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Sentimental Value (Criterion) Chris' review

I created an account just for this.

I think there are two different discs for Dredd (2012) because my 4K Bluray doesn't have DNR, it has the opposite issue. There are scenes where the video is a mess because there's a ton of grain from the 35mm film stock (Because Lionsgate printed it to film in 2012 and scanned that for the 4K remaster), and there is a ton of noise from the digital camera used to film the movie.

I got the US Steelbook from Walmart.

As for Avatar 1, the Standard copy has issues with AI because they went from 24fps to 48fps with AI then back down to 24fps, and made it a jittery mess. This issue was fixed with the Collectors edition. The collectors edition still looks like AI, just isn't as bad.

I don’t think there are multiple US 4K discs of Dredd, so what you’re seeing is probably placebo.

Both Avatar 4K discs have the same underlying AI-upscaled master but the disc in the collector’s edition has Dolby Vision. I imagine there’s an issue with your setup in the HDR10 mode.

Five Easy Pieces (Criterion) - caps

A couple of caps of the upcoming Charade 4K were also posted. They look great but I’d like to wait for a comparison to see if it’s a red category upgrade.

Charade (Criterion) - comparison

Hi Mom! (Radiance)

Radiance 4k + BD vs Arrow BD

Some Like It Hot (Capelight) - caps. Same master as Kino.

Arrow’s QC strikes again. Their upcoming Audition 4K has defective 4.0 and 5.1 mixes. See here.

The have people check this stuff, right? So what's their record on getting replacements?

Bigger issues like this are usually addressed rather quickly but smaller things like the 1-frame Dolby Vision layer delay in Hard Boiled, which most viewers won’t notice anyway, are hit or miss. Give it a few weeks when more people get their copies and we’ll surely hear more.

Last time QC was this much of an issue, they hired extra staff. They should hire someone specifically for audio QC. I wonder if the current staff are overtaxed with the sheer number of titles, including the upcoming Stranger Things set. To be fair, there haven't been any issues reported yet with the Jackie Chan set.

Why does it always seem like it's the Arrow releases I pre-order that have the issues, fortunately I held off for a price drop on this one.

Audition's 2.0 track confirmed to be fine but the Mes commentary plays over the incorrectly pitched 5.1 track.

Blue Thunder (Arrow) - caps
Insomnia (Second Sight) - Criterion SDR master with a HDR grade. Caps & comparison
Moneyball (Sony, Second Pressing) - 4K DI, good resolution upgrade but mediocre encode. This would technically be something for Fus1on's list as it's still a relatively recent film from a DI but he hasn't added to his list in months and I can't remember him posting in a while either.
The Da Vinci Code (Sony, 2026 DV upgrade)

I'll add it, I'm still here!

Nice! You can add Highest 2 Lowest (A24) to your red category as well. If you want to link caps, here they are.

intersting that Second Sight used Criterion's 4k master and colour grade as a base rather than Studiocanal's very different one

I now have a Dolby Vision capable TV. Do all titles in the red category have DV? If not, which are especially fantastic looking? I'd like to see what DV can really do.

I don't think being in the red category necessarily means that it has Dolby Vision. Off the top of my head, I remember big titles like 2001, Alien (especially the ending), and Lawrence of Arabia (which isn't even in the red category) looking pretty fantastic

The Shining is the film which finally made me realize what the format can offer

For pure eye candy, Arrow's Flash Gordon 4K still sticks in my mind three years later.

Lionsgate’s new and “definitive” Rambo set that’s been in the works for years is rather disappointing. They didn’t just cut corners by making this an Amazon exclusive and printing so few copies that most buyers missed out, they even treated the disc themselves without much care beyond the work that went into securing the original audio tracks. They either handed the encodes to the guy who does Kino’s discs or used the same presets with huge Dolby Vision layers that improve on poorly compressed HDR10 base layers. The first three films were encoded like that but apparently still look better than the old discs as they suffered from even worse compression.

is the colour grading improved compared to the previous UHD releases?

They did some work on the masters and people are happy with the improvements. The films weren’t completely re-graded though.