A policy I would recommend ditching. I can understand it when we're talking about films that share the same 4K master between an old BD and the UHD (Easy Rider, Goodfellas), and thus we really only have the HDR to properly upgrade to (and in the case of some films, such as Goodfellas, the HDR is minimal to non-existent).MichaelB wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 8:29 amAnd I also, with only the rarest exceptions (Blade Runner, unsurprisingly, being one) don't upgrade to UHD if I already own the film on BD - although I'm justifying Jaws on the grounds that my BD was a review checkdisc.
(I have rather fond memories of that review, as it's the only time I've ever had anything rejected by Sight & Sound. I can see why - in a desperate attempt to write something original about that film, I compared it to the then concurrent theatrical release The Turin Horse with a straight face and divined a surprising number of parallels, but it was considered a little too whimsical, and so the final piece was a lot more conventional.)
But most catalog releases on UHD use brand new transfers that have not been seen on home video. Indeed some are the first instance of a film to use a more modern transfer at all. Take Casino for example, if one were to ignore the UHD because they already have the Blu-ray, they'd be sticking with an old DVD era master which was produced for this 25 year old film's 10th anniversary! The UHD on the other hand uses a brand new transfer that is simply astounding.
Jaws, 2001, American Psycho, The Big Lebowski, It's a Wonderful Life, Scarface, The Blues Brothers, The Shining, Gremlins, The Elephant Man, all use brand new transfers that would be a huge upgrade over any old BD release even if they were merely being re-released on Blu-ray, let alone UHD!
I suspect upcoming titles like the 4 recently announced Hitchcocks and the Kubricks coming from WB and Sony, will all be brand new too.
It's clear that despite the chroma noise, the image still has ultra fine grain and is still a whopping great leap over the Blu-ray in terms of definition.tenia wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 6:12 amBlade Runner's UHD is poorly encoded though, so I'm wondering if your impression is indeed because of finer grain or because the chroma noise makes it look like it.EddieLarkin wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 4:59 amthe grain on Blade Runner for example is much finer than any grain I've seen on a BD