Blu-Ray successor announced by Sony and Panasonic

[digitalbabe]

Per Techbeat:

Sony and Panasonic have announced that they want to develop an optical disc that can hold at least 300 gigabytes of data by 2015. This is to be a successor to the Blu-ray discs, which can only hold up to 50 GB.

In the past Sony has said that 4K ultra-high-definition films were likely to take up more than 100GB of space. It recently launched a device that allows 4K movies to be streamed over the internet but it is not much use for users who have a slow internet connection or have data-use limits.

Blu-ray disc laser

In their press release, the firms indicate that the primary market for this new technology will be business wishing to copy and preserve their data. It is also likely that there will be a demand within the consumer market for higher capacity discs.

There has been a decline in the sales of disc-based television box set and movie sales, which is thought to be caused by the rise in streaming services like Amazon’s Lovefilm and Netflix. However, last year there were 179 million disc-based videos sold in the UK, according to figures published by the British Film Institute (BFI).

“For the foreseeable future, even with more advances in streaming, there will be a niche for discs,” Russ Crupnick, a media analyst at consultants NPD told the BBC.

“But how large that is going to be is hard to say because it is going to be more about the collector and less about every day usage.”

4K Camcorders

An increase in demand for extra storage is also likely to be generated by the public’s ability to create its own ultra-high-definition footage.

JVC, Sony and Panasonic have all produced prototype camcorders which they say will be aimed at the “prosumer” market.

“The cheapest way to store lots of this material long term is going to be on an optical disc rather than a solid state drive in your laptop or tablet, or on SD cards,” said Paul O’Donovan, digital video expert at the tech advisory firm Gartner.

“And they are more convenient if you want to send the video you shot to somebody.

“Imagine trying to send a 300 gigabyte file over the internet – it would take ages.”

Until we see this new 4K technology, there is an interim solution as Panasonic already make a 100GB Blu-ray disc, but it needs a special player.

 

[Flash]

I worry all these blurays we have all spent a lot on will be worthless

 

[pdbluray]

I worry all these blurays we have all spent a lot on will be worthless

Oh they will in fact I will save you hassle and buy some steels of you for say between £5 - £10, I heard that blu ray will be over by Christmas.

Trust me i'm a racoon

 

[Flash]

You don't know which I have they could be **** lol

 

[pdbluray]

TBH is there many steelbooks that is worth less than £5?

And if so why would you be concern if there were to become worthless?

 

[Slinchafi]

Per AVforums

We’ve just had confirmation that the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) are about to announce that a spec for 4K Blu-ray will be ready by Summer 2015.

What’s more, we believe that there will be 4K Blu-ray players available in time for Christmas 2015.

We received the news out on the floor at IFA 2014, currently on-going in Berlin, from Michael Hooger who is the Lead Communications Strategist at the BDA

This is excellent news as the imminent future of 4K Ultra HD had seemed one of internet streaming and/or download.

That would put 4K out of the reach for many enthusiasts without a sufficiently good internet connection (20Mbps minimum needed) but, furthermore, it means the material is being compressed more than we’d like.

There’s no question a physical format will bring with it greater bandwidth and therefore better audio and video quality than the streamed alternative.

 

[earthscope]

Yep....4K blu ray players coming by December 2015.

 

[severo]

Yep....4K blu ray players coming by December 2015.

...which means i will get VERY selective with which titles i order on blu-ray from now on. that will basically be only must-haves like PLAIN ARCHIVE, KIMCHI exclusives, and a very few films i want to watch immediately. no more additions to my collection apart from that, i still have a "couple" of movies in my collection that i haven't watched yet.

 

[JackRegan]

...which means i will get VERY selective with which titles i order on blu-ray from now on. that will basically be only must-haves like PLAIN ARCHIVE, KIMCHI exclusives, and a very few films i want to watch immediately. no more additions to my collection apart from that, i still have a "couple" of movies in my collection that i haven't watched yet.

Unless your TV is 65 inches or more, in which case you're in a very small minority, then you're wasting your time, and even then, the current crop of 4k screens are less capable than the best of the last Plasmas (ZT and VT Panasonics, and the 8500 Samsung) despite the increase in definition.
Any professional worth his salt will tell you to buy the Plasmas, especially the Panasonics, and wait until OLED is truly ready, anon.

Even when the next gen screens come along, you're still only going to see a very minor 'improvement' in the 65 inch plus category, and that's very largely dependent on someone (Panasonic and Sony one suspects) making OLED work long term - otherwise you're again wasting your time, looking at unreal colourscapes smeary sports/action and far from black blacks; that's LED/LCD for you!

Frankly, 4k is a lot of hype from vested interests trying to shift more kit, and is not worth the immense hassle.

 

[severo]

@JackRegan i watch my movies projected onto my wall in an estimated size of about 120 inches. and i read a lot of infos and articles and forum opinions on this topic, so i consider myself to be well informed about 4k.
i'm looking forward not only to see the improved resolution, but even more to the improved colour depth and bitsize for that. you're right, 4k doesn't make sense on any average <50inch tv, but for me it will.

 

[JackRegan]

@JackRegan i watch my movies projected onto my wall in an estimated size of about 120 inches. and i read a lot of infos and articles and forum opinions on this topic, so i consider myself to be well informed about 4k.
i'm looking forward not only to see the improved resolution, but even more to the improved colour depth and bitsize for that. you're right, 4k doesn't make sense on any average <50inch tv, but for me it will.

Well, that's fine, and you're lucky to be able to view on such a large size, but you're still gong to struggle to find content for all the reasons I previously laid down.

Actually the point at which you see a difference, and it is marginal despite what some people have referred to as the initial 'wow' factor, is above 60/65 inches point.

 

[psychoscot]

I worry all these blurays we have all spent a lot on will be worthless

Some titles will retain a reasonable value due to the collectors market. But yes 95% of them will drop rapidly to very little, much less than what many originally paid.

That being said the only people that loose out are those collecting for monetary gain. They are best to cash in before a new technology gets firmly established so expect a rush of rare titles next summer at vastly lower prices. Then they will move on to the next format for continued profiteering.

Those that collect for enjoyment it won't effect in the slightest as we buy because we like them and won't be selling. I spent many thousands on laserdiscs that when DVD arrived became worthless on a cash level, but priceless as far as I'm concerned because I wanted them and won't be selling them.

 

[JackRegan]

Some titles will retain a reasonable value due to the collectors market. But yes 95% of them will drop rapidly to very little, much less than what many originally paid.

That being said the only people that loose out are those collecting for monetary gain. They are best to cash in before a new technology gets firmly established so expect a rush of rare titles next summer at vastly lower prices. Then they will move on to the next format for continued profiteering.

Those that collect for enjoyment it won't effect in the slightest as we buy because we like them and won't be selling. I spent many thousands on laserdiscs that when DVD arrived became worthless on a cash level, but priceless as far as I'm concerned because I wanted them and won't be selling them.

I don't see why anyone should panic.

There is not going to be a mass migration to 4k - not this year, next year nor in the near to middle future. The studios aren't really interested for pretty obvious reasons, no broadcast 4k tv now or probably ever, no 4k streaming now, and precious little in the future and even then it will be compressed as hell - there isn't even capacity to broadcast en-masse at 1080p right now, and that's not likely to change because the necessary investment far outweighs the potential return for one thing.

Quite apart from the obvious, we are still in a position where many films still don't even make it to blu ray -the idea that Blu is going to become obsolete overnight or even soon is just panic - or the pipedream of the manufacturers marketing divisions!

p.s. Psycho, like you I've got a shedload of nice Lasers and I'm not parting with them - some are just rare - Like Queen Christina, and others are lovely mega box sets: Jumanji, Brazil, Amadeus etc, or Rush - Chronicles that simply sounds great and has some early live and studio footage.
Definitely not stuff for lobbing out - and nor will the Blus be

 

[vläd]

4K Blu-ray details confirmed

From FlatPanelsHD
"...Even though more and more consumers prefer streaming and even though streaming services will have a head start in delivering 4K content, the Blu-ray association believes there is a place for physical media in the future, as 4K Blu-ray discs will incorporate much more than just resolution.

Talking with CNET, BDA has confirmed that a 4K Blu-ray format will support not just 4K resolution, but also HDR (high-dynamic range), 10-bit color depth, and up to Rec.2020 color gamut. The format will also support HFR (high frame rate) up to 60 frames per second in 4K, but reportedly not HFR of 120 fps and above.

The improved 10-bit color depth will improve color gradation and reduce color problems such as banding. HDR will improve details in the very dark shadows and very bright scenes. The Rec.2020 color gamut will allow movie producers to reproduce around 75% of the colors that they human eye is capable of seeing, compared to around 30-35% of today’s Rec.709 standard used for HD content.

Rec.2020 is even wider than the color gamut utilized in movie theaters, but no TVs can reproduce the Rec.2020 color gamut yet. On the other hand, missing support for true HFR content is surprising, but it might be a limitation of the HDMI 2.0 cable standard that the 4K Blu-ray players are expected to rely upon.

The new 4K Blu-ray standard will reportedly work with existing 50GB Blu-ray discs (but not existing players). However, the new 4K Blu-ray standard will also utilize new discs with up to 100GB capacity and switch to HEVC decoding, which is far more effective than mpeg4 (H.264). 4K Blu-ray will support at least 50-60 Mb/s bitrate, and possibly up to 100 Mb/s, around double that of current Blu-ray discs."

 

[psychoscot]

I don't see why anyone should panic.

There is not going to be a mass migration to 4k - not this year, next year nor in the near to middle future. The studios aren't really interested for pretty obvious reasons, no broadcast 4k tv now or probably ever, no 4k streaming now, and precious little in the future and even then it will be compressed as hell - there isn't even capacity to broadcast en-masse at 1080p right now, and that's not likely to change because the necessary investment far outweighs the potential return for one thing.

Quite apart from the obvious, we are still in a position where many films still don't even make it to blu ray -the idea that Blu is going to become obsolete overnight or even soon is just panic - or the pipedream of the manufacturers marketing divisions!

p.s. Psycho, like you I've got a shedload of nice Lasers and I'm not parting with them - some are just rare - Like Queen Christina, and others are lovely mega box sets: Jumanji, Brazil, Amadeus etc, or Rush - Chronicles that simply sounds great and has some early live and studio footage.
Definitely not stuff for lobbing out - and nor will the Blus be

I do agree dude. DVD was the true successor to Laserdisc/VHS and replaced it completely, but your completely right in that bluray runs along side DVD and is a long way from replacing it. Bluray still confuses many older consumers who truly don't see the benefit. 4K discs will most likely run along side bluray and only really sell to those invested heavily in movies/Home cinema.

There are still highly sought after DVD's granted not many but they retain a certain amount of collectability and price. The rest have dropped considerably in price, I had a field day recently on Amazon because of it. I can't see 4K effecting bluray in quite the same way. It may make some very modern grails and sought after Marvel films less expensive if they are replaced with 4K collectors versions as many interested in those will already be 4K consumers and willing to upgrade.

All these variations on the same disc format are keeping things collecable, but when a true successor to them all comes along yes they will go the same way as laserdisc and value wise be worth maybe 10% of what collectors originally spent. Now whether thats 5 years or 20 years is anyones guess. But one day they will become worlthess except to the person who owns them and really thats all that should matter.

 

[Gadget]

I suppose it is inevitable that we will see a silver disc for 4k movies. But considering how long it's taken for blu ray to get to where it is now; and I'm hesitant to say it's the 'dominant' format even now, I can't see it being relevant for a long time, if ever. Back in April/may Sony said ... "Primarily due to demand for physical media contracting faster than anticipated, mainly in the European region, the future profitability of the disc manufacturing business has been revised,". So Sony isn't making money on blu ray, and they've said that they aren't selling 'physical media' in the quantity they expected.

As far as steelbook collecting is concerned, I can't see this having any impact for 5-8 years. I would imagine they'd need to make the packaging different enough to avoid consumer confusion. 4K will be good for new movies, but the cost of restoring old movies to 4K quality standards will probably be too expensive for a very long time if ever; consider how many movies have yet to be released on blu ray.