When it comes to physical media formats, it seems like 4K UHD Blu-ray is going to be the last one for a long time. For several years now, physical media’s market share has been shrinking. This has led many people to believe that 4K Blu-ray will be our endgame, and I’m inclined to agree. While there are 8K TVs out there, they’ve had a tough time catching on in the mainstream, and if you look at how physical media sells, DVD still outpaces the competition.
For that reason, I don’t think it’s fair to say 4K Blu-ray has an expiration date in terms of being replaced, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have one. While 4K Blu-ray is the newest and best format available, it has its fair share of problems that other discs simply don’t have. They’re not enough for me to consider downgrading everything, but there are scenarios where I think I’m better suited with a Blu-ray instead of the 4K version. It sounds sacrilegious, but it’s the truth.
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.
Your Score
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The UHD format isn’t perfect by any means
More quality, more problems
There’s a lot to like about the 4K Blu-ray format, and I’m not here to argue against that. What I am here to argue is that there are discs in your collection that might’ve already met their expiration date. If you’ve been collecting discs as long as I have been, then you’ve probably run into the triple-layer 100 GB discs freezing. It’s not guaranteed to happen, but it’s something I’ve run into far too often than I’d like. I guess saying those discs have an expiration date might be a bit much, but it is a problem that happens every single time if I have a problem disc. I don’t think it’s a problem with the disc itself rather than the player, but there’s really no way to tell.
A more concrete example is when there are multiple versions of the same disc. The 4K Blu-ray format has been around long enough for this to have happened a few times too many for my liking. I’m a big fan of the Halloween franchise, even its low points, and the first movie in the series is exactly what I’m talking about here.
I have the Lionsgate 4K version of Halloween, and while there’s nothing wrong with it in a vacuum, people generally find the Shout! Factory version that came out a year later to be more accurate to the original intention. I’m not somebody who likes to buy the same movie twice, so I’ve settled for the inferior version in the eyes of many people. I don’t think it much when I pop in the disc, but it does look weird on my shelf next to the matching Shout! Factory Halloween movies. There are some other examples of this, like Jurassic Park’s 4K. It really feels like if there’s a 4K version of a movie that came out early in the format’s lifespan, something new will replace it.
In some cases, the newer version isn’t always better. When The Last Jedi hit 4K Blu-ray, it came with a Dolby Vision scan. The updated 4K version ditches Dolby Vision for whatever reason. Fortunately, there aren’t a ton of examples like that. While I think it’s worth upgrading your old DVD and Blu-ray discs to 4K, it’s different when we’re talking about 4K to 4K. There are some botched 4K versions, like Terminator 2, so I’d welcome an updated version of that, but I’m not holding my breath.
There’s also the looming specter of disc rot, but I think it’s too early to worry about that with 4K discs. I still have DVDs from decades ago with no problems whatsoever, so I’m not going to worry about 4K discs. When it comes to the physical media formats, 4K is the one that has its expiration date furthest out, but that doesn’t mean some of your discs don’t deserve an updated version.
4K Blu-ray will be around for quite a long time
Nothing to worry about right now
The 4K Blu-ray format is still in its relative infancy, and with no new formats on the horizon, I don’t think there’s much to worry about right now. The slow adoption rate means companies shouldn’t be in any hurry to move onto 8K Blu-ray discs or whatever the next format could be.
I’m going to continue collecting 4K Blu-ray movies without any concerns about another format. It’s what I did with DVD and Blu-ray before it. Just because something new comes out doesn’t mean I have to throw out my current collection of movies. I do tend to upgrade my favorites to the superior format, but even then, I still have quite a few things still on Blu-ray. When it comes to buying new movies, I almost always grab the 4K unless the Blu-ray’s price is just too good to pass up, like when I grabbed Bugonia’s Blu-ray during a Black Friday sale.
