A beginner’s guide to 4K Blu-rays
The holidays bring extra attention on 4K Blu-rays; gift guides and new studio releases abound, with sales on discs and players commonplace. With a parallel enshittification across many streaming services, is now the time to start investing in physical media?
For most, no. Streaming remains a ubiquitous format, its advantages of convenience and accessibility undeniable. Physical media is for film enthusiasts, with 4K Blu-rays being to movies what vinyl is to music. The format provides the highest echelon of quality available at home, but it’s only discernible to those with the equipment and tastes to appreciate it.
That said, 4K Blu-rays can be a great investment if you like to rewatch movies and own a high end video or audio movie watching setup. For audio, that means a soundbar or receiver that transmits sound through HDMI to support uncompressed audio formats. For video, you’d want a midrange to high end HDR (OLED or LCD) TV or 4K projector to notice the subtle improvements of a 4K Blu-ray’s higher bitrate.
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