) ) didn’t make sense anymore - why it didn’t make sense if because of iTunes - I have movies in my library that I had purchased 10 years ago in HD. They we’ve been upgraded to FULL HD and 4K over the years at no cost for me. Or even better - I’ve gotten Home Alone for free on iTunes some 9 years ago. It’s now in 4K. And I can watch it in 4K on the Apple TV. Therefore buying everything all over again and buying another player doesn’t make sense for me. I rather buy an 8K Apple TV and TV set in 7 years as my movies on iTunes will probably be 8K as well and I won’t have to pay again for the same content.

discs are costing $40+ before tax now here in Canada... it's getting crazy

Also the cost of living keeps going way up and at the same times wages are going way down. I mean you can thank the economy and corporate greed. Them all switching to digital markets make these companies control the market.

I'm shocked that DVD sales still comprise 65% of the market as of last year. Thanks for the information.

I remember when VHS was discontinued. I bought a bunch of Universal monster movies for seven dollars each. They had been selling for over twenty. I bought the last VHS players made in 2016. VHS/DVD recorders. $220 or $250 each. Only last year, 2023, did they start eating tapes, and the tapes started screwing up, too. So I am just now looking at new technology videos.

Once good 4K OLED TV's come down in price, and the 4K players come down in price. Then 4K will be adopted. But I agree. Blu Ray is very good. Most of the time people might not even tell the difference between blu ray and 4K UHD . Diminishing returns for sure.

Great video. 1080p is awesome and UHD is made for recent movies. Older movies look great in both, but UHD looks pretty much the same.

The problem is that in order to enjoy everything about 4k you need so many pieces of electronics and generally they're not cheap. But once you're ready then a new format comes along and you have to start from scratch all over again. It's just not worth it.

My physical media player has ALWAYS been my PlayStation. When I upgraded to PS5, I upgraded to UHD BluRay

UPDATE: I also just got Alligator (1980) on 4k UHD. That used to be rare, so I hopped on it.

Screen size matters, too. You only need higher resolution when your screen size massively increases.

Most of the people in the 20’s and early 30’s at my office have never owned a movie physically. Some don’t even watch on TVs!

All my Blu-ray discs play fine on my 4K player, but, not all my 4k disks do. I'm not spending $$$ for 4K disks that stutter (none of my Blue Rays do).

Really simple for me: it's hundreds of dollars to get a 4k br player. They need to drop a $100 player and either make the movies fairly cheap or as special-feature heavy as old dvds.

I also read somewhere that some blu ray players have upscale technology to 4k. So that probably also reduces the need or want for a disc that costs more or a 4k player if there are far cheaper devices that can get you close to 4K.

I switched over a long time ago, but geesh, the discs are still up there

The only 4k movies I have after the avatar films. While I really like those movies they are probably among the few movies that should be viewed in 4k. Everything else I have is 1080p, and I’m happy with that.

I never felt the need to buy the 4k upgrade from fantastic blu-ray. I spent lots of money on vhs, dvd,and then petered out on blu-ray. Im not upgrading again. Dvds and blu-rays are fine after experiencing vhs and old format tv in my lifetime. 4k is just a waste of money to me.

Im in eu, maybe there's a regional difference but i find the UHD discs quite expensive at ~30euro. Sure, sometimes there are deals but the prices seem to vary a lot while bluray is pretty cheap. For instance, I picked up a set of top gun (1986) + maverick on bluray for 10euro, both looks great imo. Still, streaming and digital sales are probably the big reason.

The thing, is HD to Blu-ray is bigger in benefits and features than the improvement to 4K. Unlike HD, the same HD sound quality on blu-ray is also available on 4k blu-ray. It think the delay is based on movies. Just like Beta vs VHS back in the 80s. The main reason VHS won the format wars was due to having twice the content of Beta. Frankly, we just don't have enough content in original 4K yet, and that may not change for some time since feature films still aren't shot in 4K. People can see a bit better picture, but far from being as good as the format is capable of producing. Its also not advertised very much. Especially the benefits that makes 4k better that streaming. A trip down memory lane: BTW, the cost of the players is no more expensive today than DVD players (or Blu-ray) were back when they first appeared. For that matter, VHS was the same way. In fact, I still remember my very first JVC S-VHS player. That one cost 1K. Although there were players from many off brand manufactures you could buy for a lot less ($300~), mine was the flagship from JVC -- the VHS player leader at the time. Conversely, my laptop size blu-ray player cost $150. A relative steal considering the infinite repetitive use of a DVD vs a videotape. Not to mention the greatly superior picture, and sound quality with zero maintenance necessary. People just prefer the convenience of streaming. Something that wasn't available during the boom of DVD.

I have a 4K Blu-ray player linked to a 4K large TV, so it is natural for any movies I buy for my small collection to be 4K disks, I'll drop back down to Blu-ray if the movie I want isn't in 4K, but 4K is my general go to format. I'll get a DVD, but only as a last resort.

I acculy used to collect 4k and got a lot of Blu-rays. Just takes up space and dust and I don’t collect it anymore I just buy digital

I don't think its because of the expense of the UHD players. Most people might have one that want 4K movies if they have a playstation or x box. For me, the reason i don't have a bunch of 4k movies is because of the movies itself, more than the player. In other words, it's far more expensive to replace your entire movie collection, than a 4K player itself. If you have 300-400 DVD's, or 300 blue rays, i don't you want to spend the cost it would take to replace all of that.

For me one of the issues is DRM. I wanted to turn an old pc into a blu ray player, but its harder to play a blu ray disc on pc than it is to just download it

A blu-ray, you can enjoy on any screen. A UHD, you need a screen that can handle HDR/Dolby Vision in a proper way, and for that, you need more high end screens, as the budget ones, just don't have the nits, or handles local dimming terribly, which just butchers HDR. My sister got a Philips TV, and SDR looks MUCH better than Dolby Vision, on her screen. Even on the best displays, classic movies with HDR/Dolby Vision, can look pretty mediocre or overdone. Some look amazing, but sadly they can't help themselves going into blast mode on some of them, where every highlight, feels like your looking at the sun. Thankfully, they seem to have gotten better at it lately, with more natural looking HDR grades. Those overcooked discs, I watch in SDR 2020 instead, converted by my Panasonic UB820 player. Overall though, I only upgrade my absolute favorite movies, if the upgrade is huge enough (only native 4K transfers), and not films that are only like 10% sharper, compared to a fresh 4K remastered blu-ray disc. It's just not the same leap, as going from vhs to dvd and then blu-ray. Every step was a jawdropping improvement. I'm the only one among my friends, that care about UHD, even though they are movie buffs. So it will probably remain as a niche format.

If you primarily watch movies that were shot in 35 mm, why would you want to watch hyper-vivid 4K videos of them? In some cases, standard DVDs (or LaserDiscs) look more like the films that we actually saw in theaters -- before digital projection became routine in the 2010s. But even then, most theaters showed films in 2K. A 4K presentation has higher resolution than 35 mm (24 fps) film -- especially on a 65- to 100-inch OLED or projection screen. Of course, I'm one of those people who always sat in the first couple rows of movie theaters because I LIKE the texture of the grain. I LIKE knowing when a dissolve is coming up. I even like the changeover marks that signal the end of 35 mm reels. Hi-res video is fine, but it's not "the movies." It's something else.

I've completely moved away from physical media. It's significantly more convenient to have digitally owned products on a server than constantly having to maintain physical items.

Price for me. In the UK new release will be £25. If you wait you can get for half the price. So I wait for the deals. Most of the time I already have the blue ray copy and when the 4K comes out they include a blue ray copy. Why don't they just ditch the blue ray copy and bring the price down. I don't need two blu rays of the same movie.

Surprised at the number of 4ks in the second hand shops...

It also had to do with compact players. You can play DVD that has optical disc on a computer and portable DVD players are really cheap. Portable blu rays are still 200 and up

They even made the 4k cases less desirable. Nice blue see through boxes and with 4k it’s back to black plastic like dvd only more shiny

Possibly the difference between bluray and 4k would become more noticeable on a 80+ inches tv. Physical support is going to die eventually.

I am happy with the quality on my regular blu-rays, I am even happy watching a DVD. Why would I need 4k?

Just bought the Game of Thrones 4K ultras set and my God it's so much better than watching it on streaming

Xcellent story! Content like Awaken should be driving the format. @ $54 (Amazon), no interest whatsoever. I enjoy watching concerts on BluRay and would replace many with 4K discs, but sadly almost nothing in this genre is available in 4K.. I have a nice $400 Sony Ultra player from 3-4 years ago, bought 1 disc (Planet Earth) and use it only for playing BluRay, simply because that is the only format available for my tastes. My library rents discs, and they said most people rent DVD, seldom ask for BluRay and are not even aware of 4K Ultra!

I agree that newer movies don’t benefit greatly from 4K (I’ve seen Top Gun Maverick on both formats and both look great). However, watching older films that have been restored with a new 4K scan of the original negatives and graded for HDR is an incredible experience. It’s like going back in time and seeing it for the first time.

Not many people in the world are movie or home theater enthusiasts. For the few that value the movie-going experience in the best quality, salute to y'all for buying physical movie disc!! Let's keep the culture alive !

4K Prices are crazy high here in Japan so I only bought when they were on sale but they no longer do much sales. They are easily over 80USD...

The main problem is, we built up our collections on DVD and had to upgrade because blu ray was such a big deal, and now they want us to upgrade yet again, companies like Scream Factory and Criterion, who are rereleasing the same movies over and over again is what’s pushing people away, we already bought Halloween, we already bought dawn of the dead, we already bought all the classics on criterion, and now they want us to buy them again for a newer transfer so we have to upgrade and sell our old collection yet again, it’s just a rinse and repeat, how many times can these movies be released, 8k will be next and we have to do it all over again, it’s just become a money grab

Standard 4K blurays were only £10 - £15 new in 2018 & mostly came in slips. Now they're £22 when first released & dont have slips. It's an insane price increase.

The point about marketing is spot on. I remember the push for blu ray, it was everywhere. I think the reason for that is simple. These companies didn’t want to continue producing physical products when they can just upload a file. Very little overhead. They did next to no marketing for hdr or 4K blu ray. Luckily companies like shout, criterion and arrow are going to save the format for us collectors, as they know their market. It will just be a small niche that isn’t going anywhere.

4k prices in Canada are now 39.99 for a new movie I’d imagine that’s one of the issues

I would say it's the price for me. I have only purchased a few 4k UHD movies, and those were my favourite films. With DVD, and Blu-ray, the prices dropped each year consistently. 4K UHD has been around for a little while now, and no significant price drop on the discs, at least not where I live in the UK. The prices have been stuck at £20 per disc for a couple of years now.

I recently got the Deep Impact 4K-BD and was blown away by how much of an improvement it was over my old BD. I put in the old BD after watching the 4K-BD and it was night and day. As you said, the older movies are probably where the new format is benefitting the most.

I am a long time physical media buyer. I have walls of movie-packed shelves just like you, but i have almost completely stopped buying any physical media, and I don't really know why. Yes, I watch streaming services almost daily, so that must be a factor, but I also feel like it is just the idea of getting older. I am almost 50 now, and I look at my shelves of films, many of which I have never opened, or if I have, haven't re-watched in many years. Then I ask myself, how much more time does one have in their life to rewatch all these films. There will always be the core favourites to revisit, but do i really need to own a copy of every Arrow horror title, considering many of them are still in their shrink wrap years later? Even the perks of physical media - nice packaging and extra features seem lost on me now. I used to listen to a lot of commentary tracks. I haven't listened to a single on in over 10 years.

The truth is, 4K TVs that most people buy aren’t capable of showcasing the benefits of UHD Blus. If you own a $500 65” 4K TV it’s not going to be able to properly display HDR. The bump in resolution (especially on most transfers pulled from 2K intermediates) won’t be enough to get people to spend extra for the UHD. It didn’t matter what type of TV you had when DVD came out, you can easily see the improvement over VHS. It didn’t matter what HDTV you had, you could see the difference in quality between DVD and BluRay. It’s just not the case with UHD. You need an OLED or a flagship LCD with a solid dimming feature.

I’m really glad you mentioned the PS5 because I think the PS2 helped sell DVDs and a similar trend happened with the PS3 and Blu Ray

For me I'm highly selective when it comes to buying 4k only my most favorite films get that upgrade because I already own most of what I want on blu ray which honestly still looks incredible even to this day.

I agree with the restoration part. I also believe that films shot on film benefit the most from 4K. All these newer films shot digitally, look fine on 1080p Blu Ray. Side note: Disney isnt helping the market when they decide to only put IMAX ratio on Disney+ Their physical copies are inferior

The answer: too expensive.

I think one thing that may be hurting physical media is that digital media is usually available weeks or months before the physical media. e.g. I'd love to watch "Evil Dead Rise", but I don't want to pay $25 for it digitally, now, then $30 for it physically. I'd appreciate it if distributors & studio released both physical and digital at the same time. OR... give us the reverse opportunity that comes with physical. Let us buy a package that comes with digital "now" and includes a physical disc when it's released.

I went all in on 4K in the summer of 2018 after doing a lot of homework. One of your videos explaining how the quality of 4K physical media is different than streaming VOD, and blu-ray (1080) was very educational and influential in my decision. Thank you for that video! I'm also very passionate about movies, so I didn't mind spending the money on top notch hardware when it came time to make the jump to 4K. Here are some reasons I think 4K UHD has been slowly adopted: 1. Niche market (4K physical media seems to be more for "collectors" than the average person who will defer to whatever is easy to understand and convenient such as VOD) 2. Upgrade fatigue (Existing fans of physical media may be tired of upgrading their collection after going from VHS to DVD to Blu ray) 3. Cost of hardware upgrade (4K TV, 4K player, 4K discs) 4. Consumer confusion (what is 4K, what's Dolby Vision, Atmos, HDR)

Yep. Nailed it. Blu ray looks really good and for most people that’s enough. Even as an enthusiast, I don’t bother buying most titles on 4K. Only my comic-book movie stuff (mainly b/c I collect steelbooks) and the sci-fi and action movies I loved as kid. Personally, I don’t care if a comedy or drama is in Ultra HD at all.

The price difference is bigger in the UK market. New releases are generally £10 on DVD £15 for blu-ray and £25 for 4K. There is a lot of movies I buy on regular blu-ray to save £10, especially in the case for films where there are few reasons to upgrade.

I have upgraded very few titles from bluray to 4K. As Jeff said, the improvement is often negligible. When faced with the choice of buying new things or slightly better versions of things I already own, I go with new things. And I think for a lot of us, our favorite movies came out before the 4K format launched, meaning we already bought them on bluray. Only 17% of my collection is films released post-2010. And most of the films I really liked from the last 15 years didn't even get 4K releases (Black Swan, The Favourite, The Master, Duke of Burgundy, Dragged Across Concrete, Cold War), so I couldn't buy them on 4K if I wanted to (and I did want to).

I started collecting VHS back in the day, sold those off and rebought most of those on DVD, and then did the same thing when blu ray came out. For me,I just don’t feel like starting over and rebuying some movies 4 times over haha. 4K streaming and cost of equipment definitely play a role too.

About three years ago, I started purchasing movies I care about because the issues with a future reliant on streaming were quite evident. Hence, I only buy 4K because that’s the format I’m starting off with. Bought a mid range Panasonic 4K player and it has treated me well. However, emphasis on the fact that I don’t blind buy movies, I only purchase what I love and plan on rewatching in the future. Also, most of my purchases are in Black Friday season when prices are all sub $20 (unless it’s a steelbook; I get those before they sell out permanently).

I agree upgrading to 4K is expensive and there have been times where 4K scans are really bad but when it's done right it looks incredible!

One thing that is really amazing to me about 4k blu rays (considering proper equipment being used) is that we’re probably enjoying a higher quality experience than even people that were able to watch some movies at the theater enjoyed back then (thinking especially about older movies here). If we consider Apocalypse Now, for instance. I think it’s hard to believe that most screens back then were able to match a good quality 4k OLED screen. The blu ray also allows us to watch the Director’s Cut from most movies (Apocalypse Now’s director’s cut was very rare on theaters, afaik). That’s without taking into account the new audio that was developed for the blu ray. So, all in all, it seems hard to say it’s not an expensive hobby to buy physical 4k disks and proper equipment. But the experience is unparalleled, in my humble opinion.

4k all day. I'm a fan of audio though. It's not just about picture quality. I have an 11.4.4 Atmos system. The Atmos audio (when done right) on 4k discs completely changes the movie experience. You can't get the same immersion with blu-ray or dvd.

I honestly only purchase 4K UHD’s if the film is a favorite of mine. It’s like a definitive collection of my favorite films for me. I also ensure to check out channels like you to see if the disc for that movie is a good transfer tho!

Hi Jeff, it took me a year to finally fet ahold of a PS5, tho i work for Argos. For me its the quality. With such awful transfers like Platoon, Pirates, Planes etc ( thanks for all your help on that by the way ). Collectors have to be wary of what 4Ks they're adding to their collection. Also a lot of films here are still at £20. I want the bournes but the 1st is shocking even tho its been reissued 3 or 4 times since its initial release. Same poor transfer to todays standards. R.Hood prince has to be 1 of my fav transfer recently. The clarity is outstanding. Great work as always Jeff 🎉

The studios need to sell at a price that gets volume sales. £20-30+ is not going to cut it. Sell them at £10(std release), don't drop the price over time. They'll sell far more than 2-3x of these expensive 4K discs. I'll buy 4K if it's a great film and once the prices drop. I aim for £10-15.

I guess because BluRay is so much cheaper & still excellent quality. The uptick is not significant enough to warrant the expense. Only a handful of 4ks have truly wowed me.

In *INDIA* 4K disc price range between 30-80$. That's insanely high for an average middle class family. Also not every movie is available in 4K format. So people tend to go for dvd/bluray. Also streaming services nowadays are booming. Anyone can purchase subscription of 4-5 different platforms under 25-30$/month & can watch most of the 4K movies at will (eliminating the cost of 4K player)

4Ks sell. But companies have been charging more and more. Some 4Ks are coming out 50 bucks? Like what!?!

Finally picked up a 4K TV this year - I was much more impressed with the OLED black levels and dynamic range than the increase in resolution, which I barely noticed at all.

The economic reasons are very valid. I also think that the majority of people who buy physical media are happy to have a copy of the movie in question but only a small percentage of those want a pristine copy of said movie. It's no coincidence either that it tends to be back catalogue titles that are the most popular titles in the 4k format . Most of my purchases tend to be of that ilk, mainly because the viewing experience tends to be a massive improvement on what has come before whereas newer titles that's not the case generally . It's a format that ultimately I hope sticks around. But I would add that its important that the studios support and invest in it more. The recent Superman 4k box set from Warner Bros for example is a huge letdown . Great video Jeff

Why would I have to upgrade my blue ray collection to 4k when I've just converted from DVD...that's when the buck stops for me..I'd rather spend my money on other things in life

I took the time and purchased the Panasonic UHD820 @ $425 on sale with my Best Buy card. This player is excellent w/ my LG C1 OLED. I wanted the best picture I could afford. Thank you for the review.

When I want a movie or TV show, I basically buy them in this format order, depending on availability: 3D blu ray > 4k > blu ray > dvd as a last resort. Price doesn’t factor in it for me, I care about picture and sound, but I’m an enthusiast. I can see a future of home theater streaming, buying files and storing them on a server that can stream to your devices on your local network as a next step from discs, but until that becomes cost effective and widely available, it’s discs for me.

Physical movies will never die for one huge reason. People are scared of losing their movies. At any time a company could just remove the movie from the digital platform and or from peoples accounts and poof. It’s gone from existence. There will always be that fear. Movies on Disney+ that have no physical nor buyable digital release recently got removed.

If I were younger, I'd consider getting into 4K collecting. But I'm not, so there's just no way I'm going to start in a new format-having been through Beta, VHS, DVD, and Bluray. Four times is enough. Besides, I'm very happy with Bluray. And DVD, when properly done, can be quite satisfying visually. Of course, it isn't always properly done. But I'm not going to spend more money chasing after perfection.

That was my main reason for not upgrading for so long. The improvements are increasingly marginal. Is it better? Yes. Technically. Is it noticeably better? Sometimes, sure. Is it better enough to justify the cost? Maybe. But someone whose advice on that sort of thing I usually trust was like "You should see_____, the colors are amazing." Amazing colors, huh? So I got 4k. and it's... fine. Sometimes I buy 4k. Sometimes I buy blu-ray. I'm not "upgrading" my collection they way I did from dvd to blu-ray, though. There's no real point.

Its definitely the cost of the players for me. I do use 4k discs with my ps5 and that may also be a factor, the difficulty getting the new gen consoles which provide 4k capabilities. How many people got their first bluray player when they purchased a ps4? Alot. But id like a standalone player and the only one I would consider buying (Panasonic) is basically $500. That is insane in todays market.