UHD/HDR must haves

[Achtung Englander]

I agree. As someone who moved away from physical media in the last 10 years I found there is no option to go back given what UHD can do.

I watched the first 15 min of Blade Runner on Saturday, just to see what the UHD can do. My god on my OLED TV the scene of Tyrell's building with all those pin lights - just stunning. I have seen Blade Runner three times on the big screen - I swear my 65''' OLED TV and UHD actually looks better than film

[Wrathbone]

Another consideration is that Netflix's film library has been steadily shrinking since 2014 as they focus more on original productions. I don't know if that's the case with other streaming services, but they change so often that if a film is available to stream somewhere today, you can no longer assume that it'll be there for long.

Even with stuff that is available, you can't even assume now that it's not been edited or had bits removed for dubious reasons. I've heard of certain 'controversial' episodes of shows being removed, which I can reluctantly understand from the legal perspective of streaming services if an episode shows something that is beyond the pale by modern standards, even if personally I think those episodes should remain as they were with the understanding that times have changed.

But yesterday I heard that the wonderful D&D episode of Community has been removed from streaming services because Ken Jeong cosplays as a drow (a dark elf), on the basis that it was offensive blackface. First, and most importantly, he was playing an elf. Secondly, and this shouldn't matter, but to be clear the drow in D&D typically have bluish slate-grey skin. Thirdly, his character is intentionally an awful, deranged person, so in no way was the show portraying that actual blackface (let alone... drowface?) is fine. It seems that the episode has been removed on the flimsiest of concerns, which is an atrocious way to treat any TV show. It also sets a troubling precedent that is unlikely to get any better.

Yeah, I'm very happy with my rapidly expanding physical media collection.

[Hatredsheart]

I agree. As someone who moved away from physical media in the last 10 years I found there is no option to go back given what UHD can do.

I watched the first 15 min of Blade Runner on Saturday, just to see what the UHD can do. My god on my OLED TV the scene of Tyrell's building with all those pin lights - just stunning. I have seen Blade Runner three times on the big screen - I swear my 65''' OLED TV and UHD actually looks better than film

I remember sitting in the cinema watching Alien the day it was released, got the 40th Anniv. 4K coming tomorrow so I hope my impressions are the same as yours.

[Wrathbone]

Just watched the 4k release of Dr Strangelove, which is an interesting one. The resolution is a substantial upgrade from my old DVD copy, but the real clincher in whether it's worth it in 4k depends on how much you're bothered by film grain. I don't mind it, but crikey there's a lot! It's still the best the film has ever looked on a TV, but even using every noise reduction feature available on my new TV the film grain was prominent. In a way I'd argue for the blu ray over 4k, because you don't get any HDR benefits with it being in black and white.

Still, it's Dr Strangelove - I don't think any presentation of it could go far wrong.

[Hatredsheart]

Just acquired another 4 - 2001 A Space Odyssey, The Dark Knight, Full Metal Jacket & Joker.
Wife's going to forget what I look like this weekend.

[Achtung Englander]

2001 is spectacular.

How was Joker and FMJ?

[Hatredsheart]

2001 is spectacular.

How was Joker and FMJ?

FMJ was excellent, colours and blacks look great with hdr, cinema quality.
Joker again was excellent, superb detail and colour. I watched the 1080p bluray straight after to compare and the quality uptick was noticeable.

No plans to bankrupt myself upgrading all my collection, only ones I'm after atm are The Thing, Gladiator and Donnie Darko if the price drops.

[Wrathbone]

I've set myself a budget of £100 a month to spend on 4k (and upgrading some old DVDs to blu ray where 4k isn't available). Just ordered Tenet and John Wick from HMV's 2 for £24 sale:

https://store.hmv.com/store/promotions/2for_244kultrahd

I've not seen Tenet, but it's a Nolan film so it's always going to be worth a punt, plus it's meant to be the absolute pinnacle of 4k quality.

I've also never seen John Wick all the way through somehow (seen bits at a friend's house) but I've seen enough to know I'll enjoy it.

Next Monday I've got the 4k release of Battle Royale on pre-order. I'm coming from a very old and battered DVD copy, so it'll be a worthwhile upgrade regardless of how good the 4k transfer is.

[Achtung Englander]

I know what you guys mean, I set my budget to £50-£60 per month. I am pacing myself and only picking up my favourite movies. Its shelf space I am more concerned about - might have to start giving more books (which I will not re-read) to charity.

[Wrathbone]

Its shelf space I am more concerned about

I've spent the last couple of weeks making some changes to address the same thing. I've replaced an old collapsing bookcase with one of these, which holds 528 DVDs / blu rays:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

I've also put a tonne of old DVDs into a folder instead of their individual cases. The folder holds 500 discs and it quickly filled up.

Anyway, I've now got plenty of shelf space to go at.

[Animalmother]

There's a version of The Terminator I got on blu-ray years ago that was fantastic, made the film almost look brand new in places.

Pretty sure it's this one:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Term ... ray/61372/
Probably a film people have multiple versions of (like myself) but really worth it.

[Wrathbone]

I wish they'd give T1 and T2 quality 4k releases. T1 is not on 4k and the T2 4k transfer is not good as it's been given too much digital treatment to remove film grain so that everyone looks plastic. Bit of a shambles.

I also wish James Cameron would stop dicking about with Avatar (does anybody other than him care about it?) and sort out the home releases he keeps promising. True Lies isn't even available in 1080p!

[Wrathbone]

Bit of a controversial development with Disney+. Last Friday, they updated 13 MCU movies with IMAX Enhanced, which means any scenes shot for IMAX will take up the full screen, rather than having the black bars at the top and bottom. With 10 of the films it's apparently sporadic scenes, but with Infinity War, Endgame and the new film Shang-Chi, the entire films are in IMAX format.

Why am I posting this in the UHD thread? Because the newly-released 4K blu ray of Shang-Chi is not in IMAX format, meaning you lose about 25% of the available picture. This is a truly cynical move by Disney in trying to push Disney+. If you've bought the 4k disc, or if you're one of the maniacs who spent £400 on the MCU 4k boxset (not me, thankfully), your discs are not going to be the best way to view the films anymore - not because the picture quality on streaming is better (it isn't) but because they've butchered the format on disc.

I can understand the existing films not being updated on disc for IMAX, but to release Shang-Chi (and presumably future films) on disc and on streaming at the same time with one in IMAX and one in letterbox format? That's just shitty, not to mention a worrying precedent.

[Raid]

I've read that a 4k blu-ray film takes up around 50gb already. Is it possible that it's a limitation of the media capacity?

But frankly this is a perfect example of one of the reasons I don't bother with physical media anymore. Even within resolution generations, there are still changes that can out-date a disc. It's always been the case with those big collectors edition box sets that a new version will come along.

[Wrathbone]

I've read that a 4k blu-ray film takes up around 50gb already. Is it possible that it's a limitation of the media capacity?

I don't think so, as there are other films which feature prominent IMAX scenes (the Dark Knight trilogy springs to mind), but also more importantly because the Marvel films are 2K digital intermediates rather than true 4K, which means there's a lot less image data involved. If I remember correctly, transfers from film also take up more space than those shot digitally, and most (maybe all?) the MCU films are digital. If they were exceptionally long films like the LOTR films, they also have the option of putting them across two discs.

Nah, this isn't even laziness from Disney, it's an aggressive push against physical media and in favour of Disney+. I really hope this doesn't start a trend with other studios.