• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

STXI and STXII in 4k UHD released this week - Samsung UHD pack

jefferiestubes8

Commodore
Commodore
beginning this Sunday September 7 the 2nd edition of Samsung’s UHD Pack is free with the purchase of select 2014 Samsung UHD 4K TV
includes Star Trek (2009), Star Trek: Into Darkness,
Video Pack 2 will be inventoried by dealers so Samsung UHD TV purchasers may experience 4K movies immediately after unpacking and setting up their televisions.
...The 305CYSC101 Video Pack will only play on Samsung UHD 4K TVs.

also of note
Samsung also announced its UHD TVs can play Amazon’s new 4K streaming service when it launches worldwide in October.
so these MAY be available to stream in UHD as well.
Source

Has anyone bought a Samsung UHD TV this weekend and was this pack included? Comments and thoughts on the UHD4k resolution experience at home versus just watching in HD on a Blu-ray?
 
The film was shot on 35mm film, so its proper resolution would be 4K. However, there are many factors to consider. Is it a new DI (digital intermediate)? Highly doubtful but likely necessary as most DIs are distributed to both cinema and home video platforms in 2K. One would have to do some research regarding the Trek films.

In the end, the resolution is not nearly as important a factor as most people think, especially if one is viewing the image on a screen smaller than an 80" 16:9 form factor from more than 4 or so feet from the screen. Far more important (and more relevant for the new "UHD" standard) are a wider colour gamut that more faithfully approximates reality (current Rec. 709 is roughly 35% of reality, proposed likely P3 gamut is, IIRC, approaching 60% and Rec. 2020--not yet available in any consumer gear, nor likely to emerge in under 5 years in such gear at affordable prices--yields about 85%, IIRC); a greater dynamic range in contrast (currently marketed as HDR, a feature coming to both media and displays sometime in the next year, but not currently available across the board with UHD displays today, and impossible for any displays manufactured before this summer); and sufficient processing power to avoid excessive image lagging, as well as providing decent upscaling of non UHD material.
 
The film was shot on 35mm film, so its proper resolution would be 4K. However, there are many factors to consider. Is it a new DI (digital intermediate)? Highly doubtful but likely necessary as most DIs are distributed to both cinema and home video platforms in 2K. One would have to do some research regarding the Trek films.

In the end, the resolution is not nearly as important a factor as most people think, especially if one is viewing the image on a screen smaller than an 80" 16:9 form factor from more than 4 or so feet from the screen. Far more important (and more relevant for the new "UHD" standard) are a wider colour gamut that more faithfully approximates reality (current Rec. 709 is roughly 35% of reality, proposed likely P3 gamut is, IIRC, approaching 60% and Rec. 2020--not yet available in any consumer gear, nor likely to emerge in under 5 years in such gear at affordable prices--yields about 85%, IIRC); a greater dynamic range in contrast (currently marketed as HDR, a feature coming to both media and displays sometime in the next year, but not currently available across the board with UHD displays today, and impossible for any displays manufactured before this summer); and sufficient processing power to avoid excessive image lagging, as well as providing decent upscaling of non UHD material.

Huh? ;)

If I'm watching something that's only 35% of reality, where did the other 65% go? :p

Actually, considering I believe only about a third of what I see, that sounds about right.
 
If I understand correctly, digital cinemas should be projecting at 4K, and possibly were doing it before STXI was shot. This is mostly based on a nearby cinema claiming back in 2009 that their projecting hardware was 4K, so it should be taken with a huge grain of salt, but Wikipedia says that's about when a huge 4K roll-out in the cinema began, and select cinemas had 4K in 2007.

I assume that whoever shot STXI, and especially STID, wasn't as short-sighted as to not plan ahead for higher resolution screenings in poor countries in the same year. And it was obvious that home 4K was coming. The cameras and rendering aren't the most expensive part of the production, after all... And the CGI can be re-rendered in 256K at any time.

What about 8K though?
 
8K is hilarious overkill unless you've got a screen the size of a small wall.

So you're suggesting 8K will be an overkill until 2019 or so? :p

I was just wondering if the films could be transferred to 8K for posterity, that is, if they got the pixels.
 
If they're shot on film, anything's possible as long as somebody's willing to throw the money at it.
 
The film was shot on 35mm film, so its proper resolution would be 4K. However, there are many factors to consider. Is it a new DI (digital intermediate)? Highly doubtful but likely necessary as most DIs are distributed to both cinema and home video platforms in 2K. One would have to do some research regarding the Trek films.

In the end, the resolution is not nearly as important a factor as most people think, especially if one is viewing the image on a screen smaller than an 80" 16:9 form factor from more than 4 or so feet from the screen. Far more important (and more relevant for the new "UHD" standard) are a wider colour gamut that more faithfully approximates reality (current Rec. 709 is roughly 35% of reality, proposed likely P3 gamut is, IIRC, approaching 60% and Rec. 2020--not yet available in any consumer gear, nor likely to emerge in under 5 years in such gear at affordable prices--yields about 85%, IIRC); a greater dynamic range in contrast (currently marketed as HDR, a feature coming to both media and displays sometime in the next year, but not currently available across the board with UHD displays today, and impossible for any displays manufactured before this summer); and sufficient processing power to avoid excessive image lagging, as well as providing decent upscaling of non UHD material.

Huh? ;)

If I'm watching something that's only 35% of reality, where did the other 65% go? :p

Actually, considering I believe only about a third of what I see, that sounds about right.
Colour reality. Current, common tech only reproduces about 35% of possible shades of colour.
If I understand correctly, digital cinemas should be projecting at 4K, and possibly were doing it before STXI was shot. This is mostly based on a nearby cinema claiming back in 2009 that their projecting hardware was 4K, so it should be taken with a huge grain of salt, but Wikipedia says that's about when a huge 4K roll-out in the cinema began, and select cinemas had 4K in 2007.

I assume that whoever shot STXI, and especially STID, wasn't as short-sighted as to not plan ahead for higher resolution screenings in poor countries in the same year. And it was obvious that home 4K was coming. The cameras and rendering aren't the most expensive part of the production, after all... And the CGI can be re-rendered in 256K at any time.

What about 8K though?

Actually, many cinemas project in 2K (even IMAX digital, or "lite-MAX" as some call it, uses 2 2k projectors superimposed to increase brightness). 4K is mainly reserved for the largest cinema house screens (well under 50% of the North American total, IIRC).

What about 8K though?
The advantages of 4K over 1080p are already potentially imperceptible depending on your screen or viewing distance. 8K is hilarious overkill unless you've got a screen the size of a small wall.

And not very small at that.

8K is hilarious overkill unless you've got a screen the size of a small wall.

So you're suggesting 8K will be an overkill until 2019 or so? :p

I was just wondering if the films could be transferred to 8K for posterity, that is, if they got the pixels.

Some films (mostly large format like VistaVision or 70MM or other similar formats) have been scanned at 8K for archival reasons (cleaning them up without losing high frequency information--think Lawrence of Arabia) but it is extremely unlikely that 8K projection will ever become widespread commercially, let alone in the home. The sheer sizes necessary to make that worthwhile are beyond the current largest commercial cinemas, with the possible exception of 15/70 IMAX formats (and even then).

If anyone wants to really learn more about this kind of stuff, seek out Robert A. Harris (chief restoration supervisor of such films as Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus, The Godfather Trilogy and many, many other films). He posts regularly at a home cinema enthusiast site called Home Theater Forum. He also has a number of interviews readily available online.
 
^ I refer to the IMAX digital at the local commercial cineplex as "LIE-max" because, in my opinion, it is not true IMAX.

To me, the point of IMAX was always the gigantic size, in the range of four stories tall. How disappointed I was the first time I went to a so-called IMAX screen at the local theater! :scream:

Kor
 
No. It isn't. Aspect ratio comes into play and, really, I can sit as close as I want to my 24 inch 1080p monitor, it still doesn't come remotely close to re-creating the experience of a full-blown 15perf/70MM IMAX experience.
 
That experience, of course, is unrelated to resolution. Resolution-wise those are the same thing.

Unless you're a bit short-sighted like me. For me, 4K and 8K make sense only on smaller screens – when it's too far, it gets blurry. I can't see 4K or whatever on a cinema screen. My eye doctor told me I got perfect eyesight when I complained, so apparently eye exams discount UHD as valid viewing experience to begin with.
 
A 70MM IMAX film and a 1080p resolution display are NOT the same thing at all (70MM film is somewhere between 6K and 8K in resolution equivalency). And small screens are useless for 4K and 8K, at least in terms of resolution, unless you're sitting very close to them (like VERY close, especially 8K). At the distance most people sit from the 42-50 inch TV (most popular sizes) in their living rooms (10-12 feet), the vast majority cannot distinguish 720p from 1080p, let alone 4K or 8K. At sizes below 70 inches, 1080p is more than enough resolution for the masses, given their viewing habits. What higher resolution TVs have going for them, potentially, is a wider colour gamut, better scaling and video processing, HDR, better contrast ratios--all things that can make an image look better at the same distance for the same size TV as a lower resolution TV. However, it's not the resolution that's doing the heavy lifting in those cases. If these improvements were applied to a 1080p TV of 50 inches, to the average viewer/distance from screen ratio, the resolution would be irrelevant.
 
The experience mainly comes from the huge screen for me it's going to be projected on, personally. Especially since we were discussing the option of sitting close to a small 4K/8K screen, where the resolution would, obviously, not be a distinction at all.
 
4k UHD Trek

The experience mainly comes from the huge screen for me it's going to be projected on, personally. Especially since we were discussing the option of sitting close to a small 4K/8K screen, where the resolution would, obviously, not be a distinction at all.

Since this discussion really hasn't gotten the opinions of my original question in the first post (Who has seen those 2 Trek films in 4k at home and can comment?) I will mention that I have another long-semi-active thread on Future of Trek about Futureproofing the next Trek TV series.
Futureproofing (for viewing) the next Trek TV series
In it I mention with a source link that Netflix shot House of Cards season 3 in 6k and has mastered it in 6k while currently streaming it in 4k.

In 10-15 years 8k is going to be a real thing in USA. There will be MUCH larger screens covering walls of rooms not just a 42-inch television screen.
 
Re: 4k UHD Trek

In 10-15 years 8k is going to be a real thing in USA. There will be MUCH larger screens covering walls of rooms not just a 42-inch television screen.

Most people don't care enough to fork out the amount of cash that will be required for TVs or projectors of that resolution. Even if it's a real thing, only the most niche of technophiles or rich people will have them. And because of that, a lot of media won't be developed for it. Kinda like what has happened with 3D TVs.

Not to mention that you'd have to have a pretty large room to be able to have an entire wall comfortably fit into your field of view. You'd have to be at least 12 feet away, and the wall it was on would probably have to be around 15 feet wide. And at that range, 4k would still suffice. Yeah, 8k isn't going to be a regular consumer fixture.
 
The thing that excites me about 4K in increased color fidelity.

There's nothing stopping that with Blu-ray, except Paramount gives barely more than lip service to Trek Blu-ray transfers.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top