1104 Citizen Kane

[domino harvey]

New version will add more fold out panels to spell out C I T I Z E N

[black&huge]

New version will add more fold out panels to spell out C I T I Z E N

alternatively:

[schellenbergk]

So - I'm OK with the replacement of the first blu disc (the "A" disc) - hey, things happen and the mark of a good company is their willingness to correct problems when problems arise.

I'm more alarmed about the UHD disc (the "K" disc) - which is supposed to be OK.

My copy pixilates and stalls at the end of chapter 12. I have these problems at about the 47 minute mark. I ejected the disc several times and restarted at that point, the picture always becomes garbled between about 47:20 and 48:12. It seems to skip several seconds in there, but not always in the same place.

Generally, the picture looks very grey, almost sepia-tinted throughout the UHD disc: the contrast seems off. Was this intentional? It's awfully dark - looks significantly worse than my UHD copy of "It's a Wonderful Life" which has a lovely contrast between blank and white.

I played back the extra on the "N" disc with Racquel Gates and the clips from the film look stunningly different: there is high contrast between the blacks and whites and the picture looks fantastic there. Looks like a completely different restoration: a much better one!

I've alerted Criterion. I just wanted to see if anyone else has this issue?

[bfaison]

Went to BN today to pick up the 3 new titles and they had pulled all copies of Kane and refused to sell me one. I don't remember this ever happening before, and it is impressive how quickly Criterion nipped this in the rosebud!

[Drucker]

Awful. Criterion's customer service is actually too responsive.

[dustybooks]

This latest development really seems like a B&N decision, since the 4K is still for sale everywhere else. Either that or they got a directive about not selling the BD-only sets and misinterpreted?

[Finch]

The complaints about the packaging make me wonder if I should just go for Warner's European UHD instead provided the 4k disc looks great but given Warner's UHD record this far, I think we have reason to be optimistic.

PS.: Hmm, now that I'm seeing the UK packaging and all the IMO superfluous stuff that comes with it, I'm now stuck between accepting the problematic packaging of the Criterion (which admittedly murders the Warner in the bonus features department) and possibly waiting for the European version to be issued in a standard case.

[Glowingwabbit]

I'm more alarmed about the UHD disc (the "K" disc) - which is supposed to be OK.

My copy pixilates and stalls at the end of chapter 12. I have these problems at about the 47 minute mark. I ejected the disc several times and restarted at that point, the picture always becomes garbled between about 47:20 and 48:12. It seems to skip several seconds in there, but not always in the same place.

Generally, the picture looks very grey, almost sepia-tinted throughout the UHD disc: the contrast seems off. Was this intentional? It's awfully dark

I didn't have any issues with pixilation or freezing so that's likely a bad copy you got.

However I found it very dark too. It's been awhile since I have actually watched it so I thought maybe it was just me expecting the picture to look clearer throughout. It just seemed like details were being lost in the blacks. Maybe someone with a better eye for these things can report on it. The Rosenbaum/Naremore commentary was excellent though.

[schellenbergk]

I enjoyed their commentary as well - there was an interesting tension between them IMO.

[Glowingwabbit]

I enjoyed their commentary as well - there was an interesting tension between them IMO.

Yes I noticed that too. I don't think their other ones have that tension so it added an interesting dimension.

[Roscoe]

I actually had to turn the brightness down on my TV for the 4K UHD -- it looked washed out, until I turned it down a few degrees. After that it was great. Striking and vivid -- the textures jumped off the screen, like that shawl Mrs. Kane has on in the snow. And then I checked the regular Blu-Ray, and it looked okay until the 30 minute mark when it just got all washed out, the change is palpable, and it comes for me in the moment of Kane saying, "Everything you hate" looking fine to Thompson closing Thatcher's memoirs in annoyance all overbright.

[ryannichols7]

I enjoyed their commentary as well - there was an interesting tension between them IMO.

Yes I noticed that too. I don't think their other ones have that tension so it added an interesting dimension.

I seem to recall a little bit of one on the Touch of Evil track. it definitely made it all the better, whether it's legitimate or just played up. being informational is obviously great, but being entertaining at the same time pushes it into "great track" territory

[4LOM]

The complaints about the packaging make me wonder if I should just go for Warner's European UHD instead provided the 4k disc looks great but given Warner's UHD record this far, I think we have reason to be optimistic.

PS.: Hmm, now that I'm seeing the UK packaging and all the IMO superfluous stuff that comes with it, I'm now stuck between accepting the problematic packaging of the Criterion (which admittedly murders the Warner in the bonus features department) and possibly waiting for the European version to be issued in a standard case.

There is the Gernan UHD BD withoutl special packaging: https://www.amazon.de/Citizen-Kane-4K-U ... B09J7Q648Y

[EddieLarkin]

Generally, the picture looks very grey, almost sepia-tinted throughout the UHD disc: the contrast seems off. Was this intentional? It's awfully dark - looks significantly worse than my UHD copy of "It's a Wonderful Life" which has a lovely contrast between blank and white.

I played back the extra on the "N" disc with Racquel Gates and the clips from the film look stunningly different: there is high contrast between the blacks and whites and the picture looks fantastic there. Looks like a completely different restoration: a much better one!

I've alerted Criterion. I just wanted to see if anyone else has this issue?

Are you sure that the TV actually switched over to HDR/PQ when you went from the menu to the feature? This would happen quite often on my old LG OLED, were the TV would seemingly not receive or act on the HDR flag and start playing back in SDR. This results in a very washed out and obviously "wrong" looking image. Because if the UHD looks like the caps at Beaver of the BD (the first 30 mins anyway), as Gary indicated, then I certainly wouldnt describe it as washed out. I would suggest comparing it yourself to the first 30 minutes of the BD (assuming you haven't snapped it in half yet) to see if they share the look.

However I found it very dark too. It's been awhile since I have actually watched it so I thought maybe it was just me expecting the picture to look clearer throughout. It just seemed like details were being lost in the blacks. Maybe someone with a better eye for these things can report on it. The Rosenbaum/Naremore commentary was excellent though.

Do you mean that the overall image looked dim, and it was thus hard to make out information, or that the blacks are that deep and contrasty that details appear crushed out?

[Glowingwabbit]

Do you mean that the overall image looked dim, and it was thus hard to make out information, or that the blacks are that deep and contrasty that details appear crushed out?

I'd say the latter. It's prevalent in the darker scenes it seems. Scenes such as the childhood memories in the snow look great.

[schellenbergk]

Are you sure that the TV actually switched over to HDR/PQ when you went from the menu to the feature? This would happen quite often on my old LG OLED, were the TV would seemingly not receive or act on the HDR flag and start playing back in SDR. This results in a very washed out and obviously "wrong" looking image. Because if the UHD looks like the caps at Beaver of the BD (the first 30 mins anyway), as Gary indicated, then I certainly wouldnt describe it as washed out. I would suggest comparing it yourself to the first 30 minutes of the BD (assuming you haven't snapped it in half yet) to see if they share the look.

However I found it very dark too. It's been awhile since I have actually watched it so I thought maybe it was just me expecting the picture to look clearer throughout. It just seemed like details were being lost in the blacks. Maybe someone with a better eye for these things can report on it. The Rosenbaum/Naremore commentary was excellent though.

Do you mean that the overall image looked dim, and it was thus hard to make out information, or that the blacks are that deep and contrasty that details appear crushed out?

Well, BD already in the mail so that’s not an option. As I mentioned, there’s a striking difference with the scenes included in the newly filmed extra (on the N disc)

For me, the image is black and grey rather than black and white. Even the snow scenes were dim.

Not sure how I would know whether it’s playing back in HDR, but I would note that the on screen controls when the disc is paused are a different color on UHD discs and they were on the Citizen Kane disc K as well. But I’m not sure how I would know whether the TV switched to HDR. I did notice the letters HDR pop up in the top right corner st one point…

[EddieLarkin]

Not sure how I would know whether it’s playing back in HDR, but I would note that the on screen controls when the disc is paused are a different color on UHD discs and they were on the Citizen Kane disc K as well. But I’m not sure how I would know whether the TV switched to HDR. I did notice the letters HDR pop up in the top right corner st one point…

Yeah, the HDR (or Dolby Vision) pop up will appear whenever the TV switches to that mode.

[schellenbergk]

Yeah, the HDR (or Dolby Vision) pop up will appear whenever the TV switches to that mode.

So - it seems to be the disc. (Heavy sigh)

[hearthesilence]

They said on Twitter that you can just snap the discs in half and put it in a regular envelope.

That is so wild! Even with a defective disc, I don’t know if I could bring myself to do that (especially without a replacement in hand already).

Well I'll break anything in half for $10

I would recommend cutting it in half with heavy-duty scissors. If you try to bend and snap it, it could be dangerous as it could shatter in the process and send small but very sharp shards flying all over the place. At minimum you should wear eye protection if you do that. (This is what happened when I tried this with CD-R's when I was simply curious as to how heavy duty those discs were.)

[criterionsnob]

They've updated the replacement program options to include taking a photo instead of mailing it back. See here.

[therewillbeblus]

Fantastic!

[swo17]

But you have to take a photo of how you've broken it in half?

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah, so they know you're not doubling up on good copies I guess- encouraging destruction of property is an interesting tactic!

[Finch]

What a PR disaster.

[soundchaser]

They should have held a contest to see who could take the most interesting photo of their broken disc. Dibs on a blurry snowglobe in the background.