A lot of the excitement around the 4K UHD format revolves around movies, and it’s for good reasons. Movies have been the backbone of physical media, and it’s always exciting to see that a release you’ve been looking forward to comes with both Dolby Vision and Atmos. I know I get excited about things like that, but what you might not know is that TV shows benefit from the same thing.
The benefit of a TV show on 4K UHD, or Blu-ray even, is that it’s free from the compression you see on TV, especially if it was a regular network show. Even shows that look great as they are, like the ones that air on HBO Max, still excel on 4K Blu-ray, and I’d recommend picking up some of your favorites in the format. It’s too expensive to get them all, but I’ve found that if I’m ever craving a rewatch, I check to see if the show is available physically in some way before doing so.
Quiz
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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Thanks for playing!
Game of Thrones is an easy choice
A nice, long, beautiful series
There are eight seasons of Game of Thrones, so it’s a big commitment if you want to sit down and watch them all. I got into it during its long hiatus, and I binged it all leading up to the final season. I figured I didn’t get the most out of it by binging it in a short time period, so I picked up the 4K box set, and let me tell you, it’s much better that way.
I’m not saying it looks bad on HBO Max by any means, but getting an uncompressed 4K resolution along with a Dolby Atmos audio track is a treat. Fantasy shows like this, with sounds coming from all over, always shine in Atmos. I did run into the dreaded 100 GB 4K Blu-ray disc problem with this show quite a bit, but once those problems were taken care of, I enjoyed my time in Westeros far more than I did on streaming. For a couple of bonus picks, you can snag House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms in 4K and enjoy those too.
Stranger Things is a rare Netflix home release
Arrow handles this one
I haven’t gotten my hands on this one quite yet, but reviews are in, and Stranger Things in 4K is a hit. The Blu-ray.com review gives it perfect scores for both audio and video. It’s easy to understand why, because this is a show that looked good on Netflix with all of its compression, although there were numerous complaints about how the show looked in general over the course of the final season.
What’s more surprising is that Netflix licensed one of its shows out to Arrow for a physical release. It’s not unheard of because Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman both have physical releases through Criterion, but the reality is that the majority of Netflix originals are stuck on the platform. This is a situation where you get a Netflix release free from the clutches of a streaming service, and it looks and sounds good. That’s something to celebrate if you ask me.
Halo stands out with its audio production
The show itself is just okay
Halo came and went without making much of an impact, but that doesn’t mean it was a treat in the 4K format. I picked up Season 1 for pretty cheap thanks to a sale, and while I didn’t expect the story to blow me away, I was shocked by how good the Dolby Atmos soundtrack was. I won’t pretend to be some huge Halo fan, as I haven’t finished a campaign since Halo 4, but it was cool to hear Cortana’s voice come out of my surround speakers like she was in my head.
I don’t think you should buy a show just because of how it looks or sounds, but I can tell you that if you already enjoyed streaming the series, the Atmos soundtrack on this show is one of the best I’ve heard from a TV show. Halo ran for just two seasons before being canceled, so it’s not like it costs a whole lot to pick up the whole run if you wanted to.
Disney+ Star Wars and MCU shows look good
Take your pick
Disney released quite a bit of its Disney+ output physically, but it’s not all there. Frustratingly, Andor isn’t fully available on physical media, so I want to stop myself from recommending an incomplete series. What I can recommend are the ones that don’t have this problem, like Obi-Wan Kenobi. This six-episode miniseries has a great Dolby Atmos soundtrack on 4K, and although it doesn’t come with Dolby Vision, the HDR10 scan still looks quite good.
What’s nice about these Disney+ releases is that they come in collectible Steelbooks that look good on the shelf. Sure, that drives the initial price up, and it makes them more expensive on the secondary markets, but if you were an early adopter, you get some good artwork here. Sadly, Disney seemed to have stopped coming out with these, so we may never get the full Mandalorian or Andor series on 4K Blu-ray.
