Lawrence of Arabia 4K UHD (1962)

[dave8160]

Just ordered mine on Best Buy

[questrider]

Originally Posted by questrider

My copy from Amazon that I ordered on September 15 for $27.18 with an estimated late October shipping date surprisingly shipped today with a projected delivery date of Wednesday.



Alas, I'm quite confident it's being shipped in a thin plastic bag with no padding whatsoever so it should show up damaged by either being crushed, dented, and/or scratched.

Originally Posted by questrider

So mine got lost in the UPS system and then was delivered today, Friday, in a plastic slightly padded envelope (one of those white ones with the blue print on it). And the envelope is dusty and dirty as all get out.

I open the package and... Beat. All. To. Hell. It looks like someone stepped on it multiple times. Bent at a curve. You couldn't get the steelbook shut if you tried. I would post some pictures but I'm too <bleep> off to gather the patience to do so. Maybe later.

And to make matters worse, there is no live Amazon support these days. It's all automated chat. And... when I go to exchange it I'm given the option of choosing a new item, but not a Lawrence of Arabia 4K UHD. Doesn't matter because they'd have just sent a new one in the same type of envelope which would have arrived damaged again.

Such bullshit. Amazon can go <bleep> themselves!

So I finally returned this within the 30 day return window after being so disgusted when it arrived damaged that it got thrown on a pile of mail to be forgotten. As promised, here's pictures as best as I could take of the damaged case (the reflective steelbook and ripped cellophane reflected light and flash everywhere so I matted out the background to make a single composite image including all angles):



So Amazon is not only ridiculous for shipping a metal box in a simple bubble mailer but then UPS couldn't take care of it enough to not allow that to happen? It was literally twisted and concave like it was stepped on or driven over. Appalling.

Now it appears the only place to order this from is Best Buy? Can anyone attest to how they are shipping it?

[matbezlima]

God, that's horrible and unacceptable!

[cupboy]

Originally Posted by questrider

...

Now it appears the only place to order this from is Best Buy? Can anyone attest to how they are shipping it?

It says Sold Out on the BBY site.

[Atomic Salad]

Originally Posted by questrider

[sfmarine]

Absolutely brutal to see the Steelbook in that condition.

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by Atomic Salad

Lmao I swear I'm not laughing at the misfortune, but that is so on point.

[bigkid43]

In stock on Walmart's website, shipped by Please Rewind. $27.59. Just ordered it and will arrive by November 8. Fingers crossed.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lawrence-...0&from=/search

[aibo]

Originally Posted by bigkid43

In stock on Walmart's website, shipped by Please Rewind. $27.59. Just ordered it and will arrive by November 8. Fingers crossed.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lawrence-...0&from=/search

Wow......

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by bigkid43

In stock on Walmart's website, shipped by Please Rewind. $27.59. Just ordered it and will arrive by November 8. Fingers crossed.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lawrence-...0&from=/search

You're the man! Just ordered.

[cupboy]

I ordered one too even though my BBY order is supposed to arrive on Monday. It's not even been shipped yet and says Sold Out on their website, so I don't know if I'll get it from them.

[Surge92]

Originally Posted by bigkid43

In stock on Walmart's website, shipped by Please Rewind. $27.59. Just ordered it and will arrive by November 8. Fingers crossed.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lawrence-...0&from=/search

I'm trying to order a backup copy, since the one I ordered from Best Buy is delayed, but the fawking Walmart site is giving me a hard time signing in, and customer service was useless.

[Surge92]

Originally Posted by cupboy

I ordered one too even though my BBY order is supposed to arrive on Monday. It's not even been shipped yet and says Sold Out on their website, so I don't know if I'll get it from them.

I got an e-mail from them saying shipping was delayed on my copy and that they would keep me posted. Doesn't sound good.

[aibo]

Ordered a second copy, this is my favorite movie of all time.
More David Lean on 4K please.

[matbezlima]

I would bet on Doctor Zhivago getting a UHD in 2025.

[thebarnman]

I ordered my copy of Lawrence of Arabia (steelcase) from Amazon in March of 2022...arrived in perfect condition.

The steelcase gods must have been watching out for me!

[aibo]

Originally Posted by matbezlima

I would bet on Doctor Zhivago getting a UHD in 2025.

Doctor Zhivago would be amazing.

[slainte]

Is this in stock anywhere for list?

[dorian]

Originally Posted by matbezlima

They actually used some filtering in the 4K, hence why it is not as sharp and detailed as one could expect from a 65mm source. Ultimately, the ideal solution would be to make another digital restoration from scratch, maybe even a new scan of the negative with improved technology, but it makes sense why Sony didn't do it: the 2012 restoration was already an insanely expensive and painstakingly hard effort, and took over two years. The state of the Lawrence original negative is unbelievably horrendous! Shooting in the desert's immense heat also didn't help.

To quote The New York Times' article:

"Because of the film stock’s exposure to the desert’s heat, some of its photochemical emulsion dried and cracked, resulting in vertical fissures. “Some were just a few pixels wide,” Mr. Crisp said, “but some scenes had hundreds of them, filling as much as one-eighth of the frame.”

No other movies Sony had examined suffered from this problem. The company commissioned a restoration lab, MTI Film, to develop a new algorithm to solve it. The lab’s first few tries were rejected; the fissures were erased but new distortions cropped up in their place. Finally, after months of experimenting, a solution was found; the streaks are now nearly invisible.

And they always will be. Sony went to so much trouble to create not just this release but also a new archive for the ages. Film degrades; digital files of 0’s and 1’s do not. In the coming years, new software might allow still better restorations. But the technicians making them can work from the 4K scan. They won’t have to go back to the negative."

Very possible that a lot of the damage you saw in the well scene is not from print, but the source itself.

There would be 0 benefit in re-scanning the negative. The Imagica XE scanner used has a 14-bit ADC and thus captures 14 stops of linear light. That is more than enough to capture the entire dynamic range of negative film from over 70 years ago. Even modern film stocks have a maximum dynamic range of around 14 stops.

[Surge92]

Best Buy charged my card for the steelbook so I guess they're shipping it to me after all. Hopefully, it arrives minty fresh, since I missed out on getting a backup copy from Walmart.