Spears & Munsil 4K UHD HDR Benchmark (Test Discs) May 15, 2023

[p5browne]

Received the new Spears and Munsil Ultra HD Benchmark (2023) 3 discs yesterday. Ran the demo videos. (Disc 2) Amazing! But just a minute, most of the videos look the same as the 2019 version with a few exceptions. Found my old 2019 version and played the same demo. New version is far superior ! My Samsung KS9800 is no slouch playing these demos !! Even better now with the new versions. Looks like my calibrations are keeping it in top notch form. Still happy with my set !

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by p5browne

Received the new Spears and Munsil Ultra HD Benchmark (2023) 3 discs yesterday. Ran the demo videos. (Disc 2) Amazing! But just a minute, most of the videos look the same as the 2019 version with a few exceptions. Found my old 2019 version and played the same demo. New version is far superior ! My Samsung KS9800 is no slouch playing these demos !! Even better now with the new versions. Looks like my calibrations are keeping it in top notch form. Still happy with my set !

The changes:
1. Four shots were swapped out.
2. Some other shots were removed so that other shots could be lengthened.
3. Re-graded from scratch. Exported as linear EXR because Resolve failed to remap anything beyond 2020 back into 2020. It was hard clipped on previous disc at 2020. (Digital Cinema cameras capture beyond 2020) Colorfront created a custom pipeline to re-map the colors outside of 2020 back into 2020 instead of hard clipping. EXRs use negative pixel values to represent colors outside the gamut.
4. Updated Deconvolution algorithm. Each shot had a custom deconvolution radius set. Previous disc used the same radius for all shots. Digital cinema cameras use an OLPF (Low pass filter) in front of the sensor to reduce chroma moire. And the MTF on some lenses is worse than others, which softens the image. Deconvolution is used to try and recover the detail lost by the OLPF and lenses, which is why it was custom for each shot.
5. Two new pieces of music composed for the montage. Transition occurs between tulips and watch. It was mixed in Atmos. The previous disc had music made for something else and it was mixed in 5.1.

If you look at the aerial shot of LA, take a close look at the top of the building on the right. Previous disc lost detail at the top. New disc makes it easier to see the window frames.

The gamut clipping caused a hue shift, which turned things purple. You could see this in the Peacock feather, QD viles (Far right one), door on right middle of frame on the LA shot (There is one on the left that is purple) and the crane to the right of frame on the Space Needle shot. If you see purple in the QD vile now, for example, its a hue shift on the playback side. Dolby Vision does a good job maintaining hue, which really shows up on the hue shift pattern and can be seen in the montage shots mentioned.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Would you like to win a copy of the new Spears & Munsil 4K UHD HDR Benchmark Test Disc?

If so, then on Thursday, June 8, 2023 starting at 2100 hours (9:00PM) EDT be the 7th or 11th person to send me a PM via this site. The PM should only consist of this statement: I will use the disc for my personal use and will not sell the disc. Because of shipping cost this contest is limited to the USA LOWER 48.

The two winners will be notified by me via PM on this site. Robert Zohn of Value Electronics will ship the disc to the winners. I will provide the winners contact info and they will need to provide Value Electronics a shipping address.

Disclaimer: This little contest is 100% me. Stacey, Don nor anyone associated with Benchmark Test Discs had any knowledge of this prior to my posting here, so please, no snide remarks.

REASON FOR THE GIVEAWAY:

• I’ve had a number of cyber friends over the years. One was deceased Blu-ray.COM member Daniel Kostyshak, a.k.a. Kosty. Kosty was very active here, AVS and other sites. So this is in remembrance Daniel.

• Blu-ray.COM member Vilya - A very big supported of physical media. Vilya now has very serious health issues and this is just my way of saying we hope the best for you.

• Stacey, Don and the Benchmark Test Disc gang - Thanks for the tools that should help enthusiast, manufactures and others obtain the best possible A/V from their hardware and/or software.

Acknowledgement
Thanks to Robert Zohn of Value Electronics for his assistance with the Benchmark Test Disc giveaway. My copy has already shipped. Already own 3 versions of the Spears & Munsil Test Disc, 2 Blu-ray and 1 UHD Blu-ray.

[Cortiz]

Stacey- Does the Oppo DV levels issue also present in TV Led mode?

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

Stacey- Does the Oppo DV levels issue also present in TV Led mode?

Yes.

If you want to reproduce this.
1. Load the disc and go to Video Setup -> Color Space Eval.
2. Look at the EOTF tracking at the top. The lower levels should blend correctly.
3. Switch to HDR10. They should still blend. (Note that DV uses the 10,000 version while default HDR10 is 1000, so you may want to switch to 10K HDR10 for an apples-to-apples comparison.) Only the lowest levels will blend. Basically anything below the point where tone mapping begins. On a C9, that is around 300-350 cd/m².
4. Switch back to DV. They no longer blend as the levels have been altered. I believe if you let the pattern play for one minute, where it loops, it may correct itself. Or you may have to eject the disc. I forget. Because of this, the HFR never blend. And of course, the HD version won't blend because you are scaling the image. Scaling in perceptual / gamma space will break single pixel checkerboards. Scaling in linear light would most likely work, but no one does that.

This does not occur on the Sony 800 MK2. I mention this because they use the same MediaTek decoder, which handles the DV processing, I believe. This suggests a newer FW in the Sony. This is just an educated guess.

For the blending to work, you need to be in 1:1 mode on the display. If you are using a Sony display, this may not work at all because they are always processing the pixels. It was mentioned in the Classy interview that graphics mode may solve this, but I have not tested myself. My Dolby Vision testing has been primarily on LG. (C9 and CX)

[Wendell R. Breland]

We have two winners of the new Spears & Munsil Test Disc. They have been contacted via PM here at Blu-ray.COM. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to those that participated.

For those in the Raleigh NC area. Last year Audio Advice had a live event with several manufactures showing their stuff. They are doing a repeat this year and I recommend attending. My my attraction was the Sony and JVC projector rooms. Last year they had some of their top projectors on display using a madVR Envy and some clips from the Spears & Munsil Test Disc, truly a sight to behold.

In one room they had a Sony VPL-GTZ380 with 16 channel sound (Atmos or Auro3D) and a very large screen.

[bhampton]

Thank you Wendell !

Will test the very heck out of my JVC RS3100 and Panasonic UB9000.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Thank you Wendell !

Will test the very heck out of my JVC RS3100 and Panasonic UB9000.

Congrats!

[Sledgehamma]

Did the replication run as planned? Hoping it will be shipped to customers today

Stacey and Don are live on the avforums Podcast right now:
https://www.youtube.com/supported_br...tube.com/watch

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by Sledgehamma

Did the replication run as planned? Hoping it will be shipped to customers today

Stacey and Don are live on the avforums Podcast right now:
https://www.youtube.com/supported_br...tube.com/watch

Which replication run? There have been two runs now. The disc has been shipping since 5/15.

[Sledgehamma]

Not sure which one it is. I ordered from biaslighting (https://www.biaslighting.co.uk/colle...benchmark-2023) and they stated "Due to unprecedented demand we are now awaiting a new replication run expected to be delivered on about 12 June."

[Kirk Out]

Enjoyed the spears munsil interview on AVforum , hope we get more

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by Kirk Out

Enjoyed the spears munsil interview on AVforum , hope we get more

Here are a couple more. We have done five in total so far.

Jason Dustal

Spears and Munsil UHD Benchmark with Jason Dustal of Murideo - YouTube

[Stacey Spears]

Youthman

The AV Experience with Special Guest Stacey Spears and Don Munsil - YouTube

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by Sledgehamma

Not sure which one it is. I ordered from biaslighting (https://www.biaslighting.co.uk/colle...benchmark-2023) and they stated "Due to unprecedented demand we are now awaiting a new replication run expected to be delivered on about 12 June."

Has it shipped yet? I believe they were waiting for inventory from the second run.

[Sledgehamma]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

Has it shipped yet? I believe they were waiting for inventory from the second run.

No I contacted them yesterday regarding shipping status.

[Sledgehamma]

Just got a response:

Unfortunately we are still waiting for a new replication to be delivered. I hope this will arrive in the next 7 days or so and your order will be sent the same day that the new stock arrives.

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by Sledgehamma

Just got a response:

Disc's are replicated and packaged by Sony in Czech Republic. Sony ships them to Jason, in the US. Jason boxes them up and ships them to dealers worldwide.

The initial run sold out quickly.

Sorry for the delay.

[Sledgehamma]

Got a shipping notification yesterday

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

Disc's are replicated and packaged by Sony in Czech Republic.

This means every disc is a Czech disc!