How do you plan to collect Criterions going forward?

[vsski]

I will support Criterion and buy the UHDs since I’m getting a new 4K projector and large screen - at least for those movies I don’t already own on Blu Ray or where reviews clearly show a noticeable difference on a large screen. At the same time I decided not to get the Arrow Argentos, as I own their limited edition Blu Rays which were very good PQ wise and stacked with extras. Plus these aren’t my most cherished movies and after upgrading them to BR, I see no need to own them a third time and rather spend my money on movies I don’t already have.

[swo17]

I too feel like 10 years from now I will have naturally walked into a 4K setup anyway, and I'd really like Criterion to succeed at this (and Arrow, and Kino) so I'm all in. In fact, I'll probably buy titles I might not otherwise just to support the label/format, as it could make it more likely for a film I favor to get the treatment down the road. (As a prime example, Kino's Spaceballs UHD is a good deal at Deep Discount right now...) The dual format option is also great, so I can still fully appreciate the extras before having upgraded my system

[The Pachyderminator]

As others have said, I have a 50" 1080p TV that, when I calculate the number of blu-rays I could buy for the cost of upgrading, I'm probably going to keep using as long as it works. I'm not sure I've ever seen a 4k disc with HDR played on a screen that can fully exploit it, so maybe when I do I'll be blown away and be inspired to get one immediately, but right now I'm quite happy with blu-ray, and the idea of "future-proofing" at 5-10 bucks extra a pop just isn't exciting.

[movielocke]

I'll buy 4k on a case by case basis. MIIS and CK for sure from this wave, but I'll pass on the other three pre-announced titles (well that's a lie I'll probably get the 4k of the Piano as well).

Why not red shoes? Well embarrassment time, I bought it the day it came out on blu ray... and I've never watched the blu ray. seen the movie before, love it, but in the intervening time it's just been unfortunately gathering dust. so I can't in good conscious upgrade it if I never even bothered to watch the upgraded blu ray I already bought.

on the other hand Citizen Kane I watched the WB original dvd when it came out, but never upgraded to blu, so Looking forward to both upgrading it and revisiting it.

I've got a ten or eleven year old 55inch panasonic plasma, the kind with the two inch+ bezels, so I'm looking forward to upgrading it when it goes kaput because we can put a 60-65 inch modern tv in the same space (minimal to no bezels, so nearly the same size as ye olde 55"). and I imagine that will feel like quite an upgrade when we do.

We've got a smaller 49" 4k tv in another room, and I have a 4K player attached to it, but have watched less than five 4k discs on it (I only own about six or seven I think), It is quite impressive, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what older films look like on the format.

One caveat, apparently cabling is extremely persnickity to 4K and you have to buy expensive new cables. I was pretty sure I had the proper monoprice HDMI cable already, but I also had a little right angle adaptor on the HDMI port. and when it came time to demo a 4k disc to the family (Soul), it didn't work at all because the HDMI adaptor wasn't compatible, which I figured out a few weeks later when I had time to troubleshoot the issue. so definitely do a test run before unveiling 4k playback, ha.

[Caligula]

Sticking to blu-ray's if I buy anything at all.

I feel my collection has largely plateaued, with my holy grail list reduced to maybe 2 films (Prospero's Books, Lelouch's Les Miserables). My blu-ray buying is significantly less than it was.

My issues are diminishing returns and cost of new hardware, together with the doubt as to whether the UHD-format will gain wide acceptance.

I have a 55 inch Panasonic plasma in a room that isn't really going to accommodate much bigger once the Panny goes, and I have no urge to rush to a UHD telly and player. Anyway, in South Africa I suspect getting hold of a multi-region blu-ray player that will play UHD's as well is going to be an issue, not least price-wise. As I use my current Denon to play a lot of music as well, getting a cheapie that does it all is not an option.

When blu came in I was one of the vocal sceptics in this forum. I have to admit that I have since invested and derived much joy from the format. However, like SACD with classical & jazz, I can't see UHD becoming more than a niche format, especially not with the general superceding of physical media by streaming.

My two pennies' worth.

[Roscoe]

I upgraded to 4K out of necessity when my old TV (a lovely 3D capable setup) quite simply gave up the ghost one day. I was able to get a much nicer and larger 4K TV for less than I spent on my previous set. The main drawback was getting the picture set up properly, negotiating all those image settings was a nightmare. A few months later I picked up a Sony 4K disc player on sale, and picked up my first 4K discs (2001, APOCALYPSE NOW and THE SHINING) and haven't looked back.

I'm being fairly choosy as to what in my library will get upgraded from Blu-Ray to 4K. THE SHINING was a no-brainer, as it fixed some color balance issues (that pink tennis ball). Others have followed, with mixed results. I'll be checking the reviews, I guess. I've got my eye on THE RED SHOES, to see how that lush Technicolor radiance looks. I'm not sure how much improvement will happen with A HARD DAY'S NIGHT -- I suspect my old Criterion Blu-Ray will suffice for me.

[schellenbergk]

I have a 4K TV and an early model UHD disc player, so I’m ready. The player is a little picky - I have had problems playing a couple of titles (Deer Hunter for example; had to bail and watch the last half hour on bluray).

So I plan to buy select new titles and will upgrade only those titles which I own only on DVD. So Citizen Kane and The Red Shoes will get an upgrade from me…

[furbicide]

I've always been DVDs first and have been quite a late adopter on blu-rays, so I think you can probably guess my answer to this: I might consider getting a UHD player in, like, 5–10 years, but until then (and probably for some considerable time afterwards), blu-rays will be fine.

[ShellOilJunior]

I'll go with the UHD/Blu option when available for titles I'm interested in.

I'm fortunate to own a Sony A80J OLED 65'' and a PS5. More satisfying for me though was giving my brother my old Sony 4K TV and UHD player.

I'm excited for Criterion going UHD because I think we may be getting 'definitive' versions of movies. Movies like Jaws, 2001, The Sting, Bridge on the River Kwai, etc - look terrific on UHD. I'm in for Kane and Mulholland Dr., although I'm most excited for The Red Shoes. I believe Black Narcissus will go UHD in 2022 for its 75th.

[Omensetter]

I'm due for a new TV next summer, so I'm fine supporting Criterion here. I haven't the foggiest as to the cost of a UHD player, but hopefully I can find one that plays all-region blus. I obviously haven't researched it but will. The blu market is at the glorious point where they are releasing two slightly lesser-known Rosis (courtesy of Kino), and I'd truthfully be fine if the blu market continued to uncover stones and for Criterion to, say, upgrade their two Rosis. But there's nothing to suggest that they won't; it'll just take time, perhaps more with the onset of this new format, perhaps not. It'll be case-by-case, and if it's an upgrade then I'll only bother if it's during a sale. Count me out, though, if they ever make anything UHD exclusive even if it's just Nightmare Alley-esque cards (which were genuinely lovely).

[essrog]

My region-free BD player recently died, and I honestly didn't even consider replacing it with a 4K player, even though I have a 4K TV (though that's only 55", so I wouldn't see much difference), opting for another region-free BD player. I'm probably a few years away from getting a bigger TV, so I'll probably mostly buy Blu-rays. That said, I'll get the 4K version of Citizen Kane since, well, it's Citizen Kane and I might upgrade at some point.

But more and more, I'm like Matt in that I'm relying on the Channel to scratch my Criterion itch. The availability of films and a lot of the special features there, plus having more limited storage space at home, plus realizing that I'll never have time to watch all the discs I already own, has curbed my collecting. I'll still get my favorites, plus films I want to show my classes, but otherwise I'm pretty content to be a Channel Guy. This thread motivated me to finally go through my Criterion wish list last night (yes, I'm the one person who uses that feature) and delete most of the titles I'd added over the years, whittling it down to 30. I mean, if I haven't bought the Renoir Stage and Spectacle box set yet, I'm probably never going to.

[ianthemovie]

I don't yet have a 4K TV or player, nor do we really have the space at our current apartment to upgrade to such a system. But I imagine that at some point in the next 5 years that will probably change, so for now I'm picking up dual-format 4K/BDs here and there, assuming I'll have use for the 4Ks down the road. (I want to avoid finding myself in the situation I was in around 2016, when I decided to upgrade as many of my DVDs to Blu-ray as possible and found myself faced with the task of buying dozens and dozens of titles.) This time I'd rather stay on top of upgrading gradually to 4K as titles come out, especially since they nearly always come with a Blu-ray disc that I can use now, and they only cost on average about $10 more per title. Like criterionsnob I sell off my previous editions whenever I upgrade which also helps offset the expense. I suspect that my movie library is also more modest than many others' here--roughly 300 titles (my "essentials"), roughly half of which I doubt will ever see 4K re-releases anyway!

[hearthesilence]

I too feel like 10 years from now I will have naturally walked into a 4K setup anyway, and I'd really like Criterion to succeed at this (and Arrow, and Kino) so I'm all in. In fact, I'll probably buy titles I might not otherwise just to support the label/format, as it could make it more likely for a film I favor to get the treatment down the road. (As a prime example, Kino's Spaceballs UHD is a good deal at Deep Discount right now...) The dual format option is also great, so I can still fully appreciate the extras before having upgraded my system

This is how I feel it's going to be for anyone. Keep going back every 10 years - 2011 BD and HD broadcast was firmly established, 2001 DVDs were...I guess in 1991 the debate was VHS or spring for LD, but even there the shitty pan-and-scan transfers typical of VHS vs the common letterboxing for LD came into play. Go back to 1981, home viewing for most was basically whatever was on TV. There's usually a sea change every ten years.

Having said that, for vintage films, we keeping making these giant leaps, getting closer and closer to the quality of theatrical viewing, and with 4K and DV/HDR/etc., at least within the digital realm, the gap is getting hard to distinguish.

[senseabove]

Having said that, for vintage films, we keeping making these giant leaps, getting closer and closer to the quality of theatrical viewing, and with 4K and DV/HDR/etc., at least within the digital realm, the gap is getting hard to distinguish.

This is what's pulling me toward the eventual home set-up upgrade, really. I was skeptical of 4k's usefulness for me, given the whole resolution/viewing distance debate, but having seen a (newly struck, iirc) print of Do the Right Thing, the newest restoration theatrically projected in 4k, and the Criterion BD of that restoration shortly thereafter, the theatrical 4k was the first time I began to think digital projection actually could approach capturing the particular qualities of film. I'm lucky enough live in an area that (in the before times, at least) allowed me to be a celluloid snob, with easily more than half of my typical annual average of a film a day movie-watching being film projected in a theater. If I can inch closer to that quality in my home set-up, I know I'm going to take that opportunity eventually. But we're only just starting to see the types of movies I want in the format, so I haven't been chomping at the bit.

In other news, that poll really caught the lurkers' eyes. 74 votes!

[FlickeringWindow]

UHD when it’s available. Most of my 4K purchases are upgrades of Blu, with the rest being the first I’ve owned or haven’t owned since DVD.

[BirdLives]

Seems like a key factor in this is if/when Criterion goes to 4K streaming on the Channel. Since Netflix and Amazon already stream in 4K, it seems like Criterion going to 4K on disc means 4K streaming on the channel is only a matter of time.

Criterion poobahs surely spend a lot of time going over data regarding which discs sell vs. how much the same movies get watched on the Channel. Presumably it's just a dollars and cents question: either they sell a lot of discs and make money that way, or a movie gets streamed a lot on the channel (and presumably, therefore, makes the channel more attractive and encourages more people to sign up and pay for the service, though that's probably pretty hard to measure). As a data point related to that, I was pretty surprised at how quickly the Wong Kar Wai set showed up on the Channel. I guess the extras weren't on the Channel, but I took it as a sign that discs are increasingly only for collectors, while movie fans/lovers are okay with streaming. In other words, if the discs were selling great, would the movies have gone up on the Channel so quickly? I would guess not. Of course it's also possible the discs were selling well, but having the movies on the Channel was an important promotional point to attract new users/viewers. What do I know...

Anyway, I think if Criterion not only adds 4K streaming on the Channel but also announces that the compression/file-size will emphasize picture quality it could make 4K streaming hard to beat.

[senseabove]

Seems like a key factor in this is if/when Criterion goes to 4K streaming on the Channel. Since Netflix and Amazon already stream in 4K, it seems like Criterion going to 4K on disc means 4K streaming on the channel is only a matter of time.

Given that the channel doesn't even support surround sound yet... I'm not holding my breath. If they're interested in selling premium physical media, making the physical media premium doesn't seem like the worst business plan. Case in point and/or I'm a sucker, probably, but I watched about twenty minutes of Age of Innocence on the Channel the first time I ever saw it, then decided to stop and order the disc in the next sale because I could tell it was something I wanted to experience in the best format available to me.

[Finch]

I think eventually we'll get a new TV and when we do, UHD is hopefully still going to be around. I'd certainly get the titles that have been botched on Blu-Ray, Big Lebowski immediately comes to mind. I still have to see 4k in practice, and I can't see myself upgrading every title that gets the "facelift" since I'm already tired of buying the same films over and over again, so I figure it'd only be the biggest favorites (Kane, Red Shoes) and titles that might have only had serviceable BDs. It's a bit of a dilemma with new films like Possessor Uncut. Do I get the UHD/BD combo or just the BD...

[pianocrash]

I'm still pruning my dvd keyvip from years ago, somehow, so I stopped buying every blu and focused on specific titles that I really want to examine under a microscope type way - blu ray is wonderful for this reason, and the quality is the best available to me and my set-up, currently. However, as when Criterion dvds began post-laserdisc-era, I'll start 4K collecting when the hardware is up to snuff (3-4 more years, at least, judging from all the hang ups the physical equipment has on current non-CC titles). In the meantime, I still love having the CC Channel, though it's more of a gateway to purchase titles inevitably further down the line. Streaming where I'm located isn't exactly ideal, but the availability of rarities is the real reason I've kept my subscription after ditching a physical Netflix account once & for all this past year (the availability of snagging ex-library copies of CC titles second hand has also helped that concern, too). After parsing through these responses I slowly realized that the bulk of what I buy are second hand OOP dvds (cheap & plentiful now that everyone's abandoning ship), and that is probably also why the old keyvip is still ticking. However, at least I can always go visit my brother out of town as an excuse to watch The Red Shoes on his wall-sized 4K setup after everyone else goes to sleep.

[DeprongMori]

I am eventually going to replace all my equipment for 4K, so whenever I bought new titles for my Blu-ray player, I buy the dual-format UHD/HD when possible. But since I increasingly became faced with decisions about limited editions that were issued in a choice of either UHD or HD format rather than dual-format, I finally broke down and bought a 4K player that is region-switchable for Blu-ray. (It was Arrow’s Crash limited edition set that finally forced the issue. The Second Sight Dawn of the Dead set almost did.)

It’ll be another few years until I finally spring for a new 4K UHD screen, but by then I’ll have a decent library of physical media for it that I can play now as well.

As for Criterions, I am buying far fewer of their new releases as I increasingly rely on the Criterion Channel to feed that habit, and I’ve got most of the older titles I want. Those I do buy in the future, I will buy on 4K UHD whenever available, but I will not upgrade any Blu-ray titles I have to 4K UHD until I upgrade my screen. I’ve been spending more of my physical media budget on UK releases and limited edition titles instead. (I’m increasingly skipping Arrow general releases, since there is no way to know whether I’d be receiving a booklet with my purchase — they really need to do their first printing with some sort of special sticker or O-card. It sucks to find out after you’ve bought it.)

[artfilmfan]

I have no plan to upgrade my equipment to UHD. Blu-ray is good enough for me.

[Big Ben]

I'll be getting the 4K releases of films that I like or that I'm interested in. I'll be picking up Citizen Kane and Mulholland Drive for sure.

[fiddlesticks]

I have a 1080p TV and two Blu players, so uhd doesn't do me any good for now. When my equipment gives out, I'm sure I'll have no choice besides upgrading (already true for tvs,) and when that happens I suppose I'll switch to buying uhds. I'm not excited, as I find bluray to be perfectly adequate, which is how I felt about DVD back in the day. When I slowly started acquiring blus, I got used to them and dvds started to seem fuzzy. I'm not anxious to repeat that process, and neither is my budget. I'd rather leave well enough alone.

Oh and I've never liked dual format editions (i.e., coasters) and won't buy them unless I am desperate and have no alternative.

[tenia]

I might future proof some of those if buying the UHD DF release isn't too expensive but I think more and more that if I wanted to upgrade to 4k, I'd done it already so I might end up still watching them on BD anyhow.

I might actually try and find a way to subscribe to The Criterion Channel in France before making the jump to 4k !

[Maltic]

I'm 4K curious, I would say.

At the other end of the spectrum, I can barely be arsed to watch DVDs (/-rips) these days, let alone VHS. Only do so on rare occasions. Not something I'm proud of, but there you go. There's just so much stuff out there on BD (+ rep cinemas etc).