The Firm 4K UHD (1993)

[Okiephile]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I don't see any evidence of it on the actual disc, but I have to think the raw, unmolested scan of the negative looks like that since, as I pointed out, it's the same DP, shooting on similar film stock, only 3 years earlier.

Well I had mine ready to buy with a $4 off code, but you convinced me to not buy. Maybe BF will have it under $10.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Okiephile

Well I had mine ready to buy with a $4 off code, but you convinced me to not buy. Maybe BF will have it under $10.

I hate to have to do that, but yeah, there are much better looking UHDs you can spend your money on.

[eddiesd123]

Willing to roll the dice with this one and see how bad the quality is. If anyone that hated it wants to offload their copy, PM me

[Ikari]

Already -25% on Amazon UK but given the comments, I think I'll wait some more

[BigNickUK]

Watched at the weekend. Absolutely dire release. As others have said completely overblown the whites. Dreadful pq

[curtisday]

Does anyone know if the blu-ray included with the Germany and France version is from the new master? Or is it just a recycled copy of the older blu-ray?

[Rich86]

I just got this. This is a great movie, but Paramount did it no favors in making the 4K UHD disc of it. Amazon lists this title as including the blu-ray in the package - be forewarned - there is no blu-ray included - you only get the 4K-UHD disc & a digital copy code along with a slipcase. There are absolutely NO additional special features anywhere - this is a bare bones release. I haven't watched it yet, and based on the review & comments in here, I'm hoping the video quality is at least tolerable. Only consider buying if this is a movie you really like and the 4K release is marked way down!.

[mdhaus]

Well, I watched this last night...and honestly, I didn't think the picture quality was that bad. There are certainly some trouble spots here and there, but overall, it looked pretty good on my set-up. Whites weren't overblown and the colors were quite natural-looking to me.

[StingingVelvet]

Watched this tonight expecting a disaster but ended up pretty happy. In Dolby Vision the compression was mostly fine, some noisy skies and grain at times but nothing egregious to my eye. The random DNR/softness was odd and annoying but it was way more rare than I expected given the complaints. Didn't really notice blown out whites to be honest, if they're there I don't think they impact the image much given the material.

HDR and wide color add a lot to the image, more than the flaws take away IMO. I think the site's 3.5 score is about right.

Movie is still great. The music adds so much to it, which is a lesson I really wish modern movies would learn.

[Therion]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Watched this tonight expecting a disaster but ended up pretty happy. In Dolby Vision the compression was mostly fine, some noisy skies and grain at times but nothing egregious to my eye. The random DNR/softness was odd and annoying but it was way more rare than I expected given the complaints. Didn't really notice blown out whites to be honest, if they're there I don't think they impact the image much given the material.

HDR and wide color add a lot to the image, more than the flaws take away IMO. I think the site's 3.5 score is about right.

Movie is still great. The music adds so much to it, which is a lesson I really wish modern movies would learn.

I admire your fortitude - I was fine for most of the movie (even the rough PQ of the beginning), but the artifcating in the scene in the hotel room in the end, when Mitch meets the brothers, was atrocious.

Just saw that Plaion will release this in Italy in February - perhaps there is a chance that they'll give it a better encode.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Therion

I admire your fortitude - I was fine for most of the movie (even the rough PQ of the beginning), but the artifcating in the scene in the hotel room in the end, when Mitch meets the brothers, was atrocious.

Were you using Dolby Vision?

[Eye Candy]

I saw The Firm at the theater before I ever saw Basic Instinct. But now, after having seen Basic Instinct, I cannot re-watch the Firm, without trying to warn Tom Cruise that his wife may be a crazy lady! Lookout Tom !!

[weberrygt]

Just watched this. I thought looked great. I didn't notice anything horrible . Movie itself - not sure when I last watched, but was like watching for the first time. Great disc!

[Therion]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Were you using Dolby Vision?

I suppose it's a late reply, but chiming in: I watched the disc with Dolby Vision (LG OLED / Oppo 203), and the artifacts in the hotel room scene were brutal.

I'm anxiously waiting for news about the Italian release from Plaion...

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Therion

I suppose it's a late reply, but chiming in: I watched the disc with Dolby Vision (LG OLED / Oppo 203), and the artifacts in the hotel room scene were brutal.

I'm anxiously waiting for news about the Italian release from Plaion...

You know that Plaion are just Paramount's distributor in Italy, right? It'll need a different authoring than what we've had already to include Italian language support, true, but the identical cover art and full Paramount branding on it doesn't inspire confidence that it'll be anything but the existing encode with Italian audio/subs bolted on.

[Therion]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

You know that Plaion are just Paramount's distributor in Italy, right? It'll need a different authoring than what we've had already to include Italian language support, true, but the identical cover art and full Paramount branding on it doesn't inspire confidence that it'll be anything but the existing encode with Italian audio/subs bolted on.

Sure. I certainly wouldn't be shocked if it'll end up being the same mess of an encode for the video, but I dare to dream .

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Therion

I suppose it's a late reply, but chiming in: I watched the disc with Dolby Vision (LG OLED / Oppo 203), and the artifacts in the hotel room scene were brutal.

I'll try and rewatch that scene out of curiosity. I usually notice compression that's as bad as you're suggesting (like King Kong recently), but nothing there stood out to me that badly at the time. More of a Kino level job, from what I could see, but maybe I missed it.

[bebbsie23]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I'll try and rewatch that scene out of curiosity. I usually notice compression that's as bad as you're suggesting (like King Kong recently), but nothing there stood out to me that badly at the time. More of a Kino level job, from what I could see, but maybe I missed it.

I just sat and watched the last act of this (in DV) and compression is certainly sub-par. If you can maintain focus on the central character/s in each scene (which is where your attention is supposed to be of course) and your not focused on the large flat areas of uniform colour, that is the white hotel room walls or the large windows that are about 70% pale blue, cloudless sky, you might not notice or be overly bothered by it. The problem is, once you see it in those areas, your attention keeps jumping back to it and you're no longer immersed in the story. The sub-par compression certainly isn't limited to the hotel room scene at the end, it is noticeable in similar areas throughout.

Thankfully, the underlying master is quite nice (albeit a little bland in it's neutral/autumnal colour scheme) and I was able to enjoy the presentation despite the compression issues. However, there is no good excuse for this kind of lazy encoding and its a real shame it plagues so many Paramount titles.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Therion

Sure. I certainly wouldn't be shocked if it'll end up being the same mess of an encode for the video, but I dare to dream .

Uh...looks like it might have a vastly betterer encode after all, as do several other Paramount UHDs that have been re-encoded to add extra language support for their belated release in multiple European countries, so you were right to dream

[barrett75]

that dream came true. landed here today and watching it now. those who love this movie must get rid of the previous paramount s***t and immediately buy this italian release. it's incredible how this new encode, while not perfect, is so much better than the one in the old disc. average bitrate is ALWAYS between 60/70 mbps (with peaks of 70/80, watching it in DV), even during opticals. first ten minutes were literally unwatchables on the old disc, and look at them now! i have to repeat myself: new encode isn't perfect/FiM-like but it's so serviceable considering what we had before that i could cry for the joy. i confirm no extras on the UHD disc, DTS MA 5.1 instead of Atmos for English language and info for metadata (MaxCLL 1000, MaxFall 188). beautiful!!