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Disney/Universal UHD Releases?

8K views 49 replies 25 participants last post by  awf1031 
#1 ·
Any news of when Disney is going to release their first UHD bluray? Has Universal announced any either?
 
#2 ·
Disney has no interest in UHD releases at this time. They are building up 4K masters of older 35mm films from their Golden Age for when UHD-BD has enough market penetration in the demographics that buy their products. Relatively newer Disney animated films are stuck at whatever resolution was used with the digital animation system they employed and I doubt any of them were done at 4K. Universal will get into UHD-BD at some point, but they are focused on streaming media at this time. Universal likely doesn't have much of a 4K library at this point since the bulk of their assets for TV and film were only recently mastered in HD for broadcast and Blu-Ray/HD-DVD release.
 
#11 ·
Hmm. Logical on the one hand. But otoh that goes against Disney's usual mass market strategy. You need a DV player AND set to see DV. It's going to be a long time before there's anything approximating mass market for both of these.
 
#15 ·
That mean they wont transfer current 2k media to 4k, or they arent going to 4k master all the old stuff period? I dont think the past 10-15 years of animated movies are really going to benefit to 4k for us. I was watching Monsters INC not long ago on tv, wow it looks horrible by todays standards. But it be nice if some of the current movies were on UHD, like The Good Dinosaur and Tomorrowland would look insane if brought to true UHD standards.

But I think Universal has a lot of classic movies I wanna see in 4k, some have already been mastered 4k
 
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#16 ·
#17 ·
Well, I'll just have to get the Blu from my library then. I know Disney is playing the long game by waiting for a larger 4K adoption, but I refuse to double dip for a blockbuster movie like this. TFA would have been a format-seller for many homes. Ohh well, I can wait.
 
#18 ·
AnthonyMoody my thoughts again. Dolby Vision will already show up this year on LG and Vizio. Many hope on Samsung and Sony in 2017 (although Samsung has not said much about 2016 models, I found nothing) Most hope for a Sony and LG UHD blu in 2017 which I would assume would be Oppo's time table as well (show them at CEDIA 2016) So 2018 would have enough adoption for Disney to do it if that was the reason, plus I thought I read somewhere that the Dolby Vision UHD blu's would still have to do HDR10 so everyone else involved with HDR could still benefit. Long wait for me to buy anymore Disney movies. Inside Out is a day one purchase for me in HDR and Atmos. I am hoping those that believe Disney and Universal will not are wrong. I live in an area with pretty good streaming and some nights getting netflix to even connect is enough of a pain. Discs will still always work provided electricity is on.
 
#21 ·
Yes, all DV HDR content will also be playable in HDR 10. But 2018 is a (very) long time for Disney to wait IMO. And even if 100% of all sets and players sold in 2016, 2017, and 2018 are DV - which they won't be, by a long shot, but even if they were - that's still a relatively small overall market penetration compared to the installed base of TVs.

Well, Dolby's tools allow you to build one HDR grade for the theater and home and add in HDR10 easily. It is possible they have some deal with Dolby and are waiting for more DV sets to penetrate the marketplace but as Ray mentioned they are basically refusing to scale any material to the new format. All UHD Blu-Rays will have HDR10 anyway but my point is it isn't hard at all for them to pop out a version that they could put on a UHD Disc if they already have a theatrical dolby vision release. I'm still betting they do release some movies in UHD with HDR later asking customers to buy their collection over again.



Yes you are correct and Dolby's tools allow you to take the HDR version of a movie and process it for the theater and home with HDR10 compatibility very easily. So if they have a theatrical release in Dolby Vision it would be trivial to create a version for UHD Blu-Ray. Disney is probably more concerned about doing UHD properly and not scaling too much. Like ray mentioned earlier they pretty much refuse to scale things and would like to create new content in a true 4k setting from start to finish. It makes some sense but there have been some great looking HDR work from sources below 4k already. As far as I'm concerned though, they aren't going to see any of my money until I can buy it on UHD. If I really want to watch it I'll borrow it from a friend.
Never meant to imply that Disney couldn't pop out an HDR 10 version of the film with ease. I'm sure they could. But if the speculation is that they're waiting for "a lot" of DV playback in the home, they're going to be sitting out this market for a long time. Way too long to make any sense IMO.
 
#24 ·
I hope you're right...but I'm not holding my breath. :mad:
 
#29 ·
Would really be nice to get the Marvel and Pixar titles on UHD with Atmos.............. I'd gladly double dip on the titles I already own......
 
#33 ·
I enjoy many of the movies in the various Disney brands, but until they produce UHD, they get no more money from me.
 
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#34 ·
Walt Disney Home Entertainment has revealed that Star Wars: The Force Awakens will hit 3D Blu-ray in the UK on October 31. However, in a move sure to anger some franchise fans, the upcoming Collector's Edition Blu-ray will also feature several exclusive bonus features, including a chat track by J.J. Abrams. This means some will feel they have to double-dip even if they don't want the 3D version.
Here's the official breakdown of the new extra features…

  • Audio commentary by director J.J. Abrams – enter the mind of visionary director J.J. Abrams as he reveals the creative and complex choices made while developing the first film in the new Star Wars trilogy
  • Foley: A Sonic Tale – Foley artists, consisting of old pros and new talent, unite to bring the world of Star Wars: The Force Awakens alive through the matching of sound to action
  • Sounds of the Resistance – Hear how the epic sound design of Star Wars: The Force Awakens moves the Star Wars legacy forward
  • Deleted scenes – view never-before-shared scenes that didn't make the final cut
  • Dressing the Galaxy – Costume designer Michael Kaplan reveals how the costumes of the original Star Wars movies were re-envisioned for a new generation
  • The Scavenger and the Stormtrooper: A Conversation with Daisy Ridley and John Boyega – the two new stars share the thrill of working together on the adventure of a lifetime and becoming part of the Star Wars legacy
  • Inside the Armory – Take a fascinating tour through the design and creation of the weaponry in Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D – Collector's Edition Blu-ray is available to buy in the UK, Holland and Sweden from October 31, followed by Italy and Spain on November 2, Australia on November 9, Canada and the US on November 15, Brazil on November 16, and Germany on November 24.
 

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#35 ·
Nope, not biting. If I buy a next one then it will be the UHD. Until then, nope...

Seggers
 
#36 ·
Disney may dip their toes into UHD-BD with their exclusive movie club. They are using it as an outlet to release their older catalog of titles on Blu-Ray and films like 20KLUTS and Tron have had 4K restorations done. Tron with HDR would be stunning to see! I hope they give The Black Hole a good restoration, as that's one film that would shine on Blu-Ray or UHD-BD.
 
#40 · (Edited)
and films like 20KLUTS and Tron have had 4K restorations done.

Source for this?

Tron was filmed at lowly 2.8k on digital I believe so any restoration would be upscale. And disney is making it clear behind the scenes they have no intentions of upscaling content. (Edit, maybe it wasn't digital?)
 
#38 ·
I think the speculation was that Disney is awaiting for the release of customer UHD players with the Dolby Vision chip in them, by the end of this year or next, before they start shipping UHD 4k discs

makes sense since they release their big films already in Dolby Vision in the theaters
 
#41 ·
From the inside scoop I've been told Disney is looking to do UHD with streaming first and following that up later with UHD disc support. They are also not interested in upscaling existing 2K masters to 4K for release as many studios have already done. I don't know if that means they'll release UHD Blu-ray releases in 2K for films with masters at 2K (certainly allowed by the UHD spec) or what. I wouldn't expect to see anything from them until sometime next year at the earliest.
 
#47 ·
Disney has been supporting Blu-ray since 2006.

Anyone else remember "Dinosaur" being considered reference material and on every Blu-ray demo? Pirates? Cars??!

I think the main issue with Disney's perceived slowness is that it has the whole rotational "vault" marketing thing in addition to having an insanely massive legacy of very popular movies and franchises - and that was before adding LucasFilm and Marvel to its ranks. Their non-franchise releases like "Enemy of the State" are not very high profile.

Take a gander at the movies on each of these large distributors. I would say that it's not fair to single out Disney. Conversely, it would be nice if everyone were as ahead of the curve as Sony, but let's remember that Sony - as the only conglomerate to have a hand in all parts of media from filming to home video - invented DVD, Blu-ray, and by extent UHD Blu-ray, so they are usually first out the gate with each format. I mean, they had the 4K movie player before UHD Blu-ray was even announced.

http://www.the-numbers.com/market/distributors
 
#48 ·
Take a gander at the movies on each of these large distributors. I would say that it's not fair to single out Disney.
Disney is in last place when it comes to large distributors releasing catalog titles so it is quite fair to single it out. Not that it concerns me much.

Conversely, it would be nice if everyone were as ahead of the curve as Sony, but let's remember that Sony - as the only conglomerate to have a hand in all parts of media from filming to home video - invented DVD, Blu-ray, and by extent UHD Blu-ray, so they are usually first out the gate with each format
Maybe Sony was 'ahead of the curve' for new titles but behind it when it comes to it's large library for the BD format. Also wikipedia claims DVD was invented by Sony, Philips, Toshiba & Panasonic and leans toward Toshiba and Matsu$hita physically creating the first DVD-like disc format.
 
#49 · (Edited)
Never said they did it alone, but that Sony was the only one out of that group that made popular movies, TV shows, and videogames that would go on to fill those discs as well as selling hardware that would play those discs. They have a top-to-bottom model that appears to give them an advantage to hit the ground running, as they say. The PS2 brought DVD players to the masses, the PS3 did it for Blu-ray. Too bad they dropped the ball on the PS4 for UHD, but at least they were out the gate with UHD disc releases for the Xbone S to play. LOL Now that there's a "cheap" UHD player (Xbone S), we'll see what that does for adoption and maybe pushing Disney to be more aggressive.

I've heard rumors that Disney is just waiting on Dolby Vision to become more mainstream, but I know for a fact that people in the Disney camp have been working on HDR passes for live action and animated movies and it seems like they just aren't comfortable with the current state of translation from cinema to home - seems to be a combination of hardware and skills that are lacking, but they're trying:

Inside Out HDR for home release
youtu.be/mb6yJbOCQaw?t=14m29s

Force Awakens HDR for home release
youtu.be/1MOHArypsUQ?t=30m42s
 
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