Panasonic's 4k (UHD) next-Gen blu-ray player

At CES 2015 Panasonic announced a next-gen 4K (UHD) blu-ray player prototype.

http://news.panasonic.com/press/news/data/2015/01/en150106-4/en150106-4.html

Tentative specs of the format:

[1] 4K / 60p: High speed display in 60 frames per second of 4K video (3,840 x 2,160 pixels - Ultra HD), which has four times the resolution of Full Hi-vision, for highly detailed videos with extremely smooth movement.

[2] 10-bit gradation: Previous Blu-ray Discs displayed the color signals (Y, Cb, Cr) in 8-bit gradation each (256 gradations). By expanding this to 10-bit gradation each (1,024 gradations), even minute signals can be faithfully reproduced to realize richly textured video.

[3] High Dynamic Range: A technology that drastically expands the brightness peak from the previous 100 nit to 1,000-10,000 nit, marking a significant leap in the dynamic range of the picture. Bright light sources (e.g. lights or rays of the sun) and reflected light (from metal or water) that up to now were difficult to display can now be shown in rich textures.

[4] BT.2020 wide color gamut: Compliant with the ITU-R BT.2020 wide color gamut signal formulated for 4K/8K broadcasting. Enables vividly rich coloration not previously possible on Blu-ray Discs (BT.709 standard).[5] HEVC (H.265) / 100MbpsSupport for the highest 100Mbps video signal using the latest high-efficiency video compression technology. Compression efficiency and high bit rate far beyond previous Blu-ray Discs (MPEG-4/AVC (H.264), maximum 40Mbps) enabling outstanding playback of high quality video with 4K/60p/10bit, High Dynamic Range, BT.2020, etc.

I can't wait. I hope that the prices of the discs aren't crazy. Normal blu-ray prices are finally getting reasonable (close to theatre prices + snacks). Normal blu-ray is still far better than digital downloads and streaming (noticeable in colour depth at normal size TVs). The difference will only be more apparent as people upgrade their TVs, displays and projectors to larger ones (60 inch+) and to 4K (UHD).

Are you guys excited about this, or are you sticking to your 700MB smudgy rips from torrents that you watch on your 10 inch tablets?

Are you guys excited about this, or are you sticking to your 700MB smudgy rips from torrents that you watch on your 10 inch tablets?

Hahaha, I like your look on this. I don't get it either, why people are willing to watch movies on poor quality streams. I see people in the train sitting next to me watching movie on 5 inch phone with earphones. And I just shake my head.

When I watch movies I turn off the lights, sit on my swivel chair and relax. I have 27" 1080p monitor with built in speakers. My BD-rips are from 8 - 14GB in size. But the sound is poor though I won't deny that. I need to get some proper sound system.

Plus I don't want to be disturbed by people walking around or by the loud noise from the train.

The problem with Blu-ray disks is that people don't really buy them like they did CDs and DVDs. It is lot more practical to buy 1-2TB external HDD and store all your junk there instead of Burning everything on BDs. Furthermore it saves space in your house. The times when I came to my friends place and seen his living room buried in DVDs are no more. The only reason BDs are still around is because of Movie and Game industries.

Since My Oppo Blu ray player can do almost all of that including 4k 60p they need to release the patch I am not interested.

But cool to others carting about video quality again instead of a race to the bottom.

Pay for blueray?

 

I rip blu-rays to my home media server, uncompressed is around 25-40 GB per film (storage continues to get cheaper and the blu-rays are finally cost effective to buy). That way anyone in my house can access the catalogue from their TVs or computers.

For audio, if you watch films alone often, try getting a decent pair of semi-open headphones. I bought the AKG K99 model and they're fantastic. It will really transform the way you hear films and they're cheap at around $50 or so on sale. A proper speaker system is ideal, but that would cost quite a bit more.

Thought that number was a little low since most of my dvd's are stored at 7 to 8 gigs.

I do have a couple of the blu-ray films in the teens at 14 gigs or so, but most are in the 25 - 40 gig GB range.

In my entire life I bought 2 blu-ray movies and it was a big mistake. The movies were crap. Not worth the money. Now I watch the film first and then decide whether i will buy the original disk or not.

Yeah, once i inserted original BD with a film on it into PC and looked at the size of the files. It was around 45GB. Crazy!

How do you build a home media server? I mean the software+networking part not the hardware build.

No, I don't always watch films alone. And I have AKG K540 which sound great but it becomes uncomfortable to wear them for longer than 2 hours. In addition the cable is only 1.8m long. So i can't lay in bed while using them.

Use Linux or BSD to run Pex media server and rip you Blu Rays with makemkv and shrink them with handbreak. 

You can either uses plex or XBMC to connect to the plex server which can hold pictures, audio and video. A Raspi,Roku, android tv, phone, and almost any computer can all stream from the plex server.

For the storage side setup a samba share so others in the house can add files if needed.

I would hardwire as much as possible but  wireless N is enough if you only run a couple of streams at once. If you have a lot of people using it use wireless AC. You may need to add a switch to expand Ethernet connectivity but those are around 50 bucks for an 8 port.

I wonder what the overall file capacity will be? Didn't see it in the press release. 

Personally as much as i love better video, I cant not support any tech or company that has suppressed as much tech/media as blueray. They treat us like cattle and yet people still buy thier stuff.

 

4K videos have 4 times the amount of pixels so 45GB Blu-rays will become 180GB files. H.265 will half the size to 90GB.
They will most likely use Quad-layer Blu ray disks to store all the data. So all your current Blu ray players will be useless.

4K gaming on Xb1 and PS4 will never happen unless major upgrades.

Meh, I still get them in hard copy. I just need to change my optical drive on my PC to Blu-Ray.