The Home Theater Hierarchy

I’ve gone out to the lobby many times to complain about bad focus, bad sound, a dim bulb or improper framing. The most common reply: “That’s how they made it.” We Chicago critics see most of our films in a screening room run by Steve Kraus. I have never seen a projection error there. Perfection is possible, if the projectionist loves his job.

Roger Ebert

Visual of the differences in available resolutions

There exists a strict hierarchy when it comes to enjoying movies at home. Whether you are watching on a state-of-the-art home theater system or a small TV in the bedroom, you can benefit from following this hierarchy whenever possible.

First, there are two basic ground rules that absolutely must be adhered to…

1: Always Choose Best Resolution

• This should really go without saying, but you should always watch the highest resolution possible. If nothing else, the higher resolution you watch, the better home theater experience you will have.

2: Disc Over Streaming

• If you have to choose between a disc and a stream of the same resolution, always choose the disc. A disc is nearly always going to top streaming when it comes to quality. The biggest problem with streaming content is compression. Places like Netflix, Hulu, etc. compress their videos down in order to provide a reliable stream and to avoid buffering, even on fast connections. This, in turn, can cause compression artifacts (basically any “noticeable distortion of media caused by the application of…compression” Wiki) that you just won’t find on a disc.

And now that we have the basic ground rules in place, we can apply them to the overall home theater hierarchy. So here we go. In order from best to worst quality…

1: 4K Blu-ray (3840×2160)

• This is the ultimate (for now). 4K Blu-ray discs have the best possible resolution, HDR capabilities, and higher quality audio than any other option. Paired with a 4K HDR TV and a solid sound system you won’t find a better experience outside of a movie theater.

2: 4K streaming or broadcast (3840×2160)

• 4K streaming, especially if it includes HDR, is nearly unbeatable. It requires a decent amount of bandwidth to keep up a steady stream, though (at least around 12 Mbps).

3: Blu-ray (1920×1080)

• This is, and has been for over a decade, the gold standard in home entertainment. Unless you have the capability to go 4K, regular Blu-ray can’t be beat.

4: HD streaming or broadcast (1920×1080 or 1280×720)

• Whether it’s 1080 or 720, HD streaming is going to look pretty good. This is probably what most people are used to on Netflix and the like.

5: DVD (640×480)

• If nothing better is available, then DVD is fine. It has the worst picture and audio of any disc option, but it’s fine.

6: Everything Else (?)

• Yikes. Avoid if at all possible. This is every crappy YouTube video that you can hardly make out what’s going on because it looks so terrible. You don’t want this.

On Digital Intermediates

To maintain all the information that film has to offer resolution must be at least at 4K. However, given the loss of quality in the post production process (Scanning, Recording etc.) it is a fact that we should really be scanning at something between 6K and 10K to end up with film quality.

Roger Deakins

One of my biggest pet peeves in the world of the home theater has to do with digital intermediates. First, a little history…

A digital intermediate (DI for short) is, “a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics” (Wikipedia). DI’s have been used for nearly 20 years now, and they can be very useful. They allow directors and cinematographers greater influence over the overall look and feel of the movie. They also give special effects creators greater freedom and flexibility during the post-production process.

The first full film to use a DI was “O Brother, Where Art Thou” in 2000. Cinematographer (and hero) Roger Deakins, along with the Cohen Brothers, wanted the film to have “the feel of an old, faded postcard” (IndieWire), but were unable to get the look they wanted on set. Instead of using the traditional method of altering the colors of the physical film elements, they chose to use a digital system for a more consistent and accurate look. You can check out this amazing YouTube video to see exactly how they did it!

Before

After

Now, fast forward about 20 years and here’s where my annoyance comes in to play…

As more and more movies were shot digitally, more and more movies began using DIs. With the recent move to 4K technology, however, this has resulted in a troubling problem. Many, many movies from the last 20 years were only ever finished from their 2K DIs. This is fixable, though it can be expensive, for any movie shot on film (“The Wizard of Oz”, which is 79 years old, was recently scanned at 8K)…but nothing can be done for any movie shot and finished using 2K digital cameras and DIs.

A prime example of this is “Attack of the Clones”. George Lucas (among his many mistakes) decided to shoot the movie digitally, but only using cameras with a maximum 2K resolution. Therefore, “Attack of the Clones” can NEVER be fully upgraded to a higher resolution because of its digital production and DI.

Now come the consumers. 4K Blu-rays have finally begun to hit the mainstream as 4K TVs and Blu-ray players have become more affordable. Studios, however, have been slow to catch up. Many studios re-use old 2K DIs to produce new 4K Blu-rays instead of going through the process (if it’s even possible) of creating a new 4K DI. Even new movies can fall victim to the same fate. 2018 Best Picture winner “The Shape of Water” received a 4K Blu-ray release from an upscaled 2K DI. The end result is that even though 4K Blu-rays are billed as “Ultra HD”, many offer only negligible upgrades in resolution over standard Blu-rays.

What does this mean for me? Well, as someone who is intent on getting the best possible home theater experience, it can be disillusioning. 4K Blu-rays do offer HDR (which is another topic for another post), but it is incredibly frustrating to see studios treat a new home media technology (and their consumers) with such disdain. I appreciate what DIs have done for the movie industry itself, but its potential negative impact on consumers cannot be overlooked.