Back to the Future Trilogy 4K UHD (1985-1990)

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by nick4Knight

And the amount of runtime that smashes the BD is an undoubted majority.

Maybe that's the thing? I have never had it on BD (I know how that atrocity looks from the screenshots) so I'm not in the "It's the best it ever looked!" camp and it's easier for me to focus on what is wrong with it.

Originally Posted by nick4Knight

And then factor in this is a trilogy release, not just one movie being judged... pt II and III are great which mitigates the firsts faults further.

That's why I specifically said it's my opinion about the first BTTF on UHD

[Fendergopher]

Originally Posted by wright96d

Am I not alone in thinking the 4K of Blade Runner looks oversharpened out the wazzoo, or are you referring to the bit-starved Blu-Ray?

Not really, it's more the chroma layer on the UHD is encoded badly so you get lots of noise mingled in with the proper grain, which should be easily fixable with a new encode, ideally on a BD100. And I do agree with others who want the old 5.1 mix on the UHD along with the Atmos mix, despite me not having that much issue with the changes overall.

And although it's simple to miss stuff like this when you're just watching and enjoying the movie, it honestly warrants a fix, especially when much smaller labels can do it:

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x...9&l=1&i=5&go=1

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=2&x...0&l=1&i=6&go=1

[The Edge]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

I finally watched the first BTTF and wow, what a disappointing UHD.

The biggest problems were already mentioned (like Marty's arrival in 1955, which is painful to watch), but to me the whole movie looks pretty meh, sometimes even ugly. For most of the runtime the grain, or what is left from it, looks awfully processed (look how it moves around Marty, Jennifer and Strickland in the scene at the beginning of the movie; disgusting!), with only a few shots having the look of what I could describe as a 4K scan of 35mm film. And what's with those VHS-like, horizontal artifacts in most of the third act? It looks like horizontally stretched, processed grain. Super weird!

My main impression is that it looks... dated. It's more like watching mediocre to decent Blu-ray from 10 years ago than modern 4K restoration and even the Dolby Vision grade doesn't help that much. It might be a nice upgrade from the previous BD, but it only shows how horrible it was, not how good this UHD is.

It received a wonderful review from this place, and personally I believe it to be a great transfer, so I believe you’re mistaken.

[Big_Bass_Man]

Just Watched part of the 3 Movies. Each 4K disc freezes up around the 50 min. mark. Bought 2 sets, both have the same problem. Watched in the Sony 850 UHD and XBOX one X.
Does anyone have the same problem? I played 6 other UHD's. The 6 worked with no problems.

[Jay Mammoth]

Originally Posted by Big_Bass_Man

Just Watched part of the 3 Movies. Each 4K disc freezes up around the 50 min. mark. Bought 2 sets, both have the same problem. Watched in the Sony 850 UHD and XBOX one X.
Does anyone have the same problem? I played 6 other UHD's. The 6 worked with no problems.

If they are freezing on both your players it’s definitely the discs. Return for a new set.

[Nosferatu31]

Originally Posted by Big_Bass_Man

Just Watched part of the 3 Movies. Each 4K disc freezes up around the 50 min. mark. Bought 2 sets, both have the same problem. Watched in the Sony 850 UHD and XBOX one X.
Does anyone have the same problem? I played 6 other UHD's. The 6 worked with no problems.

I bought the Best Buy steelbook set when it was released and since have watched all 3 films twice on my Sony UXB700 and had no freezing or skipping.

[Big_Bass_Man]

I did return and exchanged them. Bought them at Best Buy. Still having the problem.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

I finally watched the first BTTF and wow, what a disappointing UHD.

The biggest problems were already mentioned (like Marty's arrival in 1955, which is painful to watch), but to me the whole movie looks pretty meh, sometimes even ugly. For most of the runtime the grain, or what is left from it, looks awfully processed (look how it moves around Marty, Jennifer and Strickland in the scene at the beginning of the movie; disgusting!), with only a few shots having the look of what I could describe as a 4K scan of 35mm film. And what's with those VHS-like, horizontal artifacts in most of the third act? It looks like horizontally stretched, processed grain. Super weird!

My main impression is that it looks... dated. It's more like watching mediocre to decent Blu-ray from 10 years ago than modern 4K restoration and even the Dolby Vision grade doesn't help that much. It might be a nice upgrade from the previous BD, but it only shows how horrible it was, not how good this UHD is.

Today I finished the trilogy and quality-wise it ended on a much higher note than it started.

BTTF2 had also left me disappointed; it doesn't look as bad as the first one (sorry!), but there's still too much grain management going on for my taste and it lacks that extra filmic look I love. (although some shots or even scenes are better than the other) It's okay, I guess? Even good at times? Definitely watchable and all the problems here didn't distract me as much as when I was watching the first movie.

Apparently Zemeckis, or whoever was overseeing these transfers, decided that BTTF3 should be left intact. The grain looks pleasant and natural (at least for majority of it, you can still spot a shot or two with some smearing, athough nothing offensive), and even most VFX shots are surprisingly good. It finally looks like a transfer coming from a 4K scan with plenty of sharp, detailed shots. (some of them are trully great!) Along with very nice Dolby Vision grade it does justice to Cundey's cinematography, which is the best of the Trilogy, just like the movie itself is my favorite of the three, so it being the only REALLY satisfying UHD disc in this set is very bittersweet.

[brettgallman]

Originally Posted by Big_Bass_Man

Just Watched part of the 3 Movies. Each 4K disc freezes up around the 50 min. mark. Bought 2 sets, both have the same problem. Watched in the Sony 850 UHD and XBOX one X.
Does anyone have the same problem? I played 6 other UHD's. The 6 worked with no problems.

Had the same problem in the same spots, plus they all froze right towards the end on my Sony 700. It was never a hard freeze and it would play through without issue once I re-loaded the disc. Was kind of convinced the player was on the fritz, but I haven't had any issues with any other movies since.

[Dark City Denizen]

Originally Posted by Big_Bass_Man

I did return and exchanged them. Bought them at Best Buy. Still having the problem.

I have had these problems on & off with various 4K discs (Jaws, Alien, Batman ‘89), even though I keep them under glass & I alone rarely handle them. It is 100% something to do with 4K discs at large. This absolutely never occurs with any of my BD’s.

[welcometothepartypal]

Originally Posted by Big_Bass_Man

I did return and exchanged them. Bought them at Best Buy. Still having the problem.

I had the same problem and I even wrote universal but never got a response. I returned them and am patiently waiting a while to rebuy hoping a new batch of discs will work properly. It sucks that universal hasn’t addressed this issue, they have to have heard about it buy now.

Edit: I cleaned each disc several times to no avail.

[The Edge]

Originally Posted by Big_Bass_Man

I did return and exchanged them. Bought them at Best Buy. Still having the problem.

Just clean each 4K disc.

[wright96d]

Originally Posted by Fendergopher

Not really, it's more the chroma layer on the UHD is encoded badly so you get lots of noise mingled in with the proper grain, which should be easily fixable with a new encode, ideally on a BD100. And I do agree with others who want the old 5.1 mix on the UHD along with the Atmos mix, despite me not having that much issue with the changes overall.

I think what happened is they poorly applied a metric ****ton of chroma noise reduction and left the luma grain completely intact.

Originally Posted by Fendergopher

And although it's simple to miss stuff like this when you're just watching and enjoying the movie, it honestly warrants a fix, especially when much smaller labels can do it

I've sort of given up hope after realizing nothing was done to fix the chroma issue. Whatever 4K rerelease we get in 5-10 years will likely be the same exact master, too.

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

BTTF2 had also left me disappointed; it doesn't look as bad as the first one (sorry!), but there's still too much grain management going on for my taste and it lacks that extra filmic look I love.

I mean this sincerely. What grain management? Are you sure you're not attributing optical shots with low detail and splotchy grain to DNR? Part II is actually my favorite looking one out of the three. Skin tones in Part III look a little flat to me, as if the colorist used hue vs hue to place every single variation in skin tone onto the skin tone line.

[brettgallman]

Originally Posted by Dark City Denizen

I have had these problems on & off with various 4K discs (Jaws, Alien, Batman ‘89), even though I keep them under glass & I alone rarely handle them. It is 100% something to do with 4K discs at large. This absolutely never occurs with any of my BD’s.

Yeah, I have had more issues with freezes in the 3.5 years I've had 4K than in the 20+ years of DVD/Blu-ray. In fact, can't ever think of a single Blu-ray ever just freezing up or skipping like this. Had a couple that wouldn't boot up in that time, but that's about it.

[Dark City Denizen]

Originally Posted by brettgallman

Yeah, I have had more issues with freezes in the 3.5 years I've had 4K than in the 20+ years of DVD/Blu-ray. In fact, can't ever think of a single Blu-ray ever just freezing up or skipping like this. Had a couple that wouldn't boot up in that time, but that's about it.

Has anyone gotten to the bottom of this, do you know?

[GloveSlap]

Originally Posted by Big_Bass_Man

Just Watched part of the 3 Movies. Each 4K disc freezes up around the 50 min. mark. Bought 2 sets, both have the same problem. Watched in the Sony 850 UHD and XBOX one X.
Does anyone have the same problem? I played 6 other UHD's. The 6 worked with no problems.

Is the 50 minute mark in the 1st one around the dinner at Lorraine's house? Because i had weird colors and freezing on the One X as well. Not always at the same second each time either, but around that part. I tried it on a friend's Sony player (not sure of model) and it played fine so i kept the set. I didn't notice any problems on 2 or 3 but i only skipped through the chapters on those.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by wright96d

I mean this sincerely. What grain management? Are you sure you're not attributing optical shots with low detail and splotchy grain to DNR?

I'm sure, I'm not that stupid It just doesn't look right to me, I don't know what else can I say. I will revisit some of the scenes over the weekend.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by wright96d

I mean this sincerely. What grain management? Are you sure you're not attributing optical shots with low detail and splotchy grain to DNR? Part II is actually my favorite looking one out of the three. Skin tones in Part III look a little flat to me, as if the colorist used hue vs hue to place every single variation in skin tone onto the skin tone line.

I mean this sincerely: they’ve bashed several of the opticals with DNR and even live action stuff like when young Jennifer is taken “home” by the cops, when they enter the house it’s been severely filtered.

[wright96d]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I mean this sincerely: they’ve bashed several of the opticals with DNR and even live action stuff like when young Jennifer is taken “home” by the cops, when they enter the house it’s been severely filtered.

I checked the shot where they take Jennifer home, and yeah, the one shot where they enter is pretty bad. But that's just one shot. I also checked a handful of opticals, and a few of them definitely look processed. And a few of them, I really couldn't tell if it was just a bad looking optical, or if it was processing. Opticals and random moments of processing notwithstanding, it's still my favorite looking of the three. When it's good, by God it's amazing.

[Big_Bass_Man]

I was told the problem is, the piracy encoding on newer UHD's. XBOX and Sony players need a firmware update. LG players, UHD's work fine.