I’ve ripped plenty of blu-rays using makemkv. I watch them on 1080p TVs and a 1080p projector (Epson 5030). These are not 4k (or 4k shift) displays. I use the Vero 4k+ with my Epson 5030.
With the prices of some 4k discs coming down, and the knowledge that I eventually will upgrade my displays, I’m wondering if it is worth it to buy the UHDs vs the Blu rays for a given movie. I’m most concerned about the projector, and that display will not be updated for probably a couple of years.
While no one can probably answer that question for me (is it worth it), I’m wondering if they can answer this one: For a given movie that has been rated as ok or poor in the blu ray video department, but has been rated as very good for their uhd quality, would it be likely that the UHD rip will be better than the blu ray rip on my non-4k projector using the Vero 4k+? For example, cliffhanger gets great video review for it’s 4k, but only ok on it’s blu ray.
i see a lot of posts (most a little old) that detail color space and other items that I unfortunately do not understand very well. Perhaps this comes down to color space as discussed in this 2018 thread:
With the following quote:
If so, has this been worked on and are people who are in my current situation happy with the results. Thank you!
HDR to SDR is still in active development and should hopefully be in a good place once 4.9 for the Vero hits stable. You can find discussions regarding the current state in this thread…
thanks for your reply. i am currently using the test build and find it good for 3d and regular blu-rays.
if the hdr to sdr active development is in a good place, does this mean that the UHDs in my situation described above will play better than regular blu-rays, as far as image quality goes?
I’m not sure how exactly you would define “better”. In a situation where everything else is equal, say for example Alita Battle Angel, in HDR and SDR, The best you could probably hope for playing both on a SDR screen is that they look about the same. If you have a UHD movie that they made improvements outside of the increased dynamic range then sure, that could be objectively better than an older BR version that had less care taken in its production.
Thanks for your reply. I see on a review of the 4k for cliffhanger, for example, the following:
“Reportedly coming from a brand-new 4K remaster and restoration of the original camera negatives, the fresh 2160p transfer shows markedly better definition and clarity overall, revealing far more than the previous Blu-ray”
Therefore, based on your post, the UHD would be better (markedly better definition and clarity) than the regular blu ray with the vero 4k and my setup since it came from a different process and care taken than the previous blu-ray and this is not dependent on the increased dynamic range.
Hope i got that right. if so, that will help me decide which discs to purchase in the future. My first one is “Frozen” which was $4.99 at best buy recently for the 4k, but that also included the regular blu ray as well. I guess I can also test this disc out and take a look between the two versions once I get my UHD friendly drive.
i think they do that a lot (include both). however, i buy a lot of used discs from redbox. They are offering UHD now. But, you only get one disc - you have to choose if you want uhd or standard blu-ray.
I didn’t think about purchasing from Redbox, but be warned: Ripping UHDs with a Friendly drive is very different from DVD or Blu-Ray. I’ve had brand new UHDs that would not rip without being cleaned. They are sensitive to dirt and scratches, so I wonder how much luck you will have ripping a used disc that has been poorly handled.
There have been improvements with MakeMKV (I assume that’s how you are planning on ripping), but I still have a few brand new discs that refuse to rip. The MakeMKV forum is full of reports of people having to return new discs that would not rip several times before they got a good one.
yep - ripping using makemkv. i wonder if that is more of a software problem or a hardware issue (and if that’s fixable via software). of course if it is a hardware problem, you can’t update the firmware on the UHD drive.
interesting that people eventually do get a good disc after returning, which makes me think this has little to do with the drives. the people with makemkv are pretty good at making updates so if there is something they can fix, i believe they will.
Like I said, he’s made some improvements like LibreDrive. With that I rarely need to clean discs anymore. But you will see on the MakeMKV forums how some people find a disc that won’t rip on one drive will rip on a different drive.
I don’t think it’s a software problem with MakeMKV. It’s the hardware and like you say, you can’t upgrade the firmware.