Ghostbusters Reviews including mastered from 4K

[kdo]

Originally Posted by tylergfoster

Funny. Flipping to the 2009 Blu after skipping around on the M4K disc for about a half hour only severely lowered my opinion of the 2009 transfer, which I would've said was adequate up until I saw the new disc. I would've called it a 3.5 or something before, now it seems more like a 2.5, if not lower. I would almost say that I got less out of the advantages of the new one compared to a new consideration of the flaws in the old one. When I thought it was an error that would never be fixed, I think I justified the appearance to myself. Now that I've seen how good it can look, in comparison, I would say the 2009 is beneath my personal bar for a disc that I would be able to watch without being annoyed the entire time (it shares this honor with Tremors and Face / Off, among others).

I am glad Sony has started this line and I hope to see many future releases in it, although it would be nice if they cut the price to $10.

I respect your opinion, and I know there are some who share your viewpoint. However, it looks like we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I'd say for about 90% of the presentation, I felt like the two releases looked nearly identical. Yes, the optical & special effects sequences standout as being the most improved on the M4K, but even then, we're talking about a very small chunk of overall screentime.

And yes, I have no problem with the M4K line, but if Sony wants it to succeed, they need to market titles that haven't yet been released in HD IMO. They are one of the best (if not the best) studios at releasing Blu-rays...why can't they leave well enough alone, and go after some new catalogs? I'm hoping they will, as it's still early enough for them to make the changes they need in order for this line to be successful...

[therock666]

any stores have this yet like walmart etc????

[5th Of November]

Originally Posted by Indiana Jones

My Panasonic BD-35 gave me nothing but flawless playback for the 3+ years I had it but time and time again I read of others with much newer players having issues with lock-ups, audio drop outs and picture break ups on discs that gave me no issue at all, some players are just better at handling the changing authoring/encoding specs than others.

Really wish I had not got rid of it for the LG 620 though as I have already had 2 player lock ups on top of the picture issue with Ghostbusters and its less than a month old

I still use a Panasonic BD-35 as my primary player. I purchased it back in 2008, when it was released. I haven't had any problems with new releases and I can't remember the last time I updated the firmware. It was $300 on release day, but I've gotten my money's worth out of it.

I'm hoping it holds up until the PS4 is released.

[kdo]

Originally Posted by therock666

any stores have this yet like walmart etc????

To the best of my understanding, these are going to be pretty much online-only titles. I can't imagine there's enough demand to warrant stocking any of them in stores. Looking at the Blu-reviews (and screenshot comparisons) of the M4K releases of "Glory" and "The Karate Kid," I'm surprised Sony even bothered. There looks to be virtually no difference whatsoever...

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by kdo

To the best of my understanding, these are going to be pretty much online-only titles. I can't imagine there's enough demand to warrant stocking any of them in stores. Looking at the Blu-reviews (and screenshot comparisons) of the M4K releases of "Glory" and "The Karate Kid," I'm surprised Sony even bothered. There looks to be virtually no difference whatsoever...

Have to disagree with you here. There's a marginal to moderate upgrade in clarity and colors with Glory.

[RocShemp]

I was able to watch my new copy of Ghostbusters yesterday. The new transfer is great. The movie itself activates a hidden x.v.Color setting on my Sharp LC-60LE847U. I had to fiddle with the settings a bit to get it as close to how my movie setting looks for regular BD's (mainly I had to lower the contrast from 33 to 27 since anything higher clips when receiving the x.v.Color signal). I feel Sony dropped the ball with not having the hidden test patterns encoded in x.v.Color to get the most out of these new discs.

[kdo]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Have to disagree with you here. There's a marginal to moderate upgrade in clarity and colors with Glory.

In terms of upgrade on "Glory," and based on the caps on the site here, what I'm seeing looks more along the lines of: none to extremely marginal...in fact, in some ways, I actually like the look of the original Blu over the M4K (which looks softer). There is zero chance that Sony will ever re-sell me on any future M4K titles that they've already released on Blu, as their product is almost always exemplary...and if there's a studio that doesn't need to use M4K as a sales gimmick, it's them.

[42041]

Can't say I'm seeing this "marginal" thing. The new Glory disc looks like a stellar transfer, based on the captures (though I have no intent of picking it up). The original transfer is above average among catalog transfers, but far from stellar. The texture, crispness, whatever you wanna call it has been enormously improved, to my eyes. Same as the Ghostbusters disc: in terms of actual resolvable detail, there may not be an enormous upgrade, but the image is far more refined and filmic.

[spawningblue]

Originally Posted by kdo

In terms of upgrade on "Glory," and based on the caps on the site here, what I'm seeing looks more along the lines of: none to extremely marginal...in fact, in some ways, I actually like the look of the original Blu over the M4K (which looks softer). There is zero chance that Sony will ever re-sell me on any future M4K titles that they've already released on Blu, as their product is almost always exemplary...and if there's a studio that doesn't need to use M4K as a sales gimmick, it's them.

I don't see a big difference either. Same with Karate Kid. I think Ghostbusters will be the exception rather than not the rule, and that's only because the transfer on the first release wasn't great. I will take the extras packed releases over these barebones 4faKe releases any day.

[kdo]

Originally Posted by 42041

Can't say I'm seeing this "marginal" thing. The new Glory disc looks like a stellar transfer, based on the captures (though I have no intent of picking it up). The original transfer is above average among catalog transfers, but far from stellar. The texture, crispness, whatever you wanna call it has been enormously improved, to my eyes.

In that case, I must be going blind, because I'm just not seeing it . I see some improved color in a handful of the M4K shots, but nothing that I would personally consider to be anything more than "minute" differences between the two. Oh well, to each their own ...but yeah, I don't own the first release of "Glory" (just not a big fan of the film), so I guess I can't really state anything official since I don't own either disc...sorry, didn't mean to drag that film into the "Ghostbusters" thread, my apologies.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by 42041

Can't say I'm seeing this "marginal" thing. The new Glory disc looks like a stellar transfer, based on the captures (though I have no intent of picking it up). The original transfer is above average among catalog transfers, but far from stellar. The texture, crispness, whatever you wanna call it has been enormously improved, to my eyes. Same as the Ghostbusters disc: in terms of actual resolvable detail, there may not be an enormous upgrade, but the image is far more refined and filmic.

Yep. It may seem like a small change, but that newly unveiled layer of fine texture makes all the difference on these film-based 4K redo's. To some folks, like me, it makes a big impact on the PQ because the archaic video mastering artefacts (blown out contrast, edge halos etc) have been jettisoned and we're getting ever closer to replicating the look of film.

To other peoples, the old ones looked just fine and the slightly more diffuse appearance of the new ones is apparently a cause for concern instead of celebration.

[notops]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Yep. It may seem like a small change, but that newly unveiled layer of fine texture makes all the difference on these film-based 4K redo's. To some folks, like me, it makes a big impact on the PQ because the archaic video mastering artefacts (blown out contrast, edge halos etc) have been jettisoned and we're getting ever closer to replicating the look of film.

This.

[kdo]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Yep. It may seem like a small change, but that newly unveiled layer of fine texture makes all the difference on these film-based 4K redo's. To some folks, like me, it makes a big impact on the PQ because the archaic video mastering artefacts (blown out contrast, edge halos etc) have been jettisoned and we're getting ever closer to replicating the look of film.

To other peoples, the old ones looked just fine and the slightly more diffuse appearance of the new ones is apparently a cause for concern instead of celebration.

I didn't mean to imply that it's a cause for concern, nor was I attempting to state that the M4K transfers are inferior (because they're not). Fact of the matter is that the M4K transfers of both "Ghostbusters" and "Glory" (and the rest of the M4K line I'd imagine) are superior to their standard BD predecessors...but it's very minimal improvement we're talking about. Yes, I know for some people improvement is improvement, regardless how much or how little. But for me, there has to be a certain level of upgrade, before it becomes worthy of rebuying...the differences evident in the "Glory" caps is basically hair-splitting..."Ghostbusters" is a little easier because of the contrast issue that hindered the previous release. However, for "Glory," I pretty much had to zoom in 400% before I really started noticing the uptick in fine detail seen on the M4K release. Only thing is, I don't watch my movies on zoom , and at face value, the variation in picture quality almost seems negligible. Again, these improvements are clearly going to be much more noticeable on larger displays, but even then, I wonder how many people will find it significant enough to warrant a rebuy ?

[Shadow_cinephile]

Sounds great the "Mastered in 4K", but i owned yesterday "Ghostbusters Combo Pack" with awesome "extras" .. didn't thought to much, special editions without "extras" no work for me.

[mzupeman]

Watched my copy last night. Minimal improvement? Not for me. The color and contrast correction made a world of difference. THIS is how Ghostbusters should look!

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by kdo

To the best of my understanding, these are going to be pretty much online-only titles. I can't imagine there's enough demand to warrant stocking any of them in stores. Looking at the Blu-reviews (and screenshot comparisons) of the M4K releases of "Glory" and "The Karate Kid," I'm surprised Sony even bothered. There looks to be virtually no difference whatsoever...

I will never, ever understand this "logic". I see titles in stores all the time that can't possibly have high demand. I mean really lame or obscure stuff that can't possibly have high demand, yet there it is on the shelves. Yet every time a release like this is online only, people say "it wouldn't have high enough demand for retail". I don't buy it. That's a poor excuse. If DVD got most of the titles online only, it never would have taken off and gotten as popular as it did. It got popular because titles were on store shelves. Best Buy used to be awesome for finding DVDs. They suck at carrying blu-rays.