UHD New Releases, Reissues and Upgrades

[nicolas]

Hatari (KL) is a solid upgrade despite poor compression but the new master couldn’t be a bigger improvement: https://slow.pics/c/VUdrR3I2

Cinemaniac also did caps for their Snake Eyes UHD and it’s a small upgrade at best since the older master is strong but I don’t want to judge yet as the grain looks strangely even and thick to my eyes in the OCN-sourced shots, which doesn’t fit with KL’s usual quality. It may be that they did it like Turbine Germany have done where they took older masters and applied a layer of fake grain on top to make it appear newer. Since the old master is of better quality, it would be suitable for such a thing and with KL nothing surprises me. Their master for Below also looks similarly processed, which can even be seen in BR.com’s caps. This is just speculation at this point but we’ll see. https://slow.pics/c/4nlcnvXF

[vanshady]

Is the Rocky set supposed to be in the disappointing category? According to https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewto ... 37#p786436 and viewtopic.php?t=17181&start=1100#p788570

[nicolas]

Is the Rocky set supposed to be in the disappointing category? According to https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewto ... 37#p786436 and viewtopic.php?t=17181&start=1100#p788570

You’re referring to the first iteration of this set before the issues were corrected. The encodes are still as previously but I’d definitely say it’s a blue category release. You can use the 1-6 set as that’s essentially the one to go now. According to Geoff / BR.com, Rocky V looks good whereas Rocky Balboa doesn’t have the best encode as they encoded the two cuts of the film separately on one disc instead of seamlessly branching them. I’ve watched parts 1-4 last year and found the presentations in PQ and AQ really good.

[vanshady]

Ah I see, good to see that studios actually fix their sets, thanks

[nicolas]

Ah I see, good to see that studios actually fix their sets, thanks

Not always but thankfully they did it here as the problems were quite substantial.

[nicolas]

Happy new year everyone! Thanks for all the great interactions in 2024. Looking forward to what’s surely another exceptional year for physical media.

[Finch]

Cinemaniac's screengrabs for Seven here. fkid liked it a lot as well. At a minimum, it seems a solid upgrade over the Bluray, maybe even better than that. PS.: There's quite a few complaints about the slots in the digipak being too tight. If you're very concerned about your disc getting scratched, you might be better off with the steelbook.

Also, Felidae from Deaf Crocodile

[Fus1on]

I also just watched the Se7en UHD, and I definitely liked the way it looked in HDR. I was a little taken aback by how little film grain the transfer has (I have a feeling like there was some light noise reduction applied), but it otherwise looks great.

[nicolas]

I also just watched the Se7en UHD, and I definitely liked the way it looked in HDR. I was a little taken aback by how little film grain the transfer has (I have a feeling like there was some light noise reduction applied), but it otherwise looks great.

The film was shot on Super 35 and at least partially on the fastest stock they had at the time. I haven’t seen the film in many years and am totally unfamiliar with any particular details but Fincher confirmed that Darius Khondji alternated stocks even in the middle of a scene when he deemed necessary, such as for a reverse shot in a dialogue, so they definitely worked to have a “clean” image as much as possible. I imagine the scenes that gave you the impression are the ones shot on the slowest stock. The caps do look like they perfectly resolved that in the master and I’m also immensely happy that Fincher left the grain in. This was his first full-on 4K film restoration and I would’ve bet he’d DNR the film. I’m eagerly anticipating my set now.

[Tuppence]

Fincher has also taken the opportunity to get the CGI tools out, and add some elements to scenes which weren't there originally. A few examples are below:

More telephone wires
Added lightbulb
Removed strand of hair
Added door

He's discussed more of the changes, including AI sharpening, here.

[midnitedave]

I watched Umbrella's 4k of Eyes Without a Face and really enjoyed the Dolby Vision presentation. Most scenes are crisp while retaining film grain, though some parts are especially grainy and soft. That said, I was lucky enough to catch a 35mm screening this past October and can confirm the same scenes appeared similar so I presume it's just the source materials. Notably (and unfortunately), there's no restoration details mentioned in their booklet. What's more, there's slight errors in the subtitles with 1 or | being in place of I. I only counted four instances of this, so it isn't a deal breaker (for me, at least).

[Titch]

Umbrella Entertainment's Eyes Without a Face 4K UHD is definitely in the red category, compared to the 2013 Criterion and Gaumont blu-rays. This is an absolutely gorgeous 4K UHD. It's probably from the same restoration that the Gaumount/Criterion blu-rays used back in 2013, but this looks like a new scan, with a nice HDR pass - it works surprisingly well on my projector. People with OLED screens and Dolby Vision capability (which I don't have) will have an even better picture. The grain is much better resolved on the 4K UHD, as well as the contrast and grey levels. There is more detail apparent in the nighttime scenes. Can confirm the few subtitle errors but at least Umbrella Entertainment are now doing the subtitles in white, instead of yellow. It's great that we're now getting more black and white classics in fantastic 4K UHD versions.

[nicolas]

Umbrella Entertainment's Eyes Without a Face 4K UHD is definitely in the red category, compared to the 2013 Criterion and Gaumont blu-rays. This is an absolutely gorgeous 4K UHD. It's probably from the same restoration that the Gaumount/Criterion blu-rays used back in 2013, but this looks like a new scan, with a nice HDR pass - it works surprisingly well on my projector. People with OLED screens and Dolby Vision capability (which I don't have) will have an even better picture. The grain is much better resolved on the 4K UHD, as well as the contrast and grey levels. There is more detail apparent in the nighttime scenes. Can confirm the few subtitle errors but at least Umbrella Entertainment are now doing the subtitles in white, instead of yellow. It's great that we're now getting more black and white classics in fantastic 4K UHD versions.

Great news. This is surely a new scan and restoration. Gaumont or Criterion did a HD master on a Spirit telecine, so they’d have to upscale this for the 4K, which isn’t likely. Looking forward to an inevitable Criterion upgrade down the line. I never bought their BD but I’ve a feeling this will be another one they’ll put out in SDR.

[tenia]

New scan and restoration, performed by Gaumont and released in France by Le chat qui fume, which also reintroduces the short scene that was missing in the French previous BD release by Gaumont (unlike in Criterion and BFI releases, which included it).

[nicolas]

Arrow’s The Usual Suspects improves on Kino’s 4K encode but since the Kino came out back when they still used the better encoding facility, improvements are subtle. Regardless the KL isn’t perfect and occasionally with blocky highlights whereas the Arrow is consistently tight.

Yojimbo by Criterion is a great upgrade to their old BD. They’re using the Toho master, which is fine but has some grain management and it was graded to look rather monochrome. As seen with Seven Samurai, the grain management might be another situation where Criterion doesn’t have it and when looking at cinemaniac / Kobe’s caps, it’s doubtful that Criterion’s grade was ever accurate in the first place as seen with the heavy black crush and elevated contrast. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... count=2392

Kobe also confirmed that the audio is different to their BD. I’ll share if he posts a comparison or more details.

[Finch]

Inglourious Bastards Arrow added as a Solid Upgrade overall and superior import to the Universal: the transfer is the same but it has a better encode and new extras and a book.

[nicolas]

Kobe also confirmed that the audio is different to their BD. I’ll share if he posts a comparison or more details.

Regarding Yojimbo once again: Kobe posted his comparison (https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... stcount=71) and the new Criterion mixes are improvements to the BD versions.

Another BR forum member mentioned that this also applies to Sanjuro.

[tenia]

Seeing those loudness measurements : does anybody know (or can ask) how they're performed ? I'd love to be able to do some myself but haven't found something practical yet.

[Finch]

Added Yojimbo/Sanjuro to the red list.

[cinemaniac]

Seeing those loudness measurements : does anybody know (or can ask) how they're performed ? I'd love to be able to do some myself but haven't found something practical yet.

I use Yoolean.


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[Finch]

Arrow's The Cell release is likely heading for a recall and replacement. The Director's Cut of the film has 25 seconds of repeated frames in the scene around the 15 minute mark where it dissolves from the blanket on Lopez's bed to the sand dunes. It never shows her watching Forbidden Planet on her TV. The disc of the theatrical cut shows her falling asleep as intended.

EDIT: no one has confirmed yet if the BD of the DC has the repeated sand dunes tracking shot and the correct footage missing.

[nicolas]

Murder on the Orient Express (1974, KL) is better on BD than 4K. Their BD looks like it got a pleasing encode whereas the caps I’ve seen of the 4K looked terrible, particularly in the snow shots. https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=18949&d2=17155&c=4392

[tenia]

EDIT : thought it was comparing to the UHD, but it's the remastered BD instead.

[nicolas]

Based on these caps only, I definitely wouldn't conclude the BD is better. The UHD, while having seemingly a patchy encode, otherwise seem to noticeably refine the PQ overall, like on caps 9 and 11.

CAH only uploaded caps of the new, 4K-remastered KL BD, not the 4k disc. The UHD caps I’ve seen from someone at BR looked pretty bad blocking-wise and they also showed quite heavy chroma noise.

[tenia]

Oh my bad, I didn't realise it was the remastered BD and not the UHD. I'll edit my post.