Invasion of the Body Snatchers 4K UHD (1978)

[gabacabriel]

Quick shout out to thank Andreasy969, Geoff D, and Mahogany for their succinct and thoughtful comments regarding "chroma error". Much appreciated.

I've always maintained that the quickest way to get an answer is to ask someone who knows the answer - thanks for proving me right

[AKORIS]

finally got to watch this last night and here are my thoughts--

* I looked for green splotches and compression issues, and other than the opening scenes/credits on the foreign planet-- I didn't notice anything...and what I did was very faint...

there were 3 brief shots during the first 15 minutes (right after you see Robert Duvall on the swing, and 2 shots of Brooke Adams staring at her boyfriend from her window) where the screen darkens and then brightens for some odd reason.

There is motion blur when you see a closeup of people's (pods) legs walking about to chase Sutherland and Adams....

That's all I could find wrong with this disc--- other than that the picture is leaps and bounds better than any other blu ray versions-- clarity is stunning in shots and color and darkness levels looked great on my OLED---

Glad I didn't listen to the hysteria here and bought the disc....

[BerryTheMusicMan]

Watched twice and have no complaints .
Dolby Vision is for winners !

[lgans316]

Originally Posted by gabacabriel

Quick shout out to thank Andreasy969, Geoff D, and Mahogany for their succinct and thoughtful comments regarding "chroma error". Much appreciated.

I've always maintained that the quickest way to get an answer is to ask someone who knows the answer - thanks for proving me right

and samlop10 who was bang on here.

[dcx4610]

Non-UHD related but I've always wondered...

[Show spoiler]Do you think that Robert Duvall's priest character was the first pod person in the movie? It's such a random but awesome and memorable cameo. I'm guessing he's the first to be changed but it's ambiguous and probably not something you really process until a 2nd viewing.

[Monkey Ballz]

Originally Posted by dcx4610

Non-UHD related but I've always wondered...

[Show spoiler]Do you think that Robert Duvall's priest character was the first pod person in the movie? It's such a random but awesome and memorable cameo. I'm guessing he's the first to be changed but it's ambiguous and probably not something you really process until a 2nd viewing.

One of the strangest and most disturbing cameos ever

[Jay H.]

Originally Posted by dcx4610

Non-UHD related but I've always wondered...

[Show spoiler]Do you think that Robert Duvall's priest character was the first pod person in the movie? It's such a random but awesome and memorable cameo. I'm guessing he's the first to be changed but it's ambiguous and probably not something you really process until a 2nd viewing.

I absolutely believe he is.

[scififan73]

Originally Posted by Jay H.

I absolutely believe he is.

Most definitely the Duvall character is, but not the first. Early stages of the invasion but the early grade teacher leading a field trip through the park at the same time is pretty suspect in my opinion.

[Matt89]

Yeah I always assumed the same thing. It's such a creepy cameo too.

~Matt

[Cholly]

Originally Posted by scififan73

Most definitely the Duvall character is, but not the first. Early stages of the invasion but the early grade teacher leading a field trip through the park at the same time is pretty suspect in my opinion.

Shes definitely a pod person, she tells all the kids to pick the flowers and bring them home to their parents. I also firmly believe

[Show spoiler]that Leonard Nimoys character is supposed to be a pod person the whole time and intentionally downplaying their fear

[dcx4610]

Originally Posted by Cholly

Shes definitely a pod person, she tells all the kids to pick the flowers and bring them home to their parents. I also firmly believe

[Show spoiler]that Leonard Nimoys character is supposed to be a pod person the whole time and intentionally downplaying their fear

He shows a little too much emotion I think to be a pod person the entire time but I've always heard him described as the leader so maybe he has additional abilities.

The ambiguity is huge reason why the movie so great. I'm still questioning it every time I watch it. Although a little dumber, Total Recall has the same ambiguity which I love. I still learn towards dream.

[Jay H.]

Originally Posted by dcx4610

He shows a little too much emotion I think to be a pod person the entire time but I've always heard him described as the leader so maybe he has additional abilities.

The ambiguity is huge reason why the movie so great. I'm still questioning it every time I watch it. Although a little dumber, Total Recall has the same ambiguity which I love. I still learn towards dream.

The only thing that keeps me from thinking

[Show spoiler]it's a dream is, there are several scenes that Quaid isn't in; they are from other characters' perspective.

The 1978 IOTBS does an excellent job of encapsulating paranoia. The main characters don't know who to trust, and we the audience are in the same boat. It's one of my favorite movies.

[slimjean]

Originally Posted by gabacabriel

Quick shout out to thank Andreasy969, Geoff D, and Mahogany for their succinct and thoughtful comments regarding "chroma error". Much appreciated.

I've always maintained that the quickest way to get an answer is to ask someone who knows the answer - thanks for proving me right

It seems to me that in basic terms, this release magnifies errors that may have already been there. When I look at the Shout Factory version I can also see anomolies but the problem is that the resolution is so much lower.

I have had these same argumemts over the years about retro video game pixels looking worse on newer displays and people insisting on processing vs accuracy of code rendering.

In this case I failed to pull the trigger to wait and get this all hashed out.

I see similar issues on Misery where there is the shaky interscenes (excuse my lack of technical lingo) and this is quite possibly more magnification of errors that already existed.

Yet do we throw the baby out with the bath water? Misery looked amazing and I am looking forward to IOTBS. If it comes out better I will upgrade again. Why solve household hunger when there are mindless increments of perfection to be had!

Now on the flipside I can't stand the scrutiny that some 4K releases get that actusally ignores how bad previous releases looked.

It is like there is this streaming/DVD validation that seems to have this bath water argument to a gross level.

I love grain and only stand for minor "management".

[Kyle15]

Telecine wobble is entirely different from a bad encode that is most certainly not baked into the original negative.
This also holds tru with Halloween and Halloween 2's glitchy booby-frame error.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by slimjean

It seems to me that in basic terms, this release magnifies errors that may have already been there. When I look at the Shout Factory version I can also see anomolies but the problem is that the resolution is so much lower.

I have had these same argumemts over the years about retro video game pixels looking worse on newer displays and people insisting on processing vs accuracy of code rendering.

In this case I failed to pull the trigger to wait and get this all hashed out.

I see similar issues on Misery where there is the shaky interscenes (excuse my lack of technical lingo) and this is quite possibly more magnification of errors that already existed.

Yet do we throw the baby out with the bath water? Misery looked amazing and I am looking forward to IOTBS. If it comes out better I will upgrade again. Why solve household hunger when there are mindless increments of perfection to be had!

Now on the flipside I can't stand the scrutiny that some 4K releases get that actusally ignores how bad previous releases looked.

It is like there is this streaming/DVD validation that seems to have this bath water argument to a gross level.

I love grain and only stand for minor "management".

This specific chroma shite that was explained to the person you quoted has absolutely nothing to do with existing errors in the film itself. Nothing. Not even the tiniest relation between one and the other.

As for chasing "mindless increments of perfection", I seem to recall someone strongly advocating for taking the individual 8K scans of Wizard of Oz's three-strip Technicolour negatives and overlaying them to squeeze the very last drops out of it when even the 4K iteration shows just the barest hint of extra resolution over the 1080p version. (Christ, I even put the DVD in to compare and was shocked at how well it held up.)

It's as I always say: we're not chasing perfection, just plain simple competence - which, if the alarming increase in QC errors lately is anything to go by, is in seriously short supply right now. I shouldn't be glad that such things are happening but the plus side is that it's put a dampener on the usual "youse guys are such cry babies who are never happy with anything and how dare you think you're better than the professionals" type posts, because on current evidence the pros couldn't hold a piss-up in a brewery.

[slimjean]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

This specific chroma shite that was explained to the person you quoted has absolutely nothing to do with existing errors in the film itself. Nothing. Not even the tiniest relation between one and the other.

As for chasing "mindless increments of perfection", I seem to recall someone strongly advocating for taking the individual 8K scans of Wizard of Oz's three-strip Technicolour negatives and overlaying them to squeeze the very last drops out of it when even the 4K iteration shows just the barest hint of extra resolution over the 1080p version. (Christ, I even put the DVD in to compare and was shocked at how well it held up.)

It's as I always say: we're not chasing perfection, just plain simple competence - which, if the alarming increase in QC errors lately is anything to go by, is in seriously short supply right now. I shouldn't be glad that such things are happening but the plus side is that it's put a dampener on the usual "youse guys are such cry babies who are never happy with anything and how dare you think you're better than the professionals" type posts, because on current evidence the pros couldn't hold a piss-up in a brewery.

Uh...I think you misunderstood completely. I was actually speaking for myself. Butt hurt much?

Also I wasn't talking about existing errors, I was talking about existing problems in previous transfers.

Man, switch to decaf.

Originally Posted by Kyle15

Telecine wobble is entirely different from a bad encode that is most certainly not baked into the original negative.
This also holds tru with Halloween and Halloween 2's glitchy booby-frame error.

For Misery, there is bobble on the Shout Factory version as well. Though different transfer makes for different issues.

To both you and Geoff please point out how I said that all transfers were the same or baked into the negative????

I have looked over my post repeatedly and I obviously am referring to errors in transfers/encoding.


Update:

Let me breakdown my post to its essentials.

"It seems to me that in basic terms, this release magnifies errors that may have already been there."

Chroma errors on previous releases have not been as prominent because of the breakdown of 4K rendering by Geoff...yeah sounds good to me.

"Why solve household hunger when there are mindless increments of perfection to be had!"

Household in this case is my household and the hunger is my own stomach for personal reasons, and the mindless increments are the ones that I see vs the general public that would file all under good enough!

"I see similar issues on Misery where there is the shaky interscenes (excuse my lack of technical lingo) and this is quite possibly more magnification of errors that already existed."

The errors that already existed were also on the Shout Factory disc, just not as obviously prominent. Whether it is the 4K rendering or the different transfer, the point is that it never looked stellar to me. The 4K resolution trade off is almost what I think to be the case with Wolf of Wall Street and this case of Misery. This is not to say as Geoff has said where I don't think details are important.

Also for the record, in the case of the 3 strip ANALOG Wizard of Oz print, yes an 8K pass can absolutely bring forth detail that you would not get with a 4K pass and this is basic molecular recreation. Arguing for DVD seems kinda silly to me.

Of course while we are on the subject of old arguments shall I bring up you having mental gymnastics over a stream of Lawrence of Arabia where there were clearly serious compression artifacts and sharpening that have never ever proved that there were more details and yet you proclaim some kind of Sony QC fallacy in the process when Lawrence of Arabia 4K remains one of the most beautiful discs that still will get about 10 more watches in my lifetime and will stand as a great achievement in any 4K library?....or shall we just let that one lay and stick to this disagreement...or wait, was there anyone to begin with?

But hey on Christmas eve lets start lecturing me of all people about Quality Control. I would get drunk on that comedy but I don't drink anymore.

[gigan72]

Originally Posted by slimjean

-snip

Yeah dude this is cool and all but the problems that are upsetting people with this release of Body Snatchers (what the thread's about) is an issue caused by the encode, it has literally NOTHING to do with errors in the way the film was shot. Misery has wobble in a scene or two, yeah, that's inherent to the source. Body Snatchers is poorly encoded, which means that the absolute finest details and the refinement of the grain are poorly rendered.

If someone else releases Misery, even with a better encode, it'll still have wobble. But if someone else releases Body Snatchers with a better encode, the problems people are talking about would be fixed. For example, while Studio Canal's release of Total Recall has terrible encoding, the Eagle release from Italy fixes them because it has a better encode. Both releases of Total Recall use the exact same restoration and transfer, but were encoding and compressed onto the disc differently.

What you said here-

Originally Posted by slimjean

It seems to me that in basic terms, this release magnifies errors that may have already been there. When I look at the Shout Factory version I can also see anomolies but the problem is that the resolution is so much lower.

-while understandable for someone without a ton of technical knowledge on how discs are produced and how that's seperate from the restorations and transfer, is misinformed and incorrect. Shout's compression isn't great either but that has nothing to do with the restoration and transfer, the encoding/compression problems are from whoever did that part of putting the transfer on the disc, and in this case is a problem on Kino's end.

[Kyle15]

Anyone: says anything at all to slimjean

slimjean:

[slimjean]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

childish drivel

It is obvious that you and the other two still didn't read what I wrote or are acting trollish.

A little of both.

I say transfer and encoding for separate releases that both have issues and I get the same puking of blatant lies that I say it is on the filmed source.

A waste of time.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by slimjean

A waste of time.

Yes.