Back to the Future Trilogy 4K UHD (1985-1990)

[Maxwell Everett]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

A user at the Internet Archive synced the original LD Dolby Stereo Surround tracks to use with the 4K Trilogy. Audio purists, you need to grab these if you haven’t already.

Thank you for reposting these!

[Show spoiler]For those attempting this, I had to adjust the sync delay differently for each .flac audio track to match my personal 1080p rips (which I made years ago from the included 1080p Blu-rays in my 2020 set). Your experience may vary (again, I didn't sync to the 4K copies), but these were my settings in MKVToolNix:

Part I: 700 ms delay
Part II: -2300 ms (hastened)
Part III: 1500 ms delay

Note: The .flac file on Internet Archive for Part III was exported at the wrong sample rate (44100 Hz vs 48000 Hz) and it is about half the file size (483.8 MB) compared to the audio tracks for the first two movies, so I would recommend doing what I did which is to download the uncompressed .wav file and open it in a free program like Audacity and export to .flac yourself. Make sure the sample rate is 48000 Hz, the bit depth is 24 bit and the level is set to 8 (best). The resulting file will be 1.11 GB. Just remember to set the correct delay when you remux!

Or you can just download them all in .wav format and use those as is.

[accountsareapain]

Note: The .flac file on Internet Archive for Part III was exported at the wrong sample rate (44100 Hz vs 48000 Hz) and it is about half the file size (483.8 MB) compared to the audio tracks for the first two movies, so I would recommend doing what I did which is to download the uncompressed .wav file and open it in a free program like Audacity and export to .flac yourself. Make sure the sample rate is 48000 Hz, the bit depth is 24 bit and the level is set to 8 (best). The resulting file will be 1.11 GB. Just remember to set the correct delay when you remux!

Not sure what the person who synced those did, but LD audio is 44.1 kHz 16-bit PCM (same as CD audio). Leaving the 44.1/48 kHz thing aside, converting to 24-bit doesn't really make sense.
Anyway, if your goal is a simple format conversion from PCM/WAV to FLAC, I wouldn't use Audacity. When you import audio into Audacity, with its default settings it converts everything to 32 bits for editing, and upon export to either 16 or 24 bits it dithers everything, which has its use case when editing audio for example, but again, for a simple conversion, using ffmpeg or flac directly (command line tools, but there's surely some graphical tool too) is better, since those don't touch bitdepth at all and can just truly losslessly make the PCM smaller in the form of a FLAC file.

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by Uptight

If it's not going to look remotely like this GTA MOD, then it's more crap coming our way...

BTTFV Storyline Gameplay - Part I - YouTube

Seriously, how hard can it be, even if it has new characters time-traveling, to replicate these aspects from the trilogy, instead of producing lame cartoonish stuff?

And what about releasing the original/unaltered 2.0 stereo tracks? Ever since the first DVDs in the early 2000s, it's all 5.1 and remixes.

As for the Eric Stoltz footage, he was under contract, the material doesn't belong to him after he did his part, they can release ALL deleted scenes today if they want to, and Eric would not mind or make a fuss about it, despite the experience back then not being good for him.

In fact, it would be contrary to what was said, he would be praised for his attempt/take on the character.

Instead, for decades we had all this footage which is said to exist, unavailable... weeks of work sitting in the vault, thanks to that moron called Bob Gale.

I loved the Telltale game and still play it through every few years, can't believe that is over 14 years old now.

[emailking]

Originally Posted by batman2000

Bob gale announced a new game

Thanks! Hope it's good. Wonder if it will have action or just additional story explanation like the PS3/4 game. There was nothing about it yet in the games forum.

[Uptight]

It's interesting to realize the 3rd movie had all these changes over the years, if we compare that scene (around 18 minutes) in which Doc sends Marty to 1885 (and shots his gun twice):

- Laserdisc 2.0 (original audio)

- DVD (5.1) - Remix
- 2010 Blu-ray (5.1) - Remix

- 2020 Remastered Blu-ray (5.1) - Original audio
- UHD/4K (5.1) - Original audio

That's right, once we finally got into the DVDs (probably around 2002?) they decided to redo that sound effect, which I can clearly listen it was there in the LD. I can't say I don't like the new one, but it was a remix either way. Then, it was again reused for the first Blu-rays we got.

Finally, after they re-released part 3 for the 2020 Blu-rays and the 4Ks, we are listening to the same source that was only there in the 1990s.

For the 2nd film, Strickland's shotgun at 43 minutes is the REMIX for all the releases I mentioned before. Except the LASERDISC and the dubbing I already had, which of course uses an old source available for that country before the first DVDs were released.

Back to the Future Movie Change - "Marty, you made it!" - YouTube

Not to mention this change for the 1st.

In the 2nd movie, after 1h02m, we see the Delorean coming from 1985-A to 1955. That sound effect of the Delorean materializing (the boom that repeats) is absent from the Laserdisc. Yep, totally not there.

Oddly, the DVDs and 2010 Blu-ray sound stronger than 2020 and 4K. Which appears to retain this, but instead is subdued.

Another change (and this one I was perhaps the 1st and only person that noticed) from part 2 was after 2m30s. When 1985 Biff says "a flying Delorean?", and cuts to a scene already showed in the final seconds of the 1st movie.

That repeated scene has a new sound effect added for the 2020 Blu-ray, and UHD/4K (Atmos). If we compare to the 2010 disc, DVDs and Laserdisc, they all use the original mix.

It's even noticeable in this 4K trailer, after 2 minutes:

Back to the Future Part II | Opening Scene in 4K Ultra HD | The Future of 2015 - YouTube

Is anyone interested in putting all original/alternate tracks from the trilogy in the upcoming releases? Probably not, because no one presses Bob Gale and everyone involved to do this.

+++++
Another difference from part 2: after 1h39m30s, when Marty receives the letter, the Western Union Man says:

- We had a little bet to see if this "Marty" would actually be here.

In all releases the audio is OK. Except for the 2020 Blu-ray and UHD/4K. In both, there's a very slight delay before "be here".

[Telemachus]

That reel error in the first UHD bothers me so much now, I wish I didn't know about it, I know the exact point it starts and stops now. Good to know the 3rd film has straight OG audio, it's my favorite one anyway.

[Markgway]

Did the 2020 remaster of Part III with "original audio" get a solo Blu-ray release?

No interest in the first two with tampered remixes, but I'd be interested in picking the third up as an individual disc.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

So the 2011 BD set has unaltered audio despite being remixes of the OG stereo tracks?

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by massivemoviebuff

so the 2011 bd set has unaltered audio despite being remixes of the og stereo tracks?

2020.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Markgway

2020.

So the BDs from that set have the unaltered tracks but the UHDs don't?

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

So the BDs from that set have the unaltered tracks but the UHDs don't?

From his post it appears both the BD and UHD only use original audio. Not sure about the difference then between 5.1 and Atmos. Hopefully he'll come back with an answer.

[Telemachus]

The UHDs have 7.1 core if you don't have Atmos gear, I'm assuming the BD has a 7.1 core as well or a 5.1 mixdown of this but I haven't used it.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

The UHDs have 7.1 core if you don't have Atmos gear, I'm assuming the BD has a 7.1 core as well or a 5.1 mixdown of this but I haven't used it.

That does sound familiar. I thought I remember reading that the 5.1 tracks on the UHD/BD set are downmixes of the Atmos mixes.

[emailking]

Originally Posted by Uptight

Another change (and this one I was perhaps the 1st and only person that noticed) from part 2 was after 2m30s. When 1985 Biff says "a flying Delorean?", and cuts to a scene already showed in the final seconds of the 1st movie.

That repeated scene has a new sound effect added for the 2020 Blu-ray, and UHD/4K (Atmos). If we compare to the 2010 disc, DVDs and Laserdisc, they all use the original mix.

It's even noticeable in this 4K trailer, after 2 minutes:

Back to the Future Part II | Opening Scene in 4K Ultra HD | The Future of 2015 - YouTube

What's different? From memory I can't tell, nothing stands out to me like the Western union clip.

[Uptight]

Originally Posted by emailking

What's different? From memory I can't tell, nothing stands out to me like the Western union clip.

The sound effect from the Delorean firing his rear engines, right before it flies to the end of that street, is different in part 2 from 1989. You can even tell from that Youtube trailer.

That bit is a reused footage from the 1st movie, but someone decided to redo the audio for the 2020 Blu-ray (and UHD/4K, which uses the same source).

Back to the Future 35mm Scan Open Matte - YouTube

+++++
I found the 35mm scans (all in 4:3 and open-matte (1080p res), except for every single scene which has a special effect, which is zoomed out and still in Widescreen). It's interesting to note how these differ from the official discs.

While the Open-Matte is not the OAR (and this cannot be confused with the official 4:3 released in DVD, which does not show anything from the filming, like the 35mm), I think it's worth checking... A few shots look better in 4:3.

Am I wrong to assume the 35mm colors (at least for the skins) are better? All the rest has some sort of blue or green tone...

For the 2nd movie, the 35mm has a lot of blue, and looks awful for the most part (a good example are the 2015 bits, inside Marty's home and the streets).

I also found a trailer from part 3, however the entire movie in 35mm (at least the source I found) does not look that good:

Zurück in die Zukunft III - 35mm Open Matte Film Trailer - 2150p & 1:1,19 | Back to the Future III - YouTube

I got the impression that while the 2020 Blu-rays are warmer than the 2010 ones, the latter is perhaps more sharp, depending on the scene (perhaps part 2 not too much). I noticed in a few scenes the boost in colors actually detracted the image, making it lose detail (at least in one scene I caught this, after the stakeboard chase in part 1, looking at the objects in the background).

A few comparisons:


35mm source


2020 Remastered Blu-ray


2010 Blu-ray

+++++++


35mm source


2020 Remastered Blu-ray


2010 Blu-ray

++++++++++++


35mm source


2010 Blu-ray


2020 Remastered Blu-ray


UHD/4K

P.S. I think I just detected another sound effect change: when Griff's Pit Bull hoverboard fires in 2015 (20m30s from part 2), the 2020 audio is more prominent than the 2010 and Laserdisc ones. Another discovery I made today (February 24) thanks to putting all of them in the same file.

[Infallible Presence]

[Geoff D]

Gives a whole new meaning to the line "you're gonna see some serious shit"

[Infallible Presence]

The real question is does it take 88 flushes, or sh!ts, and-or p!sses to travel, or all above?

[TylerDurden389]

Powered by poo-tonium.

[JohnnyF]

It’s a rental….