STACK NZ Jul #75

FEATURE 4K

WHAT WILL I NEED ? An Ultra HD TV that supports HDR

4K DISCS

4K is designed for big screens and UHDTVs start from 50-inches upwards. Size does matter if you want to duplicate the cinema experience at home, which of course you do, so the bigger the panel, the better. Older models prior to 2016 may not support HDR – 4K discs will still look great, but they’ll look even more incredibly detailed and colourful with this function. A 4K UHD Blu-ray Player

WHAT’S AVAILABLE

4K Ultra HD discs won’t play on a standard Blu-ray player – the transfers require more disc space than a BD. But Blu-ray discs and DVDs will play on a 4K UHD Blu-ray player, and what’s more, they’ll look even better when you take advantage of the upscaling function, with only a slightly discernible difference in quality between an upscaled Blu-ray and a 4K disc. But if you’re going the 4K route, you want the full experience with a dedicated

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Batman v

Superman: Dawn of Justice (20 July) Chappie Creed Deadpool The Expendables 3 (20 July) The 5th Wave Ghostbusters Ghostbusters II Hancock Kingsman: The Secret Service The Lego Movie Life of Pi Mad Max: Fury Road Man of Steel (20 July) The Martian Maze Runner Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials Pineapple Express The Revenant Salt San Andreas The Smurfs 2 X-Men: Days of Future Past

4K player that supports HDR. The Samsung UBD-K8500 4K HDR Blu-ray Player is the only hardware option at the time of writing and has everything you need, however, Panasonic will have a model available in September. Additionally, Microsoft recently announced at E3 that the X Box One S (available in August) will support 4K and HDR for video and gaming. A 4K Ultra HD disc (see below) WHAT CAN I WATCH ?

4K

The good news is that major studios like Warner Bros., Roadshow, 20th Century Fox and Sony have all thrown their support behind the 4K format, launching a range that showcases the enhanced resolution of UHD and includes new release and catalogue titles. Upcoming blockbusters like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice , X-Men: Apocalypse and The Angry Birds Movie will all be released in 4K. (For the full list of what’s currently available from JB Hi-Fi, see right.) Just like the combo packs featuring both a Blu-ray and DVD edition of a film, 4K discs include a Blu-ray copy, so if you haven’t upgraded your hardware to UHD as yet, your software is future- proofed for when you do. We recommend Deadpool as the ultimate demo disc, simply because the film was shot, edited and mastered in 4K and will give you the full “wow” factor of the format. That’s not to say movies that aren’t digitally shot using 4K are anything less than reference quality – Mad Max: Fury Road , The Revenant , The Martian and Kingsman:The Secret Service should also be among your initial purchases – but Deadpool is the real deal in terms of a preview of what’s likely to become the industry standard. It will be interesting to see how movies shot on film fare when remastered in 4K, and an exciting prospect to see some classics and old favourites looking better than ever. But until then, the significant boost in resolution provided by the 4K upscaling feature will have you revisiting titles in your existing Blu-ray library just to see how amazing they can now look. Star Wars , Blade Runner , Raiders of the Lost Ark , Toy Story and Suspiria in 4K UHD? Yes please!

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