4K UHD/Blu-ray Disc 101 #1
#1 Blu-ray Disc
My last post #0 prologue only contains a bunch of bullshit, so this post I will just go straight into the topic, I’ve got some frequently asked question and I made a quick Q&A, hope you can found it useful.
TL;DR:
Q1: what is Blu-ray Disc?
Ans: A format of data storage, it can be divided to Blu-ray disc(normal Blu-ray disc)(BD25/50GB) and 4K UHD disc(4K UHD Blu-ray disc)(BD100/125GB).
Q2: how can I tell the difference between Blu-ray and 4K UHD disc?
Ans: Normally you can judge by the box, color blue is Blu-ray disc and black is 4K UHD, also there will be a “Blu-ray Disc” or “4K Ultra HD” printed on the cover and the back.
Q3: What is a “4K restoration”?
Ans: Usually it appear on some old movie(90s or before that), it restore the damaged scene and upgrade its resolution, but that’s not a 4K UHD disc.
Q4: How can I watch Blu-ray disc?
Ans: Few option available: a console、computer + BD drive + BD player software or a Blu-ray player.
Q5: What choice do I have in BD player software?
Ans: PowerDVD、DVDFab Player(not free) or Leawo Player(free)
Q6: Blu-ray disc region?
Ans: There are 3 regions(ABC), and most of the Blu-ray disc that published in MO,HK,TW are all region disc or region A disc.
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Long story:
Q1: what is Blu-ray disc?
Ans: Blu-ray is a format of storage, like DVD/CD/VCD, it came a long way in storage revolution to became Blu-ray, the 4K UHD disc we talked about is still kind of the Blu-ray format but upgraded, the difference is the capacity of storage, normal Blu-ray disc have 25-50GB, enough to store a FHD movie, while the 4K UHD disc(BDXL) can go up to 100-125GB, it can store a 4K with HDR movie. For the convince of conversation I just call it Blu-ray disc and 4K UHD disc.
Q2: How to tell the difference between Blu-ray and 4K UHD disc?
Ans: Usually Blu-ray use blue transparent box to store the disc, and has “Blu-ray disc” written on the front and back of the box, for 4K UHD disc will be black box and has “4K Ultra HD” written on; of course in some cases like steelbook edition or special edition there will be different packaging.
Q3: What is “4K restoration”? is it truly 4K UHD disc?
Ans: There are more things beside the resolution of the movie to become what we talk about 4K UHD disc, like the HDR10/Dobly Vision technology、 encoding、bitrate、 sound and so on…, a “4K restoration” usually means they enhance the source to certain resolution and repair the damaged scene before republish it(especially those old Hong Kong movie), but in the end it can still fit in a normal Blu-ray disc. Like always there are some exception, like Christopher Nolan just restore “2001: A Space Odyssey” with 4K UHD standard.
Q4: Just cut the bullshit and tell me how to watch a Blu-ray disc.
Ans: IF you have a 7-gen or higher-gen console like PS3/PS4/XBOX ONE X/XBOX ONE S, Congregation, mission accomplish, you are now Blu-ray ready, and if you got XBOX ONE X/S, you can even watch 4K UHD disc!
But if a computer is all you’ve got, depends on what TV/monitor you have, if you have a 4K TV, I highly recommend you buy a 4K UHD drive, but if you TV only support FHD, than a normal BD(Blu-ray Disc) drive will be enough; after you got the hardware, now a BD player software is all you need.
Q5: What about the BD player software?
Ans: Most of us stuck in this, due to the pirating thing, all the authentic Blu-ray disc has a encryption protocol call AACS, it made the content of the disc cannot be open or copy easily(well that did make the industry better, people who pirate still pirating, but it came back to us as a authentic user, making us harder to watch BD), if you want the AACS decryption key you have to pay for it, that’s why most of the BD player software cost a fortune(there still a way to watch BD without pirate software, I will have a detail discuss at the next post),and now there some option: PowerDVD、DVDFab Player(not free) and Leawo Player(free).Fun fact: AACS keys will update unregularly, if you having trouble on watching BD, you can always try to update the player software.
Q6: I’ve heard that Blu-ray had region lock, how dose it work?
Ans: There are 3 regions that Blu-ray publisher divined, MO,HK,TW,JP and US are in region A; most of the Europe country like UK,IT,GR,FR, are in region B; China, Russia and most of the middle Asia country are in region C; and most of Blu-ray disc that published within MO,HK,TW are region free(all ABC region can watch) or region A, so you don’t have to worry about the situation that bought a BD and can’t watch properly, if you want to be sure there is a mark printed on the back of the cover, you can look it up to confirm what region will it be. Fun fact: all 4K UHD discs are region free.
If you interested in anything or want some more information, feel free to contact：
Daniel boy
Tel/whatsapp/wechat:+853 6806 7322
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/redeyesmediasolution
^4K restoration blu-ray
^ Region A logo
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