UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading [Archive]

[AxeYou]

If it wasn't for the boutique labels....

I think the boutiques clearly have no clue on audio either. Leaving aside wrong-pitch that crops up from time to time (e.g. Chungking Express in WKW box set, Arrow’s Dekalog), the bigger problem is what appears to be an industry-wide trend to apply “noise-reduction” to audio. Criterion even habitually does additional audio “restoration” that muffles everything on top of the masters they are supplied with. Countless documentations of inferior audio transfer on (4K) Blu-ray vs DVD/LaserDisc/VHS here: https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/

Sadly, I think we’ll only find disappointment here. Even some of the reference titles have pretty bad audio. For example, blah-ray on Dawn of the Dead (1978):

The mono suspiciously resembles a downmix of the faux stereo track made in ~2010. It's been EQed rather strongly - it's extremely bass-heavy.

Several pages back someone mentioned Full Metal Jacket’s bad 5.1 mix and the 4K disc’s mono track was offered as a remedy. Well, that track is likely not the original mono and sounds so much worse than the old DVD. Here’s a sample.

I've noticed 4K discs from certain companies like VS are almost always clean and play perfectly, whereas others don't (at least for me) or are damaged.

Almost all North American studios and boutiques press their discs at that same Mexican plant. Paramount is an odd exception who started pressing in Germany in recent years. Of course, the hilarious result is having the most inconsistent transfers paired with the best plastic discs.

The one time I ordered from VS, all discs arrived in perfect condition. So I’d assume they press elsewhere too.

[Finch]

Dragonheart (Shout Factory)

Kubo and the two Strings (Shout/Laika) (for the ATMOS track)

Marathon Man (Kino)

[Finch]

88's UHD of Hell of the Living Dead is a flop: the color grading is off, the Italian audio is a mess, and there are issues with the subtitles too.

[ryannichols7]

Marathon Man (Kino)

what's the deal here Finch? bad Paramount master?

[Orlac]

88's UHD of Hell of the Living Dead is a flop: the color grading is off, the Italian audio is a mess, and there are issues with the subtitles too.

The colour grading issue isn't present on the accompanying blu-ray, or at least it's less obvious.

[Finch]

Marathon Man (Kino)

what's the deal here Finch? bad Paramount master?

No, they left the source alone and it looks very good. Some people screamed teal all over but the UHD actually has a bit more of a cyan push. This is a fine release and the BR "review" can be ignored.

[5meohd]

Has anyone seen Mildred Pierce?

Also, I cringe everytime I see the claim about Pan's Labyrinth. I have both the CC blu and the studio 4KUHD. With a Panasonic UHD player and an Oppo Bluray player I can flip back and forth... the 4K is indeed flawed, but the CC blu is laughably bad on my 65" Reference Sony A90J. It's one of the handful of blurays I've watched that gives me that striking memory of when I switched to HD from SD and the HD panel was basically a magnifying glass of SDs shortcomings. Yet the occasional well authored DVD could still look incredible. Certainly I think many blurays do still look incredible, but not all and Pans Labyrinth from CC is one of the ones that looks terrible. The blacks are so raised and everything feels washed out. These are just my observations... Ive read through the entire br.com thread, so I'm aware others disagree. I just wonder what those eyes would think if they were seeing it on a calibrated A90J.

[RitrovataBlue]

I also found the Pan's Labyrinth UHD superior to both the Criterion and studio blu-rays. It may not be perfect, but it certainly looked better textured and much more robust in color and contrast. The negative comments in this thread surprised me.

[therewillbeblus]

What's the source of the placement? Geoff's one man band or a consensus of other eyes?

[Finch]

MA strongly felt it should be moved to the Avoid section. His post was a few pages back, I think.

[Orlac]

88's UHD of Hell of the Living Dead is a flop: the color grading is off, the Italian audio is a mess, and there are issues with the subtitles too.

Hopefully 88 will fix this, despite the best efforts of forum trolls who post nonsense like "LOL best it's ever looked, it's an old crap movie, what do you expect? LOL".. (I'm paraphrasing, by the way).

[M-A]

I've just looked over Pan's Labyrinth on the forums and it seems most people are agreeing that the 2011 Optimum blu is better than the 4K, but some people think the 4K is better. Maybe it should be disappointing if compared to any of the US blus, but avoid if compared to the Optimum blu?

[Finch]

Mildred Pierce (Criterion) Chris's review

I was briefly mulling a Divided Opinion category but came to the conclusion we have enough categories as it is and I'm not in the mood for this kind of hair splitting. I'll move Pan's back into the Disappointing column.

[Finch]

The Prince of Egypt (Universal) review

[Finch]

Streets of Fire (Shout) capsule on the PQ and a comment on the audio tracks

[Finch]

Air Force One (Sony 2023 steelbook) Matt89's quick take

[M Sanderson]

Any feedback, good or bad, for the German 4k of Walter Hill's latest film, Dead for a Dollar? I believe it was a digital production, and am hoping that the UHD doesn't have any problems.

[Finch]

So, quick public service announcement: updates after today may not be happening until Monday or Tuesday next week as I'm moving from MD to PA and internet access is going to be limited.

Dead for a Dollar: unfortunately no feedback either way that I can find yet.

Nissling on BR reached out to the colorist of Triangle of Sadness and was told that the production team approved two SDR-only masters, one in DCI-P3 for theatrical distribution and one in BT.709 for home video. So the German UHD of Triangle has an HDR grade not approved by Ostlund or his DoP and colorist.

I'm reading that Warners' new Superman set is not going to have a new restoration for the original movie, no fix for the film's title cards and that the 5.1 track which is regarded as a faithful remix of the original audio has been dropped. All that after the various flaws of the Rocky set. Between the carelessness of some of the majors on their catalogue reissues and the scratched discs coming from the Mexican plant, it's no wonder that people think UHD is physical media's last hurrah.

I forgot to mention in the last post that Sony fixed the subtitles on Air Force One with the new release. Sony are charging premiums for these steelbooks but at least you get a product put together with care. They also got rid of the menu pop up that appeared during the end credits of Mask of Zorro on the first release.

[therewillbeblus]

Good luck on the move, Finch!

[Finch]

Thanks twwb!

[EddieLarkin]

I'm reading that Warners' new Superman set is not going to have a new restoration for the original movie, no fix for the film's title cards and that the 5.1 track which is regarded as a faithful remix of the original audio has been dropped.

Worse than that, the 5.1 is not a remix of any kind. Whilst Apocalypse Now was the first film released with a true 5 channel stereo surround track (that is, with stereo surrounds rather than just a mono surround), Superman was actually the first film it was ever used on, but its stereo surround track never made it to any theatrical engagements due to the decoding equipment not yet being available.

The 5.1 track found on the old UHD is by all reports this same 5 channel stereo surround track, never before available on home video. It has vastly superior fidelity to the 2.0 Dolby Stereo track that had previously featured as the "original audio" option on disc releases until now, and it is entirely different to the other 5.1 track featured on earlier Superman video releases, which instead was a modern remix designed for the 2001 special edition with new modern foley and such (the Atmos track is based on this same crappy remix).

The UHD in the box set will no longer feature this 5.1, but instead the Atmos and the old 2.0 (and WB has already released this altered disc in the single film package, meaning if you buy the old standalone version you'll still end up with the new disc sans 5.1. To get the original UHD one would need to find a used copy).

[Finch]

Thank you for clarifying this, Eddie! Much appreciated!

[rrenault]

Finch: You're moving from MD to PA, as in from Maryland to Pennsylvania? I thought you lived in the UK.

Also, are you waiting for Curzon's release of the The Three Colors Trilogy before deciding which column to place it in?

[Finch]

Hi rrenault, I've been living in the US since 2018. I would have to ask Chris to change the location in my profile. And yes I want to see what the encoding of the UK release is like. Okay, back to packing!

[rrenault]

ESC's UHD of Rules of the Game is listed as a reference disc here, although there seems to be some controversy regarding the heightened contrast on the disc. I'm wondering how much of an essential purchase the Criterion 4K will actually be for someone who already owns the French disc (unless I just supplement the ESC with BFI's forthcoming blu-ray likely to not have the contrast issue). I guess a side of me also doesn't want to spend Criterion 4K prices on an import also likely to have the Mexican pressing plant signature. I guess I expect to remain somewhat anxious until June when it becomes clear whether or not this is in fact a justifiable double dip. I've decided because of the issues at the Mexican plant I'm only buying North American releases of absolute "desert island" films, and even then only if they don't have a release in Europe of quality competitive with what's in North America.

If the Criterion UHD is "Disappointing" compared to BFI's standard blu-ray I probably won't bother getting it. However, if it's at least "Solid" I'll be tempted.