UHD New Releases, Reissues and Upgrades

[Yakushima]

Black Hawk Down's DV re-encode is also significantly better than the 2019 first edition. It's actually staggering how much better it looks, as seen here: https://slow.pics/c/tgEwsqtv.
Highly recommended.

Wow, thank you, Nicolas. Ordered! This will be my 5th (or 6th?!) upgrade of this title. ](*,) And the 2019 edition goes to Ebay...

[midnitedave]

Someone over at the Blu-Ray forums posted Seven Samurai screenshot comparisons in HDR and SDR.

Update: Same user posted an audio comparison.

Update 2: Subtitle Comparisons: 1, 2, 3

[hearthesilence]

Why are all those older, worse Sony editions still in print?

They're no longer being pressed, whatever's on sale is basically the existing worldwide stock, and that can take a while to sell off (i.e. years). Just to put it in perspective, I asked a reissue producer recently about a limited edition box set he put together that was released in 2019, thinking they were just pressing new copies to meet demand as it was reportedly a strong seller and very well reviewed (even winning a Grammy), but the producer (who also does A&R for the label) said that wasn't the case - they manufactured one and only one run of pressings. That load just sits in their warehouse and dwindles as other stores and retailers order copies (with Amazon ordering the most copies) and once the warehouse runs out, all that's left is what's out there with retailers, and once that's gone, THEN the title can be called "out of print."

[dwk]

Why are all those older, worse Sony editions still in print?

They're no longer being pressed, whatever's on sale is basically the existing worldwide stock, and that can take a while to sell off (i.e. years). Just to put it in perspective, I asked a guy about this limited edition box set that was released in 2019, thinking they were just pressing new copies to meet demand as it was reportedly a strong seller and very well reviewed (even winning a Grammy), but the producer (who also does A&R for the label) said that wasn't the case - they manufactured one and only one run of pressings. That load just sits in their warehouse and dwindles as other stores and retailers order copies (with Amazon ordering the most copies) and once the warehouse runs out, all that's left is what's out there with retailers, and once that's gone, THEN the title can be called "out of print."

That is true. It is just such a pain the way Sony has done these re-issues.

[hearthesilence]

Just to use another example, the guy produced another limited edition box set that sold like hotcakes and was cleaned out of the label's warehouse over a year ago, a mere three months after the box set was officially released. It was presumed that it would be out-of-stock everywhere within a matter of weeks, maybe months, but one retailer continued to list it: Amazon. Pretty good guess that Amazon simply bought up a huge part of their inventory and was virtually the only retailer out there to have it available, though there were still outliers offering a few copies (albeit at retail price whereas Amazon had a sizable discount). It took a full year before Amazon finally sold out, as did everywhere else. So tbf, it could be Amazon hoarding up so many copies that they keep it available after so long. Eventually, if they need the warehouse space, they'll probably slash prices drastically in order to unload every copy.

[therewillbeblus]

North by Northwest (WB) screenshots

colors look especially good in the elevator shot

this is one of the best upgrades I've seen, if only because the Bluray was particularly bad. cannot wait

I didn't think the blu-ray was as bad as, say, To Catch a Thief (not that it's that bad, but a shame it's not worth upgrading) - However, North by Northwest is still a huge upscale. Watching it in motion, the detail is outstanding - I love looking at everyone's suits - and it should rank amongst the best of the HDR Hitchcocks

[Never Cursed]

The Terminator wasn't restored in 4K, the color corrected/cleaned up end result was 2K, according to the restoration supervisor at Reliance himself. They certainly provided those files, as all the result of this new master is upscaled from it.

They may very well have delivered the raw 4K scan, but Park Road Post have clearly not used it to create a new 4K restoration. You only have to look at the caps, which are not similar or even very similar, they are identical outside of the AI fudgery. This was exactly what happened with Aliens, so comes as no surprise.

Twitter user shows how, in one shot of this UHD, the AI software turns Linda Hamilton's sunglasses into gigantic terrifying empty eye sockets

[Fus1on]

Twitter user shows how, in one shot of this UHD, the AI software turns Linda Hamilton's sunglasses into gigantic terrifying empty eye sockets

GOOD LORD

[tenia]

Background text is turning into some kind of Turing test too : https://x.com/Testsbluraycom/status/185 ... pbmxg&s=19

Unfortunately, this can also be used on some shots from the Sugarland Express UHD :
https://x.com/Testsbluraycom/status/185 ... skg6w&s=19

The whole Terminator movie now has a very electronic and unnatural look. It's a case à la Picnic at Hanging Rock, but with IA. Within a given frame, you'll find over-sharpened elements and smoothed out ones, with a constant grain field trying to replicate a 4k master from a 35mm OCN. The combination makes 0 sense visually, tell-tale of how artificially this has been obtained.
And on top of that, you'll these AI mistakes.

I'd argue upscaling the 2013 BD is better, because even if you want to set your TV with Sharpness at 200 plus some DNR, you won't have AI mistakes.

[Matt]

North by Northwest (WB) screenshots

this is one of the best upgrades I've seen, if only because the Bluray was particularly bad. cannot wait

Watching it in motion, the detail is outstanding - I love looking at everyone's suits - and it should rank amongst the best of the HDR Hitchcocks

Astounding is not an understatement. It's like watching it for the first time again. The detail of fabrics, hair, all the subtle variations of gray in the sets and wardrobe. I don't know that I'm convinced by the Atmos remix of the audio (I always prefer original audio), but the original track sounds very good. Is there anything more soothing than listening to the incomparable voices of Cary Grant and James Mason in conversation?

[rrenault]

I received North by Northwest in the mail today. I didn't have time to watch the film in its entirety but just skimmed through the disc. It looks great. Although I noticed the scene where they're in the forest talking right after Eva Marie Saint "shoots" Cary Grant in the Mt. Rushmore cafeteria isn't quite as pristine-looking in terms of having fine grain structure as a lot of the rest of the film. I'm guessing that's just a source issue.

[ryannichols7]

I didn't think the blu-ray was as bad as, say, To Catch a Thief (not that it's that bad, but a shame it's not worth upgrading) - However, North by Northwest is still a huge upscale. Watching it in motion, the detail is outstanding - I love looking at everyone's suits - and it should rank amongst the best of the HDR Hitchcocks

the BD did its time but definitely showed some age - after we've had the Universal Hitchcocks for some time, it's nice this is really worth the wait. can't wait to grab a copy. truly a shame TCAT didn't get a better shake at all

Astounding is not an understatement. It's like watching it for the first time again. The detail of fabrics, hair, all the subtle variations of gray in the sets and wardrobe. I don't know that I'm convinced by the Atmos remix of the audio (I always prefer original audio), but the original track sounds very good. Is there anything more soothing than listening to the incomparable voices of Cary Grant and James Mason in conversation?

Mason to me was so perfect for the film, and Hitchcock in general. I'm really glad Warner delivered big time - for the longest they seemed like they weren't particularly interested, but its well worth the wait

[nicolas]

@fus1on: Imprint’s Suspiria (2018) and Shout’s Rush are solid upgrades. The latter is as good as it can get due to the 2K DI source but has a strong Atmos upgrade and good HDR. Suspiria has fine encoding but slightly overcooked HDR compared to the German Koch / Plaion 4K, which is better in both.

[nicolas]

Screenshots were posted for Demolition Man (Arrow) and Silent Night, Deadly Night (Shout). Both appear to have flawless encodes, restorations and grades based on how the caps look.

Criterion’s Shape of Water UHD uses a BD-100 compared to Fox’s BD-66 and has almost double the bitrate but a BR user who’s seen both didn’t really see a difference.

[Fus1on]

Contemporary UHDs List Update:

Adding House of the Dragon Season 2 (WB) to Reference Tier
Adding Ford v Ferrari (Disney) to Solid Tier
Adding Rush (Shout Factory) to Solid Tier
Adding Suspiria (2018) (Imprint) to Solid Tier

[Finch]

The BBC 4K of Wallace & Gromit is no good at all. I'm linking the entire page as there are multiple Geoff D posts breaking down what went wrong with this set.

[rberrios15]

Few more recs for solid tier on contemporary:

Argo (WB)
Logan (Fox)
Looper (Sony)

[Stefan Andersson]

On the OAR for North by Northwest:

"There are several different framings of “North by Northwest”. The MGM laserdisc had the AR of 1.66:1, the Criterion had 1.75:1, the DVD (and 2012 Blu-ray) is in 1.78:1. “North by Northwest” was shot in VistaVision, basic aspect ratio of 1.66:1, but it was the property of MGM, who framed their widescreen releases into 1.75:1. This was before 1.85:1 became a standard widescreen format and when each studio had their own unique widescreen format. One can thus think of the 1.66:1 VistaVision ratio as open matte, while the MGM ratio of 1.75:1 was the Original Theatrical Aspect Ratio. It remains to be said, that during the 60s, re-releases of “North by Northwest” was reformatted into 1.85:1, as this format became the standard. Please note, that this is my guess, in order to answer for the various aspect ratios." - Henrik Sylow

North by Northwest 4K UHD Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason

[Fus1on]

Criterion's UHD of Paper Moon is great overall, with mostly incredible encoding and very good grain management. It's also a massive upgrade in comparison to the 2015 MoC BD. However, Criterion's UHD has much higher white levels compared to the MoC BD causing there to be clipped highlights during many of the film's brightest shots which completely annihilates some textural details in the image (this can be seen in Caps 3 & 12). I would still probably consider it a Reference Tier disc just based on how much it improves upon the MoC BD, but it's far from perfect.

[tenia]

Wow, those sections in the caps indeed don't look too good. It's as if the encode drops the ball as soon as it hits a flat uniform-ish areas. On cap 12, it's all the weirder because it makes the grain looking sticking to the pylone in a swarmy way, and the further you go from the pylone, the less grain there is. Weird.

[nicolas]

Wow, those sections in the caps indeed don't look too good. It's as if the encode drops the ball as soon as it hits a flat uniform-ish areas. On cap 12, it's all the weirder because it makes the grain looking sticking to the pylone in a swarmy way, and the further you go from the pylone, the less grain there is. Weird.

It’s really unfortunate that NexSpec still can’t get these areas under control as they’ve otherwise improved very well. Funny Girl also has an exterior scene at sunset that’s only a touch brighter than most of the interiors and immediately collapses. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the same: The Criterion has clipped highlights whereas Arrow (FiM) and Turbine (LSP) roll off the grain evenly and gradually without making everything look clumpy.

[kekid]

I am posting here what I posted earlier under Shout! label, with the hope that someone is more likely to notice it here:
No one seems to have reviewed the 4K "Aguirre the Wrath of God" Issued by Shout! Factory. Does it look better than the bfi Blu Ray from their Herzog box? Is the Blu Ray included with the 4K the same as what was in the Shout! Herzog box, or is it different? Do we think the bfi will follow with their own4K version? I am surprised that this was completely ignored.

[denti alligator]

I'd also like to know.

[nicolas]

I'd also like to know.

I am posting here what I posted earlier under Shout! label, with the hope that someone is more likely to notice it here:
No one seems to have reviewed the 4K "Aguirre the Wrath of God" Issued by Shout! Factory. Does it look better than the bfi Blu Ray from their Herzog box? Is the Blu Ray included with the 4K the same as what was in the Shout! Herzog box, or is it different? Do we think the bfi will follow with their own4K version? I am surprised that this was completely ignored.

I ordered it while hoping that it’s part of Shout / Duplitech’s amazing streak of exceptional encodes. My copy was marked as shipped last week but was still not handed over to the carrier, so it’ll take at least two weeks from now until I hopefully get mine. Should there be no info until then, I’ll share my thoughts.

By the way, in case anyone’s been wondering, I’m currently very busy and can’t find enough time to discuss and follow the 4K happenings at least until the holidays but if anyone’s curious about a certain title, ask and I’ll let you know if I can share something.

[Yakushima]

I just received Galaxy Quest 4K UHD and watched it last night.

Overall, the film looks more vibrant and detailed; the sound is outstanding. The film is presented in three aspect ratios as it was shown theatrically.

Now, to the negatives. DNR application is not egregious but is felt throughout, with some shots appearing softer looking than on Blu-ray.

The image retains some texture, but not much. It is not as bad as on Once Upon a Time in the West UHD, for example, but I found it occasionally distracting.

Although the colors are improved overall, the faces occasionally look too reddish or orangish. Since I have not watched it in a theater, I don't know if this is an accurate look.

Surprisingly, what bothered me the most was the cropping of the image during the first 20 minutes - which returned it to its accurate theatrical ratio. I am so used to watching the wide-open Blu-ray version that the picture on the UHD disc just seemed wrong and unnecessarily constricted.

One last nitpick - the deleted scenes are still in SD.

With all these caveats in mind, I think this is still a solid upgrade over the old Blu-ray.

Knowing Paramount's track record, the result could be much worse!