The best 4K Blu-ray players might seem like prohibitive investments for many people, but given that millions of us have PS5s or Xbox Series X consoles underneath our TVs, I'd argue there are probably plenty of people who don't even realise they already have one.
Pair anything that can play 4K Blu-rays with one of the best TVs on the market and you're already on your way to having a home cinema experience that's extremely enviable, and once you start building your collection of 4K discs you'll be off to the races. That's where I'm at now, slowly building a library of discs for a rainy day, and struggling to watch movies as quickly as I'm acquiring them.
Sure, if I add up the per-month cost I'm probably spending more than I would have before I got into physical media, but the fact that I actually own what I'm paying for is a huge incentive. That's before considering how great movies look on the Panasonic DP-UB820 that I'm using right now.
I just got my hands on one of the latest Criterion Collection 4K releases, for instance: Gilda. This 1946 noir classic is a great example of how even films from long before the days of surround sound and special effects can still look and sound gorgeous after a proper restoration.
This is perhaps Rita Hayworth's most iconic role, and she's genuinely revelatory as the love-lorn Gilda, surprised to come across an old flame in her new life in Argentina – and this re-release of the film proves that it's actually quite a good one by which to measure the value of a restoration.
For one thing, it showcases that Criterion doesn't make gimmicky or stupid decisions from a tech point of view. For example, there's no playing with the soundtrack here, sticking to a monoaural presentation but cleaning it up enormously and giving it a crisp precision that makes the film way easier to listen to.
Similarly, the picture is as clean as you could ever wish for, but while it does have Dolby Vision encoding, that seems to mostly be to just ensure that the black levels stay perfect throughout – and when Gilda comes out in her famous black tube dress near the end, you'll understand why that's important.
I've already talked recently about how the real value of physical releases is in the extra content you get alongside it, and you get that here, too, with a 15-minute presentation showing directors Martin Scorsese and Baz Luhrmann effusing about their love of the film, both doing so really interestingly.
I remember all too well how tuning into older movies on TV, or on VHS or DVD, could mean fuzzy, crackling audio and disappointingly low-resolution presentation even just a decade ago, so it's amazing to see how the industry is progressing. Gilda is a great example of how a good 4K re-release can be the perfect opportunity to watch something you might otherwise never encounter, and I'd chalk this Criterion release up as a brilliant success on that front.
