UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

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bad future
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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#26 Post by bad future » Thu Sep 09, 2021 11:32 am

Finch wrote:
Wed Sep 08, 2021 7:58 pm
Can we also list films that have been botched on Blu-Ray but fixed on UHD? Big Lebowski and Predator come to mind. Anything else?
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory had botched framing on the blu-ray which has been corrected on UHD.

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#27 Post by cdnchris » Fri Sep 10, 2021 1:44 am

After finally getting it, Arrow"s True Romance is, not surprisingly when compared to Warner's old BD, a "worth it." The lighting and smoke in the Hopper/Walken scene looks great, and the lighting in the sequence where Saul Rubinek is driving along the coast (which I think is supposed to take place as the sun has started setting) is really on point.

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tenia
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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#28 Post by tenia » Fri Sep 10, 2021 2:11 am

But how does it compare with the Arrow BD ?

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#29 Post by cdnchris » Fri Sep 10, 2021 11:50 am

That's definitely a "fairer" question since one would hope a new 4K restoration would look better than some ancient high-def master...

Comparing it to a handful of scenes on the BD in the Arrow set (I didn't watch the whole film on Blu-ray) I'd still say it's worth it. The restoration is a solid one and it looks great on the Blu-ray disc and if that was all I had I'd still be happy with it. Admittedly resolution doesn't look that much better; it's subtly better, and can be seen in the smoky interiors and the particles floating around, but HDR could be playing into that more, giving the appearance things are sharper. But it comes down a lot to the lighting, with Scott loving his smoky interiors and these scenes all look so much better on the UHD. During the Hopper/Walken sequence, there's light coming through a skylight and that ray of light is cleanly rendered around the edges, doesn't bleed at all into the darker areas whereas the Blu-ray shows that subtle bit of bleeding and the contrast in the scene just isn't as clean. That may seem small, but then it plays into the smoke and the shadows of the scene as well, where you can make out more details, even if subtly, in the darker areas (Walken sits in the shadows and you can see every line on his face clearly) and the smoke ends up standing out more as it swirls around in the light. The light reflecting off of Hopper's jacket is striking but the highlights aren't blown out at all. The disc overall manages highlights rather well, only a handful of sequences presenting highlights or lighting that could be called "excessive," like Oldman's lair, which has all sorts of bright red lights scattered about, but it's suiting. Oldman's lair is a far darker setting and even though the Blu-ray looks fine there can be a flatness and murkiness to the blacks sometimes. The UHD isn't perfect during this sequence, but the shadows look better and there at least feels to be a better sense of depth.

Gradients in the colours are also noticeably better, and I think that also helps that scene I mentioned with Rubinek driving along the coast as the sun sets; the sky just blends so well, and the lighting just feels right coming off the car and his face. The Blu-ray looks perfectly fine, but a lot of the sequences just look better on the UHD and if I had simply just owned the Blu-ray I would definitely jump to the UHD if I saw it.

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Roscoe
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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#30 Post by Roscoe » Fri Sep 10, 2021 4:14 pm

Finch wrote:
Wed Sep 08, 2021 7:58 pm
Can we also list films that have been botched on Blu-Ray but fixed on UHD? Big Lebowski and Predator come to mind. Anything else?
The Blu-Ray of THE SHINING had major color issues -- the UHD 4K release finally makes that little tennis ball yellow again.

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#31 Post by nitin » Mon Sep 13, 2021 9:45 am

Dont Look Now is a good example IMHO. I believe the BD and UHD were both David M joints, use the same new 4k restoration so technically both discs should be amongst the best the respective formats should allow for. But the colour, contrast and grain on the UHD is very noticeably better and there is a decent bump in detail too (although it really isnt the main game).

Also, the UK version of The Fifth Element is far superior to the Sony disc as it uses a restoration from the negative rather than an IP. The Sony, like the previous mastered in 4k BD, looks sharpened.

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#32 Post by danny77 » Mon Sep 13, 2021 4:10 pm

Grease is a strange one. Some scenes look great with the Grain intact and others look awful, like a diffusion filter was in place or maybe DNR?

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#33 Post by tenia » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:05 am

Grease's new restoration is visually bonkers. The grading is a nightmare and it's vastly DNRed.

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#34 Post by bluesforyou » Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:16 am

I have an OLED and I have seen Goodfellas a million times on each Blu-ray and the UHD is the best and most certainly worth the upgrade.

Don't buy the US release of Blade Runner 2049 as Warner applied some light DNR. Get the Sony release from UK.

For Arrival you want the US/UK releases which use the same encode and not the European release.

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#35 Post by ianthemovie » Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:58 am

For those who recommend The Shining in 4K, does the accompanying BD also reflect the improved picture quality and correct color?

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#36 Post by Forrest Taft » Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:44 am

Has anyone seen the UHD release of The Sting? I remember the regular blu-ray being a typical Universal meh-disc, and believe I read that the UHD is from the same restoration.

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#37 Post by bluesforyou » Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:46 am

ianthemovie wrote:
Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:58 am
For those who recommend The Shining in 4K, does the accompanying BD also reflect the improved picture quality and correct color?
It does but the compression is not great.
Forrest Taft wrote:
Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:44 am
Has anyone seen the UHD release of The Sting? I remember the regular blu-ray being a typical Universal meh-disc, and believe I read that the UHD is from the same restoration.
Detailed review from Geoff D.

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#38 Post by cdnchris » Fri Sep 17, 2021 11:54 am

Forrest Taft wrote:
Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:44 am
Has anyone seen the UHD release of The Sting? I remember the regular blu-ray being a typical Universal meh-disc, and believe I read that the UHD is from the same restoration.
I agree with the comments bluesforyou linked to at Blu-ray.com above. I thought it looked pretty good, and he's right that HDR is appropriately applied considering the look of the film. But as mentioned there are some odd effects during transitions and such (which I guess are attributed to noise reduction or a deterioration in the material, and that makes sense) and I also recall moments that came off noisy and blocky. Yet I thought it looked great overall. I only had the DVD prior and haven't looked at the included Blu-ray, but I'm happy I picked it up, warts and all.

And I'll throw in Animal House as a "worth it" while I'm at it, since I got it at the same time. It offers a solid little upgrade over the older Blu-ray.

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#39 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Sep 17, 2021 12:22 pm

Having a few UHD titles (though not all that many discs yet, and that probably won't change), my highest recommendation goes to The Big Lebowski, in that it is a total transformation for a film that is brownish and kind of washed out and grainy on prior disc releases. It looks like an entirely new thing (but not in a way that violates the film grain and cinematography). Probably not what you'd think of first, but it is absolutely worth picking up if you're just getting into the format and have fondness for the film. Isn't even within my five favorite Coens, but it's the best upgrade I've made thus far.
ianthemovie wrote:
Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:58 am
For those who recommend The Shining in 4K, does the accompanying BD also reflect the improved picture quality and correct color?
This is likely my choice for best overall image quality I've seen in the format so far, and the colors are totally what I expected/wanted. Buy buy buy

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#40 Post by sailor » Fri Sep 17, 2021 1:16 pm

One that might be in the "buyer beware" category is The Lord of the Rings. From what I can tell the consensus is that the transfers are better than any Blu-ray edition but DNR was applied liberally (and my untrained eye agrees with that assessment). The Atmos mixes are great though.

Off the top of my head, my best looking discs are The Shining, Phantom Thread, Alien, Spaceballs, Blade Runner (original and 2049), Star Wars: The Last Jedi, A Few Good Men, all of the BBC nature docs (Seven Worlds One Planet is probably my favorite)

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#41 Post by tenia » Fri Sep 17, 2021 2:18 pm

LotR UHDs have remasters that correct a few things compared to past BDs, especially the color grading of the first movie, but they're slathered with DNR and EE, negating a part of the overall upgrade balance.

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#42 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:00 pm

tenia wrote:
Fri Sep 17, 2021 2:18 pm
LotR UHDs have remasters that correct a few things compared to past BDs, especially the color grading of the first movie, but they're slathered with DNR and EE, negating a part of the overall upgrade balance.
Resolution aside (which to be fair is a big deal, especially in this case), are the extended edition DVD boxes of the LotR movies still the best versions out there? IIRC the BD's messed with the color, correct?

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Roscoe
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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#43 Post by Roscoe » Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:08 pm

Anybody got any words on the 4K GOODFELLAS?

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#44 Post by Forrest Taft » Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:18 pm

Thanks for the replies regarding The Sting, I might pick it up after all.

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#45 Post by swo17 » Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:32 pm

Roscoe wrote:
Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:08 pm
Anybody got any words on the 4K GOODFELLAS?
See the first page of this thread, or to recap: it's apparently been unfairly maligned in some corners

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tenia
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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#46 Post by tenia » Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:07 am

hearthesilence wrote:
Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:00 pm
IIRC the BD's messed with the color, correct?
IIRC too, the BD's Extended Cut of the 1st movie is the most problematic, while the other movies and both their cuts are about fine.

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#47 Post by EddieLarkin » Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:15 pm

I think Anatomy of a Murder can safely be placed in the Worth Upgrading column, and that's before even considering the HDR benefits.

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andyli
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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#48 Post by andyli » Sun Sep 19, 2021 8:59 pm

The old Criterion transfer, albeit a 4K one, was harvested from the notorious Spirit 4K datacine wasn't it? The image had a coarse, fake-4K look even at the time of release. Lucky it's a Sony title and eventually gets what it deserves. Not so much hope for other Criterion releases that also utilized that scanner and shared the same look, like Yi Yi.

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andyli
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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#49 Post by andyli » Mon Sep 20, 2021 11:36 pm

What's with Sony's insistence on NOT including audio acommentaries on the 4K disc? All other major studios oblige with this tiny little service. Groundhog Day doesn't have it. Now it looks like Taxi Driver and Anatomy of a Murder in the new set won't carry any audio commentaries (even if they make a new commentary just for this Anatomy release). It looks like Sony is treating their 4k blu-ray as some sort of a Super-Bit DVD or "Mastered in 4K" BD that goes extra miles to exclude any form of special features. Again, it's not like a AC-3 2.0 track takes much space or any production time. Are they assuming that people won't like listening to commentaries while watching the films in the highest quality available?

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Re: UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

#50 Post by ShellOilJunior » Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:47 am

How reliable are sites like Capsaholic if one is not viewing the images with a 4K monitor? I know the site is very popular among blu-ray.com members but I suspect many of them are viewing the caps on 1080p monitors. I'll look at the site every now and then but treat their offerings as a suggestion of what movies may look like. Also, I find it difficult to judge quality unless I can see it motion.

Thought I'd put that out there. I'd be interesting in reading feedback and I might even learn a few things. Thank you!

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