First Blood / Rambo: First Blood Part II / Rambo III 4K UHDs (1982-1988)

[EddieLarkin]

The Studio Canal is the definition of passable, which is about as good as it gets from them when they don't hire David M.

The Lionsgate is not fit for purpose by any measure.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

The Studio Canal is the definition of passable, which is about as good as it gets from them when they don't hire David M.

The Lionsgate is not fit for purpose by any measure.

Heh, I wasn't lying about how badly Rambo 2 looked on the US disc https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=1073, I just never figured that the UK/Euro encodes would be any different. Makes you wonder how Lock Up and Red Heat compare on the UK vs US discs.

[Brian81]

Looks like I will end up with an Eagle FB and Studio Canal FBPt2 in the near future. Sure, the latter is trading one bad for another, but the lows appear to be much lower on the Lionsgate. :-(



And to my understanding, the UK of III is cut, I guess I am left with the Lionsgate? Given the lack of English subs on the Eagle...

[Spartan21]

I'll be getting the Eagle versions of I and II. For II, I'll look at the translations and memorize them, lol. I'm hoping to see the Eagle pics for II at caps-a-holic.

[Brian81]

Are the German SC discs going to be the same as the UK ones for the first two films, with menu language based on a selection, or will those be with German text? Are the Nordic releases different? What about the Kadokawa from Japan?

[zorch]

Originally Posted by Brian81

Are the German SC discs going to be the same as the UK ones for the first two films, with menu language based on a selection, or will those be with German text? Are the Nordic releases different? What about the Kadokawa from Japan?

I have those Nordic (Soul Media) & Japan (Kadokawa) 4K Releases. I once had also UK Studio Canal 4K & German remastered blu-ray releases. I made some First Blood 4K & Blu-Ray comparison. Nordic release have pretty high bitrate 70- 85mbps, Japan have pretty low 30-50mbps. What i found is Japan blu-ray 1080p version looked pretty good, there was much more grain than 4K version, but there are some compression problems also & little macroblocking in start credits. Also Nordic blu-ray have macroblocking in same scene but it’s much worse looking. I remember that German blu-ray 1080p was horrible lookin, really bad encoding. German, France & UK 4K encoding should be identical i think. I don’t have equipment to take screenshots. I might buy Eagle’s releases & made some comparison later.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by zorch

I have those Nordic (Soul Media) & Japan (Kadokawa) 4K Releases. I once had also UK Studio Canal 4K & German remastered blu-ray releases. I made some First Blood 4K & Blu-Ray comparison. Nordic release have pretty high bitrate 70- 85mbps, Japan have pretty low 30-50mbps. What i found is Japan blu-ray 1080p version looked pretty good, there was much more grain than 4K version, but there are some compression problems also & little macroblocking in start credits. Also Nordic blu-ray have macroblocking in same scene but it’s much worse looking. I remember that German blu-ray 1080p was horrible lookin, really bad encoding. German, France & UK 4K encoding should be identical i think. I don’t have equipment to take screenshots. I might buy Eagle’s releases & made some comparison later.

Thanks! Sounds like the Japan 4K is not the way to go, but the Nordic may be, for the 4K disc at least. If you do end up with the Eagle releases, I would be interested in hearing how the two compare.

[Fat Phil]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Makes you wonder how Lock Up and Red Heat compare on the UK vs US discs.

This.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by Fat Phil

This.

It also makes me wonder if some ofter titles which aren’t even bad might be different between releases. Granted I haven't seen all these, but they’re shared titles. Apocalypse Now, Commuter, Cold Pursuit, The Doors, Evil Dead 2, Ran, Universal Soldier.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Brian81

It also makes me wonder if some ofter titles which aren’t even bad might be different between releases. Granted I haven't seen all these, but they’re shared titles. Apocalypse Now, Ran, Universal Soldier.

I can guarantee you that Apocalypse Now uses the same discs between the UK and US versions, the only difference is one of the extras discs in the 6-disc set is a version with European language sets rather than North American.

[DMRI2006]

Thanks for all these international updates. For me it's still kind of like a pick your poison situation. Every release has the crappy 5.1 audio, none have the original mix, the Italian lacks English subs for the III dialogue, etc. As much as the superior encode of the Studio Canal appears and appeals to me, I don't think the HDR in general was well executed here, and I hate spending more money on these remasters the way they are. (If something truly remarkable comes along I may well change my mind but for now I'm sticking with the Lionsgate discs).

As far as LOCK UP and RED HEAT goes, I haven't sat through the latter long enough to comment, but the US Lionsgate disc for Lock Up looks REALLY, really good. If it has encoding issues they are not easily perceptible, and it looked far better to me than the Rambo remasters.

[barrett75]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

As far as LOCK UP and RED HEAT goes, I haven't sat through the latter long enough to comment, but the US Lionsgate disc for Lock Up looks REALLY, really good. If it has encoding issues they are not easily perceptible, and it looked far better to me than the Rambo remasters.

for Lock Up I remember one of the worst disc with shi**y chroma noise i've ever seen on a 4k release (on Eagle disc). never considered US LG actually, have you noticed it?

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by barrett75

for Lock Up I remember one of the worst disc with shi**y chroma noise i've ever seen on a 4k release (on Eagle disc). never considered US LG actually, have you noticed it?

I did not notice it, I thought the disc was one of the best of these Studio Canal catalog masters that Lionsgate put out. In general, outside of a couple of sequences where there's some filtering on, it looks great.

[Noremac Mij]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Heh, I wasn't lying about how badly Rambo 2 looked on the US disc https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=1073, I just never figured that the UK/Euro encodes would be any different. Makes you wonder how Lock Up and Red Heat compare on the UK vs US discs.

I’m sure they look just as teal.

[captainjoe]

The lions gate Red Heat disc has some pretty godawful compression in the opening of the film when Ahnuld walks through the steam room. Similar to
total recall I think the DV layer helps with some of the artifacts but the bit rate drops to under 10 mbps at times. It’s a joke.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

Thanks for all these international updates. For me it's still kind of like a pick your poison situation. Every release has the crappy 5.1 audio, none have the original mix, the Italian lacks English subs for the III dialogue, etc. As much as the superior encode of the Studio Canal appears and appeals to me, I don't think the HDR in general was well executed here, and I hate spending more money on these remasters the way they are. (If something truly remarkable comes along I may well change my mind but for now I'm sticking with the Lionsgate discs).

As far as LOCK UP and RED HEAT goes, I haven't sat through the latter long enough to comment, but the US Lionsgate disc for Lock Up looks REALLY, really good. If it has encoding issues they are not easily perceptible, and it looked far better to me than the Rambo remasters.

Lock Up on the US UHD is shite mate

[jonam]

Originally Posted by captainjoe

The lions gate Red Heat disc has some pretty godawful compression in the opening of the film when Ahnuld walks through the steam room. Similar to
total recall I think the DV layer helps with some of the artifacts but the bit rate drops to under 10 mbps at times. It’s a joke.

Probably have to stick with the remastered Blu-ray that comes with the set. How much better is the UK 4 K version to the US version?

[Batfreakforever1939]

I've seen First Blood countless times and have only realised that it could be considered a Christmas movie because of a Christmas tree in the police station. Not that anybody needs another reason to watch this classic film but I'll use it.

[Markgway]

[KidA]

Is it safe to say that the Italian Eagle 4kult releases look the best? I’m considering ordering the Eagle Total Recall and wouldn’t mind adding First Blood I & II if they’re worth it.