criterionforum.org

I am going to guess this is more a fault of LG's (still) problematic handling of near black visuals which introduces posterisation and other artifacting.

It’s also possible that poor calibration of a TV could accentuate certain flaws in an encode whereas proper calibration might allow them to “blend in” a bit more.

I noticed this with some of the black crush on the Blade Runner 4K for instance. It wasn’t as noticeable after calibration.

It’s hard to say though whether or not the encode itself is the issue in the case of the Oshima film, since I don’t have the disc myself.

Mars Attacks! (Warner) - caps. Bright HDR10 base layer here, so I'd recommended to watch it in Dolby Vision.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Sony) - caps
The People vs. Larry Flynt (Arrow) - caps
Troy (Arrow) - caps. Both cuts are excellent in 4K. The DC has inserts from the 2K DI whenever necessary but the switches are said to be seamless.

Later this month, Capelight's West Side Story 4K will finally be released and the first review is very positive with particular praise for the audio. A poster on the other forum found the person who took care of the audio restoration for Capelight and revealed that the 5.1 mix is new and was mastered on the basis of the 70mm 6-channel track.

nicolas, for a few titles (eg Carol) I noticed you have said to watch in SDR rather than HDR. How do you do this on your setup? Specifically what tonemaps the HDR to SDR?

nitin wrote: Wed Aug 05, 2026 1:51 pm nicolas, for a few titles (eg Carol) I noticed you have said to watch in SDR rather than HDR. How do you do this on your setup? Specifically what tonemaps the HDR to SDR?

My Panasonic UB824 player. It’s not perfect as it’s a downconversion but as an approximation it’s pretty good and in cases like Carol much better than watching in HDR.

do you simply turn off the HDR on the 820/824 to do this?

nitin wrote: Wed Aug 05, 2026 3:23 pm do you simply turn off the HDR on the 820/824 to do this?

Yes. I turn off DV and switch from HDR to SDR BT.709 in the settings.

A word of warning from a mod: please refrain from page long (or really any) discussions over encoding differences that are only notable if you zoom 200-400% into a screenshot. I'm tired of reading this shit on the other forum already.

EDIT: yes, I know the discussion I'm referring to was on the Arrow speculation thread but the point still stands.

Safe (Criterion) - caps & impressions
Strictly Ballroom (Visions Home Video) - caps & impressions
The Name of the Rose (Second Sight) - comparison & impressions

Oof, those chroma issues on the French Name of the Rose disc are quite something.

Nice to see that Visions are on a good run. I'm looking forward to their Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie UHD in September.

Well BFI just announced a UHD of Salo. I’m guessing if it’s FiM-encoded it’ll hold its own next to the German 4K, although the latter will probably have it beat on extras.

The base master already has HDR/DV, so controversial HDR application like with some other BFI discs probably won’t be an issue here.

Going by the specs, the BFI will be SDR. Unless they change the specs later on to explicitly say it'll have HDR/DV.

It’d surprise me if BFI didn’t include HDR/DV as the new master was finished in HDR and so far they’ve had their SDR masters regraded. If FiM is involved, I’d be interested to see if they get to squeeze out more highlight detail or if the slightly dated Ritrovata negative scan is to blame for what I noticed on the Wicked release but even then I don’t need another copy of this film.

Identity (Arrow) caps

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Metropolitan) - BD caps & 4K impressions + release comparison. Added to the international import list.

The 4K UHDs of Stalker and Solaris from German label Filmjuwelen are out now and both have incorrectly pitched Russian audio. No one managed to confirm what kind of masters they used but apparently they avoided AI this time. I'll update if / when caps are up.

So I just thought I’d give a heads up about some discussion over on the other forum regarding several Jan Yarbrough-helmed restorations including The Searchers and the first two Godfather films having heavy DNR. I’ll admit I hadn’t seen much talk of this (on forums in general) beforehand, save the for some of the hallow effects on The Searchers.

North by Northwest was another one mentioned, although I think that disc looks quite good save for the one scene in the forest right after Cary Grant is “shot”.

Several WB titles with grain management have indeed been tracked to be Yarbrough's projects, to the point it can be seen as some kind of MO.

tenia wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2026 2:22 pm Several WB titles with grain management have indeed been tracked to be Yarbrough's projects, to the point it can be seen as some kind of MO.

Seems like something that would be more of a market consideration ("when WB releases were flying off the shelves, everything was DNRed") than an aesthetic one..?

nicolas wrote: Sat Aug 08, 2026 1:43 pmThe 4K UHDs of Stalker and Solaris from German label Filmjuwelen are out now and both have incorrectly pitched Russian audio. No one managed to confirm what kind of masters they used but apparently they avoided AI this time. I'll update if / when caps are up.

Stalker caps by fkid: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... stcount=53 and comments by someone from Russia about Mosfilm’s new 4K master (not Filmjuwelen’s 2K upscale) and why it doesn’t have a sepia tint:

This is the original tint that the film's director intended - а barely perceptible dark green/swamp color. No sepia! The previous Mosfilm (2K) restoration also lacked sepia. Criterion himself colored the black and white scenes in bright yellow (sick bastards)

Also: I saw all the latest restorations of the film in the Mosfilm screening hall from original DCP copy and I personally spoke with the film's first assistant director (Evgeniy Tsymbal) about the tint of the black and white scenes. Trust me, - there is no sepia. At all. Just a slight dark green tint. Everything else is just color shifts on rental film prints or intentional modification of some distributors.

nicolas wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2026 10:47 pm

nicolas wrote: Sat Aug 08, 2026 1:43 pmThe 4K UHDs of Stalker and Solaris from German label Filmjuwelen are out now and both have incorrectly pitched Russian audio. No one managed to confirm what kind of masters they used but apparently they avoided AI this time. I'll update if / when caps are up.

Stalker caps by fkid: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... stcount=53 and comments by someone from Russia about Mosfilm’s new 4K master (not Filmjuwelen’s 2K upscale) and why it doesn’t have a sepia tint:

This is the original tint that the film's director intended - а barely perceptible dark green/swamp color. No sepia! The previous Mosfilm (2K) restoration also lacked sepia. Criterion himself colored the black and white scenes in bright yellow (sick bastards)

Also: I saw all the latest restorations of the film in the Mosfilm screening hall from original DCP copy and I personally spoke with the film's first assistant director (Evgeniy Tsymbal) about the tint of the black and white scenes. Trust me, - there is no sepia. At all. Just a slight dark green tint. Everything else is just color shifts on rental film prints or intentional modification of some distributors.

If you want to have a laugh, just search this up. Everybody has an opinion, and everybody is absolutely certain of it. Russians who saw it in the theater at the premiere who swear there was a sepia tint, and others who believe otherwise, or something in the middle. Probably just best to have both looks in your collection if you like the film and enjoy both, I don't think the world can afford any more divisiveness.

A Bronx Tale (Imprint) - poor encoding

Prom Night (Synapse)

Has anyone reviewed the Curzon 4K releases of Satantango and Damnation?