What resolutions can Blu-Ray play, and will it become obsolete?

gab_th

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I suspect these might be stupid questions, but just humour me.

4K resolution is played on blu-ray, to the best of my knowledge. Do you think another resolution that blu-ray can't support will come out soon? Otherwise, is there any other reason why blu-ray might become obsolete at some point?

I have an old non-HD DVD player, and I'm considering buying a blu-ray player. Also, can HD DVDs be played on old non-HD DVD players?

Thanks.
 
Solution
blueray will support whatever fits on the disk. what matters to blueray is file size not actual resolution. higher resolutions have higher file sizes however.

eventually we may see 8k and maybe 11k in the future, time shall see.

blue ray absolutely will become obsolete - given time. vhs is now obsolete, dvd is only around because prices are low and blueray prices are completely overinflated. eventually dvd will be obsolete. blueray will do the same given enough time. you will always have people who have a collection of blueray just like some people still watch vhs - although disks do not degrade nearly as bad as tape. as far as when? my guess would be in 8-10 years or so it will be obsolete and perhaps replaced with a new format in as...

nathanstrainrocks

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I do not know the exact resolution Blu-ray is capable of I do know that it often depends on the size of the disc, a DVD can hold 4.7-10 GB making 1080X1920 the best resolution for a dvd a blu-ray disc can hold 25-50 GB of data making 4K easily possible I would say the only thing threatening Blu-ray is streaming and that needs a fast internet connection, so I would say Blu-ray is pretty future proof.
 
blueray will support whatever fits on the disk. what matters to blueray is file size not actual resolution. higher resolutions have higher file sizes however.

eventually we may see 8k and maybe 11k in the future, time shall see.

blue ray absolutely will become obsolete - given time. vhs is now obsolete, dvd is only around because prices are low and blueray prices are completely overinflated. eventually dvd will be obsolete. blueray will do the same given enough time. you will always have people who have a collection of blueray just like some people still watch vhs - although disks do not degrade nearly as bad as tape. as far as when? my guess would be in 8-10 years or so it will be obsolete and perhaps replaced with a new format in as little as 4-5.

hd-dvd's require their own player. some combo players were made which supported both blueray and hddvd formats but i'd go with separates. a regular dvd player is not going to play hddvds.

1080p content is still going to be the norm for at least a few more years as 2k and 4k content pushes its way to the forfront. i would focus on 1080p, 2k and 4k for the time being and not worry about anything else.
 
Solution

sven1olaf

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If you are looking for an amazing player that can handle just about any disk you put in it AND has audiophile output there is only one I know of...

http://www.oppodigital.com/

I have the 103 and its absolutley amazing. It plays anything you put in it, usb, cd, dvd, hd-dvd, bluray, sacd, networked collections,...

It was recommended to me by some guys I ran into while I was researching home theater solutions and all I can say is that I am impressed. Just wish I got the 105 darby edition.

Its the best player on the market I ran into, well below the ridiculous price points home theater stuff can run into.
 
The currently standard for BD discs supports up to 1080p resolution.
The new standard which has been finalized (but players are not yet available) will support 4k resolution and more importantly a wider color space and contrast-brightness range. The added pixels are less important since you would need to be close to an overly large screen to see the difference between HD and UHD. The added colors and range of dark to light is very noticeable on any size screen.
Some currently available BD players will upscale to 4K but the discs are HD. Some discs are labeled 4k mastered but that just means they have a UHD master that they can use to sell you a 4k disc next year.
The Toshiba HD-DVD standard is long abandoned and is not compatible with Blue Ray past, present, and future. Regular DVDs will be able to playback on Blue Ray players for the forseeable future.
Streaming video is taking over from buying or renting discs. Convenience over quality almost always wins. Netflix does have a few movies and series (Defiance if you are into SF is available) but I don't know how well it actually works since that will depend on the speed and quality of your IP plus if your TV is connected via Wifi whether your network can handle the data rate.
 

gab_th

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Thanks everyone. A side question out of curiosity: what do you think is the top resolution at which a difference can be noted. 11k?

By the way, I think I'll abstain from buying anything at the moment. I was just looking around because I saw that there is a remastered blu-ray version of Gladiator and that one for LOTR is on the way and felt the absolute need to watch them.
 
that depends on screen size vs distance from the screen as well as how good your eyes are.

4k at normal viewing distances is of questionable improvment over 1080p. it depends on how good your eyes are whether or not you perceive it as much better or about the same.

if you are sitting close (say a computer monitor) and have a large screen (say 30") then yes, going from 1080p to 4k is a huge difference. going above 4k might even be noticible to some with good eyes.

my eyes are not great though i sit closer than normal to my tv (it functions as a pc monitor, gaming center and media center) so i can certainly note the flaws of 1080p and perhaps could benefit slightly from 4k though given my eyes i will not benefit 100% from it. i'm perfectly content with 1080p on my 40". if i went to a larger screen (say 50-60) i'd definitely want 4k since i could notice the difference unless i increased viewing distance.

again... distance vs size vs your eyes.