SOLVED 4k Blu Ray Timeline?

Any word / rumor on when 4k Blu Ray drives for PC are going to be released? Trying to decide if I should get an Oppo, wait for the PS4 Neo and hope, or if a 4k Blu Ray for PC will be out soon.

seems pc's tend to be last in this area, more money to be made doing non-pc drives first.

isnt a bluray drive a bluray drive? 4k is the resolution of the video, the disks nor drives themselves should have to do with the content, right?
and there are 4k blu ray players for tv's for sale, i see a few on amazon already.

wagex said:

isnt a bluray drive a bluray drive? 4k is the resolution of the video, the disks nor drives themselves should have to do with the content, right?
and there are 4k blu ray players for tv's for sale, i see a few on amazon already.

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My understanding is the 4k Blu Ray is a different laser. At least for stand-alone players, they are separate products. And if an internal 4k Blu Ray is released for PC, it will likely be much cheaper than a standalone unit for the freseeable future.

Tyerker said:

My understanding is the 4k Blu Ray is a different laser. At least for stand-alone players, they are separate products. And if an internal 4k Blu Ray is released for PC, it will likely be much cheaper than a standalone unit for the freseeable future.

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bluray is bluray the only difference on standalone players is having the ability to output 4k resolution, the disks are the same im pretty sure. for internal pc readers a normal bluray reader should read them as they are the same disks just different content on said disks.

wagex said:

bluray is bluray the only difference on standalone players is having the ability to output 4k resolution, the disks are the same im pretty sure. for internal pc readers a normal bluray reader should read them as they are the same disks just different content on said disks.

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Mostly true, but not entirely true.

Blu Ray disks currently come in 25 GB and 50 GB. If you do the math for 4K video storage, it will have to be a 100 GB disk.

I imagine that a drive capable of reading the 100 GB disk will read the 50 GB and 25 GB one...but I wouldn't bet that a 50 GB reader would be able to read the 100 GB one.

the drives have been available for the 100gb bdxl format for quite a while i think most pc bd drives can handle reading them.

Everything I am finding via my (admittedly poor) Google-Fu shows that UHD Blu Ray requires a UHD Blu Ray player.

Wikipedia also says that UHD Blu Ray requires a new player, but that's Wiki, so take it with a grain of salt.

blu ray player = tv
blu ray drive = computer
yes if you want to put a 4k signal to your tv you have to have a blu ray player that has 4k output. a blu ray player is pretymuch like a small computer, so the difference is having a video device that can output a 4k signal and decode 4k video.
for a pc its a completely different thing. it doesnt play them it reads data from the disk then software has to do the rest.

check out this article
http://www.whathifi.com/advice/ultra-hd-blu-ray-everything-you-need-to-know
if you scroll down there are two links one to pre-lim specs and one to official specs. the Ultra-HD BD dics start at dual layer being 66gb and triple layer 100gb, so to me it doesnt sound like BDXL discs but a new one. cause its sony and a new way to make money by having a new disc format. Forcing people to buy new stand alone players ,disc drives ,BD discs to get 4k. Dont forget that its not just about the player, the disc it self too. since the movies on the disc are stored in 1080P for BD and 4k for Ultra-HD BD's, along with some new DTS formats plus atmos.

while it is just a resolution to us, you could scale up the standard BD disc. just like DVD's had built in scalers to use 720p or 1080p on the then new HD tv's. im just saying things are not so simple as we might like them to be. just keeping it simple, new drives are needed for these new 4k disc. As they are not using any currently released disc formate for 4K discs.

That was my thought, as well. I have a very media-centric friend (though not a PC guy) who just upgraded his awesome Oppo Blu Ray to the newest 4k Blu Ray player, and I knew if he upgraded it wasn't just some simple backwards compatibility of "something with a Blu Ray drive that can output 4k".

I'll keep my fingers crossed for that PS4 Neo.

blu ray drives dont put out anything, they just read data current blu ray drives can read up to quad layer disks bdxl 100gb(tripple layer) and 128gb.(quad layer) the only thing on a pc that will need to change is hardware to be able to translate that data into a 4k video stream.

blu ray players cannot that is why you will have to replace those, they could probably read the disks but they couldnt translate the data on there nor put out the signal at the required resolution.

this is the inside of a blu ray player, it has a blu ray drive, a computer probably running some version of linux to take the data from the reader and translate that into a picutre on your tv and a power supply. the blu ray drive could probably read the data off the disk fine, but the computer wouldnt have the software or hardware to decode what ever the media is on said disk. nor would the video adapter (graphics card) on the computer be able to put out the 4k resolution. also probably doesnt have hdmi 2.2 spec or what ever is needed for 4k.

this is a blu ray drive, it can read disks, thats it it doesnt make any kind of video, the computer reads the data then from there it relies on software and other hardware to do the rest. most any bd drive from the last 6 years can read bdxl disks weather or not your software on your pc can decode them is a different matter.

I understand the difference. But the fact is the information I've found is very unclear if the standard Blu Ray laser reads the 4k discs. Are the 4k disks just BDXL? Everything I find points to them being a different format. Do you have personal experience playing a 4k disc in a standard Blu Ray drive?

Tyerker said:

Are the 4k disks just BDXL?

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To my knowledge, yes.

"Playing a 4K disc in a standard BluRay drive?" doesn't mean anything.
What are you calling standard?
What are you calling a 4K disc? Something written by an individual or mass produced?

It is a disc, it holds data. As long as the format (BDXL) is supported the reader will read the disc. The software is what matters for playing whatever content stored on the disc.

exactly, if they change it, it will no longer be called bluray they will likely have to come up with a different name like going from dvd>bluray/hd-dvd>bluray
think of it this way,
disk 1, hdmovie.mp4 (1080p)
disk 2, 4kmovie.mp4 (4k)
the disks are identical, what is different is the content stored on the disks.
the disks literally just have video files stored on them, if you pop a bluray into your pc you can see the folders and files on the disk, it would be like using a usb drive to hold movie files its just a disk.

Thanks for the clarification. I guess the marketing for 4k Blu Ray is relying on people buying new hardware in most instances. I took that to mean there was a difference in the laser.

To clarify, this will play 4k through my PC, provided I have appropriate software? http://www.microcenter.com/product/428804/WH16NS40_16x_Internal_Blu-Ray_Rewriter

Tyerker said:

Thanks for the clarification. I guess the marketing for 4k Blu Ray is relying on people buying new hardware in most instances. I took that to mean there was a difference in the laser.

To clarify, this will play 4k through my PC, provided I have appropriate software? http://www.microcenter.com/product/428804/WH16NS40_16x_Internal_Blu-Ray_Rewriter

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Because 99% of people will be buying a BluRay PLAYER.

Does it support BDXL?

Newegg says yes, so I'm thinking it'll be good to go.

Thanks everyone for your help. I think I know what I need to do. Gotta get this 4k TV good and happy.

Tyerker said:

Newegg says yes, so I'm thinking it'll be good to go.

Thanks everyone for your help. I think I know what I need to do. Gotta get this 4k TV good and happy.

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just make sure you have the proper software on your computer to play them even normal blu rays i dont think there is any free software to play them yet.

wagex said:

just make sure you have the proper software on your computer to play them even normal blu rays i dont think there is any free software to play them yet.

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This. I'm not aware of a free BR video software either.