Superman: The Movie 4K UHD (1978)

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

Because it costs more to buy the box set than the individuals, and all you get for that cash is packaging and tat.

A 5th steelbook featuring nothing but tat is something I just don't understand - that should have been Returns, Supergirl or even just a BD bonus disc. Something disc.

The difference is even more pronounced in the UK - £20 each for the films in 4K - 1st even cheaper at £15 on Amazon currently if one still needed it, or £130 for the steelbook box set. That's a huge markup! £55 extra for steelbook packaging and tat. That's what you call overpriced for no real bonus extras.

Opinions may vary.

I've ordered it as much for the steels as the movies because of the luvverly OG poster art on them. As I've got the set locked in for £116 (others have even more off because of the HMV code, it's only £104 using that) then that's a £41 markup vs the singles, and as steels usually carry a premium anyway (at least a fiver) then per movie that works out about right. Call it 25 squid for each of the four movies, 16 squid for the tat and the boxset itself, I can live with that.

[BigDmo531]

Just got my copy in from blowitoutahere. I believe it's the original release as I don't see a 2.0 track listed on the back but there is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Do I have that right that it's the original release and not the latest one?

[Dr. T]

Originally Posted by BigDmo531

Just got my copy in from blowitoutahere. I believe it's the original release as I don't see a 2.0 track listed on the back but there is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Do I have that right that it's the original release and not the latest one?

You can't rely on the back cover, you have to check out the disc itself. The menu will tell you. And if you play the movie and it doesn't default to Atmos that should also confirm what disc you have.

[BigDmo531]

Originally Posted by Dr. T

You can't rely on the back cover, you have to check out the disc itself. The menu will tell you. And if you play the movie and it doesn't default to Atmos that should also confirm what disc you have.

Well, shit. I think their return policy is not accepting open discs. Bit of a conundrum here then

[Dr. T]

Do you have a slipcover that mentions a digital copy? If so, you should be good.

[BigDmo531]

Originally Posted by Dr. T

Do you have a slipcover that mentions a digital copy? If so, you should be good.

Nah it didn't come with a slip unfortunately. I was hoping it would cuz I knew the digital copy meant it was the OG

[punisher]

guess this is a keeper after all..sorry to disappoint those..well you know who you are..

[BigDmo531]

Looks like it's the new release. Womp womp

[Deciazulado]

This was the disc Boris Karloff's office presented as the reduced channels one:



The back cover will still say Dolby Digital English 5.1

[PonyoBellanote]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

This was the disc Boris Karloff's office presented as the reduced channels one:



The back cover will still say Dolby Digital English 5.1

New Dolby logo, so it checks out. That wasn't around in 2018.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by punisher

my apologies to Boris..I get it now..Amazon posted photos of the old Superman the Movie Set on their site instead of new one..

definitely missed that one Amazon and thanks for just renewing my Prime account at a higher rate...

Glad I kept the original release and I am doing the same with the Mask of Zorro...both have nice slips and I put steelbook covers on them for protection and safe keeping.

What's going on with Mask of Zorro?

Originally Posted by starmike

It's not worthless if you want the 70mm track.

So Superman II had a 70mm presentation as well, the BD had a 5.1 based on its track, and the upcoming UHD does not?



What I own is Superman: The Movie (2006 freebie with a purchase of a BD player) and the original Superman II: The Donner Cut disc.


I meant to pick up the disc with STM paired with the TV cut, but hadn't gotten around to it. Where are things with these two?

Looks like the boxed set 1978-2006 had a theatrical disc for Superman II. I guess I should have picked that set up?

Is the BD with the 2018 UHD of The Movie the same as the theatrical one in that boxed set? Meaning the only thing needed on my end is that Warner Archive disc with the TV cut? But the box set is needed for the theatrical of Superman II? Which would also then come with a lossless version of the Donner Cut?

[KC-Technerd]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

If you listen to the 2.0 there is definitely some vestige of the dialogue being steered across the fronts, though it’s not as crisply defined as on the 70mm mix.

I just went back and listened to the original theatrical 2.0 from a couple of the scenes that have the most definitive steering of dialog on the 70mm 60-track. Listening with Dolby Pro-Logic II Movie decoding, I'm detecting no steering. Dialog is clearly present to some degree on all decoded channels in addition to the center (whether intentional in the mix or not), but I'm not detecting any movement left or right (listening with eyes closed to avoid being influenced by the picture.)

I tried again with the OT 2.0 forced to play back as stereo. There's one or two instants when I think I can detect the slightest change in the direction of the dialog but I don't there there is actually any intentional left-right balance shift. The one exception I found is when Luthor is broadcasting across Metropolis at dog frequency, which is definitely steered on the OT 2.0, but I consider that more of an effect than normal dialog, plus it's not coming from an on-screen source.

[Dr. T]

With the Blu-ray 2.0 track I got the best results with Dolby Pro-Logic. When using Pro-Logic II or DTS Neo: 6 to much of the dialogue bled into the surrounds. I haven't tried that track with Dolby Surround. I don't expect it to play nice.

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

There isn’t a specific date when dialog panning stopped but once the roadshow release style died out and Dolby became the cinema standard it went away super fast. Some mixers and designers must’ve liked it because it will still pop up occasionally after 1980 but rarely-it’s a pleasant surprise to suddenly go “hey, there’s a little dialogue panning!” Once you hit the digital sound era it’s pretty much gone entirely.
Dolby didn’t like it because it didn’t always play nice with matrixed audio. And when the lock is lost or the mix was badly done you get all kinds of dialog bleed.

It lasted a bit longer on 70mm release mixes but Dolby also had taken over that field so it died out pretty quickly. Most see it as a “negative” or “gimmicky” even to this day when it used to be used in only the most prestigious big releases. What makes it harder to research is the sad fact that many classic films have had it removed on video or restorations or the track was lost or damaged beyond repair. In a lot of cases you usually only have one of several film mixes originally done that has survived.
Even 2001 has a little bit of directional dialogue on the original mix.

What I didn’t know for a long time until the late Disclord did his incredible research into Sensurround was that it was really this process that first stressed not having directional dialog because it would interfere with the system. I think this may have started putting that idea in people’s heads.

The best example of panning I’ve yet experienced and the biggest single improvement on the new releases is found on Spartacus. The newest BD and UHD for the first time used the full panning mix for theaters. When it was restored they made a home mix narrowed in and that was used in various forms for years.

As someone who recently had to fix broken cinema speakers, it still happens now in good mixes.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Bolty

The DVD of Wrath of Khan had the dialog firmly in the center speaker.
But the 2016 Blu-ray and the current UHD discs have the dialog spread over the 3 front channels.
I have been told that the difference is between the standard 35mm prints and the 70mm blowups.
Would they, in 1982, still have been creating separate soundtracks for 70mm showings?
And which of the two would be the one that was the 70mm? The one that has the dialog from the center only or the other? For the purpose of home theater I think I prefer the centered dialog but, oh well.

Yup. Remember most local theaters were mono up until the cineplex explosion of the late '80s/early '90s.
And speaking of TWOK, it even had separate elements for certain things visually because the 70MM showings were just Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. If you saw a "II" it was a 35MM print.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

There isn’t a specific date when dialog panning stopped but once the roadshow release style died out and Dolby became the cinema standard it went away super fast.

Keep in mind there was a good decade in there between when they stopped making native 65MM shot films (except for special releases) and 70MM blow-ups became "normal". Movie sound really took a dump at the end of the '60s and the early '70s were a wasteland for those wanting multichannel sound.

It lasted a bit longer on 70mm release mixes but Dolby also had taken over that field so it died out pretty quickly. Most see it as a “negative” or “gimmicky” even to this day when it used to be used in only the most prestigious big releases. What makes it harder to research is the sad fact that many classic films have had it removed on video or restorations or the track was lost or damaged beyond repair. In a lot of cases you usually only have one of several film mixes originally done that has survived.
Even 2001 has a little bit of directional dialogue on the original mix.

Also, since the center-left and center-right channels were no longer used it created issues where it would be considered distracting by the filmmakers.

The best example of panning I’ve yet experienced and the biggest single improvement on the new releases is found on Spartacus. The newest BD and UHD for the first time used the full panning mix for theaters. When it was restored they made a home mix narrowed in and that was used in various forms for years.

That's because in Atmos you can have dialogue as an object and decoders can place it precisely in the sound field. I've mentioned it before that the DCP of Oklahoma uses Atmos to recreate the Todd-AO speaker layout and the height channels are not used.

[Geoff D]

Atmos has nothing to do with Spartacus. The older releases had the ‘narrowed’ 5.1 audio with the dialogue collapsed into the centre but on the remastered BD and subsequent UHD they used the panning dialogue. Even with just LCR at the front the dialogue still appears to come from between them at certain points because the LC and RC screen channels are mixed into the respective combinations of left and centre and right and centre channels and phase offset. With a properly balanced LCR layout it replicates the five screen channels and sounds wonderful.

[Chad Rouch]

I'm confused. I thought everyone was anxious to get a new remastered disc in the new box set because the original release had bad color. Now that it's known the picture hasn't been changed everyone is desperate to get the old pressing with the bad color just to get the original soundtrack? Why does it matter if the sound is correct if the picture is supposedly terrible?

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Chad Rouch

I'm confused. I thought everyone was anxious to get a new remastered disc in the new box set because the original release had bad color. Now that it's known the picture hasn't been changed everyone is desperate to get the old pressing with the bad color just to get the original soundtrack? Why does it matter if the sound is correct if the picture is supposedly terrible?

That is literally the argument I originally made that many had a meltdown about. It's typical collector FOMO ridiculousness (OMG I must have the "best" release for the next 12 months even though it still sucks for the same reason I originally never bought it)

[punisher]

Expectations were for a remastered picture with the same soundtracks as the original release.Now that it's been released and the only change was to the sound people want the disc with the better sound that was include with OR.

To me, I have been happy with the OR and I know I'll take some hits for it again but I think it's a damn fine release. Of course I don't nit pic and go through every second looking for glitches to ***** about but if something was wrong I'm sure I would see it and would say it. If I don't like I disc it's because it really sucks and it I don't hold back on how bad it is.Superman The Movie on 4K UHD put a smile on my face since day one when I got it and no "expert' here can take that away.