UHD New Releases, Reissues and Upgrades

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DeprongMori · #326 Post by **DeprongMori** » Thu Dec 12, 2024 1:38 pm

Did Criterion’s Paper Moon get consensus yet as to category? Reviews seem to put it at minimum into “Appreciable Upgrade” and possibly “Reference”. In any case, ordered it as an easy replacement for my old Eureka.

#327 Post by **Finch** » Thu Dec 12, 2024 2:13 pm

My bad, I thought I'd already added it to the red tier but that wasn't the case. It's in there now.

nicolas · #328 Post by **nicolas** » Thu Dec 12, 2024 2:59 pm

Little Women 1994 is currently disappointing due to botched 5.1 audio (front channels empty) and Sony seemingly started employing Kino’s authoring house when going after the disc stats. (I don’t have a copy, so this is from the other forum).

No Country for Old Men is a big upgrade: https://slow.pics/c/qssfncP9

The Addiction (Arrow) is a blue category upgrade but a brilliant disc on its own (verified by me) with fantastic HDR courtesy of Fidelity in Motion: https://slow.pics/c/LtQD1JaK

Demolition Man (Arrow) looks red: https://slow.pics/c/nPjXWoc9

The Hunted (Kino) has their usual encoding as well as an entire reel from a worse source than the solid to very good Paramount BD with significantly less detail. https://slow.pics/c/MJfW6INy

Willow (Disney) is only a minor upgrade: https://slow.pics/c/rCmuy1VC

@fus1on: Joker 2 (WB) is red (going by screenshots)
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice dto.
Alien Romulus (Disney) dto.
The Crow 2024 (Lionsgate) dto.
Godzilla Minus One (Toho) dto. (I can vouch for this one)
The Shape of Water (Criterion) blue tier
Riddick 2013 (Shout) has some director-commissioned edits but the disc itself should be fine
Ted (Shout) was mentioned to be a strong upgrade with Shout restoring a digital grain / noise layer that was totally wiped by the Universal BD encode

#329 Post by **Finch** » Fri Dec 13, 2024 12:50 pm

nicolas · #330 Post by **nicolas** » Fri Dec 13, 2024 6:51 pm

Legends of the Fall (Sony) is disappointing. https://slow.pics/c/lFWERWj0

Sony are now doing Kino-grade encodes for their MOD 4Ks with disc stats suggesting that they’re either employing the same authoring house or encoding settings.
The new master is likely stunning but not as presented on this 4K. While not all caps show macroblocking as strongly as in the above one, all of them unite a filtered, pixelated appearance as a result of the encode. Very disappointing trend as this is their second MOD disc in a row that is problematic.

I have The Talk of the Town on the way and hopefully it turned out better.

nicolas · #331 Post by **nicolas** » Fri Dec 13, 2024 8:58 pm

The Faculty (Shout) - caps by cinemaniac: https://slow.pics/c/cTMzDeWu

Remarkable upgrade in every way.

ryannichols7 · #332 Post by **ryannichols7** » Sat Dec 14, 2024 1:59 am

surprised we haven't seen anything for Arrow's The Great Escape and CC's 8 1/2. hoping soon

nicolas · #333 Post by **nicolas** » Sat Dec 14, 2024 6:07 am

ryannichols7 wrote: ↑
Sat Dec 14, 2024 1:59 am
surprised we haven't seen anything for Arrow's The Great Escape and CC's 8 1/2. hoping soon

Cinemaniac did a brief comparison here: https://slow.pics/c/c5CG4wfo

Both are strong releases but if you‘ll take one, the Arrow definitely has the edge due to the gentle HDR application. It looks wonderful in motion.

I‘m also surprised that there’s so little discussion about 8 1/2. It seems like due to the many high-profile releases this one flew under the radar. I can’t wait to get mine and watch the film again.

#334 Post by **Finch** » Tue Dec 17, 2024 11:12 pm

Quick heads up that Severin's Delicatessen release is currently shipping with the extras from the second Bluray also being on the first Bluray even though that disc is labeled as having the film on it. There is probably going to be a replacement and those discs recalled but it hasn't been confirmed by Severin yet.

And the 4K of VS's Mr Goodbar freezes up at the 2hours 5min 44sec mark on some players when played back in Dolby Vision on some Panasonic, Oppo and Sony players. That'll definitely need to be replaced, too. VS are aware and have told users to switch DV off for now (lol).

ryannichols7 · #335 Post by **ryannichols7** » Wed Dec 18, 2024 9:11 pm

nicolas wrote: ↑
Sat Dec 14, 2024 6:07 am

ryannichols7 wrote: ↑
Sat Dec 14, 2024 1:59 am
surprised we haven't seen anything for Arrow's The Great Escape and CC's 8 1/2. hoping soon
Cinemaniac did a brief comparison here: https://slow.pics/c/c5CG4wfo

Both are strong releases but if you‘ll take one, the Arrow definitely has the edge due to the gentle HDR application. It looks wonderful in motion.

I‘m also surprised that there’s so little discussion about 8 1/2. It seems like due to the many high-profile releases this one flew under the radar. I can’t wait to get mine and watch the film again.

Arrow will absolutely be getting a purchase from me on that one, and I'll sell the slipcovered Kino for a decent penny hopefully. Arrow went for the more complete package and I like the look of the HDR, these caps are a great example showing what it can do. the colors look so much more realistic to me

cinemaniac · #336 Post by **cinemaniac** » Wed Dec 18, 2024 10:11 pm

ryannichols7 wrote: ↑
Wed Dec 18, 2024 9:11 pm

nicolas wrote: ↑
Sat Dec 14, 2024 6:07 am

ryannichols7 wrote: ↑
Sat Dec 14, 2024 1:59 am
surprised we haven't seen anything for Arrow's The Great Escape and CC's 8 1/2. hoping soon
Cinemaniac did a brief comparison here: https://slow.pics/c/c5CG4wfo

Both are strong releases but if you‘ll take one, the Arrow definitely has the edge due to the gentle HDR application. It looks wonderful in motion.

I‘m also surprised that there’s so little discussion about 8 1/2. It seems like due to the many high-profile releases this one flew under the radar. I can’t wait to get mine and watch the film again.
Arrow will absolutely be getting a purchase from me on that one, and I'll sell the slipcovered Kino for a decent penny hopefully. Arrow went for the more complete package and I like the look of the HDR, these caps are a great example showing what it can do. the colors look so much more realistic to me

I posted some more when I got my disc.

https://slow.pics/c/Fu3lWEwz?canvas-mod ... it=contain

I did an audio comparison as well, between the Kino, MGM LaserDisc, and the Arrow.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=297

Yakushima · #337 Post by **Yakushima** » Thu Dec 19, 2024 1:05 am

Shaun of the Dead 20th Anniversary 4K UHD, for the most part, looks much better than the not-so-old UHD from 2019. There are some instances, like the first scene at Winchester pub, where the image looks slightly overprocessed, for lack of a better word, but they are few and far between. Dolby Atmos soundtrack is an improvement too.

nicolas · #338 Post by **nicolas** » Sat Dec 21, 2024 6:17 am

Sony’s The Talk of the Town turned out great. This is the quality we appreciate from Sony and not a set-and-forget encode like Little Women 1994. It’s an immaculate presentation with very beautiful encoding, a great master with precise, fine grain and a splendid grade. It’s a dark presentation but most appropriate when viewed in ideal conditions. I couldn’t see any issues.

Disc is a BD-100 for those interested.

Fingers crossed we’re getting more like this from Sony’s catalogue.

5meohd · #339 Post by **5meohd** » Sat Dec 21, 2024 4:51 pm

rberrios15 wrote: ↑
Thu Dec 05, 2024 9:38 am
Question about Drive (2011). Looked through the archive and seems like the Sony might not be as good as the Second Sight but curious if anyone has seen both and been able to compare?

I came here looking for an answer to this. A friend and I are planning a day during the winter break to A/B a bunch of discs on my A90J calibrated OLED. I'll add Drive to this since he has the SS box and I'm getting the Sony US steel for xmas.

I'll try and report back with my meager subjective opinion!

5meohd · #340 Post by **5meohd** » Sat Dec 21, 2024 8:08 pm

nicolas wrote: ↑
Fri Dec 13, 2024 6:51 pm
Legends of the Fall (Sony) is disappointing. https://slow.pics/c/lFWERWj0

Sony are now doing Kino-grade encodes for their MOD 4Ks with disc stats suggesting that they’re either employing the same authoring house or encoding settings.
The new master is likely stunning but not as presented on this 4K. While not all caps show macroblocking as strongly as in the above one, all of them unite a filtered, pixelated appearance as a result of the encode. Very disappointing trend as this is their second MOD disc in a row that is problematic.

I have The Talk of the Town on the way and hopefully it turned out better.

Regarding LotF the Br.com review is amusing. I'm hoping we get a better encode from someone else over seas. What do you think?

nicolas · #341 Post by **nicolas** » Sat Dec 21, 2024 8:17 pm

5meohd wrote: ↑
Sat Dec 21, 2024 8:08 pm

nicolas wrote: ↑
Fri Dec 13, 2024 6:51 pm
Legends of the Fall (Sony) is disappointing. https://slow.pics/c/lFWERWj0

Sony are now doing Kino-grade encodes for their MOD 4Ks with disc stats suggesting that they’re either employing the same authoring house or encoding settings.
The new master is likely stunning but not as presented on this 4K. While not all caps show macroblocking as strongly as in the above one, all of them unite a filtered, pixelated appearance as a result of the encode. Very disappointing trend as this is their second MOD disc in a row that is problematic.

I have The Talk of the Town on the way and hopefully it turned out better.
Regarding LotF the Br.com review is amusing. I'm hoping we get a better encode from someone else over seas. What do you think?

I don’t think that’s likely. Sony has the film in all territories and unless they license it to other labels, this MOD edition will be the end of the line for now.

kekid · #342 Post by **kekid** » Sun Dec 22, 2024 1:06 am

How does Curzon Werckmeister Harmonies 4K compare with the Criterion?

nicolas · #343 Post by **nicolas** » Sun Dec 22, 2024 6:03 am

kekid wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 22, 2024 1:06 am
How does Curzon Werckmeister Harmonies 4K compare with the Criterion?

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... count=2334

hearthesilence · #344 Post by **hearthesilence** » Sun Dec 22, 2024 2:51 pm

There's a couple of frames that show filtering on Criterion's disc, a few where I may actually prefer Criterion's disc (tbf by what's an insignificant margin), and more frames where I slightly prefer Curzon's.

cinemaniac · #345 Post by **cinemaniac** » Sun Dec 22, 2024 3:42 pm

The audio is the biggest difference

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... stcount=82

vanshady · #346 Post by **vanshady** » Mon Dec 23, 2024 2:56 am

I realized that Columbia Classics vol 3 is missing from the list, are they all reference too? Also do we have verdict on vol 5 yet?

ShempTCat · #347 Post by **ShempTCat** » Mon Dec 23, 2024 3:11 pm

Has there been any word on Shout's Rock 'n' Roll High School upgrade?

nicolas · #348 Post by **nicolas** » Mon Dec 23, 2024 3:34 pm

I really don’t want to come across a Shout fanboy but I’ve now taken a look at Far and Away and IMO all the negative reactions at the other forum are wildly overblown, to say the least.

I’ve never seen and owned the film before, so please take that into consideration as I’m therefore unable to compare with other releases.

Yes, this doesn’t look crisp throughout and detail tends to ebb and flow. The amount of image detail is not comparable with a film that was scanned from the original negative and neither is the range of colors but this absolutely does NOT imply that the new master is disappointing. If you solely buy 4K discs based on "resolution", you should look elsewhere as this won’t satisfy you - rather to the contrary. It’s that simple. But it would be unfair to outright dismiss this release simply because Shout couldn’t access a better film element. This is the same when reviewers dismiss the score of a Blu-ray when they didn’t like the way the film was shot (such as the BR.com reviews for The Power of the Dog) or degrade each time because they’ve got an aversion to film grain.

So, on another note, if we’re assessing what’s there and what Shout were able to work with (which we’re seeing quite precisely), this is pretty much a faultless remaster. Yes, it’s that good and I was literally stunned at how good this one is after reading the early BR.com reports. That’s why I need to remind those people that we’re looking at an interpositive scan and not something like the workprint scenes from Once Upon a Time in America.

First of all, encoding is fantastic. From what I’ve seen it’s a top-tier encode without even the smallest issue - not even the faint hints of chroma noise that can occasionally creep into Duplitech’s encodes. This is a very big deal here for two reasons: One is that encoding such fine grain (the master is incredibly fine-grained) properly isn’t easy - otherwise we’d get much better quality from Kino and other labels and secondly, the presence of this grain layer of most definitely organic grain tells me quite clearly that there is NO DNR going on here. Yes, I’ve looked for it and it’s simply not present. In this case, lacking image depth / detail doesn’t mean DNR was used. I’d rest happily ever after if all of James CAImeron’s films looked like this, let alone Paramount’s films instead of the DigiSmear debacles they’ve been feeding us for years now.

What’s also a beauty to behold here is how largely clean and stable the presentation is. I disliked some of Shout’s transfers they did from IPs during the BD era as they were full of scratches and dirt that that wasn’t cleaned up (I’m thinking of Polanski’s The Tenant right now) and with their source for Far and Away, I expected to see more in that regard but the film is pretty much fully cleaned up during the 65 sections and only slightly less so during the 35mm ones, such as the final battle.

What about the colors? Earthy, "muted", somber and gently expanding into a wider spectrum when appropriate, such as the third act. To put it simply: I have no issues at all with the grade and in my mind it looks fantastic. From what I’ve seen of the film, I’m not sure a brighter, more lavish, sun-drenched, traditionally Hollywood-like glow was ever intended, particularly in the first half, as the content of the film, as well as costumes, production design and the lighting feel most appropriate for a grade like I’ve described. I was reminded of David Lean’s wonderful Ryan’s Daughter, which urgently needs a new restoration, when seeing Far and Away as the former also is anything but Lawrence of Arabia color- and tone-wise.

In more technical terms, I couldn’t see black crush or other grading issues that stood out negatively. But the biggest compliment I have to give Shout / Duplitech is the incredible HDR/DV grade they did. They graded very, very respectfully towards the source and approached it from a less is more perspective, which has now proven to be the best choice they could’ve done, again for two reasons: They didn’t artificially enhance what wasn’t present in the film element in the first place, mainly bright highlights and intense contrasts. Not even something as tricky as a fire suffered from overblown whites and the skies are perfectly in line with the rest of the image, which the encode thankfully preserved (reason 2). Had they graded this one for candy colors, 1000 nits or more, there’s no way they could’ve preserved all that fine detail in the highlights. The image would’ve looked a lot more digitally enhanced, rather than naturally filmic.

Even without having seen the full film yet, I’m already of the opinion that this is one of the BEST new 4K masters for the difficult technical accomplishment by the party that did the restoration, grade and encode alone. It’s rare that we’re getting such a seamlessly realized pipeline from labels that aren’t (yet) guaranteeing “flawless” quality with each release. The people who worked on this one really know their job very well and they preserved the film faithfully, which is all one can ask for. It’s a remarkable way to end a great year for Shout.

The Atmos and 5.1 mixes are excellent. I’ll treasure this release and hopefully studios and labels aren’t shying away from other difficult tasks like this one.

nicolas · #349 Post by **nicolas** » Mon Dec 23, 2024 3:37 pm

ShempTCat wrote: ↑
Mon Dec 23, 2024 3:11 pm
Has there been any word on Shout's Rock 'n' Roll High School upgrade?

Screenshots look good to me and Shout fixed an issue with the BD audio for the 4K. Haven’t read any negative reports, so this is likely a solid upgrade.

Fus1on · #350 Post by **Fus1on** » Mon Dec 23, 2024 5:03 pm

vanshady wrote: ↑
Mon Dec 23, 2024 2:56 am
I realized that Columbia Classics vol 3 is missing from the list, are they all reference too? Also do we have verdict on vol 5 yet?

In my eyes, they are all reference, but I'm not sure how The Last Picture Show's CC UHD compares to Criterion's UHD. The CC release only uses two BD-66s for both cuts of the film, while Criterion's release uses one BD-100 just for the Theatrical Cut. I would imagine that the CC version has weaker encoding as a result, I just don't know how much worse it is (or if it's even worse at all).

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