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4K UHD/Blu-ray/DVD Community Thread: Bringing the Theater Home!
- Thread starter KDash
- Start date
This is what happens when you have a collection without a clear direction/focus point. Might as well buy everything you are interested in.
Watched Force Awakens in Dolby Vision but it was a bit grainy.
Yeah, I watched a bit of A New Hope in 4K last night. Looked good.
I also saw that Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was in 4K. I wonder when/if any of this stuff will get a physical release.
Edit: Also all five Pirates of the Caribbean movies are there in 4K. Probably lots more. I haven't checked everything yet. It also won't tell me if something is in 4K unless I use a 4K screen, and the two in my house are always occupied (family room and my younger brother's room).
I also saw that Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was in 4K. I wonder when/if any of this stuff will get a physical release.
Edit: Also all five Pirates of the Caribbean movies are there in 4K. Probably lots more. I haven't checked everything yet. It also won't tell me if something is in 4K unless I use a 4K screen, and the two in my house are always occupied (family room and my younger brother's room).
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Ah well. I will wait for new Muppets stuff before I sub then.
However, they still haven't bothered with a blu-ray of The Black Cauldron, let alone a full restoration of the original cut (from what's still available). What a mess :(
If 4K versions of the Pirates movies exist, then what the hell are they waiting on for the 4K discs? Star Wars I at least get, as they'll inevitably tie it in to the release for RoS, since Disney usually pairs up new and old releases like that. No such reason to hold off on Pirates.
Oh good, I was afraid something was wrong with the App or my TV.
Probably waiting for the reboot which will eventually happen. I've been considering pulling the trigger on the five disc regular Blu-ray since it's not even €20 at the moment.
Holding off for at least another 3 years for one of their biggest properties seems a bit out there though. But either way, at least in the meantime I have Disney+ as an option now.
Not sure if this is the place for this, or if there's a more general 4K viewing thread I should take this to, but maybe someone can help out a 4K noob. I only recently upgraded to a 4K set (2019 50 inch TCL 5 Series, if you're wondering) but don't have a 4K player or any UHD discs, so I've largely just been streaming in 1080p so far. With Disney+ I have access to a whole 4K library now, and I tried out a couple titles last night and...it seems not great?
I mentioned this in the Star Wars thread, but I was watching scenes from things like Endgame and Rogue One, and the CGI just looks really bad. Really smooth and video game-y, so obviously fake in a way that it never looked like when I saw the movies in theaters or watched them on my laptop. The Hulk and Thanos models in Endgame, and some of the ships in Rogue One, looked particularly awful. Is this normal? One poster suggested it might be because the CGI was rendered in 2K (which, if true, seems like it'd be problematic for any effects-heavy movie rendered in 2K no?). Another said it was because of the video compression with streaming that smooths out CGI models so that it looks worse than it would otherwise. But that also seems problematic for the tech as a whole, because that means streaming any movie with CGI in 4K is going to look bad wouldn't it?
I'm not sure it's an across the board problem, because the CGI on The Force Awakens seemed normal at first glance, but Rogue One and Endgame stuck out so egregiously. Do others have this experience too? Is this just part of 4K? Or is it specific to these movies, or is it just my TV? Note that I haven't permanently calibrated my set yet...I've played around with settings, but I've never been comfortable enough with anything I adjust it to, and end up just defaulting to the normal settings which otherwise look great for most other video content. It's just 4K/Dolby Vision/HDR/whatever you want to call it that seems to give me trouble. I've also noticed when watching something like Endgame or Fleabag (on Amazon, also in 4K) a different issue where random character or camera movements feel slightly sped up...it's not motion smoothing, but the feeling is like something close to that or along those lines.
If anyone can help that would be wonderful, because I have been driving myself crazy trying to figure this shit out the last few days haha.
I mentioned this in the Star Wars thread, but I was watching scenes from things like Endgame and Rogue One, and the CGI just looks really bad. Really smooth and video game-y, so obviously fake in a way that it never looked like when I saw the movies in theaters or watched them on my laptop. The Hulk and Thanos models in Endgame, and some of the ships in Rogue One, looked particularly awful. Is this normal? One poster suggested it might be because the CGI was rendered in 2K (which, if true, seems like it'd be problematic for any effects-heavy movie rendered in 2K no?). Another said it was because of the video compression with streaming that smooths out CGI models so that it looks worse than it would otherwise. But that also seems problematic for the tech as a whole, because that means streaming any movie with CGI in 4K is going to look bad wouldn't it?
I'm not sure it's an across the board problem, because the CGI on The Force Awakens seemed normal at first glance, but Rogue One and Endgame stuck out so egregiously. Do others have this experience too? Is this just part of 4K? Or is it specific to these movies, or is it just my TV? Note that I haven't permanently calibrated my set yet...I've played around with settings, but I've never been comfortable enough with anything I adjust it to, and end up just defaulting to the normal settings which otherwise look great for most other video content. It's just 4K/Dolby Vision/HDR/whatever you want to call it that seems to give me trouble. I've also noticed when watching something like Endgame or Fleabag (on Amazon, also in 4K) a different issue where random character or camera movements feel slightly sped up...it's not motion smoothing, but the feeling is like something close to that or along those lines.
If anyone can help that would be wonderful, because I have been driving myself crazy trying to figure this shit out the last few days haha.
It's not 4k... Usually 4k makes the CGI stand out less, not more.
Sounds to me like it's potentially your TV settings. Do you have motion smoothing turned on? That can make things look very artificial and videogamey.
haha, the hunt for motion smoothing on my tv has been quite annoying. I've looked online for guides about finding/turning off motion smoothing for TCL sets, and they all point to the same way of going into Advanced Picture Settings and then turning off the setting there. Except my TV doesn't have an Advanced Picture Settings menu or a Motion Smoothing setting anywhere. And I've seen people elsewhere say that 50 inch and under models don't support motion smoothing, so I assume mine doesn't have it. But there are times when watching 4K content (especially Fleabag for some reason, not exactly an fx heavy show...) that video will sporadically feel sped up. It's not full on motion smoothing, it doesn't affect the whole show or even whole shots, but like certain elements within a shot will feel like it's moving a little too fast. But far as I can tell my TV doesn't support motion smoothing so I'm not sure what that would be.
Maybe I just need to mess around with the other settings though. As I said, I've played around with them a lot but can never find the sweet spot and just end up reverting to the default settings, which look great for everything other than DV/HDR content.
edit - fwiw, this is my tv: https://www.tclusa.com/products/hom...-4k-uhd-dolby-vision-hdr-roku-smart-tv-50s525
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For TCL I think it's called Action Smoothing, but as far as I can tell my tv doesn't support it. And I definitely know there is no motion smoothing on HD or below streaming; everything outside of 4K content looks perfectly fine and normal in that regard. It's only when streaming DV/HDR content that I notice some sporadic instances that feel like motion smoothing, but could just very well be me losing my mind over this
yes I saw that too, thanks! The mobile app has nothing re: motion smoothing either, but it does have Gamma control (which I think I have set at 2.2 or 2.4) and noise reduction (which I have turned off)
I'm thinking that a different settings profile loads when your TV detects a DV signal. So I'd try starting a 4k/DV and/or HDR movie and then check your settings to see if any new options pop up.
Thanks, I'll give that a shot tonight. My gut feeling is that the DV/HDR settings profile are not that dissimilar from the settings profile for HD content...though as I type that I realize maybe that itself is also an issue, haha.
How does this community feel about the XBox One as a UHD blu ray player? I was looking at standalone players like the Samsung UBD-M8500 (which is going to be $150 for black Friday). If the XBox is just as good though I might consider the additional functionality.
Outside of not having Dolby Vision, picture quality wise, it's as good as virtually every other player on the market.
My TV doesn't have Dolby Vision, so. That's actually why I was looking at the standalone Samsung player since it was supposedly updated for HDR 10+, which is supported by like 5 blu-rays that I probably won't buy. My TV is a Samsung Q70.
Sounds like the Xbox One would be a good fit for you. Buy a remote with it!
Personally I wasn't a fan and replaced my Xbox X for a proper standalone player.
Admittedly I mostly loathed the UI. I was not prepared for how sluggish, bloated, and kind of closed off it feels(plus the time it takes to actually load into the player and disc wasn't great). Just using the XBX in general was not enjoyable. Also the system didn't interact with my TV or HT at all, so as a dedicated player I needed to go through a few extra steps just to launch everything and get it going. Finally being forced to use the controller exclusively to interact I didn't love.
Switched to a dedicated BR player and everything is now synced with my entire system and I can jump right into a loaded disc almost instantly with like a single button from everything in a powered-off state. Its night and day superior.
Although admittedly I have a gaming PC capable of playing available MS titles, so the XBX gaming perk wasn't a factor for me, but i did get a kick out of seeing some old BC titles enhanced in 4K HDR that are only on XBX. I suppose if you want a player and the game option...well, just be prepared for that awful dashboard is all.
I've read Xbox One X added Dolby Vision support, but I have no idea if they ever fixed the rgb issue. I never use mine since the disk player makes noise compared to my LG up970 which is whisper quiet.
I would go for a stand alone player like the Sony X700 or LG UKb80/90. Sony especially is pretty cheap right now.
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They gutted DMR a few months ago and cleared out remaining physical disc rewards stock for peanuts, I think I got four blus for like 1200 points. The new "insiders" site has crap for rewards, all digital downloads or credit codes. Kind of a bummer.
Bought 5 UHD Blu Rays through the Amazon deal for $14 with my cash back money :)
The Shining
The Matrix
Gremlins
Batman Returns
And Evil Dead 2
Will have plenty to watch if Black Friday dissapoints.
The Shining
The Matrix
Gremlins
Batman Returns
And Evil Dead 2
Will have plenty to watch if Black Friday dissapoints.
I think that Dolby Vision support came only for apps like Netflix. Still waiting support for UHD-discs. RGB etc. issues were fixed though.
I wonder what's holding them back from adding it? No use for me personally without it. :/
My assumption is that Xbox was unwilling to pay Dolby to license it for their disc drive, possibly given the niche userbase that would take advantage of DV discs. Meanwhile Netflix obviously has a Dolby deal in place for use across their apps and worked out ensuring Xbox also shared that compatability. Likely given the large install base that does probably use Netflix on the system.
Just a guess again.
Well considering how MS marketed it as the "Ultimate media device" you would think they wouldn't be cheap about adding Dolby, but oh well.
For Dolby headphone the end user could just buy the license via the marketplace. Seems a simple solution.
The Sony X700 and LG Ukb90 are solid players for the price. Sony X800m2 if you want something a little more high end.
As a follow-up to this: I set the picture mode on my DV/HDR settings (and regular SDR settings too) to movie mode (or Dark mode, as it's called for the 4K profiles), with the sharpness turned down from 50 to 20, color down from 50 to 45, and color temp set to warm. Also reduced the gamma a bit from 2.4 to 2.2 to add a tiny more brightness to it since it was starting to seem a bit too dark. I don't know if that's actually helped with the random slightly sped up movements, but I think it did help with how the CGI looked somewhat...I'd been watching on normal picture mode before, and maybe the screen was just too bright/color temp too cool and blue that it was putting unintended harsher light on the CG models? Does that make sense?
Honestly for some big special effect movie I find myself preferring the blu ray to 4K. The fire effects on fury road 4K are REALLY distracting 🤢the Blu-ray upscales really well On my TV too
I'm a lot more excited for older movies getting the UHD Blu Ray treatment than newer movies. All those special effects needing to be rendered in 2k hold newer movies back.
It's a Wonderful Life 4K looked fantastic. They need to get Lawrence of Arabia down here on UHD already
Fury Road is pretty much the perfect example of "HDR = color fiesta." The fire in that movie looks like pizza sauce, it's so bad. It was the first thing I ever watched on my OLED and god I was so disappointed.
Yeah a lot of the early ones really don't do the format any justice it deserves. Probably led to a lot of bad first impressions for many people.