Jurassic Park Collection 4K UHD (1993-2015)

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by cobravenomous

I watched all four movies this week in 4K. I would rate the video of each as follows........I've been anxiously watching for The Digital Bits to release their review of the set to see how close I am to their ratings. It looks like they will have a review available this weekend!

Jurassic Park 4.5/5
The Lost World 4.2/5
Jurassic Park III 3/5
Jurassic World 5/5

Cobra

just out of curiosity, what makes Part 3 rate so much lower?

[Dreamliner330]

I don't know whether to get the Best Buy version or the regular version. The Best Buy version is probably stacked like the Spider-Man Legacy Collection and the regular version uses those awful sleeves. Either way I will be recasing the discs, but which has a better likelihood to be scratch free?

Honestly, why can't studios just use normal Blu-ray cases and a simple slipbox for releases like this? They make a nice 8 & 10 disc case...arg!

[cobravenomous]

Originally Posted by pottyaboutpotter1

Just watched Jurassic Park. Brief thoughts

It looked good. For the most part. Every shot with no CGI looks absolutely fantastic and are the best they ever looked... apart from a shot of Gennaro in the jeep shortly after arriving on the Island warning Hammond that if he doesn't like what he sees the park could be shut down. Dunno what went on with that shot, but it completely changes colour tone and looks... fuzzier than the others (I think fuzzier is the right word). It was back to normal for the next shot of Hammond and it never happened again (maybe it just slipped through the cracks). But for the most part a fine, fine upgrade. HDR is great too.

As for the shots with CGI... ooo boy. A different story there. They look fine. Fine. Ish. They're softer than the rest of the film and the HDR is a bit wonkier here; most noticeable in the kitchen sequence where the HDR effectiveness changes from shot to shot changing from great when there's live action actors/animatronic dinosaurs in shot to not so great when there's CG dinos in shot. But don't let it put you off, the CG Dinos only have around 6 minutes of screen time throughout the entire film and I imagine Universal could not really do much with these CGI shots without completely redoing the CGI which would be a way too costly endeavour.

So yeah, probably the best the film has ever looked on home video IMO. And probably the best it ever will look without redoing the CGI. A solid 4.5/5.

That's what I gave the disc as well 4.5/5

[cobravenomous]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

just out of curiosity, what makes Part 3 rate so much lower?

Lack of detail, colour, HDR and I found the whole movie appear "soft".......

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by cobravenomous

Lack of detail, colour, HDR and I found the whole movie appear "soft".......

It doesn't look like those promotional photos, then?

[SplitScreen]

Originally Posted by cobravenomous

That's what I gave the disc as well 4.5/5

Yup, I would echo that too....

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by pottyaboutpotter1

Every shot with no CGI looks absolutely fantastic and are the best they ever looked... apart from a shot of Gennaro in the jeep shortly after arriving on the Island warning Hammond that if he doesn't like what he sees the park could be shut down. Dunno what went on with that shot, but it completely changes colour tone and looks... fuzzier than the others (I think fuzzier is the right word). It was back to normal for the next shot of Hammond and it never happened again (maybe it just slipped through the cracks)

Look very closely to the BD. It's there for sure, but less visible. (Because of SDR?) It's a matter of change in light.

They're softer than the rest of the film and the HDR is a bit wonkier here

Every light source looks EXTREMELY muted in shots with CG, I guess that's the side effect of dated technology. The Lost World is much better in that department, but still shits with CG can't match the dynamic range of "real life" shots.

[s_har]

Originally Posted by VickPS

Ahem.. the bottom one?

Well I guess the short answer would be neither of them.

The bottom one is my original, but it is based on a very flat capture of the UHD disc (captured directly through HDMI) which has then in turn been converted to rec709 just to keep it from looking completely flat, grey and colorless. However it is still an extremely muted and washed out presentation of what is actually present on disc. The actual colors and dynamic range on disc is very different to that of my screencaps. Unfortunately at the moment this is the only method I have for capturing UHD footage from disc. The screencaps were intended solely for judging resolution, grain, use of DNR etc.

The upper cap is the same cap as the bottom one only it has been corrected by aphid. Of course that correction is also inherently wrong since it is based upon my original cap that had the wrong colors to begin with.

In hindsight I see that I probably ought to have converted all caps to black and white in order to not cause any confusion regarding the colors being accurate or not.

[Geoff D]

Finished JP1. Not bad. Very much a newer transfer, it's solid as a rock compared to the 2011 BD which has a case of the wobbles (compare chapter 14 when Grant and the kids are walking up the hill, it's like they're in the middle of an earthquake on the old BD). A fair smattering of white (negative) dirt and scratches are visible throughout, not on the frequency or severity of the remastered Gladiator Blu-ray but regular enough. You might catch one or two flecks of dark (positive) dirt on the opticals used to generate the on-screen locations but that's printed in during that process.

Nice enough detail, not up to Sony's standards but as we've said before, who else is? There's still a definite increase in the finer spatial resolution over the Blu-ray in any case, hair and clothing is more refined and wider shots resolve more detail in the foliage. There's an ever-present amount of haloing around high contrast edges though, the ringing is mostly slight but it's definitely there. If I had to guess I'd say that they've rolled off the grain, there should be a visible scattering of the stuff on daylight exteriors and heavier grain on interiors and darker exteriors, however it's virtually non-existent in the former and only slightly more visible on the latter. And yet it rarely looks like an outright waxfest which is an important point to consider, although one of the location cards has been smacked with proper DNR, it's when Dodgson pulls up in the taxi cab to meet Nedry ('San Jose, Costa Rica') and it looks SUPER smudgy and soft (whereas they didn't feel the need to fudge that shot on the old Blu-ray transfer, it's fine there). Most of the other location opticals are fine though. And yes, this UK disc has the proper burnt in titles. Huzzah!

To echo what potty said, one area where the UHD presentation outright falls down is the CG as we're stretching the limits of what these ageing images can resolve, I heard they were done at around 1K and it really shows here. I've been a cheerleader for JP's digital VFX for the longest time but here it all badly lacks texture and sharpness, with pronounced edge ringing and very soft detail. It's funny but the CG actually blends a LOT better on the old BD because that disc is inherently lower resolution, is quite over-sharpened anyway and has more noise/grain to dither the images with. Perhaps if they'd left the grain in then it would've blended a bit better on the UHD, but it's too late for that now.

HDR is decent, a refinement more than a reimagining. APL looks to be on a par with the SDR version or thereabouts so it's not instantly dimmer. You'll catch more highlight detail in shots of clouds (like in the window behind Malcolm in the chopper as they're flying to the island) and various speculars that are on display e.g. car headlights, torch lights and so on. It's not eye-searingly bright in those moments but then HDR doesn't always have to be. Solid black levels, they're not greyed out to shit nor do they consume all shadow detail in their path, just a nice level of density commensurate to the scene. Alas, the extension in dynamic range that usually helps to better integrate CG VFX (IMO) ends up working against it because the highlights still burn out badly in the CG scenes, like the shot of Grant and Ellie looking up at the Brachiosaur into the sun, or the headlights of the CG jeep that falls when Rexy tips it over the edge, this is because they simply weren't rendered with enough range to begin with.

Colour is NOT the mud-brown 3D tint thank God, skin tones are healthy enough (you can really see the tans on some of their faces) and although the primaries might look a bit subdued when A-B'd with the almost neon-looking greenery in the old BD you gain back more nuance in those colours. As mentioned there's a weird bit with Gennaro in the jeep where it seems to drain the colour & range out as the shot progresses, but it looks like some sort of problem with the processing of the original negative to my eyes. (As was also noted upthread the digital tweaks done for the 3D version have been rolled back so you'll still spot the C-stand when Rexy flips over the car and the filament of spider's web is there on the final shot of the helicopter heading out to sea.)

Overall then it's not an amazing home run and definitely looks less organic than, say, Die Hard, never mind the average Sony joint. But it rarely tips over into Grease or T2 territory either, staying just the right side of the grain reduction devil and presenting a more detailed and dimensional looking image thanks to the decent HDR pass. Good, but not great.

[DJJez]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Finished JP1. Not bad. Very much a newer transfer, it's solid as a rock compared to the 2011 BD which has a case of the wobbles (compare chapter 14 when Grant and the kids are walking up the hill, it's like they're in the middle of an earthquake on the old BD). A fair smattering of white (negative) dirt and scratches are visible throughout, not on the frequency or severity of the remastered Gladiator Blu-ray but regular enough. You might catch one or two flecks of dark (positive) dirt on the opticals used to generate the on-screen locations but that's printed in during that process.

Nice enough detail, not up to Sony's standards but as we've said before, who else is? There's still a definite increase in the finer spatial resolution over the Blu-ray in any case, hair and clothing is more refined and wider shots resolve more detail in the foliage. There's an ever-present amount of haloing around high contrast edges though, the ringing is mostly slight but it's definitely there. If I had to guess I'd say that they've rolled off the grain, there should be a visible scattering of the stuff on daylight exteriors and heavier grain on interiors and darker exteriors, however it's virtually non-existent in the former and only slightly more visible on the latter. And yet it rarely looks like an outright waxfest which is an important point to consider, although one of the location cards has been smacked with proper DNR, it's when Dodgson pulls up in the taxi cab to meet Nedry ('San Jose, Costa Rica') and it looks SUPER smudgy and soft (whereas they didn't feel the need to fudge that shot on the old Blu-ray transfer, it's fine there). Most of the other location opticals are fine though. And yes, this UK disc has the proper burnt in titles. Huzzah!

To echo what potty said, one area where the UHD presentation outright falls down is the CG as we're stretching the limits of what these ageing images can resolve, I heard they were done at around 1K and it really shows here. I've been a cheerleader for JP's digital VFX for the longest time but here it all badly lacks lacks texture and sharpness, with pronounced edge ringing and very soft detail. It's funny but the CG actually blends a LOT better on the old BD because that disc is inherently lower resolution, is quite over-sharpened anyway and has more noise/grain to dither the images with. Perhaps if they'd left the grain in then it would've blended a bit better on the UHD, but it's too late for that now.

HDR is decent, a refinement more than a reimagining. APL looks to be on a par with the SDR version or thereabouts so it's not instantly dimmer. You'll catch more highlight detail in shots of clouds (like in the window behind Malcolm in the chopper as they're flying to the island) and various speculars that are on display e.g. car headlights, torch lights and so on. It's not eye-searingly bright in those moments but then HDR doesn't always have to be. Solid black levels, they're not greyed out to shit nor do they consume all shadow detail in their path, just a nice level of density commensurate to the scene. Alas, the extension in dynamic range that usually helps to better integrate CG VFX (IMO) ends up working against it because the highlights still burn out badly in the CG scenes, like the shot of Grant and Ellie looking up at the Brachiosaur into the sun, or the headlights of the CG jeep that falls when Rexy tips it over the edge, this is because they simply weren't rendered with enough range to begin with.

Colour is NOT the mud-brown 3D tint thank God, skin tones are healthy enough (you can really see the tans on some of their faces) and although the primaries might look a bit subdued when A-B'd with the almost neon-looking greenery in the old BD you gain back more nuance in those colours. As mentioned there's a weird bit with Gennaro in the jeep where it seems to drain the colour & range out as the shot progresses, but it looks like some sort of problem with the processing of the original negative to my eyes. (As was also noted upthread the digital tweaks done for the 3D version have been rolled back so you'll still spot the C-stand when Rexy flips over the car and the filament of spider's web is there on the final shot of the helicopter heading out to sea.)

Overall then it's not an amazing home run and definitely looks less organic than, say, Die Hard, never mind the average Sony joint. But it rarely tips over into Grease or T2 territory either, staying just the right side of the grain reduction devil and presenting a more detailed and dimensional looking image thanks to the decent HDR pass. Good, but not great.

Oh dear not as great as we hoped then

Awesome review dude

[ROSS.T.G.]

Solid review. I can live with that. I wasn’t expecting a lot so it’s nice they didn’t dick it up.

[Bourne1886]

Thanks for the review Geoff, I was on the fence about getting this one as it’s never been a fav film of mine. I’ve already bought Braveheart, Die Hard and Gladiator on 4K UHD Blu Ray and Matrix is coming on Monday so I think I’ll by pass this one. Cheers.

[BenjaminG]

Thanks for the in-depth review Geoff. Sounds like it's about as good as we're ever going to get at this point. Can you comment on the framing/ zooming issues that plagued the previous BD and 3D releases? The caps I've seen thus far seem to stay true to those. I'm talking about the final beauty shot of the T-Rex with the banner falling at the end, and the Brachiosaurus scene early on.

Originally Posted by Geoff D

and the filament of spider's web is there on the final shot of the helicopter heading out to sea.)

NOOO! This always bothered the hell out of me. Always assumed it was a crack on perspex in front of the lens or something.

[scallenger]

Can anyone confirm if there are indeed no new bonus features of any kind? Also, do the standard Blus that come with the set feature a downconversion of the new transfer (s) or just exactly the same old ones?

[Mr. Hyphen]

FedEx just received my order... yet it says it will be here tomorrow. Here’s to hoping

[mikesncc1701]

Thanks Geoff! Doesn't sound like an absolute winner but sounds like it's at least enough of an improvement and the day one price point isn't bad at all.

[aphid]

Originally Posted by VickPS

[Show spoiler]

Ahem.. the bottom one?



Definitely not the top one so i hope it does not represent how the UHD disk actually look like.

[Show spoiler]
Curious how even with a boost in contrast and saturation and a huge red push on white balance, the 35mm screen still looks nothing like that top shot.

Whoever scanned that print didn't know what they were doing. It's also missing a profile. I doubt they even had the means to create the proper profile for it.
Here's a closer approximation of how it should look

[buckeye1]

I'm half tempting to return my Black Panther and get this. Since this is a more of a classic than Black Panther. Plus with all the bad audio and so so CGI. Need advice, return Black Panther and get this? Want to pre-order asap before its sold out, since its a limited edition. Also what is the audio and picture like for the 1080p? I don't have 4K setup yet.

[MechaGodzilla]

Thanks for the review, Tom Geoff. Now I'm looking forward to your thoughts on the sequels.

[Stefan1]

Originally Posted by buckeye1

I'm half tempting to return my Black Panther and get this. Since this is a more of a classic than Black Panther. Plus with all the bad audio and so so CGI. Need advice, return Black Panther and get this? Want to pre-order asap before its sold out, since its a limited edition. Also what is the audio and picture like for the 1080p? I don't have 4K setup yet.

Definitely commit to Jurassic Park. It’s perfection of filmmaking unlike Black Panther, which a fun overall, good flick, but the CGI, generic story and lackluster climax really hurt it. JP is a classic.