Blade Runner 4K UHD (1982)

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I tested some of the scenes you've mentioned and didn't see what you're seeing compression wise. I do think the remaster shows signs of subtle sharpening here and there, like the intro to Rachel you mentioned, but compression blocks? Distortion? Not at all, even in the specific scenes you mentioned (smoke at the cafe table, bright light through window while he examines photo, etc.). You mentioned Star Trek '09 in one post, but that was one where you saw the compression when converting to SDR but stopped seeing them in HDR, right? With this and Guardians giving you such a different experience from everyone else I'm wondering if something went hinky somewhere? We were having pretty much identical experiences until these two recent titles.

Just flipping around Blade Runner UHD again I was once more amazed at how good it looks. It does have a gritty look in some scenes which might be a sign of very mild sharpening due to the age of the restoration, but 99% of the time I love the look of it. Reminds me of the Bond remasters which were done super early and have some quibbles as a result, but they still look amazing.

No, the blatant artefacts are lessened in HDR but are still very much there on ST '09, as well as that super-odd smoothing out of the mid tones. As for Blade Runner I wish I could explain it but I simply don't know what's going on, if it was purely a setup issue then why am I not seeing such bad compression artefacts on, say, the wonderfully grainy Starship Troopers? Either I've got a bad disc or there's something about the ZD9's super brightness that shows it up more, and I know I sound like an arrogant arse when I say this but it wouldn't be the first time that people have mistaken a cluster of digital schmutz for 'grain'.

[pbz06]

Finally got a chance to watch it last night. Fantastic transfer and definately reference quality for older movies to show off the new format.

Maybe there are 1 or 2 very minor instances worth complaining about, but not noticeable unless watching the movie frame by frame looking for things to cling on to. The Atmos was also exceptional, especially since I didn't memorize the original sound for sound, so if it was "louder" or altered by a hair, I didn't notice. None of it stood out or took away from the immersion.

Loved the movie and the AV presentation.

[ROSS.T.G.]

I didn't see any issues with the transfer, I also didn't detect any over sharpened edges. I viewed the disc in my Calibrated Dark mode which is plenty bright in HDR10.

[ronboster]

I never been a huge fan of Blade Runner....fell into the category of "wanting" to like the film. I hadn't seen the final cut yet.....

Watching this version of the film with the video and audio presentation was a fantastic experience. I'm glad the early reviews encourage me to buy the 4k disc. I thought the soundtrack took full advantage of 3D sound as well as any soundtrack I've heard to-date.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by calico

Thanks to those of you who have provided some info on the UK SE set - it's a bit frustrating how mysterious it is for the consumer!

I was wondering if someone who has it can confirm that the DVD contents from discs 3 and 4 of the old 5 disc set are then not present in this one (Dangerous Days on one disc, and the other with the other smaller featurettes). I have the old 3-disc set instead of the 5, so it would actually be even better for me if this SE set has those DVDs' features. If not, I'll wait for the US UHD to come back down in price, because I believe these features are all in that set.

The UK 4-disc set contains everything that the 5-disc set had and more. For the 30th anniversary edition the SD content from both DVDs was added to the Workprint disc, along with a new lossless audio encode for the Workprint and a new HD image gallery containing thousands of stills. Those three discs were squeezed onto one and put alongside the existing Final Cut and Archival editions BDs for a total of three Blu-ray discs. These three BDs are included with the UK 4K special edition.

[calico]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

The UK 4-disc set contains everything that the 5-disc set had and more. For the 30th anniversary edition the SD content from both DVDs was added to the Workprint disc, along with a new lossless audio encode for the Workprint and a new HD image gallery containing thousands of stills. Those three discs were squeezed onto one and put alongside the existing Final Cut and Archival editions BDs for a total of three Blu-ray discs. These three BDs are included with the UK 4K special edition.

Thanks. I think my post was deleted because I found the full content list and linked to it (might have been a bad move).

I guess I have not yet watched the Workprint edition on my 3 disc set. Sounds like all the content is there after all. And just to clarify, the seamless branching (3 version) being a BD25 in this set is not a change, as it was a BD25 previously?

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by calico

Thanks. I think my post was deleted because I found the full content list and linked to it (might have been a bad move).

I guess I have not yet watched the Workprint edition on my 3 disc set. Sounds like all the content is there after all. And just to clarify, the seamless branching (3 version) being a BD25 in this set is not a change, as it was a BD25 previously?

I dunno where you're based but I can only speak for what I've got: two editions of the branching disc, one from the 2008 5-disc Spanish Final Cut set and the one from the 2012 30th anniversary UK set which was included with this 4K edition, and they're both single-layer discs. The minor errors on the 5.1 mix on the branched Director's Cut are also present on the UK disc (wrong music when Rachael plays the piano, building super says "Kowalski" when he opens the door to the apartment) but were fixed on the Spanish edition which was mastered over a year later (Oct 2007 vs Dec 2008).

If you check the feature size for the US Theatrical Cut on capsaholic then it's quite comfortably under the 25GB mark too, this would also apply to the other two cuts as they're 99.9% similar to the theatrical. Shorter even in the case of the DC because the happy ending was lopped off.

[Bumbuliuz]

Is the issue with the wrong disc just on the N-American disks or also in Europe?

[Jason 831]

I have never seen this movie. Is it worth a blind buy?

[Jason One]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I dunno where you're based but I can only speak for what I've got: two editions of the branching disc, one from the 2008 5-disc Spanish Final Cut set and the one from the 2012 30th anniversary UK set which was included with this 4K edition, and they're both single-layer discs. The minor errors on the 5.1 mix on the branched Director's Cut are also present on the UK disc (wrong music when Rachael plays the piano, building super says "Kowalski" when he opens the door to the apartment) but were fixed on the Spanish edition which was mastered over a year later (Oct 2007 vs Dec 2008).

I wish I wasn't only learning about this fixed archival disc now, so many years after it's gone out of print.

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by Jason 831

I have never seen this movie. Is it worth a blind buy?

Nope. It’s extraordinary, genius, one of the all-time classics, and yet most assuredly not for all tastes.

[Jason 831]

Originally Posted by Filmmaker

Nope. It’s extraordinary, genius, one of the all-time classics, and yet most assuredly not for all tastes.

Sounds like a big yes. Lol. I'm guessing it's a great release on UHD?

[Dreamliner330]

Looky looky what came in the mail from WB today...

I emailed them on 9/20 to let them know I was missing this disc.

13 days is a pretty quick turn around.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by Jason 831

Sounds like a big yes. Lol. I'm guessing it's a great release on UHD?

Yes, for the most part it's a well done transfer and quality Atmos remix.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner330

Looky looky what came in the mail from WB today...

I emailed them on 9/20 to let them know I was missing this disc.

13 days is a pretty quick turn around.

[Show spoiler]

What email address did you send it to? Might try that myself.

[KMFDMvsEnya]

I haven't watched the entirety of the disc and it has only been with my Oppo 203 and Panasonic Vt60. PQ is an impressive improvement and vastly superior to the low bitrate BR, whereas the new audio mix is unbalanced and ultimately I prefer the original FC mix.

[Dreamliner330]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

What email address did you send it to? Might try that myself.

https://www.warnerbros.com/customer-service

I chose the Blu-ray option and let them know I bought the UHD. Pointed out the back of the package said it came with "over 7 hours" of special features and said with the included discs that wasn't possible. Finally, I told them exactly what disc I was missing and finished with my mailing address.

They didn't even reply, just sent the disc.

[Harlock415]

I have not had the time to go through every post, so I gather the reason that this has disappeared from stores is because there's some sort of mixup in the discs included in some of the releases but not all?

So If I've not yet gotten one I probably should not buy from a third party vendor but wait until Amazon or Best Buy has them in stock?

[mzupeman]

I havent seen any actual pics of the 2 disc set from the UK yet but I just ordered it assumjng the discs arent stacked. Hope it all works out for me this time.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by mzupeman

I havent seen any actual pics of the 2 disc set from the UK yet but I just ordered it assumjng the discs arent stacked. Hope it all works out for me this time.

We rarely stack over here bro, and there's literally zero need with a 2-disc set anyway because they'd just use a 2-disc case.