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

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by motorheadache95

This problem with the "look of films" pretty much goes back to the DVD era, where the goal was to make films looks as clean and slick as possible. For DVD it was probably a bit more necessary, because the PQ couldn't really handle the fine detail of a filmed image properly and you had to clean it up to look decent in standard-def on all our old tube tv's. At that time "the Lowry process" was all the rage and the standard for how to restore a movie.

The problem at first shifting to HD was people didn't really know what to expect from it or how to make good use of it. I certainly didn't. If you go back and look at old reviews of the first HD titles, like The Last Samurai on HD-DVD or like, Hitch on Blu-Ray, they basically focus on the clarity and sharpness, and how much of a 3-dimensional "pop" the picture has (also referred to as the "window effect"). That's the kind of mentality people from studios like Universal looked at, deciding that they needed to slather their films in DNR and EE to get their movies looking like that crystal-clear "window".

Yeah, we've never managed to wean people off of dat "pop" since those days because it's always the first thing in the marketing burble, same as with UHD. It's all about brightness and colour and sharpness and blah blah blah, great sizzle but it never takes into account what film actually is and does, or indeed what creative intent might be. Our eyes are conditioned to like pretty things, sharp things, contrasty things but they're not conditioned to like softness, to like grain, to like the perpetual gloom that DPs like Bradford Young find pleasing, that is where taste comes into it and not everyone is the same.

Originally Posted by DaGodfadder

Maybe I’ll learn to like film grain. I haven’t watched these movies in a good twenty years, and am really looking forward to it.

If you manage to sit through them and don't run away screaming then I'll take that.

[DaGodfadder]

I’m watching the first movie right now and, IMO, it looks fantastic. The ‘film grain’ is subtle, and the clarity is fantastic.

This is a great ‘transfer’. I feel like I’m at the theatre. (Haven’t watched this movie in a good 20 years... I’d honestly forgotten how good it is.)

[Jamesb0ndjr]

Originally Posted by DaGodfadder

I’m watching the first movie right now and, IMO, it looks fantastic. The ‘film grain’ is subtle, and the clarity is fantastic.

This is a great ‘transfer’. I feel like I’m at the theatre. (Haven’t watched this movie in a good 20 years... I’d honestly forgotten how good it is.)

Hmmmm. Not sure if the 4K discs suck or are good. Too many conflicting opinions.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by Jamesb0ndjr

Hmmmm. Not sure if the 4K discs suck or are good. Too many conflicting opinions.

They are an improvement over the Blu-ray set and the Atmos audio has had an overhaul that moves it a couple ticks over the prior remixes.



Are they the best 4k discs ever? No. Sometimes there's a bit of aggressive over processing, but nothing like the very nasty looking prior Blu or over DNR'd LOTR set made to look like it was shot on digital rather than film, and they are miles better than Grease or T2. I agree that BTTF 3 looks the best of the trilogy.

[Panama Jack]

Originally Posted by Jamesb0ndjr

Hmmmm. Not sure if the 4K discs suck or are good. Too many conflicting opinions.

Well, I know this is crazy talk so please bear with me, but there’s this new thing the kiddies are doing in situations like these, and while I agree it’s a totally bat nuts insane approach, but you could actually watch the discs yourself and make up your own mind whether you like them or not. Completely radical, I know, and as I said I’m not sure I support such underground tactics, but desperate times and desperate measures and all that...

[ZANTHERA]

I finally got around to watching Part III the other night and I very much agree with everyone that it's the best out of all of them, it's very clean and sharp compared to the other two.

I noticed in the first two that there was a type of DNR where the grain seems to wobble and flex around moving objects, which is a bit annoying, but thankfully it doesn't happen too often.

In Part II, you actually get a very quick glimpse of shots without DNR during the hoverboard scene with Biff's gang. I can see why they did the DNR but I feel it was a bit heavy a lot of the time.

[The Fallen Deity]

Honestly, if these transfers hadn't been DNR'ed, they would look perfect imo.

The scrubbing on these discs reminds me of the "clean-up" work they did on quite a few of their early catalogue UHDs (Jurassic Park, E.T. and Waterworld come to mind).

[DaGodfadder]

Originally Posted by Panama Jack

Well, I know this is crazy talk so please bear with me, but there’s this new thing the kiddies are doing in situations like these, and while I agree it’s a totally bat nuts insane approach, but you could actually watch the discs yourself and make up your own mind whether you like them or not. Completely radical, I know, and as I said I’m not sure I support such underground tactics, but desperate times and desperate measures and all that...

Money’s tight for a lot of people right now. I think he was saying he didn’t want to buy the set with so many conflicting opinions regarding the quality.

[Dxtra30]

BTTF Steelbook has dropped to lowest on BestBuy.com to $54.99 if still looking to buy.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/back-to...&skuId=6423196

[Geoff D]

Cracked open my Time Circuits edition after hemming and hawing about selling it, it's not going for much more than I paid so I decided to keep it. Is naice! The steels aren't anything special, I like the triptych design but the plain matte finish is a bit boring. The tat is excellente though! The lenticular photos are great, the Almanac 'excerpt' actually has real sports statistics, the newspapers are fun and the continuity script except is verr interest for movie nerds.

I had the 'tin' edition of the first Blu-rays like 10 years ago which came with some similar tat and I was disappointed by some of it, like the photo of doc and marty with the hill valley clock in 1885 which literally looked like a snap of a VHS freeze frame, but now it's much higher quality. I recall being verr disappoint with the Almanac too, I dunno if I was expecting an actual Almanac or what (maybe I was hoping that some would have a copy of Ooh La La instead ) but I wasnae happy. Maybe this latest 'excerpt' of the Almanac is the same as that 2010 one, dunno, but I was pleasantly surprised this time.

So yeah, they haven't just upgraded the movies, they've upgraded the tat as well.

[stratford]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Cracked open my Time Circuits edition after hemming and hawing about selling it, it's not going for much more than I paid so I decided to keep it. Is naice! The steels aren't anything special, I like the triptych design but the plain matte finish is a bit boring. The tat is excellente though! The lenticular photos are great, the Almanac 'excerpt' actually has real sports statistics, the newspapers are fun and the continuity script except is verr interest for movie nerds.

I had the 'tin' edition of the first Blu-rays like 10 years ago which came with some similar tat and I was disappointed by some of it, like the photo of doc and marty with the hill valley clock in 1885 which literally looked like a snap of a VHS freeze frame, but now it's much higher quality. I recall being verr disappoint with the Almanac too, I dunno if I was expecting an actual Almanac or what (maybe I was hoping that some would have a copy of Ooh La La instead ) but I wasnae happy. Maybe this latest 'excerpt' of the Almanac is the same as that 2010 one, dunno, but I was pleasantly surprised this time.

So yeah, they haven't just upgraded the movies, they've upgraded the tat as well.

ref 'So yeah, they haven't just upgraded the movies, they've upgraded the tat as well.' is about being even handed and treating every thing equally

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by stratford

ref 'So yeah, they haven't just upgraded the movies, they've upgraded the tat as well.' is about being even handed and treating every thing equally

Um...okay then?

[Mamaluigi24]

Quick question:

Did they remove the preview of Part 3 at the end of Part 2? I really hate previews and "coming soon" inserted in movies.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by Mamaluigi24

Quick question:

Did they remove the preview of Part 3 at the end of Part 2? I really hate previews and "coming soon" inserted in movies.

No, as it was part of the theatrical version of BTTF 2. I always stop the movie at that point for those who have not yet seen the trilogy before.

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

No, as it was part of the theatrical version of BTTF 2. I always stop the movie at that point for those who have not yet seen the trilogy before.

Yeah, last time I watched the movie I was surprised about how much footage they show in that trailer-- they even show Marty back with Jennifer at the end of the film! I mean, I know it's not a huge spoiler that they get back in this kind of movie, but still.

[crowe-t]

Originally Posted by DaGodfadder

I’m watching the first movie right now and, IMO, it looks fantastic. The ‘film grain’ is subtle, and the clarity is fantastic.

This is a great ‘transfer’. I feel like I’m at the theatre. (Haven’t watched this movie in a good 20 years... I’d honestly forgotten how good it is.)

I just watched the first 2 movies today and these are my thoughts too. The 'film grain' is subtle and the picture looks great. They look like they are shot on film which is how they should look. This is the best I've ever seen them.

The Dolby Atmos is also great. The overhead sounds fit in nicely considering the age of these movies.

[ROSS.T.G.]

I rewatched 1&2 for the first time on my new panel, aside from that weird DNR scene in 1 the set looks great.

[emailking]

Regarding the spoilers at the end of part 2.

[Show spoiler]Even showing scenes from 1885 is a huge spoiler for someone who hasn't seen the movies before. Especially since the letter from Doc says to not go back for him and at first, Marty seems to go along with that. It's, apparently, not until he sees the tombstone that he changes his mind.

I saw Part 3 before Part 2 (30 years ago) so it didn't affect me haha.

[wildphantom]

Originally Posted by emailking

Regarding the spoilers at the end of part 2.

[Show spoiler]Even showing scenes from 1885 is a huge spoiler for someone who hasn't seen the movies before. Especially since the letter from Doc says to not go back for him and at first, Marty seems to go along with that. It's, apparently, not until he sees the tombstone that he changes his mind.

I saw Part 3 before Part 2 (30 years ago) so it didn't affect me haha.

Whilst I’ve always berated that decision to tag the trailer of Part III on the end, it didn’t stop 9 year old me massively anticipating opening night for the movie. I didn’t feel spoiled that I knew where we were headed as it was all about the ‘how’!?!

He’s stuck in 1955 with no time machine. I endlessly debated and speculated about it with my friends for months. Never even occurred to us how simple the answer actually would end out to be. Yet it’s simplicity is utter genius. Even Nolan stole it.

[easye9inches]

Finally opened up my set up this weekend, it sat sealed since it was released. I Think the movies looked amazing. I have a question. Anybody have problems on part III, chapter 10 at around 46:00 minute mark of it freezing?
I am playing this on Oppo 203. Now I know in the past in the Oppo thread the response was always clean the disc. I think that is silly and not the problem as 1) I barely use the oppo. 2) as stated, I just opened up the set. 3) I then tried it on my PS5 and got the same problem.
The reader on PS5 seemed to "try" to play it a lot faster than what the Oppo could not do. But in the end I just had to skip to track 11 to continue watching.