Paprika
(Sony Pictures, North America)
1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
76.092 mbps (HDR10 base layer)
Japanese Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 5.1
BD-100
Code:
DISC INFO:
Disc Title: Paprika - 4K Ultra HD
Disc Label: PAPRIKA
Disc Size: 72,071,589,251 bytes
Protection: AACS2
Extras: Ultra HD, BD-Java
BDInfo: 0.7.5.6
PLAYLIST REPORT:
Name: 00001.MPLS
Length: 1:30:50.862 (h:m:s.ms)
Size: 69,934,104,576 bytes
Total Bitrate: 102.64 Mbps
(*) Indicates included stream hidden by this playlist.
VIDEO:
Codec Bitrate Description
----- ------- -----------
MPEG-H HEVC Video 76092 kbps 2160p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / Main 10 @ Level 5.1 @ High / 10 bits / HDR10 / BT.2020
* MPEG-H HEVC Video 2097 kbps 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / Main 10 @ Level 5.1 @ High / 10 bits / Dolby Vision / BT.2020
AUDIO:
Codec Language Bitrate Description
----- -------- ------- -----------
Dolby TrueHD/Atmos Audio Japanese 4977 kbps 7.1 / 48 kHz / 4337 kbps / 24-bit (AC3 Embedded: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps / DN -31dB)
DTS-HD Master Audio Japanese 2364 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2364 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio English 2262 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2262 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio Chinese 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps / DN -31dB
DTS-HD Master Audio French 2299 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2299 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio German 2307 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2307 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio Italian 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps / DN -31dB
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps / DN -31dB
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps / DN -31dB
Dolby Digital Audio Thai 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps / DN -31dB
SUBTITLES:
Codec Language Bitrate Description
----- -------- ------- -----------
Presentation Graphics English 27.279 kbps
Presentation Graphics English 23.517 kbps
Presentation Graphics English 27.283 kbps
Presentation Graphics English 23.521 kbps
Presentation Graphics Arabic 13.293 kbps
Presentation Graphics Chinese 21.726 kbps
Presentation Graphics French 22.201 kbps
Presentation Graphics German 27.150 kbps
Presentation Graphics Italian 24.789 kbps
Presentation Graphics Korean 20.302 kbps
Presentation Graphics Spanish 24.910 kbps
Presentation Graphics Spanish 24.906 kbps
Presentation Graphics Thai 20.984 kbps
Presentation Graphics Turkish 21.643 kbps
HDR10 Base Layer
Dolby Vision MEL Layer
So, the UHD is the best that
Paprika has ever looked. But, it's somewhat damning praise because it's quite the mixed bag.
The film was given an AI upscale by Sony PCL using their
RS+ algorithm, which was also used on
FF VII: Advent Children to quite poor effect (but
Paprika fares much better here).
As previously mentioned, the film was mastered digitally at ~720p resolution, and it shows. If you compare the UHD to previous releases (and the new remastered Blu-ray), there is virtually zero increase to actual detail, which is to be expected. There may be a tiny amount more due to the higher bitrate and bit-depth offered on UHD, but it's negligible, really.
All the really high video scores simultaneously shocked me and didn't because... well, it's a bit on the smeary side. Line work
in particular looks rather watery and loose. Now, the film never had the most razor sharp line work
in the world (even when compared to anime of the era), but this is a bit too far;
Let's focus
in on this area to make it more obvious:
There we go.
It's a soupy looking, but is far from the worst I've ever seen. If viewed from a distance further than recommended, this becomes practically a non-issue, but it still is there. This was
very noticeable to me, but to many it won't be. Wasn't enough to make me hate the UHD, but I can very easily see why it would be enough to make one despise it.
So, if it's on the smeary side, then why did I say I think it's the best the film has ever looked? Well, it's because previous releases were problematic, and because of the HDR grade. These two are tied together.
Sony's 2007 BD was an early effort, as evidenced by its MPEG-2 encode and windowboxing. Yet, it was competently encoded, partially because dithering was applied (and because they've always been great at compression), but its biggest problem was the windowboxing. By its very nature, resolution is lost, and even though the source isn't super high res to begin with, any amount matters, and if one were to zoom
in on their TV to compensate for it, you then are introducing a further degradation to the image, as a non-integer scale has to be done by the TV (to varying degrees based on the model and brand), resulting
in a worse experience than just leaving it alone.
Manga Entertainment's 2017 UK BD was a self-author (who did it is beyond me; this was before they briefly used VDMS for a short while for self-authors before getting swallowed up by FUNimation, and then Crunchyroll, all under the ownership of Sony
[Show spoiler]don't you love how incestious this all is?
), and its biggest selling point was presenting the film as-is without windowboxing, thus a slight gain to resolution by default. But, it was as-is, so the source banding was left alone and further exasperated by being encoded with incorrect gamma (the colours are not identical to the 2007 disc, while the newly remastered 1080p SDR BD is more
in line with the 2007 disc, which kind of proves my point), so while an improvement
in a sense over Sony's initial disc, it was debatable at best.
So, then what of the new remastered 1080p SDR BD? Well, by its very nature of being
in 1080p, the smeary effect is less noticeable than
in 4K, but the limitations of the disc are more noticeable. Given a 25 mbps ABR encode, it is of good quality, yet cannot match the UHD
in compression (it being over triple the bitrate certainly helps), nor can it match the HDR grade.
HDR colourist Dai Kaneda did an excellent job here staying true to the original colour palette, yet pushing the intensity through WCG.
Paprika has a distinct difference
in colour between the real world and the dream world(s). The real world segments have a more muted palette, and stay mostly within rec.709 while the dream segments expand into P3 and further into rec.2020. The best part is that it maintains the same look while managing to expand the range by utilising WCG to its fullest. Key staff members were brought
in to check the grade and make sure it kept true to the original vision, and you can clearly tell from the end results.
With regards to luminance and nit counts, it's on the conservative side, which I think is the right choice for 2D animation originally completed
in SDR. It never becomes too bright and distracting, and just
feels right. Regardless of what one thinks of the upscaling work, the HDR grading is a knockout and unquestionably the best aspect of the disc.
Colour banding was reduced even further than prior releases due to the dithering applied, so that's another win
in favour of the UHD. (I'm also kind of shocked my post was referenced
in the site's official review; thanks Ken!) It isn't 100% eliminated, because dithering does cover up problematic areas, which can include detail, so it appears that the debanding was chosen on a shot-by-shot basis on what was worth preserving detail-wise, and what was worth fixing. The correct choice, I'd argue.
As expected of a Sony disc, compression (ignoring source artifacting) is perfect. The Dolby Vision layer is MEL, as is standard, so it obviously doesn't impact the HDR10 base layer.
I'd argue that because of the correct aspect ratio and phenomenal HDR grade that respects the film's origins that the UHD is the best version of the film, if only because prior releases had their own problems. Sony PCL's AI solution has done some damage to the line work, yet I don't think it's enough to ruin the image, despite how obvious it is. Casual viewers shouldn't have any problem with the disc, while videophiles will cringe. It's unfortunate it had to turn out this way, but as imperfect as it is, it's easy to recommend as the best version of Kon's final masterpiece.
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