There have been several physical media formats since its debut, but there are only three that have stuck around and remain relevant today. Those are DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Blu-ray. Sure, you might be sitting there and looking at your Laserdisc and UMD collection, but those aren’t major players — or players at all — anymore, are they? As of right now, those three I mentioned are the only ones where you can walk into a store like Walmart and find them on store shelves.
Of the three, DVD has been around the longest, and while it’s been outclassed by its successors, even ones that aren’t around anymore, like HD-DVD, it’s found a way to keep on skating by and existing. Blu-ray bumps the low DVD resolution of 480p (or 576p if you’re in a PAL region) up to 1080p, and it’s a big leap in quality. Not only do you get a better-looking picture, but the audio is better too since the disc offers a better bitrate. The successor to Blu-ray is 4K Blu-ray, and it’s the best one that’s available. For some reason, I feel like it’s also the most underrated.
UHD Blu-ray technology
Trivia challenge
4K discs, Dolby Vision, and beyond — how much do you really know about UHD
Blu-ray?
4K VideoAudioHardwareFormatsStandards
What is the maximum video resolution supported by the UHD Blu-ray format?
Correct! UHD Blu-ray supports a maximum resolution of 3840 x 2160,
commonly known as 4K UHD. This is four times the pixel count of standard 1080p Full HD Blu-ray,
delivering stunning on-screen detail.
Not quite. The answer is 3840 x 2160, which is standard 4K UHD
resolution. While 8K (7680 x 4320) exists as a consumer format, UHD Blu-ray tops out at 4K — still a
massive leap over traditional Full HD discs.
What is the typical maximum data capacity of a dual-layer UHD Blu-ray disc?
Correct! A dual-layer UHD Blu-ray disc can hold up to 100GB of data.
This extra capacity over standard Blu-ray’s 50GB ceiling allows studios to pack in high-bitrate 4K video
alongside lossless audio tracks and bonus features.
Not quite. The correct answer is 100GB for a dual-layer UHD Blu-ray
disc. Standard Blu-ray maxes out at 50GB on a dual-layer disc, but UHD Blu-ray needed more headroom to
accommodate the much larger 4K video files and premium audio formats.
Which of the following lossless audio formats is natively supported on UHD Blu-ray
discs?
Correct! DTS-HD Master Audio is one of the lossless audio formats
officially supported by the UHD Blu-ray specification. It delivers bit-for-bit identical audio to the
studio master, making it a favourite among home cinema enthusiasts.
Not quite. DTS-HD Master Audio is the correct answer. Dolby Digital Plus
is actually a lossy compressed format, not lossless, while MP3 Surround and AAC 5.1 are not part of the
UHD Blu-ray audio specification at all.
Which High Dynamic Range (HDR) format was mandatory in the original UHD Blu-ray
specification?
Correct! HDR10 is the mandatory baseline HDR format for all UHD Blu-ray
discs. It uses static metadata and supports up to 10-bit colour depth with a peak brightness of 10,000
nits, significantly improving contrast and colour range over SDR content.
Not quite. HDR10 is the mandatory HDR format in the UHD Blu-ray spec.
Dolby Vision and HDR10+ are optional enhancements that some studios add on top, but every UHD Blu-ray
player and disc must support HDR10 as the baseline standard.
What laser colour is used in UHD Blu-ray players to read discs?
Correct! UHD Blu-ray players use a violet (blue-violet) laser with a
wavelength of 405nm, the same as standard Blu-ray. This shorter wavelength compared to the red laser
used in DVDs allows data to be packed much more densely on the disc surface.
Not quite. The answer is violet — specifically a blue-violet laser at
405nm. DVDs use a red laser at 650nm, and CDs use an infrared laser at 780nm. The shorter the
wavelength, the more data can be stored, which is why Blu-ray outpaces its predecessors.
What maximum video bitrate does the UHD Blu-ray specification allow for video
content?
Correct! The UHD Blu-ray specification allows a maximum video bitrate of
82 Mbps. This is substantially higher than standard Blu-ray’s 40 Mbps ceiling, enabling richer detail,
smoother gradients, and less compression artefacts in 4K content.
Not quite. The correct maximum video bitrate is 82 Mbps. Standard
Blu-ray tops out at 40 Mbps, and while streaming services like Netflix offer 4K, they typically deliver
it at just 15–25 Mbps — making physical UHD Blu-ray the highest quality option available to consumers.
Which video codec is most commonly used to encode 4K content on UHD Blu-ray discs?
Correct! H.265, also known as HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), is
the dominant codec used on UHD Blu-ray. It offers roughly twice the compression efficiency of H.264,
meaning studios can deliver 4K footage at high quality without exhausting the disc’s storage capacity.
Not quite. H.265 (HEVC) is the correct answer. While H.264 was the
workhorse of standard Blu-ray, it simply isn’t efficient enough to handle 4K video at acceptable quality
levels within the disc’s bitrate limits. AV1 is a newer codec but isn’t part of the UHD Blu-ray spec.
Which of the following connection types is required to pass a UHD Blu-ray signal at
full 4K HDR quality from a player to a TV?
Correct! HDMI 2.0 or higher is required to carry a 4K HDR signal from a
UHD Blu-ray player to a display. HDMI 2.0 supports the 18 Gbps bandwidth needed for 4K at 60fps with
HDR, whereas HDMI 1.4 maxes out at 4K/30fps without HDR support.
Not quite. HDMI 2.0 or higher is the correct answer. HDMI 1.4 can
technically carry a 4K signal but only at 30fps and without HDR, making it insufficient for the full UHD
Blu-ray experience. Component video is an analogue connection and cannot carry 4K signals at all.
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It really should be more popular
I’m somebody who values quality in my physical media, so naturally, I tend to gravitate toward the newest format. When that was DVD, I bought DVDs, when it was Blu-ray, I bought Blu-ray discs, and now that 4K Blu-ray is available, that’s what I buy. What I’m surprised about is that 4K Blu-ray continues to be the worst-selling of all the formats. It makes sense from a price point of view, since DVDs are often available at a fraction of the price, and it’s very easy to stock up on them in vast quantities at a thrift store. While I can appreciate a DVD from time to time, they don’t come close to what the 4K Blu-ray format has to offer.
For whatever reason, I still have Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet on DVD in my rotation, and although upscaling has gotten much better in recent years, I’d definitely enjoy it a lot more on Blu-ray. This is the case for every DVD in my collection, and while I would agree that DVD came in at a perfect time, I really can’t understand why people pick it over the likes of Blu-ray. I can understand 4K Blu-ray being a hurdle, since you need a specific player and TV to watch the format, but I don’t know if that’s much of an issue anymore. 4K TVs are now cheaper and more accessible than ever, and 4K Blu-ray players have been available in the form of game consoles for more than a decade now.
It’s because of that that I’m not buying that being a barrier anymore. I actually don’t know what it boils down to, because it’s not like 4K Blu-rays aren’t often on sale. You can usually find a sale on Amazon, GRUV, half-off Criterion sales, etc., so you don’t have to break the bank if you’re patient. Maybe people really don’t value having the best quality. I know there are people out there who say they can’t tell the difference between 1080p and 4K, and while that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, they’re out there.
In many ways, it feels like 4K Blu-ray is being slept on. Sure, the boutique market seems to focus a lot on it, but that sort of backs up my point. Boutique sellers aren’t exactly mainstream, but instead, they hone in on a niche market. This niche market likes to spend money, which is why these movies keep coming out, but I don’t really hear anybody in real life talk about how excited they are about the Arrow release of Troy in 4K, for example.
Buy what you want
Don’t let me stop you
Even if I can’t fully understand why somebody opts for DVD over 4K Blu-ray, it’s clear that there’s a big chunk of people out there who don’t have a problem. Physical media is still physical media at the end of the day, so I’m just glad people are buying anything at all. While it might feel like physical media is on the uptick, it could be short-lived if both the PS6 and next-generation Xbox drop disc drives. These are some of the most common Blu-ray players around, and if they don’t have a way to play discs, then what are people going to use?
A standalone 4K Blu-ray player costs hundreds of dollars, and while I have one and love it, it’s obvious that not everybody feels the same way. I don’t have any way to measure this, but anecdotally, it feels like the PS5 is the most popular 4K Blu-ray player. Meanwhile, that same DVD player you’ve had for two decades, or since 2001, is still kicking without any reason to upgrade it. Personally, I see many reasons to upgrade, but I don’t speak for everyone.
