KDeering
Well-known member
I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately. It has been abundantly clear that the pre-recorded media market is dwindling. This is especially the case with 4K HDR. Major studios have been doing a bit better getting catalog titles out, but they are a trickle at best and most of what we see hit the format are day and date big studio releases and a general ignoring of almost everything else. DVD and Blu-ray seem to be okay though. This is one of the major reasons I invested in Kaleidescape. I like big budget summer tentpole movies as much as the next guy, but I also love most other cinema and want those titles in the best quality possible as well. Kaleidescape has been doing a great job in this regard though I do notice a lot of catalog titles not hitting the marketplace that we see on disc. I hope this is just them catching up, because it does seem to be increasing more (lots from Sony seem to be MIA). But the other thing that is worrying is that a lot of studios are now starting to move their 4K output to boutique labels rather than releasing them. This means those titles are licensed and these new 4K transfers are not going to see their way to K. We see this from Arrow, Kino and more. I could see this trend continuing as it takes the risk away from the main studios for titles they don't think are worth investing the resources in for updated restoration and transfers. I wonder if this approach to releases going forward may hurt the Kaleidescape market in terms of having the best presentations possible for a lot of titles going forward. Any thoughts?