Sony "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray Titles May 14 and July 16

[rickah88]

So far all I can say is: Nice Slipcovers!
It will be interesting to read the reviews of these titles as they are made available.

[TheAnimeLegend]

I wonder if this new Sam Raimi Spider-Man blu-ray release if it will have all the DVD supplements? If it does than I will definitely pick this up!

[HD Goofnut]

Will there be any difference in the 4K release of Taxi Driver since it was remastered in 4K for the initial BD release?

[Scholer]

Am really interested for Glory, it already had a great transfer but for such a stunningly shot film 4k could do miracles. Also would like Spiderman as the old transfer is a bit rough around the edges, though I assumed that was because of the 2k DI it had. Not sure whether if the whole movie went through a DI but if it did I am wondering if Sony upscaled all the effects scenes and re-rendered them in 4k. Spiderman 2 already had 4k DI and it looks pitch perfect on Blu-ray. And as for Ghostbusters I'm sure the transfer will be better, the first release looked grainy because 1080p is too less to render the fine anamorphic grain. And at 4k an anamorphic film is actually 6k as the full 1:33:1 35mm frame is scanned at 4k then unsqueezed to 2:39:1 digitally putting out 6k Res Final Files. And in that process the grain is very fine and beautifully resolved, like in the exemplary transfers of Thin Red Line, Apocalyse Now, Blade Runner, Bridge on the River Kwai, Blade Runner and Jaws. Though I'm not personally buying it as it's not a film I'm that fond of, didn't buy the first release either.

Another film that would really benifit from 4k is Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the first release is incredibly grainy which I'm sure a 4k Transfer would do a better job at rendering. And I agree that Universal could earn a good buck taking this initiative themselves. They should re release 2/4th of their catalog releases which are crap with new scans, separte discs for the extras and nice fat digibooks and and a few steelbooks for the UK Market.

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Will there be any difference in the 4K release of Taxi Driver since it was remastered in 4K for the initial BD release?

Taxi Driver is one thing I don't get, Sony have done arguably one of the greatest home Video releases in history and now just insult their own work with a new release. What I'm sure they are gonna do is make the movie take the whole disc space and skip on the extras. Thats just utter idiocracy I'd take Special Features over more bitrate any day. Then they'll release a 2 Disc Release with the bullshit 50 GB filled disc and the extras on a second disc. In no way will I double dip on it.

Same thing with Total Recall and Amazing Spiderman, just more damn bitrate.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Scholer

Taxi Driver is one thing I don't get, Sony have done arguably one of the greatest home Video releases in history and now just insult their own work with a new release. What I'm sure they are gonna do is make the movie take the whole disc space and skip on the extras. Thats just utter idiocracy I'd take Special Features over more bitrate any day. Then they'll release a 2 Disc Release with the bullshit 50 GB filled disc and the extras on a second disc. In no way will I double dip on it.

Same thing with Total Recall and Amazing Spiderman, just more damn bitrate.

It's the same for most of these titles since they are all recent releases.

[Tech-UK]

Why shouldn't they do this for all Blu-ray's, max out the video bitrate, give us either an uncompressed or lossless audio track, then stick (if any) special features onto a single 25GB or 50GB disc. Get rid of this DVD, Digital copy crap, and give us the best of what Blu-ray can provide. At the end of the day we are buying Blu-ray's to watch the film, why should it look and sound inferior. I would rather pay £15 for quality rather than quantity.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Tech-UK

Why shouldn't they do this for all Blu-ray's, max out the video bitrate, give us either an uncompressed or lossless audio track, then stick (if any) special features onto a single 25GB or 50GB disc. Get rid of this DVD, Digital copy crap, and give us the best of what Blu-ray can provide. At the end of the day we are buying Blu-ray's to watch the film, why should it look and sound inferior. I would rather pay £15 for quality rather than quantity.

Because the studios are still using DVD and DC as a crutch. There's also the fact that the studios don't want to spend the extra money on new masters and/or restorations (Universal is the main culprit). Then you've got studios like Paramount and Sony that strike new masters, but don't think they'll make enough return on investment so they sell the temporary rights to Olive and Twilight Time and make a little profit out of it. Shady, but business as usual for the studios.

[Tech-UK]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Because the studios are still using DVD and DC as a crutch. There's also the fact that the studios don't want to spend the extra money on new masters and/or restorations (Universal is the main culprit). Then you've got studios like Paramount and Sony that strike new masters, but don't think they'll make enough return on investment so they sell the temporary rights to Olive and Twilight Time and make a little profit out of it. Shady, but business as usual for the studios.

Very true.

[SolidRaider]

Originally Posted by Cevolution

4k does offer superior and more accurate colour space,

Do explain further.

[Ragna]

Does anyone know if Total Recall has two cuts or just one it does say Single-Disc Blu-ray

[Darth Marcus]

I really don't see how much more Taxi Driver and TASM could benefit from this. Spider-Man and Ghostbusters on the other hand...

[SolidRaider]

So how much of these "mastered in 4K" titles are gimmick to actual PQ upgrade when played on a standard 1080p Blu-ray player and TV?

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by SolidRaider

So how much of these "mastered in 4K" titles are gimmick to actual PQ upgrade when played on a standard 1080p Blu-ray player and TV?

Most of these we've already seen in 1080p using the 4K masters since they are recent releases. That was my point earlier. There shouldn't hardly a difference, if any.

[Hussun1]

Will all these 4k releases have a higher resolution than 1080p? I thought the current release of Taxi Driver was mastered in 4k? Also curious to see what the reviews will be like, some of these have already been given a 5/5 in picture and audio quality so I wonder how they'll grade these.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Hussun1

Will all these 4k releases have a higher resolution than 1080p? I thought the current release of Taxi Driver was mastered in 4k? Also curious to see what the reviews will be like, some of these have already been given a 5/5 in picture and audio quality so I wonder how they'll grade these.

As I said, all of the recent releases were mastered in 4K including Taxi Driver so there should be no difference between these and the re-releases except for maybe which extras are included.

[metaridley]

Originally Posted by hussun1

will all these 4k releases have a higher resolution than 1080p? I thought the current release of taxi driver was mastered in 4k? Also curious to see what the reviews will be like, some of these have already been given a 5/5 in picture and audio quality so i wonder how they'll grade these.

5.1/5

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by Hussun1

Will all these 4k releases have a higher resolution than 1080p? I thought the current release of Taxi Driver was mastered in 4k? Also curious to see what the reviews will be like, some of these have already been given a 5/5 in picture and audio quality so I wonder how they'll grade these.

It would be a different rating, based on a 4k rating scale. The reviewer would have to view these on a 4k set up, to give an accurate score, I would imagine.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by rickah88

It would be a different rating, based on a 4k rating scale. The reviewer would have to view these on a 4k set up, to give an accurate score, I would imagine.

But these aren't for 4K displays. Sony is simply stating these 1080p BD releases were taken from 4K masters, which most already on their initial release. A 4K physical format has not been finalized as of yet.

[blujacket]

I bought into Superbit dvd's. I'm sure I will bite on a few of these too.

[metaridley]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

But these aren't for 4K displays. Sony is simply stating these 1080p BD releases were taken from 4K masters, which most already on their initial release. A 4K physical format has not been finalized as of yet.

If it's confusing a lot of the people here, I can only imagine how bewildered Average Joe Moviewatcher will be when these hit the stands!