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"Mastered in 4K" - Do these work and is it worth it?

Calm-One

Well-known member
All,

In watching upcoming Blu-Ray releases, it appears Sony is releasing titles with tag line "Mastered in 4K", with subtagged lines "optimized for 4k ultra HD TVs" and "Plays on all Blue-Ray players. . ."

Ref:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Mastered-Single-Disc-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B00BPA2PEI/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1374334104&sr=1-2&keywords=Mastered+in+4K"]Amazon.com: Spider-Man (Mastered in 4K) (Single-Disc Blu-ray + Ultra Violet Digital Copy): Spider-Man: Movies & TV[/ame]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Recall-Mastered-Single-Disc-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B00BPA2PFM/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1374334126&sr=1-3&keywords=Mastered+in+4K"]Amazon.com: Total Recall (Mastered in 4K) (Single-Disc Blu-ray + Ultra Violet Digital Copy): Total Recall: Movies & TV[/ame]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Ghostbusters-Mastered-Single-Disc-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B00BPA2PBG/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1374334054&sr=1-1&keywords=Mastered+in+4K"]Amazon.com: Ghostbusters (Mastered in 4K) (Single-Disc Blu-ray + Ultra Violet Digital Copy): Ghostbusters: Movies & TV[/ame]


I could see how a modern movie like Total Recall could have source to support this, but older movies like Spider Man 2, or closer to my childhood titles like Ghostbusters having source worthy of this transfer?

Do these actually work on Kaleidescape systems?

Is there improvement in these new re-released in this transfer on 1080P or 4K displays?

Is this a purely marketing play?

Cheers
 
I have seen a few side by side comparisons and in general it seems these new releases have a little more dynamic range but thats about it. My take away is its not really worth it to repurchase a title, but for a new one, it might be worth a small premium to get the best image on Blu Ray.
 
I have now been able to test these titles and on a 1080p display there was almost no difference in pic quality, but I was able to correctly select the 4K version. I have the 84" 4K Sony, and used that to also compare the 1080p version of the film (through a K Player), and the mastered in 4K version, and I was able to see detail improvements in the 4K version on the 4K TV. I also have the actual 4K version of those films, they were included in the 4K media player that came with the TV, and from inside 8 feet I could tell the 4K version was slightly better, but when seated further away, the images looked about the same.


Jim
 
Fascinating Jim. So even with a true 4K source it wasn't that much better? I heard 4K isn't just about the resolution, its also color depth etc...
 
I purchased "Total Recall mastered in 4K", as the previous Blu Ray version was freezing up during playback, when played in Bitstream Passthrough (Dolby True HD, I believe).

The good news is this version doesn't freeze up during playback.

I agree with the above posts that there really wasn't much noticeable difference in picture quality when projected from my calibrated Runco VX22 on a 7-1/2 foot wide screen.

Dave
 
Resurrecting an old topic here. Sony released a few titles with “Mastered in 4K” branding but failed to explain what it really is. Sony attempted something similar in the DVD days with Superbit DVDs. The early Superbit releases had a nice description on the packaging, later releases dropped any explanation including the large Superbit branding on the DVD cover.

Back to “Mastered in 4K”, Sony used a specific downscaling algorithm on these titles. If you own a later generation Sony Blu-ray disc player with Super bit mapping technology, it uses the inverse of the exact algorithm for upscaling. Sony claims you can upscale these “Mastered in 4K“ Blu-rays and Super bit mapping can reconstruct the native 4K image.
 
As I remember it, the “Mastered in 4K” BR discs showed up about the same time as Sony released their X10 media player with 4K resolution titles. I always assumed the “Mastered in 4K” BR discs were just down HD versions of the 4K mastered titles.

Also, a lot of the initial 4K titles were from Sony in UHD which matched the titles available from Sony to download to their X10 media player.

John
 
As I remember it, the “Mastered in 4K” BR discs showed up about the same time as Sony released their X10 media player with 4K resolution titles. I always assumed the “Mastered in 4K” BR discs were just down HD versions of the 4K mastered titles.

Also, a lot of the initial 4K titles were from Sony in UHD which matched the titles available from Sony to download to their X10 media player.

John
Yes these came out only mere months before the first 4K UHD discs started showing up. Afaik, all have been later released on 4K UHD discs too. Just like the Superbit DVDs in the early 2000s, no one really cared for the “Mastered in 4K“ Blu-rays :)

Interesting fact: David Fincher’s Panic Room was one of the few titles released on Sony’s Superbit DVD collection. Since there isn’t a Blu-ray or 4K UHD release yet, the Superbit DVD is release is the best version out there to own.

Although Kstore doesn’t advertise the SD download as a Superbit release, I believe it is. Superbit DVDs required nothing special. They just ditched the extras in order to make room for higher bitrate encodes on the dual layer DVD-9 discs. They also included DTS 5.1 audio instead of (or addition to) Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. (DTS 5.1 has a constant bitrate of 758kbps vs. 488kbps on Dolby Digital 5.1).
 
Is this kind of how Apple music store claims some of their music is super duper mastered in HD, but you download it in low-res AAC, and somehow this is supposed to make low-res sound like it's in HD? Isn't his just taking a low-res JPEG, blowing up to TIFF, and claiming a superior image?
 
Is this kind of how Apple music store claims some of their music is super duper mastered in HD, but you download it in low-res AAC, and somehow this is supposed to make low-res sound like it's in HD? Isn't his just taking a low-res JPEG, blowing up to TIFF, and claiming a superior image?
To deliver music for AppleMusic you send 24-bit 48k .wav files and Apple creates lossless versions in ALAC format. They’ve always accepted up to 24-bit 48k .wav so anything that was uploaded in that quality they’re re-encoding in a lossless format. It’s more than claims. They’re not just making lossless files from lossy masters.
 
To deliver music for AppleMusic you send 24-bit 48k .wav files and Apple creates lossless versions in ALAC format. They’ve always accepted up to 24-bit 48k .wav so anything that was uploaded in that quality they’re re-encoding in a lossless format. It’s more than claims. They’re not just making lossless files from lossy masters.
Is Apple selling hi-resolution ALAC now? They only used to sell lossy AAC, while saying "Mastered in HD".
 
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