First Blood / Rambo: First Blood Part II / Rambo III 4K UHDs (1982-1988)

[singhcr]

I just watched First Blood today.

Overall, the color timing seems to be an improvement with greater richness and contrast over the old BD with the exception of one or two scenes with Rambo evading the chopper which looked a bit like Piss-o-vision to me. I have never seen a 35mm print so I have no other color reference than the BD and the UHD, but it's an improvement at least. Blacks were quite thin almost all of the time especially on my OLED in a dark room. I am assuming this is due to the original photography so I didn't mind too much.

I am noticing a big difference between looking at 4K screenshots on my PC from a few feet away versus 10 or so feet from my LG C8. Initially I saw a very faint layer of film grain, but after Rambo escapes the police station and starts to hide in the woods, it seemed to vanish. I thought there was something wrong with my TV and checked my player and TV's DNR settings to see if anything changed after my TV's firmware update. It is very very fine and considering the stock used in that era it is definitely reduced a bit compared to say, Predator (or even Predator 2, despite its EXR stock) although I am aware that anamorphic photography will be finer grained compared to a 1.85:1 crop. I was a bit disappointed in that regard. I guess I gotta move my couch a bit closer to the TV if I can although my living room setup doesn't allow me to get as close as I would like. A lot of shots seemed out of focus and much of it was in fog or haze so I suppose it will never look that sharp. It's a big step up from the heavily filtered BD that had weird trailing artifacts whenever objects moved around in the frame.

The sound was a bit flat and I would have preferred an original stereo track or a 4.0 track, but it's serviceable. It's quiet, but at least it's not full of reverb or over the top surround effects. I noticed a bit of crackling while Rambo was running away from the cops in the Army truck. Overall, not terrible. It's lossless, at least.

My disc froze on my Oppo BDP-203 when Rambo is first talking to Trautman over the radio. I had to chapter skip over it and rewind back to get it to play. When Rambo encounters the kid hunting deer in the woods, it stuttered and slowed down for a few moments and the audio dropped out too and then resumed. I've never had a title do this before and the disc itself is in perfect shape. I'm going to return it to Best Buy tomorrow for an exchange.

It is still an enjoyable movie and a decent upgrade over the BD. I'm looking forward to seeing Part II again and Part III for the first time.

[cminer72]

Originally Posted by singhcr

I just watched First Blood today.

Overall, the color timing seems to be an improvement with greater richness and contrast over the old BD with the exception of one or two scenes with Rambo evading the chopper which looked a bit like Piss-o-vision to me. I have never seen a 35mm print so I have no other color reference than the BD and the UHD, but it's an improvement at least. Blacks were quite thin almost all of the time especially on my OLED in a dark room. I am assuming this is due to the original photography so I didn't mind too much.

I am noticing a big difference between looking at 4K screenshots on my PC from a few feet away versus 10 or so feet from my LG C8. Initially I saw a very faint layer of film grain, but after Rambo escapes the police station and starts to hide in the woods, it seemed to vanish. I thought there was something wrong with my TV and checked my player and TV's DNR settings to see if anything changed after my TV's firmware update. It is very very fine and considering the stock used in that era it is definitely reduced a bit compared to say, Predator (or even Predator 2, despite its EXR stock) although I am aware that anamorphic photography will be finer grained compared to a 1.85:1 crop. I was a bit disappointed in that regard. I guess I gotta move my couch a bit closer to the TV if I can although my living room setup doesn't allow me to get as close as I would like. A lot of shots seemed out of focus and much of it was in fog or haze so I suppose it will never look that sharp. It's a big step up from the heavily filtered BD that had weird trailing artifacts whenever objects moved around in the frame.

The sound was a bit flat and I would have preferred an original stereo track or a 4.0 track, but it's serviceable. It's quiet, but at least it's not full of reverb or over the top surround effects. I noticed a bit of crackling while Rambo was running away from the cops in the Army truck. Overall, not terrible. It's lossless, at least.

My disc froze on my Oppo BDP-203 when Rambo is first talking to Trautman over the radio. I had to chapter skip over it and rewind back to get it to play. When Rambo encounters the kid hunting deer in the woods, it stuttered and slowed down for a few moments and the audio dropped out too and then resumed. I've never had a title do this before and the disc itself is in perfect shape. I'm going to return it to Best Buy tomorrow for an exchange.

It is still an enjoyable movie and a decent upgrade over the BD. I'm looking forward to seeing Part II again and Part III for the first time.

I had some stuttering and slow down with Part II. I don't think a disc swap will fix it. Only a firmware update in the near future hopefully. My player is a tank. I've watched a number of movies after I encountered the stuttering. Haven't seen it since.

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by cminer72

I had some stuttering and slow down with Part II. I don't think a disc swap will fix it. Only a firmware update in the near future hopefully. My player is a tank. I've watched a number of movies after I encountered the stuttering. Haven't seen it since.

Perhaps, but I might as well swap it out for a new copy while I still can as I got the Rambo movies on Black Friday.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

My First Blood locked up too at about the same location on my 203. I would bet it's a layer change issue.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by singhcr

I just watched First Blood today.

Funny thing is, if you put in the remastered Blu-ray you will see grain in abundance.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Funny thing is, if you put in the remastered Blu-ray you will see grain in abundance.

StudioCanal works in mysterious ways.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by singhcr

Perhaps, but I might as well swap it out for a new copy while I still can as I got the Rambo movies on Black Friday.

Might as well try, but as he said these discs are causing issues with some players. It's how they were mastered, not a unique problem with one disc. My LG plays them fine though, if you skip the menu so HDR turns on properly.

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Funny thing is, if you put in the remastered Blu-ray you will see grain in abundance.

That....makes no sense. SC techs make "interesting" choices to say the least. I take it parts II and III have more visible grain?

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Might as well try, but as he said these discs are causing issues with some players. It's how they were mastered, not a unique problem with one disc. My LG plays them fine though, if you skip the menu so HDR turns on properly.

You two make good points. For example, my Oppo has no issue with HDR unlike your LG, and from what I gather you have no issues with the freezing disc near the layer break?

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

My First Blood locked up too at about the same location on my 203. I would bet it's a layer change issue.

Nuts. It sure sounds like it. I forget that with UHD the smallest disc size is still dual layer so you always have a potential for later change issues, although this is a first for me.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by singhcr

You two make good points. For example, my Oppo has no issue with HDR unlike your LG, and from what I gather you have no issues with the freezing disc near the layer break?

Nope. My Sony plays the HDR normally but screws up at the layer change too, while the LG gets tripped up by the menu not having HDR I think. That was someone's suggestion and it makes sense. It plays the movie fine though, as it does every other thing my Sony has issues with.

Even the review here of Rambo 2 I think mentions having the disc screw up at the layer change, though for him cleaning the disc fixed it. Might want to give that a try I suppose.

Some players just seem more picky than others with UHDs. I don't even think it's universal across brands, as many others say their Sony players are fine with everything.

[Dirk504]

Watched First Blood last night and was very impressed with the PQ. I haven’t exactly been blown away by 4K PQ, but that is an impressive disc, especially for a movie so old.

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Played around with some settings and im still having the video break up when Troutman tries to contact Rambo on the radio Sometimes it does it and sometimes it doesn't and always in a slightly different place. I know returning the disc won't make difference and I think that window is closed anyway.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by PuppetMasterBlu

Played around with some settings and im still having the video break up when Troutman tries to contact Rambo on the radio Sometimes it does it and sometimes it doesn't and always in a slightly different place. I know returning the disc won't make difference and I think that window is closed anyway.

Only one solution:

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Ehh I would rather Lionsgate just did it's job correctly.

[singhcr]

I did an exchange for First Blood. I now have an extra slipcover if anyone would like one.

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Originally Posted by singhcr

I did an exchange for First Blood. I now have an extra slipcover if anyone would like one.

Did it work out?

[bwshihtzu]

Off Topic: Can someone please start a thread for Netflix's upcoming movie Triple Frontier and post the trailer? It has an all star cast and looks really good. I couldn't figure out how to start a forum topic. Thanks.

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by PuppetMasterBlu

Did it work out?

I haven't had a chance to look at the new disc yet.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by bwshihtzu

Off Topic: Can someone please start a thread for Netflix's upcoming movie Triple Frontier and post the trailer? It has an all star cast and looks really good. I couldn't figure out how to start a forum topic. Thanks.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...riple+frontier