Parasite 4K UHD (2019) February 27th, 2020

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by apollo828

Yeah, Criterion waited ~18 months to put out their first DVD (and about another 12 more months before they took advantage of anamorphic masters), and ~24 months for their first Blu. It's been ~36 months and still no signs of UHDs, other than a vague rumor about possible Wong Kar-Wai UHDs at some point. They may very well put out UHDs eventually. I'm just not going to wait for them to get around to it, if they ever do.

as well as the Soderberg mention that "Sex, Lies and Videotape' had a HDR pass/grading , me thinks it all boils down to the fact UHD's are region free and I think Criterion has to region lock their titles to region A or they break other territorial exclusivities - this sounds like the obvious reason, but I have no idea why Jon Mulvaney just doesn't clear the air and explain this as a reason.

[FragnitoM]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

as well as the Soderberg mention that "Sex, Lies and Videotape' had a HDR pass/grading , me thinks it all boils down to the fact UHD's are region free and I think Criterion has to region lock their titles to region A or they break other territorial exclusivities - this sounds like the obvious reason, but I have no idea why Jon Mulvaney just doesn't clear the air and explain this as a reason.

There is no region locking for UHD anywhere, so I don’t think this has anything to do with there being no UHD yet. For them I think it’s all about the bottom line and the logistics of releasing a third format type alongside dvd/bluray

[Klaustrofobia]

Originally Posted by FragnitoM

There is no region locking for UHD anywhere, so I don’t think this has anything to do with there being no UHD yet. For them I think it’s all about the bottom line and the logistics of releasing a third format type alongside dvd/bluray

That is what Dubstar points out as the problem, Criterion have to region lock everything they release on DVD and BluRay and if they where to release a UHD they can not lock it.

[FragnitoM]

Originally Posted by Klaustrofobia

That is what Dubstar points out as the problem, Criterion have to region lock everything they release on DVD and BluRay and if they where to release a UHD they can not lock it.

But with UHD they don’t. It’s just speculation. Shout and KINOs Blu-ray’s are region locked but their UHDs are not. Why are people assuming Criterion is the only boutique label that would be forced to lock UHDs?

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by FragnitoM

Why are people assuming Criterion is the only boutique label that would be forced to lock UHDs?

People are assuming it means they can't release them. Criterion can't be forced to lock UHDs because UHDs can't be locked.

[FragnitoM]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

People are assuming it means they can't release them. Criterion can't be forced to lock UHDs because UHDs can't be locked.

Again, other labels have released UHD so the logic that this is why Criterion hasn’t released Uhd doesn’t make sense

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by FragnitoM

Again, other labels have released UHD so the logic that this is why Criterion hasn’t released Uhd doesn’t make sense

… though it could very well be that it was an option for those other distributors' titles, but it wasn't for the specific titles we've speculated about Criterion releasing.

[apollo828]

Originally Posted by FragnitoM

Again, other labels have released UHD so the logic that this is why Criterion hasn’t released Uhd doesn’t make sense

Criterion is full of luddites, straight up. As others have pointed out, it took them ~1 1/2 years after DVDs came out in the US to put out DVDs (and another year, IIRC, before they stopped recycling masters and started creating proper anamorphic masters, with the lame excuse that anamorphic masters wouldn't look good on 4x3 TVs), and ~2 1/2 years before they started putting out Blu-Rays. We're now at four years, with nothing to show other than a very vague (AFAIK) rumor or two. They know what they're doing. They simply don't think the 4K market is worth their while.

I will grant them that, for whatever reasons, they did fund at least some of the work required to get the x264 video encoder certified for Blu-Ray releases. (Why they did this instead of using another package, I'll never know.) Still, they just aren't cutting-edge techies. Unless a director they care about forces them to get on the boat (possibly Wong Kar-Wai, if the rumors are true), I'm starting to wonder if they'll ever bother with 4K releases. Maybe they'll finally hop on board when the PS5 comes out??? If not, well, they've made their decision. I could deal with high-bitrate downloads if they were offered, but as is, I think a majority of their fans are content with subpar releases (including Blus), and they don't feel the need to improve. Very sad.

(Regarding fans, go on YouTube and watch Amoeba Records's "What in My Bag?" series. There are several musicians and filmmakers who show up there. Sometimes, they'll buy Criterion stuff. A shocking number of them pick up DVDs. If the damn filmmakers are happy with DVDs, 4K owners are doomed.)

Getting back on track, yay German release! Looking forward to seeing how it stacks up against the French release, which I must say sets the bar pretty damn high.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

as well as the Soderberg mention that "Sex, Lies and Videotape' had a HDR pass/grading , me thinks it all boils down to the fact UHD's are region free and I think Criterion has to region lock their titles to region A or they break other territorial exclusivities - this sounds like the obvious reason, but I have no idea why Jon Mulvaney just doesn't clear the air and explain this as a reason.

Yes but why then are other indie labels having to region lock their BDs as per the licensing agreement yet can put a region free UHD inside the same package? This happened with Kino's Hannibal and is happening with Turbine's version of Crash in Germany. Turbine even said that they tried to get around it for the BD but nope, they have to lock it to B. So how come the exact same rights holder - I mean the people who own the content, not the label releasing it - is dead set on locking one version but is happy to let another region free version out there? I aksed this same question in the Crash thread but I don't think turbine understood what I was talking about, either that or they're not allowed to say.

Makes no sense to me, so when people assume that the region coding is the issue with Criterion then I don't think it's a problem at all because it's not their decision to make. And they don't region lock as a matter of course, as proved by their BD of Roma. Yes, Netflix have the rights the world over so producing a 'one size' Criterion disc makes sense, unlike with all these other smaller films where the rights are scattered to the wind, but again that comes back down to my first question as to why X version is locked as per a legally binding contractual agreement while under that same agreement an inherently region free version is also included.