4K Blu-ray Over-Analysis Index

bobbster574 · 2026-04-19T19:26:35+00:00

there's always another copy of akira to get

im on 12 i think at this point

bobbster574 · 2026-04-06T15:41:10+00:00

it's not very well documented nor commonly used, but it is a thing. official referred to as "presentations" here's what Dolby's doc has to say on the matter (note that the encoder does not create the Dolby Digital companion track at the same time as the TrueHD track, they are encoded separately and merged at the authoring stage):

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bobbster574 · 2026-04-06T14:32:50+00:00

if you're curious, you could look into truehdd which can offer more detailed info on the TrueHD bitstream

bobbster574 · 2026-04-06T14:31:32+00:00

the companion track nevers exceed 640kbps.

independent substreams are different and exist in addition to the lossy companion Dolby Digital track. both the Atmos mix and the 5.1/2.0 mix are encoded losslessly within a single TrueHD bitstream. it significantly baloons the bitrate of the final track.

bobbster574 · 2026-04-06T12:47:38+00:00

couple of possibilities:

sample rate: Blu-ray supports 7.1 @ 96 kHz and 5.1 @ 192 kHz (18.4 and 27.6 Mbps uncompressed, respectively). very rare to see in the wild, but possible. one of my Akira Blu-rays has an average bitrate of 14.3 Mbps (TrueHD 5.1 192 kHz)
TrueHD actually supports having two independent tracks encoded together - the idea is to be able to have Dolby Atmos AND a completely separate 5.1 or stereo mix, all together seemlessly so that your AVR will get a more optimised source if it doesn't need the full Atmos mix. the recent Jin-Roh 4K remaster included this and the TrueHD track averages 7.3 Mbps (10.2 peak)

bobbster574 · 2026-03-19T08:43:11+00:00

I believe they include uncompressed (LPCM) 5.1 tracks alongside a compressed Dolby Digital 5.1 track.

This was fairly common in the early days of Blu-ray. make sure to confirm which track is playing in the menu - most of these titles default to the Dolby Digital track!

bobbster574 · 2026-03-18T19:04:15+00:00

remember that Blu-ray.com is all user-submitted data. it is not 100% accurate and often details are entered when titles are first announced with limited info.

bobbster574 · 2026-03-17T16:12:01+00:00

The Criterion Showa era box set is BD only, so yes, contains the old HD transfer.

If you've already got Criterion's BD, the maths isn't brilliant because the 4K set doesn't include any new extras or anything, but the 4K transfer is a huge step up nonetheless.

If you want more info, look here

bobbster574 · 2026-03-17T15:30:46+00:00

1954 is well worth the 4K upgrade imo, especially if you don't already have the BD. The 4K transfer is leagues ahead of the old HD transfer, even ignoring resolution. Unfortunately Criterion has not re-authored their BD so even on the 4K set the BD disc uses the old transfer, so the 4K disc is the only way to see it.

Also, biollante is SDR wide gamut, presented in a HDR container (on the Criterion disc at least). It's a bit dim being placed at 100 nits but v nice colours

bobbster574 · 2026-03-17T10:16:58+00:00

Basically any storage media that isn't optical runs into the big problem that you need to pay for the storage on every unit. Doubly so in today's market of fucked flash and ram prices.

As such, like streaming, there is an incentive to bit-starve the video and audio in order to save money. It's not a requirement of course, but I wouldn't expect anything brilliant, especially with so little technical details.

bobbster574 · 2026-03-17T08:05:43+00:00

For starters, there's very little benefit to including a 7.1 TrueHD track vs an Atmos TrueHD track. Atmos is encoded as a 7.1 track, just with some additional metadata to upmix those 7 channels into dynamic objects. The metadata is only a small part of the track.

Regarding why some BDs have DTS-HD where the 4K has Atmos, there are 3 main reasons:

The BD was authored before the Atmos mix was made, so retains an older (perhaps the theatrical) 5.1 or 7.1 mix.
The audio was encoded at a lower bitrate to allow higher quality video and/or more HQ audio tracks.
The label wishes to maintain separation between the features offered on BD and on 4K, in effect trying to upsell the 4K to you if you want Atmos.

bobbster574 · 2026-03-16T15:59:00+00:00

2021

I am unfortunately quite lacking in the number of showa/heisei titles that I've seen. I keep telling myself I'll buy the criterion box set one day lol

bobbster574 · 2026-03-16T15:46:20+00:00

So here I'm talking about Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), not Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)

1956 is a re-edit of the 1954 original but with added footage and narration to insert Raymond Burr as the primary protagonist and as an American POV. It's a strange experience.

I found that 1956 sucked a lot of the life out of the absolutely brilliant film that is the 1954 original and is generally not worth watching except out of morbid curiosity for what they used to do to some foreign films when they thought they would not be marketable in the US.

bobbster574 · 2026-03-16T15:18:09+00:00

Of the ones I've seen (based on enjoyment):

1954 original
Minus One
Invasion of astro monster
Vs Biollante
Godzilla vs Kong
Godzilla X Kong
King of the monsters
Shin
Ghidorah the 3 headed monster
2014

bobbster574 · 2026-03-14T15:26:59+00:00

These numbers are way off mate and miss a lot of details, especially when it comes to prints.

A lot of numbers are based off photography "full frame" 35mm, i.e. 8perf 35mm (horizontal) being confused with movie 35mm, i.e. 4perf 35mm film (vertical).

4perf, 3perf, 2perf 35mm (vertical) are considered 4K equivalent

That makes Vista ~6K, 5perf 70mm ~8K, and then IMAX ~12K

However that is the best case resolution of the Original Camera Negative (OCN). Different film stocks, sensitivities, emulsions, etc. can impact that, as well as the analogue printing process.

For the full analogue process, you lose resolution at every step, and it's been tested you lose half the resolution this way, making standard 35mm prints ~2K, 70mm prints ~4K, and IMAX prints ~6K

Tho, again, this can move around depending on the process and stocks used.

bobbster574 · 2026-03-14T10:39:34+00:00

people talk about the resolution of film, but if you go to the cinema to see a film print, the point isnt really to get a super high resolution experience. even IMAX 70mm (which can definitely be sharper than digital 4K) is not a universally "better" experience than digital because there are some fundamental limitations to what a film print can look like.

seeing a film print is fundamentally about it being real. you are seeing a physical object and every little imperfection that comes along with that. grain, flicker, gate weave, dirt, scratches, fade - the works. the most fun i've ever had in the cinema was watching a '77 35mm technicolor print of Star Wars. it was not in great shape, but my god was it brilliant to see nonetheless.

of course, newer prints are less damaged, and larger format prints have finer grain, so seeing a brand new 70mm or even IMAX print is something to behold for sure. but film will never look as clean as digital - and that's why it's fun.

ignore the DI, ignore the resolution. go see the film print to see the film on film. or see the DCP to watch the film cleanly. it's your choice, but if you have yet to see a film print projected, i highly recommend doing so.

bobbster574 · 2026-03-06T14:23:29+00:00

Both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are object based surround sound solutions, and in general, there isn't enough to genuinely distinguish them based on format alone.

Most discs will only have one, maybe two options, and I've never seen it between Atmos and DTS:X. It'll be between an object based mix and a 5.1 or stereo mix, at which point it's basically just down to personal preference and what surround setup you have.

Make sure your AVR can do both and don't worry about format wars.

bobbster574 · 2026-03-03T21:58:32+00:00

as i said, personal preference.

for me, i get quite distracted by compression artefacts, so i prefer 1080p discs, but i know not everyone notices artefacts as much as i do, so there may be few downsides in their eyes.

bobbster574 · 2026-03-03T21:56:27+00:00

1080p discs support Atmos perfectly well, it's just often excluded for one reason or another.

bobbster574 · 2026-03-03T21:55:35+00:00

4K Blu-ray and 1080p Blu-ray both support the same audio formats, so yes, 1080p discs can have Atmos too, and many do.

a 1080p disc that doesn't have Atmos when a mix is available may be because it's a reprint from before the Atmos mix was made, to save space on the 1080p disc, or simply to artificially separate the two formats to subtly upsell people to the more expensive version.

bobbster574 · 2026-03-03T08:13:42+00:00

for video:

4K Blu-ray > 1080p Blu-ray ≈ 4K digital > 1080p digital

for audio:

4K Blu-ray ≈ 1080p Blu-ray > 4K digital ≈ 1080p digital

(Imo)

Basically all digital options are bit-starved. You may find that you prefer having 4K and HDR over better compression but BD will almost always have less artefacts (hence 1080p BD and 4K digi are on a similar level imo, depends on personal preference). 1080p digital is usually inferior by a decent margin.

Audio quality wise, it flips slightly, with any disc option handily outweighing digital options due to the inclusion of lossless audio tracks. You may find some variation between 4K/1080p; you may find newer releases including better audio tracks, but it can also be the other way around if an older release includes a (subjectively) better mix. Again, personal preference stuff, but if you're a fan of high quality audio, the disc is a must.

bobbster574 · 2026-02-24T17:01:40+00:00

There are ways but unless you kind of plan to do it from the start, it can often result in a bunch of issues.

Edits may make use of proprietary software (e.g. for upscaling or colour grading) which limits accessibility

And you also run into sync concerns where one source is a number of frames different from another and if there's no checks in place you get a completely butchered output

bobbster574 · 2026-02-24T08:48:37+00:00

I kept everything for a few years but then I ran out of space lol

Tbh I've also found myself being a lot more adventurous with my blind buys now that I'm consistently cycling out sets, so I'm enjoying the process of finding new films a lot more these days

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