UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading [Archive]

[Finch]

Elf (WB) page 6 screenshots

[Finch]

8 Mile (Universal) French review with caps

[ryannichols7]

any word on The Trial yet Finch? OrbitDVD sold out before I pulled the trigger and now I'm weighing it, especially with the inevitability that Criterion will likely put out a loaded edition in the US (as they have with basically all Welles titles to date)

[Finch]

Ryan, I haven't seen any reviews (trustworthy or otherwise) or comments for The Trial yet.

[therewillbeblus]

StudioCanal seems to usually best Criterion in the UHD format, right? Or am I only thinking of Mulholland Dr.? Either way, the quality of their other releases like Basic Instinct are enough to justify a preorder, even if Criterion will inevitably surpass its meager extras

Speaking of, can we add Basic Instinct to the reference list?

[M-A]

StudioCanal seems to usually best Criterion in the UHD format, right? Or am I only thinking of Mulholland Dr.? Either way, the quality of their other releases like Basic Instinct are enough to justify a preorder, even if Criterion will inevitably surpass its meager extras

Speaking of, can we add Basic Instinct to the reference list?

Studiocanal and Criterion only have 3 titles that they both have on UHD: Mulholland Drive, where the SC is better; The Piano, where they are even; and Le Cercle Rouge, where the Criterion is better.

[EddieLarkin]

There's nothing inherently superior about StudioCanal's releases, pound for pound I'd say Criterion are the better label PQ wise, but SC do sometimes have one edge over them: they hire David M. When they do (Mulholland Dr.) then they'll inevitably best Criterion.

[therewillbeblus]

Good points- not sure if the master list elsewhere is updated with upcoming releases for David M./FID, but if so, it seems he's not involved with The Trial?

[Finch]

I need to double check re Basic Instinct.

Re: Le Cercle Rouge, isn't the Criterion encode one of their weaker ones for the format?

Meanwhile, Elvis fans can rejoice because Blue Hawaii is one of Paramount's better 4ks though purists will be annoyed at the exclusion of the original audio track.

[M-A]

I need to double check re Basic Instinct.

Re: Le Cercle Rouge, isn't the Criterion encode one of their weaker ones for the format?

Meanwhile, Elvis fans can rejoice because Blue Hawaii is one of Paramount's better 4ks though purists will be annoyed at the exclusion of the original audio track.

Yes, I think Le Cercle Rouge and The Virgin Suicides are Criterion's 2 weakest encodes, but at least the encode does not fall apart like SC's disc. I wonder if a case could be made that SC's disc is better than the criterion when viewed in DV because the encode is better for most of the film and won't fall apart as badly in DV.

Edit: Looking at the caps again, the SC seems to become mush in any dark area of any cap, like Breathless but that one was even worse mush and in the bright areas instead, so I am not sure the DV layer will make it that much better, though I haven't seen the disc myself so I couldn't really say.

[Finch]

So, Basic Instinct is actually a mixed bag: reaction 1 and reaction 2. It improves on the terrible old BD and the audio is cleaner but the UHD has a teal grade and DNR applied. Same goes for the enclosed BD.

[therewillbeblus]

Are those two posters dependable resources? Their comments are rather sparse remarks compared to other reviewers who've been linked here to determine quality

Anyways, I always assumed the overly smooth exteriors were that way intentionally, since such an approach works completely in sync with what Verhoeven is doing with the movie. I think it's one of the best-looking UHDs I own, but that's about one sentence too short and not on blu-ray.com, so what do I know!

[Finch]

I haven't seen a review by Geoff but it's clear from his comments in that thread that he hates the grade and is not a fan of the disc.

More oldies(ish):

Coming to America (Paramount) Geoff's review

[therewillbeblus]

Wow, if my eyes are that bad then I may as well pick up Jurassic Park

[Finch]

Two Sony catalogue titles are getting steelbooks next March. No word yet on the specs. The original editions added to OP:

Air Force One review
The Mask of Zorro review

[M-A]

Any updates on getting the German import of The Night Porter listed?

Here is the thread: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=338323

[M Sanderson]

What’s happened to Vinegar Syndrome?

Their Scanner Cop 1 & 2 set and Ticks 4ks were of a very high standard.

Suddenly we’re getting releases with encoding anomalies. Watching Death Wish 2 and Dead Heat is distracting because of the intermittent “digital smoke” that I can see wafting from screen bottom to top. Unfortunate because the masters used are clearly extremely good.

[Finch]

As per MA's link, the German import of Night Porter is a big improvement in 4k over the poorly encoded Criterion Blu-Ray.

[ryannichols7]

before requesting a title I came with a source! Used Cars sounds pretty mixed with some issues. I saw this title at Best Buy tonight and was pretty surprised...they're seeming to carry more Shout UHDs in store than Barnes and Noble is. anyway, I couldn't find any reviews from beaver, BRcom, or any of the usual suspects, but figured I'd put it in the thread

[Finch]

I've been keeping an eye on the Used Cars thread myself. As they said in there, the soft shots may be how it was filmed and it's not affecting the entire film. The two users that actually bothered posting comments on the PQ (as opposed to the trillionth "My order shipped!") were happy with the disc. The absence of official reviews is weird. Hopefully there'll be further feedback. It's been similarly quiet re the Rollerball UHD.

[hearthesilence]

I've been keeping an eye on the Used Cars thread myself. As they said in there, the soft shots may be how it was filmed and it's not affecting the entire film. The two users that actually bothered posting comments on the PQ (as opposed to the trillionth "My order shipped!") were happy with the disc. The absence of official reviews is weird. Hopefully there'll be further feedback. It's been similarly quiet re the Rollerball UHD.

In reference to "I did notice a few shots in the first 15-20 mins that were super grainy and soft" on that other forum, I posted about this here, but I caught a DCP screening of Used Cars at MoMA in 2015 - I think the disc uses the same restoration as its source. There were a few shots that look egregiously shitty at that screening, but it was obvious to see why - they were basically significant blow-ups of long shots. I guess they didn't shoot any close-ups because you can tell those fabricated close-ups were from the same exact long shots that preceded or followed them. It's possible the poster is referring to these. I can see Shout degraining them because the film grain was really bad (basically magnified film grain on top of the extra layers caused by duping).

[Finch]

^ Thanks for sharing, hearthesilence!

I'm still waiting on more feedback for Wayne's World (consensus seems to be that it's grain managed in places but still a good 4k presentation) as well as the three Shouts (Used Cars, The Company of Wolves, Rollerball), and two CCs: Malcolm X and The Power of the Dog.

The version of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon included on the Sony Pictures set reportedly has the original Mandarin track as well as Dolby Vision. Wish I liked more of the 11 films selected instead of just 4, 5 to justify buying it.

[Finch]

High Plains Drifter review & caps

[M-A]

Looking at the caps, I would have said that High Plains Drifter is reference https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x=41 ... 1&i=5&go=1

I believe the remastered blu-ray on the caps is only available with the 4K and doesn't have a standalone release

[Finch]

Even the fans of the film are saying it's more of a subtle upgrade which is why I went with a "solid" label. Kino's BD from last year was very good for the 1080p format. I suppose we could make a better distinction by saying the UHD is a reference title if compared to all pre-2021 BDs but not as huge an upgrade if compared to the 2021 BD. I should probably double-check but my impression was that caps were comparing the 4k to Kino's 2021 disc. I want and will buy the UHD either way as High Plains Drifter is one of my three favorite Eastwoods.