What kind of 4K content is there in 2023

[ExtraSlow]

Thought this deserved to be broken out of the TV deals thread. What kind of true 4k content is there from Shaw, Telus, or the various streaming companies? What refresh rate is it "broadcast" in? Seems to be mostly sports, although rage2 can make clarify that.
If you were buying a 4k tv, what would you consider the minimum specs?

[Xtrema]

If you were buying a 4k tv, what would you consider the minimum specs?

Depends on the room. But demonstrating good HDR and support Dolby Vision is a must for the main screen.

Refresh rate doesn't matter unless you are running gaming PC to it. 4K120 may future proof a bit but other than PC gaming on top end GPU, what content is really running at that rate.

[rage2]

Netflix 4K is garbage. Not much better than their 1080p stuff, but there are some titles that's optimized better, and show off HDR half decent (ie the Ryan Reynolds Netflix demo reel movie 6 Underground).

Apple Movies is where I invest most. I buy my movies, and their 4K HDR stream quality is nearly indistinguishable from UHD-BR. HDR is better on streaming as well because Dolby Vision, and many BD titles aren't DV for whatever reason. Don't let UHD-BR fanboys tell you differently because they're counting bitrates. Maybe there's a bigger difference on a 150" screen, but projectors don't have HDR.

Disney+ 4K HDR quality is also top notch.

Most importantly, the jump from 1080p -> 4K isn't really that noticeable. Exception are a some of the newer films that are mastered well with less of a film look (see mission impossible 6 imax camera scenes). They don't master with the sharpness that 4K provides to keep the film look, although that is slowly shifting away. The big differentiator is HDR. Nothing beats an explosion of fire that sears your eyeballs.

Telus I think have 4K hockey, haven't seen how that looks recently since I don't have Telus. kenny has it so he might know better.

Shaw I think is garbage for TV, dunno any videophiles with Shaw for TV.

[ExtraSlow]

I think shaw has NFL in 4k, but who knows if that's worthwhile.

[killramos]

Pretty sure the NFL source broadcast isnt 4k. Sometimes they use the 4k channel to show games. I don’t think the high speed cameras they use are setup for 4k.

[rage2]

I had the Super Bowl feed in 4k via fox sports app on Apple TV. That’s exactly it, the graphics was 4k but they used HD cameras.

[killramos]

The commercials might have been 4k hahaha

[mr2mike]

Grew up on 360p, hits middle age, asking for 4k as eye sight declines.

[Gman.45]

I think baseball on Apple TV was in "real" 4k. It looks excellent, watching it on a 100" screen with a 4k projector, especially on the LG OLED 4k 65" tvs that I run.

Agree with Rage2 on most counts - Netflix "4K" is garbage for the most part. Disney+ is decent, the Marvel films in their "Imax" versions look pretty good if you have your tv calibration/settings decently well set up.

Paramount and Amazon Prime have 4k on their Apple TV apps. I've found some programming on Prime to look decent in 4k, The Expanse for example gives good external details on the ships in space and so forth.



I have SHaw TV as Telus isn't an option in Saskatchewan (otherwise known as the 6th circle of hell). I don't even watch Shaw's TV, or any regular TV channels.

[rage2]

Apple TV baseball is 1080p60. It looks good because Apple uses better encoding, higher frame rates and higher bitrates than others. So we’re basically so used to shitty 1080p that Apple good 1080p looks like 4k.

[BavarianBeast]

I can send you my GoPro videos in 4K for your viewing pleasure

[Gman.45]

Apple TV baseball is 1080p60. It looks good because Apple uses better encoding, higher frame rates and higher bitrates than others. So we’re basically so used to shitty 1080p that Apple good 1080p looks like 4k.

Hah. Figures. It does look good though, surprising that it's 1080poop. You can see the stitches on the ball rotating out of the pitchers hand all the way to the catcher/bat when they use the outfield zoom camera for that. Looks great. Rage, do you think that the Youtube Premium or whatever that offers 1080p "Upscale/better" resolution looks similarly better than their regular 1080p or regular 4k on the YT channels that upload in 4k right now?


I can send you my GoPro videos in 4K for your viewing pleasure

Hell ya, let's see some No Fear ski/snowboard big air, and some donuts in the Evo. Seriously, you can't tease us with an offer like this and then not produce, ha ha.

[msommers]

Viewing pleasure says enough if you really want to look at it or not. :poosie:

[ZenOps]

Staium quality 4K cameras still hard to come by. China has 8K terrestrial broadcasts right on the heels of Japan.

Ok if you want to watch ping pong in all its glory.