UHD New Releases, Reissues and Upgrades

[Finch]

Sony's Monty Python and the Holy Grail 4K is a keeper for me. I don't have the BD anymore but from what I can remember of my viewings of it, the Dolby Vision grade makes it look a little flat by comparison. I'll err on the side of caution and say this is "just" a solid upgrade but happy to revise the OP rating upwards if someone else still has their Blu-ray and can do a few more spot checks vs the 4k. Appreciated that Sony kept the mono and I liked the steel book design.

[nicolas]

Sony's Monty Python and the Holy Grail 4K is a keeper for me. I don't have the BD anymore but from what I can remember of my viewings of it, the Dolby Vision grade makes it look a little flat by comparison. I'll err on the side of caution and say this is "just" a solid upgrade but happy to revise the OP rating upwards if someone else still has their Blu-ray and can do a few more spot checks vs the 4k. Appreciated that Sony kept the mono and I liked the steel book design.

I got it as well but haven’t watched it yet. Never owned the previous BD but it’s actually included in the Steelbook if you want to compare for yourself. I also think it’s just a solid upgrade for what you mentioned and that the master doesn’t have lots of detail. The problem essentially is that Sony reused the scan they made for their BD release, so it’s over 10 years old by now and dynamic range for HDR just isn’t there. The grain is so thick that people on the other forum thought that the film was shot on 16mm but apparently that’s not true. With a newer scan, this would’ve been more striking, maybe even like Silverado.

While we’re speaking Sony, I upgraded to the Steelbook of The Quick and the Dead. I love this film and had to get it in the best version. They put this one out near the beginning of the UHD era and it’s got their typical overcooked HDR, which the Dolby Vision tones down nicely. The encode is again very good. We’ve got it in the red tier and it’s definitely deserved.

[nicolas]

Can we presume Rarewaves will have this back in stock on release day the way they do a lot of preorders that « sell out »?

I don’t see why not as it’s still available elsewhere, including at Arrow. They’re probably just waiting for more stock to arrive.

[Yakushima]

Jacob’s Ladder (Lionsgate) - review / caps and packaging impressions by Kyle15.

Random question regarding Jacob's Ladder. Aside from the packaging/cover art, which one is better in terms of AV quality? Blu-ray.com lists the Lionsgate release as having DV, while the SC version is listed as just HDR10. I've also heard about some issues regarding the 2.0 mix from SC's release. I'm kind of conflicted on which one I should get.

Fus1on, I felt conflicted too, and ended up ordering both versions. When I receive them, I'll let you know if either one is preferable. In terms of extras, the Lionsgate edition seems to have won hands down.

[Fus1on]

Fus1on, I felt conflicted too, and ended up ordering both versions. When I receive them, I'll let you know if either one is preferable. In terms of extras, the Lionsgate edition seems to have won hands down.

Well... it's already a bit too late for that. I bought the Lionsgate version.

I'm admittedly not the biggest fan of the artwork, but I doubt I'll be disappointed with this release of the film.

[Finch]

Kyle15 has a first comparison cap between Shout and BFI Nosferatus here.

[Fus1on]

Kyle15 has a first comparison cap between Shout and BFI Nosferatus here.

OUCH

[nicolas]

Here are additional caps courtesy of an unknown poster: https://slow.pics/c/4eXM1NZz

[rrenault]

I could be missing something, but Shout's disc doesn't seem like a massive improvement to me. All I'm seeing is a bit more grain being visible due to the somewhat darker grade.

The Shout is clearly an improvement of sorts. I'm just not sure it's anything spectacular in its own right.

[nicolas]

I could be missing something, but Shout's disc doesn't seem like a massive improvement to me. All I'm seeing is a bit more grain being visible due to the somewhat darker grade.

The Shout is clearly an improvement of sorts. I'm just not sure it's anything spectacular in its own right.

Shout most likely had access to the same negative scan Alpha Omega worked from. Maybe these of the BFI 2014 BD vs. Shout 4K are more convincing for you: https://slow.pics/c/f3hn6f4P

[Fus1on]

Eddington (A24)

I also watched part of Paramount's release of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning and I personally thought it looked and sounded fantastic. I definitely want a second opinion on this one before I place it in the reference tier, because I did miss some encoding issues with Dead Reckoning's UHD the first time around, and I'm not 100% sure if they screwed this one up either.

[Finch]

Early reactions on Edward Scissorhands are mixed: it's the same issue with the compression in the highlights as in Tron Legacy. One user noted pretty bad chroma compression. I don't know what Sound of Music is like because I didn't have the time or inclination to wade through dozens of pages about complaints over heavily scratched discs from the Mexican plant.

A BR member reported misspellings in the Hard Boiled subs in his theatrical screening. I don't understand how Shout spent so much money on acquiring these films and then care so little about giving the final product the extra polish.

[nicolas]

Eddington (A24)

I also watched part of Paramount's release of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning and I personally thought it looked and sounded fantastic. I definitely want a second opinion on this one before I place it in the reference tier, because I did miss some encoding issues with Dead Reckoning's UHD the first time around, and I'm not 100% sure if they screwed this one up either.

I don’t have M:I yet but these Kaleidescape vs. UHD Dolby Vision FEL caps are up. I don’t see anything particularly wrong with the 4K except for the usual Paramount low-pass filter that takes off some detail, which doesn’t exactly benefit the digital grain that was added to the film. The KS encode occasionally reveals a bit more fine detail in the “grain” but the UHD disc is more consistent and the highlights are okay. I wouldn’t use the last two M:I films as demo discs but the disc itself seems to be fine and likely better optimized than the previous part, which was compressed to fit on a BD-66 even though they used a BD-100. The Atmos mix on the other hand is said to be reference with powerful LFE intact.

[nicolas]

Early reactions on Edward Scissorhands are mixed: it's the same issue with the compression in the highlights as in Tron Legacy. One user noted pretty bad chroma compression. I don't know what Sound of Music is like because I didn't have the time or inclination to wade through dozens of pages about complaints over heavily scratched discs from the Mexican plant.

The Sound of Music looks good to me. These are again DV caps by The HDR Dissector on YouTube, who does excellent work with these comparisons. There’s still some chroma noise peeking through here and there but I doubt it’s a problem in motion, unlike Edward Scissorhands where grain is much coarser as it’s the same old scan and the HDR on top doesn’t do it any favors. I watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show yesterday and thought it looked extraordinary. Didn’t notice anything bothersome in motion but that’s another more fine-grained film.

[nicolas]

Æon Flux (Paramount) - caps. Practically no upgrade at all. Same HD master, same audio.

Savages (Shout) - caps

The Way of the Gun (Lionsgate) - caps

Daughters of Darkness (Radiance). Finch, the OP currently has the Blue Underground duplicates in the red and blue tiers.

Furthermore, I’d suggest The Florida Project and Tron Legacy for the blue tier, Imprint’s The Keep in red next to the VS and Hammer’s The Curse of Frankenstein in red.

[Finch]

I've replaced the BU of Daughters with the Radiance in the red category. Nic, I added everything else from your post above except Tron Legacy since I have a question. Didn't we put Blood Simple from Criterion in the Disappointing column for the same flaws (the encode struggling with the highlights)? Is the original Tron also affected?

[nicolas]

I don’t think so re. Tron 1982. While it’s got some chroma noise here and there, highlights look good in the caps. These caps appear to be SDR converted but I like the colors and HDR is surely pleasing. This is definitely true for Tron Legacy, which I’ve bought. The positives (HDR, slightly more detail) outweigh the negatives. I also like the Atmos upgrade. I do see the compression issues that were talked about but it’s honestly not as big a problem in motion that it’d warrant the disappointing category. The film is such a sensory overload that Disney essentially get away with it.

Blood Simple has these awful grid-like blocking patterns in so many scenes where you can’t unsee them, particularly in static shots, let alone highlights and even when it’s darker. It came out soon after Walkabout when Criterion struggled. I think the disappointing tier is wholly justified for that one and the many Kino 4Ks we put in there.

[Finch]

Randy Miller confirmed that the US and UK editions of Curse of Frankenstein are identical down to the encode, the only difference being different studio logos.

[nicolas]

Altered States (Criterion) - Chris’ review

[Finch]

The Breakfast Club (Criterion) caps

[nicolas]

Deep Crimson (Criterion) - Chris' review

[ryannichols7]

can't wait for a Criterion/BFI direct compare for Eyes Without a Face

[nicolas]

can't wait for a Criterion/BFI direct compare for Eyes Without a Face

I’m expecting them to be essentially identical apart from the HDR and slightly exacerbated grain as a result of the re-grade.

Edit: I should have just checked beforehand. A comparison among all the 4Ks is already up: https://slow.pics/c/YLVgurlI. Audio here as well: https://slow.pics/c/nqU91GXV

[Finch]

I'm going to rewatch the boy on the metro short more often than Blood of the Beasts, and the grain on the Umbrella 4K looks mushy compared to the BFI 4K. Not sure what to do. I may trade in the Umbrella 4k plus the recently rebought BFI Blu-ray, and buy the BFI 4k at half price next year. I really like the Dolby Vision grade on the Aussie and UK editions even if I really dislike the subtitle font BFI uses. Sigh.

[Finch]

The Mask (Arrow) caps