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

[I KEEL YOU]

What about Snatch? Or Das Boot?

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

Spider-Man (Mastered in 4K on a 1080P Blu-ray disc):Sound and Vision magazine review

The following are select word for word quotes from the Sound and Vision magazine review:

“Other Blu-rays have been sourced from a 4K master, so what’s the big deal with these? A few things. First, the video bitrate has been upped considerably to ensure a solid, artifact-free picture: The new, Mastered in 4K Spider-Man maintains a steady 35 Mbps, as compared with the high-20 Mbps bitrate typical with other discs, including the 2012 Spider-Man Blu-ray. (Unfortunately, the increased video data rate means there’s no space for extra stuff like features and commentary tracks.) Second, Mastered in 4K discs incorporate something Sony calls Expanded Color, which otherwise goes by the name x.v.Color or xvYCC. To briefly sum up, discs with x.v.Color incorporate data describing colors outside the standard Rec.709 HDTV color space. When a Mastered in 4K disc is played on an x.v.Color-compatible BD player (according to Sony, only its own player line plus the PlayStation 3 can reliably be called compatible) and displayed on a TV capable of x.v.Color reproduction — Sony’s new W900A series HDTVs (look for my review in the June/July/August issue of Sound&Vision) and XBR-X900A Series4K Ultra HD TVs, for example — you get the option to view this expanded range. And displaying it shouldn't involve any shift in the TV’s color points — the disc simply instructs the TV to “retrieve” those extra colors without distorting the set’s overall color balance.”

“To judge from this new Sony Pictures Mastered in 4K Spider-Man Blu-ray, a beefed-up bitrate plus expanded color can yield improvements. The downside here is that you can only reap the full benefits of the new discs by viewing them with a Sony player and an x.v.Color-capable, 4K-rez display like the Sony TV I used for my test. Still, after watching this initial release, I'm convinced that “Mastered in 4K” adds up to more than just a Blu-ray-era rehash of the company's Superbit DVDs. (Remember those?)”

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/blogs/wide-angle

I laughed out loud at that line. For example, there was ~15 GBs leftover on the Ghostbusters disc.

[GenPion]

Originally Posted by Steve Lilley

Are you sure? I can't speak for SPIDER-MAN, but the GHOSTBUSTERS 4K disc art is identical to the old release. So if you didn't know that, I can see you thinking that it was the old disc.

Well, the disc art was the same, and I thought it would probably be new art. I put on the disc and it had all of the old bonus features from the standard Blu-ray edition.

I thought the new edition didn't have bonus features?

[Steve Lilley]

Oh yeah, it doesn't have bonus features, I don't think. But the disc art is identical. Are you sure it had bonus features?

That's super weird, then.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Steve Lilley

Oh yeah, it doesn't have bonus features, I don't think. But the disc art is identical. Are you sure it had bonus features?

That's super weird, then.

The disc art isn't identical. It has the same ghost image, but text and logos are different. If GenPion said the disc has extras, then it's the old disc.

He bought it from Amazon Warehouse Deals, who in turn might have been selling a returned copy. If so, then it's likely that someone bought the Master in 4K version, put in their old 2009 copy, and returned it back to Amazon

edit: The new disc actually says Mastered in 4K right on the front, so it's pretty easy to differentiate it from the old . Pic from another member here:

[Show spoiler]

[Sky_Captain]

Originally Posted by I KEEL YOU

What about Snatch? Or Das Boot?

Pervert.

[Rusty100]

Originally Posted by wesslan

Ouch the sharpness overload....

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/25455

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/25453

Seems the main object in the center of the image always get a sharpness boost which makes me think this is a wrong kind of upgrade. Also all fine grain is gone so looks like some sort of DNR.

It's pretty evident that there's no artificial sharpening or dnr going on here. There are no halos around anything, and there appears to be no detail scrubbed in less grainy areas. If anything I am seeing a boost in detail despite it having less grain. Considering the Taxi Driver release did come with finer grain in the 4k version I am going to say that Spiderman was probably filmed digitally, and the grain is so fine that resizing it down from 4k almost eliminates it without killing any detail.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by I KEEL YOU

What about Snatch? Or Das Boot?

Das Boot was mastered at 2k same for Snatch

Originally Posted by Rusty100

It's pretty evident that there's no artificial sharpening or dnr going on here. There are no halos around anything, and there appears to be no detail scrubbed in less grainy areas. If anything I am seeing a boost in detail despite it having less grain. Considering the Taxi Driver release did come with finer grain in the 4k version I am going to say that Spiderman was probably filmed digitally, and the grain is so fine that resizing it down from 4k almost eliminates it without killing any detail.

Filmed at 5k digitally, no grain

[42041]

Originally Posted by Rusty100

It's pretty evident that there's no artificial sharpening or dnr going on here. There are no halos around anything, and there appears to be no detail scrubbed in less grainy areas. If anything I am seeing a boost in detail despite it having less grain.

Sharpening doesn't necessarily result in big ol' halos. Inept oversharpening does. You can push a clean image pretty far before obvious artifacts appear. Here I see more acutance, but no real gain in resolvable detail (if the screencaps are to be believed). Not that it matters much to me, no real interest in TASM first or second time around...

[Deciazulado]

So it's sharper.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

I laughed out loud at that line. For example, there was ~15 GBs leftover on the Ghostbusters disc.

I would rather see the list price increased $5 and all the extra features placed on a second Blu-ray disc if there is a space issue. Of course commentary tracks if there is room should be placed on the main Blu-ray disc.

[rickah88]

So what's next? Panasonic signing a deal with Universal, and Universal releases their own "4k BD line", that can only be maximized on their players/tvs?
Then people will have HT1(Sony) for Sony movies, HT2(Panasonic) for Universal movies, HT3(insert your LED/Plasma/Projector brand name here) for *insert studio name here* movies.

Definitely don't like this trend.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by rickah88

So what's next? Panasonic signing a deal with Universal, and Universal releases their own "4k BD line", that can only be maximized on their players/tvs?
Then people will have HT1(Sony) for Sony movies, HT2(Panasonic) for Universal movies, HT3(insert your LED/Plasma/Projector brand name here) for *insert studio name here* movies.

Definitely don't like this trend.

Its better off waiting 3 years or more for a true 4K QUAD HD optical format that will be 100% compatible with any brand. I have no plans on purchasing a new Sony Blu-ray player and Sony QUAD HD display to play native 1080P Blu-ray discs that have a little bit better color. For now most consumers will only get the benefit of Superbit HD quality on some Blu-ray titles until they have the proper equipment to take advantage of the improved extra color.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

I would rather see the list price increased $5 and all the extra features placed on a second Blu-ray disc if there is a space issue. Of course commentary tracks if there is room should be placed on the main Blu-ray disc.

This is not for people who will be buying this version as their first blu version of the movie, its a niche upgrade for people who value quality.
I have double dipped on all of them I have ordered bar Glory and I am fine with using that extra $5 and picking up a used version of the first release if I want extras

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

This is not for people who will be buying this version as their first blu version of the movie, its a niche upgrade for people who value quality.
I have double dipped on all of them I have ordered bar Glory and I am fine with using that extra $5 and picking up a used version of the first release if I want extras

1) Why not create a definitive edition if they're going to bother hyping the heck out of "Mastered in 4K"?

2) Why is there between 10 to 20 GB of free space on these discs?

[42041]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

So it's sharper.

Just for fun, I massaged the original image in photoshop a bit:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/26398

Not saying there's anything particulary problematic either way in this case, and I don't know if any intentional sharpening was applied aside from whatever overshoot their downscaling algorithm has, but if a studio like Sony tries to sell enhancement as improvement, that makes me a bit uncomfortable

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by blu-ray_girl_fan

1) Why not create a definitive edition if they're going to bother hyping the heck out of "Mastered in 4K"?

2) Why is there between 10 to 20 GB of free space on these discs?

Exactly. Why do people have to choose between best quality and having extras? Did it occur to Sony that people might actually want both? The fact that there's still so much excess space on the disc is pretty inexcusable.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by 42041

Just for fun, I massaged the original image in photoshop a bit:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/26398

Not saying there's anything particulary problematic either way in this case, and I don't know if any intentional sharpening was applied aside from whatever overshoot their downscaling algorithm has, but if a studio like Sony tries to sell enhancement as improvement, that makes me a bit uncomfortable

And yet there is STILL more detail in the second picture.

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Exactly. Why do people have to choose between best quality and having extras? Did it occur to Sony that people might actually want both? The fact that there's still so much excess space on the disc is pretty inexcusable.

Pro tip, don't buy them

[42041]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

And yet there is STILL more detail in the second picture

Where? If anything, I see less, like the really fine bumps on his left arm kind of smearing on the 4K disc...

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Exactly. Why do people have to choose between best quality and having extras? Did it occur to Sony that people might actually want both? The fact that there's still so much excess space on the disc is pretty inexcusable.

It's hilarious b/c Lawrence of Arabia and Taxi Driver were only $4.99 each during Upgrade & Save. They want us to pay $20 to $30 for The Amazing Spider-Man and Total Recall? Forget it.

Sony, you can .