Reservoir Dogs 4K UHD on Vudu is very dark compared to Pulp Fiction 4K UHD

[excandide]

I purchased the 4K UHD of Reservoir Dogs recently. I had the HDX version previously. I noticed immediately it was much darker than the HDX version. When I switch back and forth from HDX to UHD, the UHD is much much darker. Comparing it to the newly released Pulp Fiction 4K UHD... when I switch from HDX to UHD for Pulp Fiction there is almost no difference in Brightness.. just an extra level of detail for UHD. Is anyone else seeing the same issue with Reservoir Dogs? It's unwatchable in the current state. My television's Brightness is set to max when I switch to the UHD of Reservoir dogs as it automatically triggers my TV's Dolby Vision settings so that's not the issue.

[kannibaliztik]

I just checked mine and it looks great. no darkness issues at all.

[excandide]

Originally Posted by kannibaliztik

I just checked mine and it looks great. no darkness issues at all.

On VUDU? If you switch from HDX to UHD... is there any brightness difference?

[kannibaliztik]

Originally Posted by excandide

On VUDU? If you switch from HDX to UHD... is there any brightness difference?

Not really, surely nothing that is 'unwatchable' keep in mind my tv only has HDR10, this may be a dolby vision issue.

[excandide]

Originally Posted by kannibaliztik

Not really, surely nothing that is 'unwatchable' keep in mind my tv only has HDR10, this may be a dolby vision issue.

Yes... it seems it may be Dolby Vision related if the HDR10 version is ok.

[kannibaliztik]

took a quick video, looks like crap on my phone but it definitely isn't too dark in HDR10


https://i.imgur.com/F3MRTVa.mp4

[excandide]

Originally Posted by kannibaliztik

took a quick video, looks like crap on my phone but it definitely isn't too dark in HDR10


https://i.imgur.com/F3MRTVa.mp4

If you switch from UHD to HDX is there a noticeable difference in brightness?

[kannibaliztik]

Originally Posted by excandide

If you switch from UHD to HDX is there a noticeable difference in brightness?

just got back home and checked, barely any brightness difference between HD and 4K.

[Undeadcow]

I also spot checked Reservoir Dogs UHD on Vudu and did not notice anything of concern with image brightness.
In general I have noticed that often UHD/4K content is darker than what I expected (but not to a fault) and a darker more pristine image may be an effect of the increase in resolution.

[BluRayTim]

I asked for these movies on 4K BluRay disc for Christmas. Now I’m worrying intensely. Should I be this worried?

[kannibaliztik]

Originally Posted by BluRayTim

I asked for these movies on 4K BluRay disc for Christmas. Now I’m worrying intensely. Should I be this worried?

No, they both look fantastic.

[JG85]

Originally Posted by excandide

I purchased the 4K UHD of Reservoir Dogs recently. I had the HDX version previously. I noticed immediately it was much darker than the HDX version. When I switch back and forth from HDX to UHD, the UHD is much much darker. Comparing it to the newly released Pulp Fiction 4K UHD... when I switch from HDX to UHD for Pulp Fiction there is almost no difference in Brightness.. just an extra level of detail for UHD. Is anyone else seeing the same issue with Reservoir Dogs? It's unwatchable in the current state. My television's Brightness is set to max when I switch to the UHD of Reservoir dogs as it automatically triggers my TV's Dolby Vision settings so that's not the issue.

I'm having the same issue with the iTunes 4K of Reservoir Dogs. It just has a dark look to it. I was thinking maybe it was something with my TV settings but than I put on another movie on to test things & that looks perfectly clear.

[excandide]

Originally Posted by JG85

I'm having the same issue with the iTunes 4K of Reservoir Dogs. It just has a dark look to it. I was thinking maybe it was something with my TV settings but than I put on another movie on to test things & that looks perfectly clear.

It's not just Reservoir Dogs. Certain VUDU 4K UHD films are much darker than their HDX versions, while other titles are perfectly fine and bright. I need to do some more research and maybe come up with a list of titles that have this issue. Perhaps it's an HDR10 or Dolby Vision issue with my TV. Just not sure why some 4K UHD Vudu titles look fine and others are just noticeably darker.

Pulp Fiction 4K UHD in Dolby Vision looks great. Reservoir Dogs 4K UHD in Dolby Vision is just MUCH darker, I just checked again. Played One and than the other. So I really can't figure out why.

When I select HDX of Reservoir Dogs, the same scene is MUCH brighter.

I just checked HEAT 4K UHD which is in HDR10 and again, the same scene in 4K is much darker than the HDX. Can't explain it. It's happening on both HDR10 and Dolby Vision.

Just strange.

[crackedknee]

What is your TV? Brand and model? It's hard to guess what the problem is without know what TV you have.

[JG85]

Originally Posted by excandide

It's not just Reservoir Dogs. Certain VUDU 4K UHD films are much darker than their HDX versions, while other titles are perfectly fine and bright. I need to do some more research and maybe come up with a list of titles that have this issue. Perhaps it's an HDR10 or Dolby Vision issue with my TV. Just not sure why some 4K UHD Vudu titles look fine and others are just noticeably darker.

Pulp Fiction 4K UHD in Dolby Vision looks great. Reservoir Dogs 4K UHD in Dolby Vision is just MUCH darker, I just checked again. Played One and than the other. So I really can't figure out why.

When I select HDX of Reservoir Dogs, the same scene is MUCH brighter.

I just checked HEAT 4K UHD which is in HDR10 and again, the same scene in 4K is much darker than the HDX. Can't explain it. It's happening on both HDR10 and Dolby Vision.

Just strange.

In regards to Heat I believe that particular transfer is meant to be pretty dark. With Reservoir Dogs I tried it on my iPhone & the transfer is great but on my TV it just doesn’t look right. I have an older TV but I’ve played other 4K iTunes movies on it like Training Day, Collateral, The Dark Knight & a some others & they look good. I’m just not sure what the issue is with Reservoir Dogs when it’s supposed to be a good transfer. Do you have a newer TV? That’s the only thing I can think of is it’s our particular TVs for why certain movies won’t look good if we have outdated tech in our TVs.

[JG85]

Originally Posted by crackedknee

What is your TV? Brand and model? It's hard to guess what the problem is without know what TV you have.

I have a pretty old Samsung 4K TV with no HDR currently. It’s the JU6500. I want to upgrade to a Sony OLED later this year.

But I don’t understand why other movies look good. I had Robocop 4K from iTunes on last night & it looked perfectly clear with a great picture. Also The Dark Knight looks great. I had my iPhone on at the same parts as my TV for Reservoir Dogs at the same time to compare & it looked way better on my iPhone. My phone has an OLED screen so that probably has something to do with it to a degree. I’ve only just got into digital so I haven’t tested every single movie I own yet. Just confusing though if the reason is my TV is old why those other movies don’t look bad.

[crackedknee]

Originally Posted by JG85

I have a pretty old Samsung 4K TV with no HDR currently. It’s the JU6500. I want to upgrade to a Sony OLED later this year.

But I don’t understand why other movies look good. I had Robocop 4K from iTunes on last night & it looked perfectly clear with a great picture. Also The Dark Knight looks great. I had my iPhone on at the same parts as my TV for Reservoir Dogs at the same time to compare & it looked way better on my iPhone. My phone has an OLED screen so that probably has something to do with it to a degree. I’ve only just got into digital so I haven’t tested every single movie I own yet. Just confusing though if the reason is my TV is old why those other movies don’t look bad.

HDR is half of 4K, HDR works with the definition to actually yield an effective UHD image. Because the HDR process captures and delivers a significant larger number of color shades.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/hdr-vs-sdr

The OLED TVs (or maybe your phone as well) are better able to handle contrast than your current TV (which even when it was released (circa 2017), was a Good, but not Very Good or Excellent TV). Robocop and Dark Knight I suspect have a brighter image due to Apple/iTunes adaptive feature conform to the much lower quality of the tech receiving. But Reservoir Dogs was scanned thinking of actual quality in mind, adhering more to film print than HD TV boosting brightness and boosting colors.

So even with a regular 4K TV, you have to have your settings correct in order to see a good picture, which is not necessarily boosted (overly) bright as with many movie releases for HD TVs, but appropriately and overall darker than has been the custom during 10 years of HD TV, but still detailed. Dark but detailed, because again, a real 4K TV works the UHD definition with the huge color space (HDR) to produce a detailed image without having to overly boost the brightness and the colors.

So right now it's a waste of time, with your current TV, to complain about picture quality of any 4K content until you've got a set-up that actually displays the entire 4K signal.

[JG85]

Originally Posted by crackedknee

HDR is half of 4K, HDR works with the definition to actually yield an effective UHD image. Because the HDR process captures and delivers a significant larger number of color shades.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/hdr-vs-sdr

The OLED TVs (or maybe your phone as well) are better able to handle contrast than your current TV (which even when it was released (circa 2017), was a Good, but not Very Good or Excellent TV). Robocop and Dark Knight I suspect have a brighter image due to Apple/iTunes adaptive feature conform to the much lower quality of the tech receiving. But Reservoir Dogs was scanned thinking of actually quality in mind, adhering more to film print that HD TV boosting brightness and boosted colors.

So even with a regular 4K TV, you have to have your settings correct in order to see a good picture, which is not necessarily boosted (overly) bright as with many movie releases for HD TVs, but appropriately and overall darker than has been the custom during 10 years of HD TV, but still detailed. Dark but detailed, because again, a real 4K TV works the UHD definition with the huge color space (HDR) to produce a detailed image without having to overly boost the brightness and the colors.

So right now it's a waste of time, with your current TV, to complain about picture quality of any 4K content until you've got a set-up that actually displays the entire 4K signal.

True, that makes more sense now. I'm just wondering though why excandide's transfer isn't looking good for Reservoir Dogs either. If he replies & says which TV he has maybe it would make more sense for why it doesn't look good for him either.

[excandide]

I am using a Sony Bravia 65" X900H Series LED 4K UHD which I bought just over 2 years ago. It just doesn't make any sense if it's my TV that some 4K UHD HDR10 or Dolby Vision content looks amazing. And other content like Heat and Reservoir Dogs is just dramatically darker. If all the content was like that, or just UHD content using HDR10 or Just Dolby Vision I would think it's a TV issue, but other content using both systems looks great. Perhaps it's just a VUDU thing but I also loaded up HEAT HDR 4K version on the Apple TV app and it's the same dark picture so it's not just VUDU. Just so strange.

[excandide]

I also just did a test... Apple TV App... I put on Heat which was 4K HDR and then found another 4K HDR movie.... Alien. and the entire beginning of Alien is all Dark scenes yet I can see everything perfectly, the brightness balance is perfect. Shadow detail amazing. So we have two movies, both 4K, using HDR and one is so dark it's unwatchable and the other looks perfect even during very dark scenes. It's something wrong with the Heat Transfer or the HDR profile of Heat rather than my TV or the apps themselves.