When the first 4K TVsemerged in the early 2010s, they were considered as much of a gimmick as 8K TVs are today. The potential of the tech was there, obviously. But screen sizes weren’t yet big enough to justify the leap for most shoppers, and it took ages for a decent amount of 4K content to hit the market.
Even today, there’s a good chance you’re watching some of your favorite movies and shows in upscaled 1080p, if not 480p. How could that be happening, though? Hasn’t there been enough time for everything under the sun to receive an upgrade? The answer lies mostly in the remastering process, which may be far more complicated than you imagine. There are some once-famous names that might never make the leap.
Quiz
4K Streaming vs. DVD
Trivia Challenge
Think higher resolution always means better picture? — think again, and test your knowledge of the tech behind your screen.
StreamingDVDsCompressionResolutionVideo Tech
What video compression format is most commonly used by major 4K streaming services like Netflix and Disney+?
Correct! H.265, also known as HEVC, is the dominant codec for 4K streaming because it compresses video more efficiently than older formats. However, even HEVC has to make significant sacrifices in quality to fit 4K content into manageable bitrates for internet delivery.
Not quite. The answer is H.265 (HEVC). While H.264 is still widely used for HD streaming, 4K content requires the superior compression efficiency of H.265 to keep file sizes practical — though that compression still comes at a visual cost.
What is the maximum bitrate of a standard DVD’s video stream?
Correct! A standard DVD tops out at around 9.8 Mbps for its video stream. While that sounds modest compared to 4K resolutions, the key is that this bitrate is delivering 480p content — meaning far less data is being squeezed, and compression artefacts are far less visible.
Not quite. A standard DVD’s maximum video bitrate is approximately 9.8 Mbps. That figure might seem low, but because it’s only encoding 480p resolution, the compression is far less aggressive and the picture can look surprisingly clean and film-like.
Approximately what bitrate does Netflix typically use to stream 4K HDR content?
Correct! Netflix streams 4K HDR at roughly 15–25 Mbps, which sounds decent but is actually quite compressed for content at that resolution. A 4K Blu-ray disc, by comparison, can deliver bitrates of 80–100 Mbps, which is why physical media still wins on raw picture quality.
Not quite. Netflix typically streams 4K HDR at around 15–25 Mbps. This is dramatically lower than a 4K Blu-ray disc’s potential 80–100 Mbps, meaning the streaming version must discard a significant amount of visual information to fit through your internet connection.
What visual artefact is most commonly caused by heavy video compression in 4K streaming?
Correct! Banding — where smooth colour gradients appear as stepped blocks — and blocking artefacts are the telltale signs of aggressive compression. You’ll often notice banding in dark skies or shadowy scenes in 4K streams, something far less common on physical media.
Not quite. The answer is banding and blocking artefacts. These appear when a codec discards too much colour and detail data to save space. Smooth gradients like dark skies can show visible ‘steps’ of colour, and fast motion can break into blocky patches — both common in heavily compressed 4K streams.
What is the native resolution of a standard DVD?
Correct! DVDs store video at 720×480 pixels for NTSC regions (like the US) or 720×576 for PAL regions (like Europe). Despite this relatively low resolution, the efficient use of bitrate and lack of heavy compression can make DVDs appear remarkably sharp and film-like on a modest screen.
Not quite. The answer is 720×480 for NTSC or 720×576 for PAL. These resolutions are a fraction of 4K’s 3840×2160, yet a well-mastered DVD can still look impressive because the compression is far less severe relative to the amount of picture detail being encoded.
In what year was the DVD format officially launched for consumers in the United States?
Correct! DVDs launched in the US in 1997, following an earlier debut in Japan in late 1996. The format was a massive leap over VHS, offering cleaner picture, chapter selection, and surround sound — and it dominated home video for over a decade before streaming began to take hold.
Not quite. The DVD launched in the United States in 1997. It had debuted in Japan a year earlier in 1996, and its combination of better picture, digital audio, and durability over VHS quickly made it the dominant home video format well into the 2000s.
What does ‘HDR’ stand for in the context of modern 4K streaming and display technology?
Correct! HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, and it refers to a wider range of brightness levels and colours that a display can show. When properly implemented, HDR can make a bigger perceptual difference than the jump to 4K resolution alone — but poor streaming compression can undermine its impact.
Not quite. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. It allows displays to show brighter highlights and deeper shadows simultaneously, with a wider colour gamut. Ironically, the heavy compression used in 4K streaming can introduce artefacts that make HDR content look worse than well-mastered SDR video on disc.
What is the term for the process where a video codec selectively discards information deemed less visible to the human eye in order to reduce file size?
Correct! Lossy compression is the technique at the heart of all major streaming video codecs. By discarding data the human eye supposedly won’t notice — fine textures, subtle colour differences — codecs dramatically reduce file sizes. But at low bitrates, those shortcuts become very noticeable indeed.
Not quite. The answer is lossy compression. Unlike lossless encoding, which preserves every bit of data, lossy compression permanently discards information to shrink file sizes. At the low bitrates used by streaming services, this can strip away fine detail, crush shadow gradients, and introduce the artefacts that make 4K streams look worse than a DVD.
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How remastering bottlenecks the 4K pipeline
Pushing against many boundaries
On a technical level, there’s little standing in the way of a 4K remaster for many movies. 35mm film negatives can produce remarkably sharp scans — it’s just a question of using the right equipment, and putting in the effort to both clean up artifacts and add any visual enhancements, such as HDR or restored color. 70mm is even better, in theory allowing for scans up to 12K.
Things get complicated immediately. For a start, the older a movie is, the harder it can be to track down an original, undamaged print. That’s not such a big ask with pop culture hits like Citizen Kane, Casablanca, or Dr. Strangelove — but if you want something like Fritz Lang’s The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, copies may be very hard to come by in any state.
There’s also a long period during the transition to current technologies that made things worse. Consider TV shows — many were shot directly on tape, which just doesn’t have the necessary sharpness. This is why you’ll never see a native 4K edition of The Golden Girls. There’s more hope for shows that were shot on 16 or 35mm film, yet those may have been converted to tape for editing and assembly. When that’s the case, the only way to remaster them is by hunting down original elements and reconstructing the final product. It took a monumental effort to upgrade Star Trek: The Next Generation to 1080p, never mind 4K.
Similar problems exist with material from the 1990s and 2000s. Many releases from that era were shot on film, but then converted to what’s called a 2K intermediate for editing and other work. There is, of course, the potential for remastering source elements, but that sometimes involves recreating CG effects rendered at sub-4K resolutions. Without fixing the CG, there’s the potential for jarring jumps in visual quality — and that may be expensive, if not impossible.
Early digital cameras created hard barriers, too. At the time, shooting straight to 1080p offered unprecedented flexibility, and was enough for the resolution of broadcasts, DVD, and even theatrical systems. The issue is that there’s no way to extract more detail from digital images — all you can do is upscale, which is something your TV or Blu-ray player is already capable of. This is why some studios are already shooting in 8K or 12K. While you’re not going to be watching an 8K stream anytime soon, it’s good to have the option for an 8K remaster down the road, and/or breathing space when cropping down to 4K.
The business angle
Often the nail in the coffin
Remastering anything in 4K gets expensive. A barebones release might cost between $50,000 and $100,000, but it’s more likely to cost several hundred thousand for any serious restoration effort. And that’s just for a feature-length movie — for a TV show, the price might be several times that amount. There are claims that the 1080p upgrade of Star Trek: The Next Generation cost upwards of $12 million, and I can believe it.
Because of this, studios tend to prioritize prestige titles, or at least ones that will receive a surge in attention (and hence money) after a particular event or milestone. F.W. Murnau’s Metropolis, for example, is getting a new 4K restoration for its 100th anniversary in 2027. And there’s no way we weren’t going to get a proper 4K version of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, even if it took until 2025.
What’s left in the dust are the movies and shows that never developed a big following, whether in the mainstream or the cult arena. We’ve got a 4K version of 1989’s Batman, starring Michael Keaton — but a movie Keaton was in the year prior, Clean and Sober, is stuck at 1080p.
If you’re a fan of schlock horror and action movies, there are boutique labels that might cater to you. Where you shouldn’t hold out much hope is for old or niche TV shows. Although Gunsmoke might be one of the most famous shows of all time, and was shot on film no less, most of the people who care about it are baby boomers, people who probably aren’t going to rush to replace their DVD (or VHS) box set.
