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willoneill wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2020 9:47 pm I prefer the B&W version of The Mist, and I understand that's how Darabont would have released it had he been able to (i.e. the B&W is the "director's intended cut"). In particular, I think the B&W hides some of the flawed CGI in the creatures, and it also makes the ending seem more haunting.

But, to play devil's advocate, you could argue that de-colorizing a film isn't really different than colorizing one, and most cinephiles were pretty firmly against that little Ted Turner experiment.

But the big difference with all the examples cited is that in each case it was the director calling the shots, for what they assert were strong aesthetic reasons.

But the big difference with all the examples cited is that in each case it was the director calling the shots, for what they assert were strong aesthetic reasons.

From what understand, Bong Joon Ho really sees the B&W version as perhaps his preferred. Apparently, he went to some length pre-production to make sure the colors used in the film would translate correctly in B&W. Commercial concerns would obviously dictate you need to produce a film in color but perhaps the artist in Bong Joon Ho yearns for another aesthetic. This is why that B&W version would be a great supplement. It's not the afterthought of some producer to pad a DVD.

The B&W version looked murky and bland to me, like most digital/conversion B&W.

I'll be picking this one up for the Bong commentary alone

Can you have Dolby Atmos soundtrack on the Blu-ray? I thought it's a UHD feature only.

chatterjees wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 5:08 pm Can you have Dolby Atmos soundtrack on the Blu-ray? I thought it's a UHD feature only.

Yes you can. UHD uses BD discs. It's the same technology, same specs. If you wanted to put a 4k UHD presentation on a BD-25, you could. But it would need to be short or extremely compressed.

cowboydan wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 5:16 pm extremely compressed.

Criterion: "we can do that!"

chatterjees wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 5:08 pm Can you have Dolby Atmos soundtrack on the Blu-ray? I thought it's a UHD feature only.

I think Criterion's Roma Blu-ray has an Atmos track.

Roma does, and it's pretty great!

A few music surround titles use Atmos. Off the top of my head the recent Abbey Road box set has one and the new Stones box set will feature an Atmos mix of Goats Head Soup.

It's not all that uncommon for recent movies on Blu-ray have Atmos tracks. Some examples that I personally own: 10 Cloverfield Lane, Star Trek Beyond, Sully, La La Land, Sicario, The Lego Batman Movie, several seasons of Game of Thrones.

I’ve never watched a post-release B&W version of a film (I know there have been a handful recently) but I suppose there’s a noticeable benefit to extra space on a disc for a dedicated and properly color timed B&W version vs just watching the regular version with the color setting on your TV turned all the way down?

I remember my Dad renting old Elvis movies from Blockbuster that had been colorized much to his dismay so he just turned the color all the way down on the TV and was satisfied with the result.

edit: missed the 2 disc specification. NM

HitchcockLang wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 12:55 am I’ve never watched a post-release B&W version of a film (I know there have been a handful recently) but I suppose there’s a noticeable benefit to extra space on a disc for a dedicated and properly color timed B&W version vs just watching the regular version with the color setting on your TV turned all the way down?

The monochrome version have probably gone through a specific, unique scene by scene grade which cannot be replicated by just reducing chroma. There are plenty of ways to convert color to black and white, all with varying results.

I know that Jan Troell have recommended people to watch Flight of the Eagle with saturation turned down to zero, as he originally wanted to make the film in b/w. Some duplicate tests on monochrome film were made which he said looked phenomenal but the budget simply didn't allow it.

Limited Mondo poster and Korean-variant available starting tomorrow

I think he edited the review but in his initial version he kept calling the director Ho instead of Bong. I think he forgot to edit one too.

A good comparison here showing what SDR takes away from the image. This is the sort of difference that is not noticeable when comparing caps the usual way, like Beaver and caps-a-holic do.

Surely a comparison of a 4k disc vs. a 1080p stream isn't very meaningful (as someone on blu-ray.com points out)?

It does make sense. Providing the stream is stable and we know what is behind it, there is still a video file with certain tech specs uphill, which can be compared to whatever you want to compare it with.

I'm more bothered by comparisons performed through taking pictures of your TV, which pile layers of additionnal variables : were the pictures taken in HDR ? Were they taken always in the exact same way ? Is the spot chosen the right one to accurately reflect what's on the screen ? Was the screen calibrated ? Does it properly do HDR ?
It could be SDR pictures, poorly taken, and I have no idea what we're seeing here except it's different for either one or combination of the reasons above.
And of course, we're watching this on SDR screens, mostly.

The Pachyderminator wrote: Sat Sep 19, 2020 12:03 am Surely a comparison of a 4k disc vs. a 1080p stream isn't very meaningful (as someone on blu-ray.com points out)?

Perfectly meaningful if all wants to compare is dynamic range. This isn't going to change between 1080p stream and 1080p disc.

As for using camera shots, as tenia says it is of course not a good way to make accurate comparisons, not to mention the viewing of the resulting pictures obviously still being SDR, but it is a perfectly reasonable way to demonstrate a quick idea of the differences in dynamic range.

It is a much more worthwhile form of comparison than DVDBeaver style screenshots, especially if the master used between a UHD and BD is the same. In such cases screenshots are going to look incredibly close, whilst many such UHDs are actually a huge improvement over BD once you consider the aspects that screenshotting cannot show.

The only proper comparisons based on "regular" screenshots (in opposition to photos) I've seen are either on DVD Classik where multiple conversions are shown to try and demonstrate the various nuances (here on Die Hard or Christine) or the heat map system like here).

But indeed, those camera shots are always better than "basic" SDR-converted unique screenshots like on caps-a-holic or Beaver, because they won't allow to show anything dynamic-wise and will basically flatten things out in one way or another. Which is a shame, considering HDR and WCG are the main upgrade elements on UHD.

Blu-ray.com

"I did not like it at all."

Yet he gives it 3 stars...

Well, I guess Criterion's Portrait of a Lady on Fire won't be reviewed on blu-ray.com for quite some time...