3 ms·

Don't forget the rather oppressive DRM required by Hollywood for 4K video content. This is why 4K is currently only available for Netflix original content.

praseodym 12y ago
And even then, 4K is only available on a limited number of devices (TVs and some set top boxes); not from a regular web browser. https://help.netflix.com/en/node/13444 https://help.netflix.com/en/node/13444
anigbrowl 12y ago
It's optional, but most producers choose it despite the additional financial overhead, because otherwise it becomes much more expensive to audit which theaters played your movie and how often in order to get paid. Obviously it's not just theaters any more but they're most likely to have 4k gear, in terms of both display and fat pipes. 4k is basically the industry-standard output format* so if there's no DRM then downstream distributors have an enormous economic incentive to rip the originator off by serving up that very high-quality copy for the highest price they can get and pocketing all the ticket sales revenue for themselves. Very basically, rental of a film for a cinema for a day is $250 or 35% of ticket sales, whichever is more (the flat rate is less over long periods, the 35% stays the same). 2 hours of 4k UHD video in the ProRes codec (which will play back smoothly on a regular computer, with good enough quality that most people wouldn't notice the difference) is about 700gb. A fast 1tb drive in an enclosure is under $200, so if the film is even moderately popular and would benefit from being presented on a large screen (which most films of any quality certainly do), then it becomes very tempting for exhibitors to make a copy, either for display or to produce knockoffs in disc form (which will be fully competitive with the 'official' version as far as audio/video quality goes). * Technically there's DCI 4k and Ultra-HD, with the former being slightly higher resolution than the latter - see http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/174221-no-tv-makers-4k-and-uhd-are-not-the-same-thing http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/174221-no-tv-makers-4k-an... but they're close enough that even camera people lump them otgether as '4k' and the 10% shortfall on UHD gear is not considered that bad of a loss. If you're very concerned about horizontal resolution chances are you're using anamorphic lenses anyway.
- TD-Linux 12y ago
  I was referring to consumer DRM systems, not in-theater projection systems. Is there also a concern of Netflix-bitrate 4K video being used in theaters?

praseodym 12y ago

And even then, 4K is only available on a limited number of devices (TVs and some set top boxes); not from a regular web browser. https://help.netflix.com/en/node/13444 https://help.netflix.com/en/node/13444

anigbrowl 12y ago

It's optional, but most producers choose it despite the additional financial overhead, because otherwise it becomes much more expensive to audit which theaters played your movie and how often in order to get paid. Obviously it's not just theaters any more but they're most likely to have 4k gear, in terms of both display and fat pipes. 4k is basically the industry-standard output format* so if there's no DRM then downstream distributors have an enormous economic incentive to rip the originator off by serving up that very high-quality copy for the highest price they can get and pocketing all the ticket sales revenue for themselves. Very basically, rental of a film for a cinema for a day is $250 or 35% of ticket sales, whichever is more (the flat rate is less over long periods, the 35% stays the same). 2 hours of 4k UHD video in the ProRes codec (which will play back smoothly on a regular computer, with good enough quality that most people wouldn't notice the difference) is about 700gb. A fast 1tb drive in an enclosure is under $200, so if the film is even moderately popular and would benefit from being presented on a large screen (which most films of any quality certainly do), then it becomes very tempting for exhibitors to make a copy, either for display or to produce knockoffs in disc form (which will be fully competitive with the 'official' version as far as audio/video quality goes). * Technically there's DCI 4k and Ultra-HD, with the former being slightly higher resolution than the latter - see http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/174221-no-tv-makers-4k-and-uhd-are-not-the-same-thing http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/174221-no-tv-makers-4k-an... but they're close enough that even camera people lump them otgether as '4k' and the 10% shortfall on UHD gear is not considered that bad of a loss. If you're very concerned about horizontal resolution chances are you're using anamorphic lenses anyway.

TD-Linux 12y ago
I was referring to consumer DRM systems, not in-theater projection systems. Is there also a concern of Netflix-bitrate 4K video being used in theaters?