Best version of The King and I

[waxlion]

Since it’s common knowledge that The King and I blu ray is problematic at best, which is the best digital version? I ask because it’s been mentioned that some sites are using a newer restoration completed after the Blu-ray’s release. I do own the blu ray and activated the code under movies anywhere

[kannibaliztik]

play them through each service and see which one is the best to you.

[pms1962]

I would like to know as well. Has anyone purchased the digital HD version through Vudu? Does it suffer the same "blues" as the Blu-ray? How about iTunes? Thanks.

[Shane Rollins]

If there’s a new restoration of The King And I, that’s news to me. The Blu-ray sucks ass. This was supposedly restored off the CinemaScope 55 negative in 2005, but that restoration must’ve grew legs and ran away, because it certainly wasn’t used on the Blu-ray.

[Secondhand]

I own it on iTunes and it it looks great but I haven’t got to watch the whole thing so I can’t confirm whether or not there are problems.

I don’t know about other stores but iTunes will refund anything within a certain number of days so I would suggest trying that.

[-Gonzo-]

Originally Posted by Secondhand

I own it on iTunes and it it looks great but I haven’t got to watch the whole thing so I can’t confirm whether or not there are problems.

I don’t know about other stores but iTunes will refund anything within a certain number of days so I would suggest trying that.

It’s probably also worth mentioning that with iTunes you get more content included under iTunes Extras.(providing of course you’re not using the ATV app on a non Apple device)

[Secondhand]

Originally Posted by -Gonzo-

It’s probably also worth mentioning that with iTunes you get more content included under iTunes Extras.

I cannot believe I didn’t mention the iTunes Extras - those are the reasons I abandoned discs for digital.

The iTunes Extras has all the extras featured on the blu-ray with the exception of Music Machine. However, it has all the musical numbers is a sing-along section which is more or less the same thing according to the review.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

If there’s a new restoration of The King And I, that’s news to me. The Blu-ray sucks ass. This was supposedly restored off the CinemaScope 55 negative in 2005, but that restoration must’ve grew legs and ran away, because it certainly wasn’t used on the Blu-ray.

The 2005 restoration was 2k from an IP and a dupe neg (with heavy red/magenta tinge resulting in lobster skin colors) and used for some digital services like Amazon and Vudu. Fox did a 4k SDR restoration from the OCN in 2012 (which the BD and iTunes use) and unfortunately has a strong blue cast like many of the other Fox 4k restos.

Prior to the Disney merger, Fox supposedly did a HDR revision on the existing 4k master and fixed most of the strong blue cast. This master is reportedly on Movies Anywhere but in HD only (since Fox never sent digital retailers updated files other than for the 2014 HD code thing). Threads here with more on the MA version:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=367


https://fanrestore.com/thread-2042.h...ght=king+and+i

[Secondhand]

Originally Posted by SpaceBlackKnight

The 2005 restoration was 2k from an IP and a dupe neg (with heavy red/magenta tinge resulting in lobster skin colors) and used for some digital services like Amazon and Vudu. Fox did a 4k SDR restoration from the OCN in 2012 (which the BD and iTunes use) and unfortunately has a strong blue cast like many of the other Fox 4k restos.

Prior to the Disney merger, Fox supposedly did a HDR revision on the existing 4k master and fixed most of the strong blue cast. This master is reportedly on Movies Anywhere but in HD only (since Fox never sent digital retailers updated files other than for the 2014 HD code thing). Threads here with more on the MA version:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=367


https://fanrestore.com/thread-2042.h...ght=king+and+i

Is OCNNM original colour negative?

[pms1962]

I thought I would share with you that after holding out on buying the "blue" Blu-ray, I purchased the digital version on Movies Anywhere through iTunes. It loaded in on Vudu, AppleTV, etc. I first checked it out on Apple TV, and it's the "blue" version of the film (same as Blu-ray), but when I played it through Vudu, it's a beautiful HD transfer without the awful blue tint. It looks so much better! Same purchase but played through different streaming services. And through Movies Anywhere, you get all of the special features (several featurettes). And for $4.99, it was a great bargain. I would still love to see and hear it done properly on BD or 4K (if that's even possible), but this will do very nicely until then.

[dukiejosh54]

Originally Posted by pms1962

I thought I would share with you that after holding out on buying the "blue" Blu-ray, I purchased the digital version on Movies Anywhere through iTunes. It loaded in on Vudu, AppleTV, etc. I first checked it out on Apple TV, and it's the "blue" version of the film (same as Blu-ray), but when I played it through Vudu, it's a beautiful HD transfer without the awful blue tint. It looks so much better! Same purchase but played through different streaming services. And through Movies Anywhere, you get all of the special features (several featurettes). And for $4.99, it was a great bargain. I would still love to see and hear it done properly on BD or 4K (if that's even possible), but this will do very nicely until then.

Thanks for the heads up! I've had the digital version for a long time and was disappointed when I checked iTunes and it looked the same as the blu-ray. I never thought to check vudu. It looks great, no blue tint and the colors are vibrant!

[Ufacat]

Vudu (for me) over the blu. I think the MA looks dull--colorwise.

[WonkaBedknobs83]

That Blu-ray sure put the "blu" in Blu-ray. I recently rewatched The Seven Year Itch on the "Forever Marilyn" disc collection and it wasn't nearly as far gone that way despite coming from the same era and studio and being shot with Bausch and Lomb's anamorphic lenses with a different film size.

[Sy Terion]

I just happened to stumble across this thread reading about the upcoming The Sound of Music 4K release. The King and I blu-ray has bothered me from day 1 when I purchased it. I subsequently bought it on an iTunes sale for $4.99 and didn’t see much of an improvement but heard MA was much better in color accuracy and it is. However nothing prepared me for the Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu) version I just sampled after reading alll the above. It is outstanding and looks like the stills on the album cover and elsewhere and how 1950’s color cinematography looked. Thanks for providing this information. And nowhere else can I find a mention except here re the streaming versions comparisons .

[AtlasGeneticist]

If you had a bluray copy with a digital code you should be able to find the one on vudu, for a couple years you could see the same version synced to your amazon account but just recently they updated the video to another version. it seems like a rush job just trying to mitigate how blue the bluray transfer was, same weird crop job and dnr just slightly less blue, its still really poor in comparison to the one on vudu.