UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading [Archive]

[MichaelB]

Yes, very clear winner. I was hesitant about picking up the Three Colours set, but the news about the restored documentaries in HD was a major incentive and the fact that it appears to offer the best presentation of the main features has most likely pushed me into it.

(I'm giving a talk on Kieślowski at the Watermans Arts Centre in London later this month, so I think that's what I'll be spending a chunk of my fee on! If I was feeling really cheeky, I'd claim it as an essential expense, but I suspect I wouldn't get away with that for a single solitary millisecond, and nor would I deserve to.)

[M Sanderson]

Looking like Criterion's Thelma & Louise features the teal and amber colour schemes a bit too aggressively, although it's approved by Scott (on B-R.com).

Are there any viewpoints that would contradict this?

[Finch]

The Three Colors Trilogy (Curzon) (best encode for all three films, documentaries in HD) (caveat: no original audio)

The Three Colors Trilogy (Criterion) (good encodes for Blue & White, good encode for Red in Dolby Vision only) (caveat: no original audio)

Curzon also gets a mention in the Superior Import column.

[nicolas]

I’m not sure who communicated that the Curzon Three Colors and Véronique don’t have original audio.

They do have 2.0 PCM tracks each! I can’t tell for certain if these are just downmixes or truly from the original masters though.

Overall these releases are much better than anything else currently available and, the caveat regarding frozen grain and highlight clipping in all viewing modes aside, superb releases.

[nicolas]

Another 4K UHD which deserves all possible praise - Plaion Pictures’ Rider on the Rain. Available as “Der aus dem Regen kam” in Germany.

I’ve now watched the entire film after previously only spot-checking and felt compelled to reiterate how phenomenal this film looks as presented by Plaion.

Their encode (watched in DV but applicable to HDR10 and SDR as well) and disc presentation rivals anything by Fidelity in Motion. Yes, it’s that good and beautiful. Some shots are honestly beyond belief - for a somewhat oddity of a film, for the period and stock / lens limitations and for the astounding quality of the restoration as done in France. I felt like getting to see a DCP on my TV (LG OLED 2022 83 inch).
I wish every 4K UHD would look like this. I may even say that this is my favorite 4K UHD I’ve seen so far image-wise - and I own roughly 700.

This is demo material for a shot-on-film joint. There are no opticals apart from the title- and end credits with only a handful of second-gen material moments spread throughout, likely for scenes they originally had to cut.

The film is odd in how it jumps in tone pretty wildly but Bronson clearly had fun doing this part, unlike some of his later works. Don’t expect action, much more a thriller / drama European style. It’s no masterpiece but a good watch made even more special by absolute reference quality video and very good audio.

All labels and authoring houses still struggling with getting across a perfect encode should take a good look at this disc. A two-hour movie on a BD-66 with a couple language options and a flawless encode. It’s all possible… if they want it.

[therewillbeblus]

I’m not sure who communicated that the Curzon Three Colors and Véronique don’t have original audio.

They do have 2.0 PCM tracks each! I can’t tell for certain if these are just downmixes or truly from the original masters though.

Overall these releases are much better than anything else currently available and, the caveat regarding frozen grain and highlight clipping in all viewing modes aside, superb releases.

Cool, thanks Finch. Trying to decide whether to just go ahead and snag the Curzon Véronique or wait on the inevitable Criterion - though they don't seem to have the best UHD track record, and if Three Colors is any indication, it might not be worth it. Is there room for improvement on Curzon's Véronique?

[nicolas]

I’m not sure who communicated that the Curzon Three Colors and Véronique don’t have original audio.

They do have 2.0 PCM tracks each! I can’t tell for certain if these are just downmixes or truly from the original masters though.

Overall these releases are much better than anything else currently available and, the caveat regarding frozen grain and highlight clipping in all viewing modes aside, superb releases.

Cool, thanks Finch. Trying to decide whether to just go ahead and snag the Curzon Véronique or wait on the inevitable Criterion - though they don't seem to have the best UHD track record, and if Three Colors is any indication, it might not be worth it. Is there room for improvement on Curzon's Véronique?

If you ask me from a purely technical perspective then yes, there is clearly room for improvement but not much. Based on what Criterion / Pixelogic did to the Three Colors 4K they likely apply the same low-pass filtering to a potential Véronique UHD again, which would make that disc significantly inferior to the Curzon.

Curzon’s only problem is the clipped highlight but the greatest asset in this case is the cinematography of Sławomir Idziak due to his filters that take away anything bright in the first place - even more so than in Three Colors: Blue. That’s why Véronique also looks the best of all their new 4K UHD’s as there isn’t much that can be clipped.

The amount of detail that is there though is absolutely gorgeous and couldn’t be improved by much, if at all. So if you decide for one, take the Curzon without a doubt.

Hope you enjoy!

[therewillbeblus]

Thanks for the thoughtful response! I'm not usually the most picky UHD guy (I recently picked up the poor SC Carpenters, because it was just easier) but Véronique is one of my favorite films ever, so I'm trying to be careful on this one. I appreciate your confidence!

[denti alligator]

Where's the best place to purchase these (Three Colors and Veronique) from the US?

[nicolas]

Where's the best place to purchase these (Three Colors and Veronique) from the US?

I cannot speak for the US since I’m from Germany but I often read the names Diabolik and Orbit as some of the favorite US retailers.

I used Amazon UK and the Three Colors Set wrapped in a gift bag to really insure that they ship the order in a box instead of a plastic bag or whatever flimsy and way-too-small cardboard mailers they have lying around their warehouses.

My method worked with both editions (and Arrow’s Naked Lunch) arriving mint.

[AxeYou]

Is Curzon’s Three Colours a limited edition release? I don’t think their press release says so, but OrbitDVD labels it as an LE.

I don’t mind potentially losing the packaging in an SE reissue at all, but if the newly restored short films or booklet are “limited” then I’d pick it up.

[swo17]

I don't see it available from anything but third-party sellers, even on Amazon UK

[nicolas]

Is Curzon’s Three Colours a limited edition release? I don’t think their press release says so, but OrbitDVD labels it as an LE.

I don’t mind potentially losing the packaging in an SE reissue at all, but if the newly restored short films or booklet are “limited” then I’d pick it up.

They don’t state limited edition numbers as with Wings of Desire or their Wenders BD set, so likely not anytime soon.

I don’t even see Véronique’s slip cover selling out as there are all the technical infos on there. The actual Scanavo cover litho has none of that, not even the barcode.

[MichaelB]

I’m not sure who communicated that the Curzon Three Colors and Véronique don’t have original audio.

They do have 2.0 PCM tracks each! I can’t tell for certain if these are just downmixes or truly from the original masters though.

Overall these releases are much better than anything else currently available and, the caveat regarding frozen grain and highlight clipping in all viewing modes aside, superb releases.

The original films were Dolby Stereo, so effectively 4.0.

I can't speak for these, but the 5.1 soundtrack on The Double Life of Véronique was essentially 4.1, as the two rear channels were identical - and as the subwoofer was very sparely used, it's 4.0 for much of the running time.

So it may well be a very similar situation here.

[cdnchris]

I never noticed any split activity in the rear speakers. They always sounded to be in unison, so I figured they were effectively 4.1 mixes.

[AxeYou]

Also worth noting that modern AVRs don't decode 2.0 Surround to 4.0 exactly "faithfully": https://fanrestore.com/thread-3467-post ... l#pid65346

As mentioned toward the end of the above text wall, modern systems do not necessarily "accurately" decode matrixed 4:2 "2.0" tracks back to 4 channels again in line the original intention of the design. They're not really accurate regardless of which way you mean the word: they're neither accurate to the original discrete 4-channel input tracks (which cannot be exactly reproduced from any matrixed 4:2 track given that it is inherently a lossy process) nor accurate to the original way these 4:2 tracks would have been heard in cinemas when decoded back 2:4 again.

So it might well be the case the the 5.1 (4.1) is more "OG."

[Finch]

Rider on the Rain (Plaion) (German import) added to OP.

[hearthesilence]

I was going to get Curzon's UHD set of Three Colors, but $100 before taxes and shipping seems to be the lowest price I can find. I already had the Criterion set, so I'll probably hold off until a sale or (wishful thinking) an even better encode.

[MichaelB]

I never noticed any split activity in the rear speakers. They always sounded to be in unison, so I figured they were effectively 4.1 mixes.

I actually ripped the soundtrack and had a look at the waveforms of the rear channels, and they are indeed in unison.

[rrenault]

I personally think Curzon's Véronique 4K looks gorgeous for the most part.

[M-A]

Is Curzon’s Three Colours a limited edition release? I don’t think their press release says so, but OrbitDVD labels it as an LE.

I don’t mind potentially losing the packaging in an SE reissue at all, but if the newly restored short films or booklet are “limited” then I’d pick it up.

I emailed Curzon to ask and they confirmed that it is not a limited edition release and there will not be a standard edition.

[rrenault]

Any word on The Man Who Fell to Earth? It came out back in March. The English-friendly Italian 4K release of The Conformist could also be worth adding.

[Finch]

I don't have time to check right now but I think I posted in mid or late March in this thread that the few reactions to the SC Man Who Fell To Earth that I was able to find were positive. But I don't think anyone has commented since. Check a few pages back.

If anyone has the Italian Conformist, please feel free to share your impressions.

[M Sanderson]

I’d like to dispute the ‘83 Scarface as a reference disc. This has some of the most unnatural grain I’ve seen, to the point that I think it’s not grain, but anomalies or artifacts or encoding lapses. What I had assumed to be grain aappears in weird sheets and oblongs. I noticed b-r.com awarded it 5/5 for PQ. Then a later reviewer of a separate release dropped their score down to I believe a 4.5 or 4, remarking that not all the grain looks natural.

For me the disc is incredibly distracting, enough that I didn’t want to complete a second viewing.

[Finch]

daylightsend on The Shiver of the Vampires 4k (Indicator)

Revising Scarface (1983)