Black Panther 4K UHD (2018)

[ssb0224]

Was good to read through this thread, going to stay away from purchasing Disney UHD's with compressed dynamic audio range. For me, audio and video are equally important, especially with blockbuster releases... I'm way more likely to buy if they are at or near reference quality.

Learned from SW TLJ, turning up the volume does not make up for lack of bottom end impact. That's my last Disney purchase unless audio gets corrected.

What I don't understand .... If the theater version is fine, why not just transfer what you already have, why mess with it? Not like people using TV speakers will be listening to the ATMOS track anyway.

[imsounoriginal]

Thought the transfer was great, the Busan car chase was nuts with all the neon lights, as was the underbelly of Wakanda visible from Shuri's lab. The afterlife sequences were also fantastic, as well as the prologue. Audio is what it is; decent at best. Just way too quiet, even with headphones. The movie still kicks ass, I think I enjoyed it even more the second time around. My only real complaints are the CGI looking pretty awful at times, and the first post-credit scene really should've been in the movie proper.

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by BigBlue10989

We have to realize that we're in the vast vast minority that really care. We really need to get out of the BR.com bubble and look at it from a business standpoint. I'm 100% certain that Disney has gotten more complaints about the dynamic range of their movies than they ever will about the lack of it.

Most people who buy these are listening on TV speakers.

Nah, those people aren't buying the 4k disc, not a chance. If they're buying anything, it's the DVD as it's still good enough for most and I bet they're mostly waiting for Netflix to have it.

This is just laziness and penny pinching on Disney's part. it's not like they're a struggling niche label that has to take what they're given; they've got more than enough resources to do a decent soundtrack for the 4k disc and a neutered track for the DVD.

[Uncanny]

Originally Posted by gates70

about the audio...it doesn't help that sites like this give the audio a good score (4/5) while saying crap like if you turn it up it's fine. Avs said the same stuff and it's false. It's not a good track, end of story.

+1.

[Elbie]

Looks great, audio is blah. I am going to contact them about this just because. I know it's going nowhere.

[jh901]

There absolutely MUST BE a human being that we can get in touch with regarding audio on home video releases.


I might be done "blind buying" new MCU titles, since I'm not enjoying too many of them, but there's no effin' way this site is going to be enjoyable if all our favorite catalog titles are neutered. Ironman! Captain America: The First Avenger!! Thor!!! The Avengers!!!!


Can't let this happen.

And lord forbid if the real Star Wars and Empire are ever tackled. I'm not even going to sleep tonight.

[ROSS.T.G.]

Not to mention the SW flicks. I just hope that when they do release the originals they don’t mess with the dynamic range.

[Elbie]

Here y'all go. https://www.disneystudioshelp.com/contact-bddvd.html

[The Duke]

My Best Buy Steelbook arrived today, not bad since I just ordered it over the weekend. I haven't ordered a Steelbook shipped to me from Best Buy in awhile as they used to ship them in just an unpadded plastic wrapper. Shocked to see they spring for a box these days.

I'll check out the low volume audio, my dog gets too excited when the volume is loud, especially with animals growing - she really hates that tiger in Life of Pi.

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by fighthefutureofhd

OMG!!! Disney has an STD. What has happened to the family-friendly company since they bought Fox?

You can get this on DVD too you know. And you won't notice any difference audio wise.

[johnnyknoxsvill]

Originally Posted by Elbie

Here y'all go. https://www.disneystudioshelp.com/contact-bddvd.html

Just left a message for each of the disney titles I have that are affected

[slamkeys]

Is this movie selling well on Blu-ray/4k? The shelves were full when I went to BB last night. It didn't look like they moved very many.

[Heapashifter]

Originally Posted by slamkeys

Is this movie selling well on Blu-ray/4k? The shelves were full when I went to BB last night. It didn't look like they moved very many.

I'm sure it's doing ok. Every store just has 100+ copies.

[South Park]

Originally Posted by The Duke

I'll check out the low volume audio, my dog gets too excited when the volume is loud, especially with animals growing - she really hates that tiger in Life of Pi.

It is not only about low volume - it is actually much worse, it is a very low dynamic track. You need to crank up the volume to achieve normal listening levels and then the bass gets bloated.

So far you can only experience this with Disney UHD disks

[Husher315]

I purchased this yesterday, and I have to say, the 4K HDR is absolutely stunning on this disc specifically, and I didn't really find any issues with the audio. I was listening to it at about -10db and it sounded more than fine.

[Husher315]

Originally Posted by slamkeys

Is this movie selling well on Blu-ray/4k? The shelves were full when I went to BB last night. It didn't look like they moved very many.

Probably just depends on location and store, and whether people are buying it digitally over physical.

[South Park]

Originally Posted by Husher315

... I didn't really find any issues with the audio. I was listening to it at about -10db and it sounded more than fine.

then either you have a bad or not sophisticated audio system like tv speakers/soundbar or not trained hearing for movies. So far all Disney UHD titles have weak audio, this is well recognized and documented by now.

[Leonidas King]

The entire car chase sequence in S. Korea on Chapter 8 had some gorgeous HDR. Probably my favorite part of the disc.

[LordoftheRings]

Regarding Atmos audio with Disney ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CMu...ature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAVN...ature=youtu.be

My own review is coming up, and if this title is in line with the last Star Wars and Ragnarok, the audio is missing the bass impact, the dynamics, the thunder, explosions, earth shaking, all that stuff we love with our movies. Disney is on a reserved bandwagon audio wise for a while now.
You can crank up the volume all you want but where on some onscreen scenes there should be earth shattering bass and high dynamics between micro and macro we get kid's farts.

[VonMagnum]

Originally Posted by KRW1

This is just laziness and penny pinching on Disney's part. it's not like they're a struggling niche label that has to take what they're given; they've got more than enough resources to do a decent soundtrack for the 4k disc and a neutered track for the DVD.

It has nothing to do with "laziness". If they were lazy, they would just transfer the excellent soundtrack from the theatrical version AS-IS. No no no, instead they're SCREWING WITH IT. That's worse than being lazy. It's destroying the original soundtrack as it was intended to be heard!

As for what it is, I'm not entirely certain. It's not just compression alone. That generally results in a LOUDER soundtrack, not a quieter more meek one. They're definitely turning down the average volume output (I had to crank it up 8-10 dB above normal to get a reasonable average volume). I don't know that it's the bass either (I'm still waiting on this one, but on The Last Jedi and Ragnarok, I thought I had plenty of bass once I compensated for the volume problem. It's more like the mid/highs for the sound effects have all the "punch" taken out of them. It's like compressing the mid and highs and then reducing the overall volume so you CAN'T make it "loud" without making the vocals SCREAMING in the process.

This is the opposite of a few films where the vocals are buried and the sound effects are drowning out everything around them. If it were even, you could at least get a loud movie, but I think it's because the average vocals (center channel) are more or less "normal" while all the sound effect volumes have been reduced, you get this weird "dull" soundtrack. You would almost have to reduce your center channel output and then turn the overall output up by the same amount you reduced the center. Even THEN, I'm not sure it would sound right. I think Ragnarok was worse than the Last Jedi in this regard, though. The music didn't seem too bad. The vocals weren't hard to understand. It was again more like the sound effects were dulled way down in relative level.

Originally Posted by South Park

then either you have a bad or not sophisticated audio system like tv speakers/soundbar or not trained hearing for movies. So far all Disney UHD titles have weak audio, this is well recognized and documented by now.

It's not just on the UHD titles for goodness sake. I don't own any UHD Disney titles. I have the 3D versions in all cases and despite the lack of Atmos, it makes no difference. It's much MUCH duller the past few films than just say two years ago (e.g. The Force Awakens wasn't dull; The Last Jedi was. Antman wasn't dull. Ragnarok was.