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4K UHD/Blu-ray/DVD Community Thread: Bringing the Theater Home!

brau

Member
Vizio M55-E0

Do you get 4k on any other content?

I get 4k on any movie unless it's Dolby.

4tRWFih.jpg
 

FN-2187

Member
Do you get 4k on any other content?

I get 4k on 4k movies.

xDu6q

Yes, I get 4K (and HDR/Dolby Vision, where applicable) on everything that should be/is in 4K (UHD blu-rays, Xbox One S 4K upscaling, 4K Youtube videos, Amazon Prime shows in 4K). I also do get Netflix in 4K; it's just not stable at all. The resolution constantly fluctuates and will dip all the way down to 480p for several minutes at a time. I find myself obsessively monitoring the resolution anytime I watch Netflix (clicking the right stick shows the resolution and stream speed in the Xbox app and hitting info on my TV remote shows the current resolution when I use the smart app).

It's very frustrating, but I don't want to totally hijack this thread with Netflix troubleshooting (unless of course someone reading this knows the problem we are talking about and has a solution!)
 
Managed to find a copy of Blade Runner that wasn’t sent back in Toronto. Got the blu-ray with the other cuts. Glad I didn’t get stuck with the DVD.
 
Sony is crazy quick to ship out their movies for that free movies deal. Also have Star Trek Beyond and the first two (current) planet of the apes movies coming this weekend. Haven't watched Blade Runner yet either. Gonna a be watching a lot of movies the next couple of weeks.

What are the options for the bluray movies?

The Peanuts specials are getting their own 4k release next month. Though they include 9 altogether, the 3 featured on the front cover will only receive the 4k HDR treatment.

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Peanuts-Holiday-Collection-4K-Blu-ray/183521/

Do these even need a 4k rerelease? How much better will these look?
 
I'm out of the loop - what do you mean "sent back"? Was there a manufacturing problem?

For the recent 4k release, they accidentally swapped a disc when packaging the bonus features.

Instead of including one of the advertised bonus discs, they included a disc featuring three alternative cuts of the movie from an older bluray set. This happened because this new set intentionally includes a disc or two from a previously released set, except they mixed it up and swapped another disc they weren't supposed to. The alternate cuts disc wasn't supposed to be included. After the initial batch they could no longer be found in stores, likely because they were quickly recalled.

A lot of people are actually pleased to get the disc with the alternate cuts, though. Especially considering they will likely end up being able to apply for the missing disc anyway.
 

Symphonia

Banned
Regarding connection speeds, my KS8000 is connected via an ethernet cable. I ran a test using www.fast.com, and my result came back as 65-70Mbps, which is what I should be getting. I then tried www.speedtest.net, and it gave me 17Mbps. Both were ran through the web browser on the TV. Which result is more accurate?
 

brau

Member
Yes, I get 4K (and HDR/Dolby Vision, where applicable) on everything that should be/is in 4K (UHD blu-rays, Xbox One S 4K upscaling, 4K Youtube videos, Amazon Prime shows in 4K). I also do get Netflix in 4K; it's just not stable at all. The resolution constantly fluctuates and will dip all the way down to 480p for several minutes at a time. I find myself obsessively monitoring the resolution anytime I watch Netflix (clicking the right stick shows the resolution and stream speed in the Xbox app and hitting info on my TV remote shows the current resolution when I use the smart app).

It's very frustrating, but I don't want to totally hijack this thread with Netflix troubleshooting (unless of course someone reading this knows the problem we are talking about and has a solution!)

Well. Not sure if this will help. But I reset the application. Signed every location out of the account and set my connection speed to highest by default.

I am watching 'Chefs Table' and it's at a steady 4k right away in Dolby vision. I have not seen a single drop yet.
 
Holy cow, you can make Everclear from the grain on Labyrinth. There is something cool about seeing an old grainy film like this in such high definition.

Been a good decade since I've seen this. Sarah is kind of a fucking psycho in the opening scenes.
 

aravuus

Member
Regarding connection speeds, my KS8000 is connected via an ethernet cable. I ran a test using www.fast.com, and my result came back as 65-70Mbps, which is what I should be getting. I then tried www.speedtest.net, and it gave me 17Mbps. Both were ran through the web browser on the TV. Which result is more accurate?

Hard to say, maybe the node fast.com connected to just happened to be (much) closer to you or the node speedtest connected to was having some problems? I get 90/90 on speedtest and 73 on fast, but I have no idea where the latter actually connects. Probably somewhere outside Finland, since it apparently downloads stuff from the Netflix servers?

Anyway, I've noticed Netflix is simply hit or miss a lot of the time, not only when going 4k. I have no idea how they have their servers set up, but I guess it could be possible sometimes the servers are just so loaded they simply can't provide you with better quality of show xyz than 480p or 720p.

No doubt Netflix will always tell you it's not a problem on their end, but if you can see even one movie or show in stable 4k like you're supposed to, clearly the problem IS in their end. So... Just gotta deal with it, I guess?
 

FN-2187

Member
Well. Not sure if this will help. But I reset the application. Signed every location out of the account and set my connection speed to highest by default.

I am watching 'Chefs Table' and it's at a steady 4k right away in Dolby vision. I have not seen a single drop yet.

Hmmm... signing out of all devices is one thing I haven't tried. I'll give that a go and see if that works. Thanks.
 

brau

Member
I have been watching a few shows in Dolby and 4k. No issues. The only one with s problem is Jessica Jones. The show staus around 480 to 720. Never reaches 1080. Lol. So I'm just letting this one be a fluke. Not that I'm interested in the show. It was the first one to show up for me to test. What a joke.
 

Realyst

Member
Got the Blade Runner UHD.

It has a great picture (HDR is awesome), but I don't remember the film having so much grain. I own the bluray set from 2012 with all the different cuts, and don't recall any IQ issues. There are scenes in Deckard's apartment (the photograph scene) where if you freeze the frame, literally nothing pops out. Harrison's face is completely covered in grain. Most of the 35mm scenes are like this. Is this an HDR artifact? The effects shots of LA and the Tyrell building appear crystal clear, though.

I need to check out Labyrinth to see if it has similar grain levels. Not that I mind it (not a fan of edge enhancement and noise reduction; I want films preserved as they were originally presented in the theater), but it might be difficult for me to watch a lot of classic films in 4K HDR if I can expect this level of grain. I understand that transfers of older film negatives will have issues, and some films will have to be touched up due to color degradation over time, but I find myself wishing every film could look like Lawrence of Arabia or 2001.
 

berzeli

Banned
Got the Blade Runner UHD.

It has a great picture (HDR is awesome), but I don't remember the film having so much grain. I own the bluray set from 2012 with all the different cuts, and don't recall any IQ issues. There are scenes in Deckard's apartment (the photograph scene) where if you freeze the frame, literally nothing pops out. Harrison's face is completely covered in grain. Most of the 35mm scenes are like this. Is this an HDR artifact? The effects shots of LA and the Tyrell building appear crystal clear, though.

I need to check out Labyrinth to see if it has similar grain levels. Not that I mind it (not a fan of edge enhancement and noise reduction; I want films preserved as they were originally presented in the theater), but it might be difficult for me to watch a lot of classic films in 4K HDR if I can expect this level of grain. I understand that transfers of older film negatives will have issues, and some films will have to be touched up due to color degradation over time, but I find myself wishing every film could look like Lawrence of Arabia or 2001.
You can't expect films shot with 35mm (Blade Runner & Labyrinth) to have as fine grain as ones shot with 70mm film (Lawrence & 2001). It just isn't feasible.
And the suggestion that you aren't a fan of edge enhancement and digital noise reduction kind of rings hollow if you're disappointed that nothing "pops out" but I will get to that shortly.

Also none of the films listed have had any major problems with their negatives, although Blade Runner's restoration has some other issues.
Now I want to stress that I haven't actually seen Blade Runner on UHD blu, but I have seen it on 35mm projected and standard definition blu-ray and there was nothing in my mind that "popped" as such in the photograph scene (but it was a while since I saw it). It would help if you explained what "popping" means to you. Because a lot of the time when people talk about images popping out to them, it is as a result of DNR and EE or excessive contrast.
edit: wait shit, which photograph scene? There's this one where he analyses a photo with a machine, and this one where he just looks at one.



I can't shake the feeling Close Encounters is going to freak people out isn't it? Oh right, I think I already know the answer to that:
The remaster looked pretty decent but a lot of times it seemed like there was Vaseline smeared on the screen
Ah, Zsigmond you devil.
 

Realyst

Member
You can't expect films shot with 35mm (Blade Runner & Labyrinth) to have as fine grain as ones shot with 70mm film (Lawrence & 2001). It just isn't feasible.
And the suggestion that you aren't a fan of edge enhancement and digital noise reduction kind of rings hollow if you're disappointed that nothing "pops out" but I will get to that shortly.

Also none of the films listed have had any major problems with their negatives, although Blade Runner's restoration has some other issues.
Now I want to stress that I haven't actually seen Blade Runner on UHD blu, but I have seen it on 35mm projected and standard definition blu-ray and there was nothing in my mind that "popped" as such in the photograph scene (but it was a while since I saw it). It would help if you explained what "popping" means to you. Because a lot of the time when people talk about images popping out to them, it is as a result of DNR and EE or excessive contrast.
edit: wait shit, which photograph scene? There's this one where he analyses a photo with a machine, and this one where he just looks at one.



I can't shake the feeling Close Encounters is going to freak people out isn't it? Oh right, I think I already know the answer to that:

Ah, Zsigmond you devil.

By "popping", I'm referring to any scenes with dimensionality as a byproduct of clarity and resolution...kind of a pseudo 3D effect. The Tyrell building and some of the isometric LA shots pop very well (I think these were shot in 65-70mm). Outdoor scenes look great, as does Sebastian's home. For some reason, Deckard's apartment is just saturated in grain. You can't make out any lines or stands of hair on several close ups in this scene, there's so much grain.

Since I don't remember this being an issue with the standard bluray, I'll have to A/B Test this scene just to make sure. If it's not there, it might be an HDR10 artifact. I did notice a tab bit of macro blocking in scenes with fogging and neon lights. I just want to make sure this is due to compression, the digital master, or this is how it was actually filmed in 1982.

Trust me, I can't wait to own T2 on this format, and that movie was filmed on Super35 so I expect it to be grainy. Grain doesn't necessarily take me out of the movie, but I just want to make sure that we are seeing it as it was originally filmed (different cuts notwithstanding). Close Encounters will be interesting.
 

Big Blue

Member
If it means higher resolution, higher bitrate and high dynamic range, I say they should. Especially considering how neglected older animated shows are when it comes to HD home releases.
After the Batman and Harley Quinn reviews, I think that hand animated 4K will be very, very rare.
 

berzeli

Banned
By "popping", I'm referring to any scenes with dimensionality as a byproduct of clarity and resolution...kind of a pseudo 3D effect. The Tyrell building and some of the isometric LA shots pop very well (I think these were shot in 65-70mm). Outdoor scenes look great, as does Sebastian's home. For some reason, Deckard's apartment is just saturated in grain. You can't make out any lines or stands of hair on several close ups in this scene, there's so much grain.

Since I don't remember this being an issue with the standard bluray, I'll have to A/B Test this scene just to make sure. If it's not there, it might be an HDR10 artifact. I did notice a tab bit of macro blocking in scenes with fogging and neon lights. I just want to make sure this is due to compression, the digital master, or this is how it was actually filmed in 1982.

Trust me, I can't wait to own T2 on this format, and that movie was filmed on Super35 so I expect it to be grainy. Grain doesn't necessarily take me out of the movie, but I just want to make sure that we are seeing it as it was originally filmed (different cuts notwithstanding). Close Encounters will be interesting.
I decided to do legwork since I wanted a more definitive answer on the "look" of Blade Runner, so from the March 1999 American Cinematographer Magazine feature on Blade Runner (which is a reprint of a July 1982 feature) ((which is available online in all it's early internet glory!))
Jordan Cronenweth, ASC's photography for Blade Runner, with its use of strong shafts of light and backlighting, immediately evokes images from classic black-and-white movies, and it is not accident that it does. Cronenweth explains, "[Director] Ridley Scott felt that the style of the photography in Citizen Kane most closely approached the look he wanted for Blade Runner. This included, among other things, high contrast, unusual camera angles, and the use of shafts of light."

David Dryer, one of the special photographic effects supervisors, worked with black-and-white prints of most scenes in the film for one reason or another, and almost wishes the film could be released in black-and-white. He thinks it seems to have even more depth and style in black-and-white. Needless to say, this would not do justice to Cronenweth's work, but it is an indication of the way in which the photographic style of the picture harks back to classic movies.
About 65/35mm:
whenever we did a matte shot, we'd use a 65mm camera.

On Deckard's apartment/interior sets:
All of the sets for Blade Runner had ceilings in them, and some were built very low to enhance the feeling of containment, a motif particularly well-suited to the anamorphic format. "We had to light from the floor or through the windows," Cronenweth describes. "There is a lot of night photography lit through windows. The sources would vary. They could be anything including searchlights, signs, direct light, indirect light, colored light, or lightning. In Deckard's apartment, we created zones of light that automatically illuminated when one walked in — an energy-saving device of the future perhaps. As the depths of the apartment were penetrated, more lights went on until finally the entire place was lit. This effect was mostly lost, however, in the final cut of the film."

I'm honestly still not entirely sure what you mean by "pop" (it sounds like you're concerned with depth and clarity?), and if you would be able to illustrate with screencaps or something that would be wonderful. Since there is a risk for us talking past one another unless we agree on what "pop" even constitutes.

But what I can say with some certainty is that there should be no reason for HDR being the factor for grain being a problem in just that one scene since it mostly deals with colour space and contrast. Now if there is macroblocking then it is possible that the issue is compression, but it should have been an even bigger issue on the fairly poorly VC-1 encoded bluray so that doesn't make much sense either on the face of it.
Now the film really doesn't look like it did in 1982 (see the previous linked article about the issues with Blade Runner's restoration), but that was the case with the blu-ray release as well.

From a casual google search; the only other person I saw talking about grain w/r/t Deckard's apartment had a different view:
There are some very dark scenes in Deckard's apartment that bring on a bit heavier grain, but its handled incredible well. Blade Runner has never look so natural in its darkness and yet been perfectly clean and visible at the same time. And of course, there were no instances at all of any crushing going on while I viewed the film for this review.

So have you checked that your setup is calibrated or if something like motion smoothing is accidentally turned on?
 
FWIW the 2K DCP of Blade Runner Final Cut that screens in theaters shows the film grain quite readily!

I'm sure the low light indoor scenes were shot on a higher speed (always grainier) 35mm film stock. Same deal with Aliens.

And yeah, Close Encounters is gonna piss people off. The original film is very soft and has frequent barrel distortion.
 

JB1981

Member
FWIW the 2K DCP of Blade Runner Final Cut that screens in theaters shows the film grain quite readily!

I'm sure the low light indoor scenes were shot on a higher speed (always grainier) 35mm film stock. Same deal with Aliens.

And yeah, Close Encounters is gonna piss people off. The original film is very soft and has frequent barrel distortion.

Saw the CE3K re-release in Dolby Cinema. It did not look too hot. The Blade Runner remaster on the other hand looked remarkable in theaters
 

berzeli

Banned
Saw the CE3K re-release in Dolby Cinema. It did not look too hot.
Heh. I even quoted you earlier, the "Vaseline" look you complained about is 100% intentional and accurate. Your issue with it is basically the Q.E.D. of what we're talking about.

And if you ask me, it is absolutely gorgeous. I love Zsigmond so much.
 
Heh. I even quoted you earlier, the "Vaseline" look you complained about is 100% intentional and accurate. Your issue with it is basically the Q.E.D. of what we're talking about.

And if you ask me, it is absolutely gorgeous. I love Zsigmond so much.

Films don't all look the same and that's OK!
 

J_Viper

Member
Anyone know of a spot in NYC that does movie trade-ins?

There's a few discs I'd like to get rid of since I'm looking to upgrade my collection to 4K

I also have a few Marvel 3D discs I'm never going to use
 
Holy cow, you can make Everclear from the grain on Labyrinth. There is something cool about seeing an old grainy film like this in such high definition.

Been a good decade since I've seen this. Sarah is kind of a fucking psycho in the opening scenes.
I've been sitting on Labyrinth since release, but just haven't gotten to watching it yet. Strange, because I loved it as a child and watched it heavily.

How would you rate the disc overall? Bearing in mind, I wouldn't take points off for film grain, as others have said, the closer to the source, the better.

Wonder Woman is definitely not a Dolby Vision release, right? It'd be the one film to make me immediately switch out my Samsung K8500 for the LG UP970.
 

Dpp1978

Neo Member
Some films are intentionally dark and don't expose all the possible detail in the shadows. Some are intentionally bright and over-expose the highlights.

Some films are filtered within an inch of their life to give a soft look. Others are razor sharp with perfectly pulled focus.

Sometimes the look of a film is down to technical limitations. In other cases it is down to carefully considered artistic intent.

Some films are just ugly to look at.
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
I decided to do legwork since I wanted a more definitive answer on the "look" of Blade Runner, so from the March 1999 American Cinematographer Magazine feature on Blade Runner (which is a reprint of a July 1982 feature) ((which is available online in all it's early internet glory!))

About 65/35mm:


On Deckard's apartment/interior sets:


I'm honestly still not entirely sure what you mean by "pop" (it sounds like you're concerned with depth and clarity?), and if you would be able to illustrate with screencaps or something that would be wonderful. Since there is a risk for us talking past one another unless we agree on what "pop" even constitutes.

But what I can say with some certainty is that there should be no reason for HDR being the factor for grain being a problem in just that one scene since it mostly deals with colour space and contrast. Now if there is macroblocking then it is possible that the issue is compression, but it should have been an even bigger issue on the fairly poorly VC-1 encoded bluray so that doesn't make much sense either on the face of it.
Now the film really doesn't look like it did in 1982 (see the previous linked article about the issues with Blade Runner's restoration), but that was the case with the blu-ray release as well.

From a casual google search; the only other person I saw talking about grain w/r/t Deckard's apartment had a different view:


So have you checked that your setup is calibrated or if something like motion smoothing is accidentally turned on?
film grain is more pronounced in darker scenes. Also if that scene was shot at 35mm the higher resolution you scan the more your scanning into the actual film grain.
 

Big Blue

Member
Anyone know of a spot in NYC that does movie trade-ins?

There's a few discs I'd like to get rid of since I'm looking to upgrade my collection to 4K

I also have a few Marvel 3D discs I'm never going to use

Try Bookoff on 45th between 5th and 6th avenue
 

Realyst

Member
I decided to do legwork since I wanted a more definitive answer on the "look" of Blade Runner, so from the March 1999 American Cinematographer Magazine feature on Blade Runner (which is a reprint of a July 1982 feature) ((which is available online in all it's early internet glory!))

About 65/35mm:


On Deckard's apartment/interior sets:


I'm honestly still not entirely sure what you mean by "pop" (it sounds like you're concerned with depth and clarity?), and if you would be able to illustrate with screencaps or something that would be wonderful. Since there is a risk for us talking past one another unless we agree on what "pop" even constitutes.

But what I can say with some certainty is that there should be no reason for HDR being the factor for grain being a problem in just that one scene since it mostly deals with colour space and contrast. Now if there is macroblocking then it is possible that the issue is compression, but it should have been an even bigger issue on the fairly poorly VC-1 encoded bluray so that doesn't make much sense either on the face of it.
Now the film really doesn't look like it did in 1982 (see the previous linked article about the issues with Blade Runner's restoration), but that was the case with the blu-ray release as well.

From a casual google search; the only other person I saw talking about grain w/r/t Deckard's apartment had a different view:


So have you checked that your setup is calibrated or if something like motion smoothing is accidentally turned on?

I appreciate the work berzeli! It's possible my calibration is off, or I'm just expecting a 35mm film to look like a 70mm film like you said. I'm looking at scenes from the regular blu-ray now just to make sure I'm not crazy. It's looking like the grain is more pronounced during darker scenes on the UHD, but appears absolutely fine on the standard. I turned HDR off, still seeing the same level of grain. It's like someone just dumped sand all over the print. Is the resolution jump making that much of a difference? I wish I could take a screenshot to show you what I'm seeing.

I'm also trying to find example screenshots to illustrate what I mean by "pop". Several PIXAR films demonstrate the effect well on blu-ray, movies like Ratatouille. Clarity and shots with a good amount of Depth of Field are key components of this effect.

It's not impossible for grainy films to have that pop, I was just hoping that one of my all-time favorite films would look like it premiered yesterday, I guess. Hard to explain.
 

Big Blue

Member
There is always going to be an issue with grain when it comes to high res remasters. But it's just not possible to get maximum detail without it. Some people love and some people hate it. All you have to do is look at the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Blu-ray.com thread to see the disagreement.
 

berzeli

Banned
I appreciate the work berzeli! It's possible my calibration is off, or I'm just expecting a 35mm film to look like a 70mm film like you said. I'm looking at scenes from the regular blu-ray now just to make sure I'm not crazy. It's looking like the grain is more pronounced during darker scenes on the UHD, but appears absolutely fine on the standard. I turned HDR off, still seeing the same level of grain. It's like someone just dumped sand all over the print. Is the resolution jump making that much of a difference? I wish I could take a screenshot to show you what I'm seeing.

I'm also trying to find example screenshots to illustrate what I mean by "pop". Several PIXAR films demonstrate the effect well on blu-ray, movies like Ratatouille. Clarity and shots with a good amount of Depth of Field are key components of this effect.

It's not impossible for grainy films to have that pop, I was just hoping that one of my all-time favorite films would look like it premiered yesterday, I guess. Hard to explain.
No worries, I do have a mea culpa about HDR though (from a Sony intro to HDR):
KYPzpJM.png

69OZJTp.png

But since you've been testing it does seem as if HDR isn't the culprit in this case at least.

It could be that you have a different set of expectations as to what "look like it premiered yesterday" entails.
film grain is more pronounced in darker scenes.
Yes.
Also if that scene was shot at 35mm the higher resolution you scan the more your scanning into the actual film grain.
And this is where you lose me.
 
For the recent 4k release, they accidentally swapped a disc when packaging the bonus features.

Instead of including one of the advertised bonus discs, they included a disc featuring three alternative cuts of the movie from an older bluray set. This happened because this new set intentionally includes a disc or two from a previously released set, except they mixed it up and swapped another disc they weren't supposed to. The alternate cuts disc wasn't supposed to be included. After the initial batch they could no longer be found in stores, likely because they were quickly recalled.

A lot of people are actually pleased to get the disc with the alternate cuts, though. Especially considering they will likely end up being able to apply for the missing disc anyway.

Did the company who released it advise if they're going to send out the other discs?
 
WB needs to put Speed Racer on 4K. Imagine that in HDR. Of course, I would be happy just to get a lossless audio track since the blu ray is Dolby Digital only.
 

Wag

Member
Be nice if someone put a good HDCP 2.2 compatible soundbar with Atmos, DTX:X and good rear speaker support. Samsung is the only one that has this, and they downmix DTS:X to 2.0 and the rear speakers are glitch.

I think the first ones to put out an Atmos soundbar with 4+ speaker support is going to do well.
 

Westonian

Member
Nice week for 4K catalog releases:

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
Split
Get Out
Zero Dark Thirty (Best Buy Exclusive)
Brendon Frasier Mummy Trilogy (Individual releases)
Van Helsing
The Purge 3-Movie Collection
Dracula Untold

I'm getting ET, Split and Get Out.

Speaking of, Best Buy has a 2 for $35 deal for Universal 4K movies. Obviously ignore any of the $17.99 discs, but you can get Split and Get Out cheaper this way.
 
Nice week for 4K catalog releases:

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
Get Out
I'm picking both of this up this week. I'm really excited to see how ET fares, not just in 4K, with HDR, too.

And Get Out is just a great movie all around, though I have little expectations for the benefits UHD Blu will bring to it.
 

XOMTOR

Member
Got the Blade Runner UHD.

It has a great picture (HDR is awesome), but I don't remember the film having so much grain. I own the bluray set from 2012 with all the different cuts, and don't recall any IQ issues. There are scenes in Deckard's apartment (the photograph scene) where if you freeze the frame, literally nothing pops out. Harrison's face is completely covered in grain. Most of the 35mm scenes are like this. Is this an HDR artifact? The effects shots of LA and the Tyrell building appear crystal clear, though.

I need to check out Labyrinth to see if it has similar grain levels. Not that I mind it (not a fan of edge enhancement and noise reduction; I want films preserved as they were originally presented in the theater), but it might be difficult for me to watch a lot of classic films in 4K HDR if I can expect this level of grain. I understand that transfers of older film negatives will have issues, and some films will have to be touched up due to color degradation over time, but I find myself wishing every film could look like Lawrence of Arabia or 2001.

Can't speak to Blade Runner but Labyrinth has more pronounced grain (actually grain aliasing) in 4K vs the 1080p version. The 30th anniversary release was taken from a new 4K scan of the negative but therein lies the issue: the 1080p version benefits from significant down-sampling which greatly reduces grain aliasing.

One of the reasons you never scan film at your target resolution, always oversample. Drum scanners have insane resolutions like 8000-12000 ppi (pixels per inch); film doesn't actually resolve that high but those high sample rates do serve a purpose beyond resolving detail. I believe Lawrence of Arabia was scanned at 8000ppi (well they state 8K but scanners don't have input resolutions in Ks) and down-sampled for the 4K release.
 
Can't speak to Blade Runner but Labyrinth has more pronounced grain (actually grain aliasing) in 4K vs the 1080p version. The 30th anniversary release was taken from a new 4K scan of the negative but therein lies the issue: the 1080p version benefits from significant down-sampling which greatly reduces grain aliasing.

One of the reasons you never scan film at your target resolution, always oversample. Drum scanners have insane resolutions like 8000-12000 ppi (pixels per inch); film doesn't actually resolve that high but those high sample rates do serve a purpose beyond resolving detail. I believe Lawrence of Arabia was scanned at 8000ppi (well they state 8K but scanners don't have input resolutions in Ks) and down-sampled for the 4K release.

This makes sense, 1080p Blurays from 4K scans always looked wonderful, so I imagine you would want a 6-8k scan for really great 4K releases.

35mm film only really scans up to 5-6k though I believe, so while you should get great 4K discs out of those, I imagine the 8K screens of the future won't be able to show much improvement beyond UHD discs.

70mm film can scan a bit higher I believe, as well as stuff shot for IMAX, so those transfers could see benefits at 8K.

This makes me worried about stuff shot at 2K digital though.

Sorry for the 8K speculation, I'm just worried about buying my favorite movies for the 5th time...
 

Realyst

Member
WB needs to put Speed Racer on 4K. Imagine that in HDR. Of course, I would be happy just to get a lossless audio track since the blu ray is Dolby Digital only.

Wasn't Speed Racer shot in 2K/1080p? If they upscale this for UHD, you probably won't get an increase in clarity, but should be worth it for the HDR and WCG alone! I hope they can work in Dolby Atmos as a bonus. That should work really well for this movie.

This makes sense, 1080p Blurays from 4K scans always looked wonderful, so I imagine you would want a 6-8k scan for really great 4K releases.

35mm film only really scans up to 5-6k though I believe, so while you should get great 4K discs out of those, I imagine the 8K screens of the future won't be able to show much improvement beyond UHD discs.

70mm film can scan a bit higher I believe, as well as stuff shot for IMAX, so those transfers could see benefits at 8K.

This makes me worried about stuff shot at 2K digital though.

Sorry for the 8K speculation, I'm just worried about buying my favorite movies for the 5th time...

Yeah, might be a long wait for there to be something that equals 15-perf 70mm IMAX film in digital resolution. Isn't it theoretically close to 12K? Apples to oranges, I know.
 

Realyst

Member
Can't speak to Blade Runner but Labyrinth has more pronounced grain (actually grain aliasing) in 4K vs the 1080p version. The 30th anniversary release was taken from a new 4K scan of the negative but therein lies the issue: the 1080p version benefits from significant down-sampling which greatly reduces grain aliasing.

One of the reasons you never scan film at your target resolution, always oversample. Drum scanners have insane resolutions like 8000-12000 ppi (pixels per inch); film doesn't actually resolve that high but those high sample rates do serve a purpose beyond resolving detail. I believe Lawrence of Arabia was scanned at 8000ppi (well they state 8K but scanners don't have input resolutions in Ks) and down-sampled for the 4K release.

Lawrence of Arabia has an AMAZING 1080p blu-ray transfer, this explains why!

I hope studios choose to invest in super high resolution scans for older films.
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
And this is where you lose me.
if you've ever used a digital camera you shoot at ISO 1600 or 3200 you know there is a lot of "noise" or at this point stuff that like awfully similar to film grain. If you look at it at full resolution it looks really grainy, but if you down sample that same picture and look at it in its new full size the grain isn't as noticeable.

the same thing is true of film. If you scan a 35mm film at 2k its not going to exhibit as much grain if you compare it to a 4k scan of 35mm. There is also likely to be more detail at 4k.

Lawrence of Arabia has an AMAZING 1080p blu-ray transfer, this explains why!

I hope studios choose to invest in super high resolution scans for older films.

it really depends on the film. Scanning 35mm at 8k would be a waste of time and money. Scanning 70mm would not.
 
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