Titanic 4K UHD (1997)

[anonymous_024]

DNR or no DNR. Grain or no grain. One thing I cannot stand… no burned-in subs!! Are you kidding me?

They’re not even player generated, mind you! They’re just COMPLETELY GONE!!!!!

It doesn't matter if they’re only two lines and each appear in two separate scenes. They’ve always been there (despite numerous media versions). Heck, even the Apple TV version has them!

[K1NG J0RDAN]

My copy is evidently backordered. “Movies Unlimited”

[Dr. T]

Originally Posted by tankryankr19

The Ship has Sunk, absolutely loving the DV and WGC because colors look so much more natural and more colder during the sinking scenes

Does the blue baby exceed Rec.709?

[escvnte]

Originally Posted by blakninja

Does the US and UK have the exact same "encode", meaning the video file has the exact same bitrates?

From personal experience, the discs we get in Italy are mostly always the same exact discs Germany and the UK get.
So what we're gonna get, next week, it will be the same for people in Germany and in the UK.

As far as encodes goes, pretty sure it will be 100% the same exact encode of the US UHD, minus the Paramount logo and more audio tracks.

[colormeandrew]

I haven’t purchased by copy yet but I think this thread is more entertaining and fun than I’ll ever have rewatching the film in 4K.

[jala12]

Anyone's Amazon.ca copy come with a slipcover?

[samlop10]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Again with his hand in that shot? I commented once on this already - it's his skin. Dry skin can look like that. Haven't you ever had dry skin? Yes it's a bit too processed so it exaggerates the skin texture too much, and that's the main issue with this disc in general. But it's not hair, it's his skin.

I thought you were referring to the wrinkles on his face, not his hand.

And yikes. I have had dry skin, but the fact its hard to tell just makes it worse.

[Count Orlok]

Does anyone else's copy freeze and glitch during the scene with Rose getting on the lifeboat?




One thing I noticed in the Atmos mix is Jack no longer says"This way!" to Rose when they stop to look at Father Byles giving absolution on the poop deck during the sinking. It's either incredibly drowned out or missing entirely. I'm going with the latter. I also noticed the moaning and groaning the ship makes is louder than the previous releases, especially during the panning shot after Captain Smith drowns in the wheelhouse.

Jack's missing line is 34 seconds into this video.

Sinking Part 1 - YouTube

Horner's score sounds like it overpowers the dialogue and I'm not sure if I'm a fan of whoever remixed it.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by TheSweetieMan

So why make them look so visually compromised when you don't need to?

It's pretty frustrating as a fan of his.

I guess it's just a matter of taste and at the end of the day Cameron, as brilliant as he is, is just a human being.

I think that Peter Jackson can have a really bad taste (pun not intended) sometimes, it's the only explanation (and a lack of respect for Andrew Lesnie's work, but it's a whole different story) for the color changes of the flashback / vision sequences in the 4K versions of The Hobbitses and LOTR.

How in the world can you go from this...


...to this!?

[HenryNOTCavill]

Originally Posted by matbezlima

Screenshots aren't the way to judge colors, when will you people learn this?

WHEN?!

On a similar note I also think 4k restorations often have an agenda. Usually it’s to make the film look like it came out yesterday, not necessarily make ir look as high definition as possible. :/

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by TheSweetieMan

One other note I'd like to make mention of;

I genuinely think James Cameron is one of, if not the most important filmmakers to ever live. His educational background outside of filmmaking has played a huge role in allowing him to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in movie making. Regardless if you love or hate the Avatar films, or his emphasis on VFX and what they can do as a filmmaking resource, there's no denying his impact on the industry -- as well as his encyclopedic knowledge on filmmaking as a whole. The guy has forgotten more about film than what anyone on this forum will ever know. He truly does continue to push the medium forward in revolutionary ways whenever he releases a film.

Which is what makes UHDs like this so frustrating. How can someone be as technologically gifted and artistically creative as he is -- with a singular, idiosyncratic visual style that is only recognizably James Cameron's -- yet he's OK with one of his biggest and most well known films being so heavily revised like this visually? It just doesn't make sense. Even if he's developed some sort of autistic obsession with his films having to look hyper-realistic, you would think someone of his creative pureness would want to retain the original looks of his films through and through, no matter how dated the tech and resources were for their times. His films have already aged so incredibly well visually. Every single one of them.

So why make them look so visually compromised when you don't need to?

It's pretty frustrating as a fan of his.

It's the same with George Lucas. It's the same with Peter Jackson. Being a genre-defining filmmaker and a technological pioneer is not and never will be a guarantee of good taste. It's thinking of them as having this "creative pureness" that's the mistake; lionise their achievements by all means, and they are incredible achievements, but they are each of a singular creative vision and it's not necessarily going to be the one that everyone else shares. That's the point really, their iconoclasm is what made them who they are and it carries through in everything they do.

[DaylightsEnd]

Originally Posted by HenryNOTCavill

On a similar note I also think 4k restorations often have an agenda. Usually it’s to make the film look like it came out yesterday, not necessarily make ir look as high definition as possible. :/

Nah. The 4k platform doesn’t have an agenda. This phenomenon is limited (at least on this level) to a very few particular directors, DoPs, and/or other persons involved in the mastering process that are in a decision-making capacity at certain studios, hell-bent on exercising what some will consider bad judgment and/or poor taste in their own very personal agendas of trying to “modernize” the living hell out of vintage films digitally, with every tool at their disposal. Of course, it’s theirs to tinker with. The methods, software and techniques mainly relied upon in this modernizing process (dnr, sharpening, regraining, tealing, etc.) are also certainly not unique to the 4k platform, and these shenanigans have long been at play on home video releases well before 4k uhd was even a possibility.

There are fortunately gobs of excellent 4k uhd discs where great pains have been taken to achieve the most filmic results possible with utmost respect for the film medium and content, and most 4k releases generally fall much closer to this end of the sliding scale. The severely manipulated T2 and American Graffiti and Platoon type 4k releases of this platform, and the personalities behind these particular types of mastering efforts, are fortunately the gross extreme exception rather than the rule, but in each such case, do arguably represent the very worst end results in the entire platform catalog. Ymmv.

[matbezlima]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

I guess it's just a matter of taste and at the end of the day Cameron, as brilliant as he is, is just a human being.

I think that Peter Jackson can have a really bad taste (pun not intended) sometimes, it's the only explanation (and a lack of respect for Andrew Lesnie's work, but it's a whole different story) for the color changes of the flashback / vision sequences in the 4K versions of The Hobbitses and LOTR.

How in the world can you go from this...


...to this!?

Not disagreeing with you, but I'll say this: if the second image had been the original, and the first image was the change that Peter Jackson made, many people in this forum would be up in arms ranting about ugly teal.

[I-C-Blue]

PSA for Canadians purchasing the 4K UHD: If ordered from Amazon, which lists its media format including a Digital Copy, probably don't expect it. They're sending me a replacement without hesitation but I'm not holding my breath for a digital copy. I tried telling them it was pointless lol. Sucks though. I knew I should have purchased it for $6.99 on Black Friday. I share my apple TV library with my parents, who are not tech savvy enough to handle discs.

More importantly, Canada has been losing digital copy support over the years. I'm shocked a paramount release does not include one this time around.

[blakninja]

Originally Posted by DaylightsEnd

There are fortunately gobs of excellent 4k uhd discs where great pains have been taken to achieve the most filmic results possible with utmost respect for the film medium and content, and most 4k releases generally fall much closer to this end of the sliding scale. The severely manipulated T2 and American Graffiti and Platoon type 4k releases of this platform, and the personalities behind these particular types of mastering efforts, are fortunately the gross extreme exception rather than the rule, but in each such case, do arguably represent the very worst end results in the entire platform catalog. Ymmv.

Can you provide a list of (or where to find the list) these 4k discs? I'm interested.

[breadordecide]

What is happening?

Anyway….i popped in the disc last night and my goodness, gorgeous transfer. It is already one of my top ten discs of the year.

[matbezlima]

Originally Posted by blakninja

Can you provide a list of (or where to find them) these 4k discs? I'm interested.

There are so many. So many. Casablanca, Raging Bull, Psycho, Taxi Driver, the list goes on and on!

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by blakninja

can you provide a list of (or where to find them) these 4k discs? I'm interested.

*siiiiiiiiiiiigh*

[breadordecide]

Originally Posted by blakninja

Cameron is great but not perfect. I mean, his Avatar movies are boring yet he thinks it's the greatest thing.

That's the problem with people with his status.. you think you're always right and stop listening to criticism.

So boring they have made 5 billion combined and audiences consider them must see films with tremendous word of mouth.

That is some kind of boring.

[Chad Rouch]

Originally Posted by TheSweetieMan

How can someone be as technologically gifted and artistically creative as he is -- with a singular, idiosyncratic visual style that is only recognizably James Cameron's -- yet he's OK with one of his biggest and most well known films being so heavily revised like this visually? It just doesn't make sense.

Because no matter how many old prints are scanned or screenshots from other formats are produced, no one here knows to any degree of certainty how the film was originally intended to look or what the image on the negatives/interpositives really looks like.

That's the X factor anyone here has to admit. They can make very smart, educated guesses from a wellspring of knowledge, but unless they have direct access to the original source and/or direct knowledge of Cameron's artistic thinking, they don't know what it's supposed to look like. Outside of a couple shots where the VFX was changed, no one can say it is definitively revisionism and not a much better presentation of the original source.