UHD New Releases, Reissues and Upgrades

[MovieBuff647]

Any SECRET AGENT 4K Criterion vs MUBI comparisons out there? Based on NexSpec's recent 180 and MUBI now cheapening out with physical media, I assume Criterion have won here but I'm nonetheless curious.

[Finch]

Masters of the Universe (1987) (Toy Robot)

Early word on Mrs Doubtfire is not good.

[Finch]

I watched the film on Saturday and I think we should downgrade Out of the Past to a solid upgrade. Sony's/Criterion's HDR/DV grade is nicer on The Big Heat and David's encoding aside, the film looks a bit processed at times. It's still appreciably better than Warner's fine Blu-ray but compared to The Big Heat, never mind beautiful SDR only discs like I Know Where I'm Going!, I found the Out of the Past 4K just a teensy weensy bit disappointing.

[James Stock]

Shouldn't Out of the Past be in disappointing? It's not terrible and it does look better than the old Blu-ray, but it still could've looked way better than it does.

[Stefan Andersson]

Discussion of Out of the Past 4K:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.ph ... 060&page=6

Post 102: " the 2014 Blu-ray looks stretched vertically/compressed horizontally".

[Stefan Andersson]

Criticism of the UHD Maltese Falcon:

"Truly bad HDR which wrecks many of the compositions, the UHD only has HDR10 where streaming got DV, not great disc encoding. The audio was processed mono of the already processed 2006 mono mastering which itself was coming from the 2000 snapper case DVD mono mastering which has the best quality to this day. To make matters worse, the streaming version seems to use the superior 2000 audio mastering.
https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/search...D%20%281941%29
I've compared nearly every version of the film's audio and sent all my captures into Blahray. The new Warner scan of the film is wonderful and I truly hope someone else steps in to properly handle it someday. The studio UHD pains me to this day. I wish so badly that the Archive gets to redo it and at least fix the audio and awful HDR."
Post 117:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.ph ... 060&page=6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pq4pwyMs3o

[nicolas]

I watched the film on Saturday and I think we should downgrade Out of the Past to a solid upgrade. Sony's/Criterion's HDR/DV grade is nicer on The Big Heat and David's encoding aside, the film looks a bit processed at times. It's still appreciably better than Warner's fine Blu-ray but compared to The Big Heat, never mind beautiful SDR only discs like I Know Where I'm Going!, I found the Out of the Past 4K just a teensy weensy bit disappointing.

I second the blue category. Have to say I had quite the expectations after Randy Miller’s glowing review but I haven’t paid attention to the screenshots that did hint at the shortcomings in the master.

[Finch]

OotP moved to the blue tier.

[Finch]

The Secret Agent (Criterion)

Chris' review

[nicolas]

Forbidden Planet (Arrow) - comparison
Jesus Christ Superstar (Kino) - caps and audio review
Misery (Arrow) - caps and audio comparison on this page. Discussion is still ongoing about the 2.0 but as none of the three 4Ks seem to have the true original mix, I think it's fair to leave them all in the blue tier for now and only note that Kino has the worst PQ.
Mrs. Doubtfire (Disney) - caps. A+ remaster with encoding issues.

[TVC 15]

Misery not arrived yet in my country but last time I will pre order Arrow releases if 2.0 is not original stereo like Arrow said and 5.1 remix is botched. Will keep it because not worth sending it back to UK but not buying from Arrow anymore unless I know there are no mistakes.

[Finch]

They acknowledged that they have to do better on audio QC in the last podcast they did (a month ago) but since the discs are done three months before announcement, there may be a few more still with audio issues that were already finished in August.

[Finch]

I've not added Mrs Doubtfire to the Solid Upgrades since the encoding is worse than Master & Commander (the last Disney UHD with a good encode) and it doesn't seem fair to have Doubtfire in the same tier. Everything else from nic's post got added.

[TVC 15]

They acknowledged that they have to do better on audio QC in the last podcast they did (a month ago) but since the discs are done three months before announcement, there may be a few more still with audio issues that were already finished in August.

They should delay and fix them instead of letting customers waste money on bad goods. Misery page link says 2.0 is downmix with added foleys from 5.1 remix. 5.1 omitting part of rear right channel at the end and commentary tracks are botched so not even 1 good audio option. Needs to be replaced they still say original lossless stereo on Arrow site so false advertising if it is not original 2.0.

[nicolas]

I've not added Mrs Doubtfire to the Solid Upgrades since the encoding is worse than Master & Commander (the last Disney UHD with a good encode) and it doesn't seem fair to have Doubtfire in the same tier. Everything else from nic's post got added.

Even with the encoding issues, the Doubtfire master itself is a massive upgrade to the old Fox disc and IMO deserves the blue tier for that alone. I’ve already streamed it and it’s a night and day improvement. I’m willing to give the 4K a fair shot as it’s a favorite of mine and will report if the issues are problematic in motion. Dead Poets Society, which has similar disc stats, is upcoming too.

IIRC we added Master and Commander to the blue tier due to the missing OG audio and the LFE-filtered Atmos which has even less bass than the Fox BD 5.1, which itself was filtered compared to the DVD. Despite the great master and encode, I think the disc is still deserving of the blue category due to the audio as it’s such an integral part of that film.