Interesting. A couple of observations. First, the Yang segment is certainly the grainiest, partly because it was, like a lot of early Yang, poorly lit and underexposed; so I suspect a lot of the "noise" is inherent in the footage, which looks like it has been "push processed". Second, when I skimmed through the film again on my Mac blu-ray player just now in order to get some screenshots, I was surprised to find, indeed, more grain and (sometimes) less contrast than when I watched the show last night on my Oppo and sizable Sony "4K" TV. Checked another disc at random --
Fargo, which I also watched yesterday -- and surprisingly noticed exactly the same thing. Even in
Fargo there was noticeably more "noise" in backgrounds (wallpaper, windows, etc) visible on my computer's player than on the Oppo/Sony set-up. Not sure what to make of this ... except never to watch a blu-ray on my computer if I can help it.
In any case, screenshots follow. Even with the additional "graininess" associated with having taken the snapshots through the Mac blu-ray player, the show, iyam, and even the Yang segment, is well presented.
From segment 1 (Tao's "Little Dragonhead", the most traditionally lit of the shows): nice blacks, good contrast.
From segment 2 (Yang's "Expectations", relatively amateurish lighting): underexposed, "pushed" film stock, and so less contrast and more grain.
From segment 3:
From segment 4:
Again, in motion on my Oppo/Sony set-up, I didn't see any of the noise here. Only a couple of obviously optically manipulated shots took me out of the presentation.
