Master and Commander 4K UHD (2003)

[TheeCD]

I've been lurking this thread for a while patiently waiting for my copy to come in, but I did hit up the Egyptian screening on Friday. I've been a bit hesitant to chime in using the theater experience as a review for a UHD disc, but the screen cap qualms on this thread has been a bit hyperbolic. The reporting on the film scan of the original negative and generational steps for cgi being printed & scanned are in line with what I saw. The 2k DI upscale hypothesis sounds pretty off base given what I watched.

It looks and sounds great. Does it look and sound perfect? No. Did Disney/Fox cheap out in areas? Most assuredly. There's so many releases that leave room for more to be desired and this one isn't any different. If you have gripes with what you wanted spec wise vs. what is delivered for a $40 (plus shipping) steelbook only release, I can respect that and still be fine with it myself. I'm happy to be getting it in 4k and I still have my collector's edition DVD for the missing supplements so maybe I'm just easy to please.

That said, the new master (no pun intended) is a substantial leap over the blu-ray/DVD if you're paying attention to what you're gaining rather than what you hope'd you'd gain and didn't. It is an upgrade. There's more clarity and detail and looks great for the movie that it is. It was never an acid trip of color so it's not going to pop off your OLEDs. The grain was present and didn't get Weir-dnr'd. I'm not gonna argue bass isn't important if that's important to you or that a higher bitrate wouldn't have been nice. It's finally on 4k and with that there are a number of scenes that are improved and a handful of scenes that just can't be helped.

As an example of the good, the scene with Hollom climbing up the rigging is vastly improved. The old master/resolution was brutal at handling how the lighting hit and illuminated the rain and turned that scene into a snowy mess (imo). That's not completely gone in the new 4k master, but it is substantially reduced to minimal impact on those shots. Additionally, all of the ship interior shots make for a much easier viewing experience without being overly brightened to compensate. Struggling to see in the darker scenes never flares up as an issue and barring any glaring encode issues, it should translate nicely to UHD. That's one of those, if you don't notice it, they did their job well kind of things that shouldn't be discounted.

As an example of the bad, the man overboard sequence looks worse because the CGI on that was never good and now it's even more evident. I'm a bit more lenient on that as a product of the times in that I can see it every viewing and live with that. There's another shot in the fog where it really feels like they needed to brighten up Crowe's face to be visible and that has made him look a bit like a ghostly apparition. Didn't love that but again, I can live with the sub par shots because the whole thing overall is just a better viewing experience.

In motion it looks great, the vistas look wonderful. I love the movie but if one sequence ever felt like it dragged, it was the Galapagos expedition and even I thought that looked better and was more engaging visually.

[Show spoiler]The specimen left behind and rush back to the ship has an even duskier vibe that I thought sold it more emotionally.

Someone else who went mentioned that they had issues with the dialogue but I actually thought it was better balanced than my home viewings (which I'd attribute more to my set up than possibly being a mix improvement) and never struggled to make anything out. To that end tho, I'm pretty sure the Egyptian decided to turn it up louder than the suggested specs because I'd put that up there with Bladerunner 2049 as one of the loudest movies I've seen in a theater. I wouldn't be surprised if the DCP Atmos mix has the missing bass everyone is clamoring for.

Anyway, this is regarding me catching it in a theater so who knows how that will translate to the UHD but my feeling is if you go into it with tempered expectations, without jettisoning excitement, it'll be a rewarding watch and an upgrade.

[Hindustani]

Originally Posted by Okiephile

Hey, my darbee does the same thing to Blu-ray’s.

Hell's yaa boi.

Darbee forever n ever.

[Led Zappa]

Originally Posted by drvais

Tomorrow for me. On Kaleidescape 😉

Do they do 4K?

[RobertR]

Originally Posted by Led Zappa

Do they do 4K?

Yes.

[RobertR]

Originally Posted by TheeCD

I wouldn't be surprised if the DCP Atmos mix has the missing bass everyone is clamoring for.

I've been told repeatedly that cinemas roll off bass below 30 Hz, which just happens to coincide with what was done to the Atmos mix, so I have no reason to believe the DCP has the missing bass. IMO, they blew it with that aspect of the Atmos mix.

[drvais]

Originally Posted by Led Zappa

Do they do 4K?

Yes, and I can’t wait to see their file size since they’re not constrained to a 66 GB cap like the disc

[Led Zappa]

Originally Posted by RobertR

Yes.

I signed up a few months ago and did a quick search and coulda sworn I read something that said it didn't, so I haven't really check it out.

Thanks for the education! Gonna watch The Station Agent and a few others soon.

I also just learned about tickets. Looks like I have 15. Not sure how many you get a month.

[Hindustani]

Criterion needs to do exclusive 4K UHD release of this.

Thats how great this film is.

[jerclay]

Originally Posted by singhcr

That is good to hear, thank you. I imagine they really processed the crap out of FX shots, particularly the ones that were dark and/or foggy.

I thought it varied from shot to shot, foggy ones were the worst. But like I said it’s not that bad overall.

[Kookaboo]

For those interested in a cheaper option, I just bought this on iTunes Canada for $4.99. It has Dolby vision and atmos. It also has the documentaries and special features from the special edition dvd.

[b0b]

Originally Posted by RobertR

I've been told repeatedly that cinemas roll off bass below 30 Hz, which just happens to coincide with what was done to the Atmos mix, so I have no reason to believe the DCP has the missing bass. IMO, they blew it with that aspect of the Atmos mix.

https://www.avsforum.com/posts/56610134/

https://www.avsforum.com/posts/64125760/

[MisterXDTV]

Originally Posted by TheeCD

Someone else who went mentioned that they had issues with the dialogue but I actually thought it was better balanced than my home viewings (which I'd attribute more to my set up than possibly being a mix improvement) and never struggled to make anything out. To that end tho, I'm pretty sure the Egyptian decided to turn it up louder than the suggested specs because I'd put that up there with Bladerunner 2049 as one of the loudest movies I've seen in a theater. I wouldn't be surprised if the DCP Atmos mix has the missing bass everyone is clamoring for.

According to many the original DVD still has the best quality version of the original mix (either the 448 kbps Dolby Digital or the 755 kbps DTS)

There's no doubt it should have been included here

[CSM101]

It will be easy to compare the blu and the UHD as the chapter stops are identical. A very nice upgrade over the blu. The highlights on the blu are so blown out at times and the UHD corrects it. From the beginning, the uneasy atmosphere is captured better, foggy and moodier than the blu, more overcast , I think it makes the all too quiet surroundings feel that much more intense. The scene early on where the two ships are engaged in cannon fire, the blacks in the smoke are deeper with more gradations within it, even the cannon fire has all these cool colors in it, and not blown out blobs of light, although one has to pause and freeze frame to appreciate those little things. When the captain is escaping into the fog and he fires a shot at the Acheron himself, it is quite blinding and startling, but if you compare the scene with the blu, it’s just a flash of white light on the blu and on the UHD, one can make out everything that happens under that very bright flash although you have to pause and go frame by frame to really appreciate it. I’m really happy with the picture upgrade. I’m not the best judge of compression but it’s certainly looks much more refined than the blu does.

The Atmos track is mixed lower than the DTS master track. I have to crank it about four to five db to get it where I like it. It sounds good, but the DTS master with neural x gets the jobs done quite well. I wish the DTS track was included.

[foxbat96]

Originally Posted by drvais

Yes, and I can’t wait to see their file size since they’re not constrained to a 66 GB cap like the disc

Kaleidescape file sizes:

4K DoVi: 76.9 GB
4K HDR10: 74.9 GB
4K SDR: 73.8 GB
HD: 34.3 GB

[Driver78]

Originally Posted by SwedishChef

I preordered this and Better Off Dead day one and neither are arriving on release day. I don’t recommend preordering from amazon! I haven’t even been given a delivery date yet!

They shipped my copy of M&C but not Better Off Dead, which has an estimated delivery window of 8/19-8/25. I'm in no rush for the former since I ordered a backup copy from Atomic and I got that yesterday. PQ looks great, BTW. A lot of the yelling at clouds going on here is premature.

[steelman1991]

Originally Posted by Led Zappa

I signed up a few months ago and did a quick search and coulda sworn I read something that said it didn't, so I haven't really check it out.

Thanks for the education! Gonna watch The Station Agent and a few others soon.

I also just learned about tickets. Looks like I have 15. Not sure how many you get a month.

I'm not sure what you've "signed up for", but I doubt it is Kaleidescape. There are no "tickets" involved. Specific equipment has to be purhcased and titles "bought" directlly from their store.

[cobrachris]

Originally Posted by steelman1991

I'm not sure what you've "signed up for", but I doubt it is Kaleidescape. There are no "tickets" involved. Specific equipment has to be purhcased and titles "bought" directlly from their store.

Probably signed up for Kanopy. Its a streaming service offered through your local library. You sign up with your library card and get a certain number of "tickets" per month. My library gives me 24. Most movies require 2-4 tickets to watch depending on the length of the film. They have a cool selection of movies. Lots of Criterion films on there. No 4K though.

[roustabout]

A new review is up. He is not that impressed.

Master And Commander 4K UHD Blu-ray Review - YouTube

[Otter0911]

Mine just showed up from Amazon. No Damage!

[RobertR]

Originally Posted by b0b

https://www.avsforum.com/posts/56610134/

https://www.avsforum.com/posts/64125760/

Yep. Those examples show the ridiculousness of the bass neutering on UHDs.