Discuss North American DVDs, Blu-rays, UHDs, and related topics
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Yakushima
- Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 1:42 am
- Location: US
#51
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by Yakushima » Mon Nov 04, 2024 11:44 pm
Maladroit Aggregator wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 9:13 pm
Yakushima wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 5:23 pm
tenia wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2024 7:54 am
nicolas, have you compared the Eagle UHD to the Paramount UHD, and if so : does the difference in encode really alleviate the textural issues of the Paramount UHD, or was it always really a baked-in issue of grain management in the restoration (which is my POV) ?
Caps-a-holic just posted a comparison between Italian (Eagle) and UK 4K UHD versions of
Once Upon a Time in the West, and Eagle clearly shows more texture.
But it still looks scrubbed
compared to the old US BD
I received the Eagle edition today and previewed it. The restoration looks and sounds absolutely gorgeous. It is clearly DNRed, but still watchable. Some sections preserve a near-filmic look with a hint of grain. Other sections look a bit waxy, but not overwhelmingly so.
It is a crying shame that Paramount did such a hack job of noise reduction on this beautiful restoration. It could have been an absolutely stellar reference version for years to come.
As it is, it looks like Eagle people did their best to recover the film texture to the degree it was possible, and this disc is still a solid upgrade over the US Blu-ray and is recommended to all but the most DNR-averse.
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tenia
- Ask Me About My Bassoon
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am
#52
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by tenia » Tue Nov 05, 2024 6:18 am
I think we can all agree it's the best (as to date) presentation of a non-optimal restoration, but whose alternative is an arguably even more non-optimal BD.
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Maladroit Aggregator
- Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2024 8:44 pm
#53
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by Maladroit Aggregator » Tue Nov 05, 2024 8:59 pm
So those caps aren't representative of what it looks like in motion?
Lack of grain bothers me much more than wrong color, and while I'd hardly call what the old BD has "grain" (more like digital noise) at least it's a texture - again, at least in the stills.
I'll likely pick up the Italian disc anyway, but I don't see what everyone is so enthusiastic about, here or at the other forums.
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tenia
- Ask Me About My Bassoon
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am
#54
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by tenia » Wed Nov 06, 2024 4:45 am
Maybe I poorly expressed myself.
What I meant is that while the restoration in itself does provide an upgrade over the BD, it remains a flawed restoration due to the artificial filtering baked into it. At least, the Eagle UHD doesn't add compression issues on top of that, but no encode, no matter how good it is, will ever bring back what has been filtered out.
The caps do look representative to me, I just think the DNR is more visible that what you found of it.
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tenia
- Ask Me About My Bassoon
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am
#56
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by tenia » Thu Nov 07, 2024 3:05 pm
I'd love to be able to see this restoration one day.