Jurassic Park Collection 4K UHD (1993-2015)

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Ze Lost World. So, SO close from Universal! Right off the bat you can see it's got a less fudged-with appearance than JP1, grain is very much present and although it's not in-your-face Sony grain it's a breath of fresh air vs the more "managed" look of its predecessor. The titles are opticals so the shots they're attached to still look a bit ropey, as does the shot of the little girl in the clearing when the CG Compys first pop up out of the undergrowth, but when we see Robin Sachs sitting in the chair on the beach you can see the level of crisp detail that this transfer is capable of.

I say "is capable of" because DP Janusz Kaminski LOVES his filters, loves them loves them loves them, and various shots in the movie have some sort of in-camera filtration, like the gorgeous four-point star filter being used in the scenes with Malcolm visiting Hammond, look at the way the direct light sources flare into those beautiful stellar shapes. But it also has the effect of eating into the available detail so don't expect amazing clarity from start to finish, but when they ease up on that stuff the detail really is excellent, proper 4K excellent, and I think the only overtly noise-reduced shot I caught in the entire show was when the trailer's gone over the cliff and they're dangling there, which was probably like that all along anyway. I always liked the previous Blu-ray, unlike some people, but this new 4K transfer absolutely kills it for detail.

Unlike its predecessor the VFX shots rarely disgrace themselves with regards to resolving power, retaining a solid amount of detail although the occasional dino looks a bit soft within a shot, if that makes sense. Dynamic range is still curtailed somewhat on the VFX however, like on the little girl's bright white dress in the shot I mentioned above, but way more troubling is a very posterised look to the black levels in most (but not all) shots with a CG creature or some sort of CG tweakery.

Universal have done their usual thing of bringing down the black level for the HDR grade (which I'd hoped that a new transfer would avoid) and while the effect is not too deleterious to the main body of the movie, with only a handful of first-generation shots looking blatantly "crushy", the CG shots have a very hard transition between black and near black that makes it look distractingly posterised as I said. (I noticed the exact same thing on Straight Outta Compton, FWIW). So as the movie starts it's fine, but as it progresses the CG shots become more numerous and often take place in darkness so it turns from a niggle into an outright annoyance, at least for me. Others probably won't see anything wrong but if you're not already crushing your black level to avoid near-black artefacts then it should be fairly apparant, particularly in the shots of the 'high hide' when Malcolm's daughter is up there. Yeah, those shots never looked great before but that harsher transition into black makes it ultra-blatant now.

As to the HDR itself, it pulls back a HECK of a lot of highlight detail in all the usual places and retains a semblance of the blooming that's a feature of so many shots in this movie. It does however lack the wonderfully dreamy look that the blooming engenders on the regular BD, the UHD's lighting being more realistic without a shadow of a doubt but it makes it feel a tad more workmanlike at the same time. That said there are still moments that will take your breath away, like the backlighting that Kaminski uses on people in certain moments to give them a bright 'halo' of light around of them.

Colour is fine, the BD tends towards a yellowy cast to skin tones whereas the UHD neutralises things and gives everyone their own particular complexion whilst still being able to make it look richer than the BD. A lot of this flick takes place in darker environments once it gets up to speed so there's only so much for the colour to do in such shots.

Some photos (and no, they're not from a phone). REMEMBER: they are not 100% accurate representations of either image but are there for illustrative purposes only, take note of what I'm directing you towards rather than taking each image's attributes as gospel.

Malcolm at the beginning, NO THE UHD ISN'T THAT DARK but just look at the highlight detail that it brings back, my goodness:

[Show spoiler]
BD



UHD

Baby rex, mightn't be super amazing but look at the difference in detail, the BD almost looks out of focus in comparison. Neither shot is actually is dark as this, and the highlight detail is better on the UHD than this photo would suggest:

[Show spoiler]
BD



UHD

Last one is just to show off some detail, this is Cowboy addressing the camera crew at the harbour near the end. SO much more detail on his face and clothing.

[Show spoiler]
BD



UHD

To sum up, this 4K edition of Lost World kicks some major ass when it's let off the leash but dat Universal black crush does it thing again. Whether this will bother anyone is down to their personal preference I guess, I can stand it on the 1st-gen shots simply because the dynamic range has been expanded in the upper end of the scale which allows the image to breathe despite having the lower end plugged up, but on the VFX shots they lack the kind of extended range that can really be exploited by HDR and (as with JP1) they become rather more obvious for that reason. And as this one has way more VFX shots than its forebear the effect is compounded. It's a shame that they applied a blanket HDR transform to these grades rather than treating the VFX shots with an adjusted LUT that takes the restricted dynamic range into account, but there we are. It's still a learning curve and Lost World's 4K presentation gets way more right than it does wrong.

It was always the best OT disc so I am not surprised.

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I've gotta say I kinda enjoyed it this time around. I still rolled my eyes so hard at defeating raptors with gymnastics that they almost fell out of my head, and I tune out by the time they get to San Diego because it feels so tacked-on and false, but as a series of exciting dino-related vignettes the movie kept me well entertained. The entire trailer sequence is one of many career highlights for Señor Spielbergo (double the Rexy's, double the fun, DOUBLE REX).

The long grass and the trailer scenes are pure Spilbergo perfection

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Ruined

It does have more detail but wow is that detail processed looking. I wonder why a movie thats really not that old and had a massive budget has such a processed look to it. JP1 looks even more processed from the screenshots I've seen. It's a shame as there movies lwith top tier remasters, would be incredible. Not possible for some reason?

Has that weird watercolor DNR look to it.

Dude...it's a photo of a screen. Just look at the DETAIL as I instructed y'all to, don't dissect every last pixel of the image as a whole. I tell people not to take them as gospel, and what do they do?

[Pieter V]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Dude...it's a photo of a screen. Just look at the DETAIL as I instructed y'all to, don't dissect every last pixel of the image as a whole. I tell people not to take them as gospel, and what do they do?

How's the grain in the movie? Before people complain where's the grain:

Kaminski also vetted Kodak's new Vision film stocks. "I tested the new Eastman Kodak Vision 320 stock, and the 500 as well. Based on those tests, I shot the film primarily with the 500 ASA 5279 stock. I also used 5293, which is rated at 200 ASA. The Vision stock is amazing. It's virtually grainless, and it has incredible latitude in terms of both over- and underexposures. It holds highlights beautifully.

https://theasc.com/magazine/june97/lstwrld/pg2.htm

[Geoff D]

The grain looks lovely throughout Lost World, as I said there's only one shot in the whole movie that looks overtly processed. It's not outright Sony Sandpaper grain but it's no less filmic for it.

[edit] One thing I didn't mention before is there's a regular sprinkle of white marks on this transfer too, they're not intrusive by any means though, just the occasional little blip here and there.

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by buckeye1

Sorry to be sounding like a broken record player, but these new BD are the exact same as before with no new mastering? The PQ and AQ are the same quality as previous releases? And only the 4K got the full mastering treatment?
How limited will the steelbook be after release?

The included Blu-rays are the exact same 2011 discs.

[pawel86ck]

JUST WOW , Geoff D review and photo comparison clearly shows how much more detailed UHD disc is, the difference is bigger than I was expecting . Also there are so many new highlights now visible. I wish every review was done like this, meaning detailed impressions and photos at the same time . I like TLW as much as first JP so I'm happy TLW has received a huge upgrade (the difference based on your photos and opinions clearly suggest HUGE upgrade to me). Geoff D, can you also say something about the last two JP movies? JP3 looks better or worse compared to BD?

Originally Posted by SynViks

I'm sorry but I do not consider pictures of a tv with a camera phone to be suitable evidence.

Anyway, concerning the JP1 screens:

-There is a grain pattern in the shot. It's not Sony type grain, but it's there, and very fine as well. Some would probably argue that Sony levels of grain are excessive and not in keeping with a theatrical experience.

-The UHD shot has a lot more detail and is much sharper than the BD shot. One need only to look at the headlights to see this, though there are other examples. Just because the grain is the softer variety doesn't mean it's lacking for resolved detail.

-The old master however has edge enhancement which makes the grain and edges more pronounced in a rather unnatural way.

This doesn't look "DNRed" to me at all (a term that has become so over used that it makes one wonder if people remember what a DNRed movie looks like from the early blu-ray days), rather it looks responsibly grain managed in a way that respects the integrity of the material without presenting an unnaturally noisy look.

Exactly, grain on the first BD was pushed to hard because of EE. I have tried applying EE to UHD screenshots and I could see grain much more clearly. IMO the amount of DNR on UHD transfer is acceptable and the end results doesnt look nearly as bad like terminator 2 on UHD (that one was DNR'ed to the extreme).


Coaster, thanks for your camera photos. Even on your photos I can see pink faces so maybe the color profile that I have used was correct after all.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by pawel86ck

Coaster, thanks for your camera photos. Even on your photos I can see pink faces so maybe the color profile that I have used was correct after all.

The UHD is nowhere near as pink as that. You should only trust a photo of a screen as far as you can throw it, which is why I'm always at pains to stress that my own photos are an illustration of what I'm seeing.

I'm no expert on these UHD caps but you might wanna ask those who have proper SDR caps (andreas, pyoko) as to what they're doing to present them in SDR, as applying some random profile just because it looks good isn't the way to do it. It's all a bit of a crapshoot as to SDR conversion - hell, even in actual HDR it's still a crapshoot - but some approaches will still be more accurate than others.

[Joshjp]

https://www.target.com/p/jurassic-pa...y/-/A-53442480

Didnt know they were releasing a Bluray version also.

[Geoff D]

Anyway, I just got done with JP3, it's alright I 'spose. Not as sharp and detailed as Lost World and grain is fairly minimal throughout with only a very thin sheen of the stuff for the most part, though as with JP1 it doesn't seem to be too waxy-faced with it. The old JP3 transfer was sharpened so much that the new transfer may appear to look a lot softer in comparison but it's pleasant enough. There are several opticals though for the dissolves in the movie, like when it transitions from Ellie at the dinner table to Alan sitting in his car, so don't be too alarmed when the quality drops out like that. This flick was made in 2001 but, as I keep saying, if something wasn't finished on a DI then several editorial effects like dissolves and fades were still done the old-fashioned way. Colour in general is fairly similar to the BD (so Mr Mukherjee is going to be verr disapoint) with skin tones looking a bit more flushed than the tired pallor of the BD.

Unfortunately two things carry over from Lost World's UHD presentation: 1) The highlight range is once again ****ed in all the CG shots, so for every 1st-gen shot that has some decent expansion into the upper range there's another CG-assisted scene that burns out the highlights really badly. There's loads more CG to contend with so it makes the HDR grade look really unbalanced from shot to shot. 2) Once again Universal have crushed the blacks, so what was before a natural roll-off into black is now a hard clip from light to dark and I find it so distracting to have shadows on people's hair and clothing become these pools of black nothingness. Others will disagree, others will say "whatchoo talkin' 'bout Geoffy?" and "didn't you actually like the crush on The Incredible Hulk?" but in the case of the latter there just wasn't a lot of shadow detail there to begin with, the blacks looked almost artificially light on the Blu-ray so the crush suited that material better - though very much by luck than by judgment!

No photos, it's not worth it for this one. Pretty mediocre all-round, it's better than the BD but that ain't saying much. I realllllllly hope that they haven't applied their patented black crush to Jurassic World, I'll be finding out soon enough.

[imsounoriginal]

Really excited to hear about World

[pawel86ck]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

The UHD is nowhere near as pink as that.

Maybe, but the think is, I still like the look of these converted SDR screenshots, because the end result looks more like the first BD rather than 2'nd BD (brown colors).

UHD screenshot with color profile vs first BD vs 3d BD (not exact frame but people should get the idea how colors on 3D BD looked like)

Originally Posted by Geoff D

once again Universal have crushed the blacks

And BTW Geoff, as I remember you are using sony ZD9. Do you think it's possible that your HDTV (even as good as yours) cant resolve all shadows details in HDR content? Some HDR movies are mastered with 4000 nits in mind, and because even ZD9 is nowhere near that point it can explain crushed blacks in some places. Do you have some features like dynamic tone mapping on your ZD9 (Feature like that should help with crushed blacks in HDR content)?

[DJR662]

Where's my shipping notification, Zoom?

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by DJR662

Where's my shipping notification, Zoom?

Plenty haven’t had a dispatch email but already have their copies.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by Indiana Jones

Plenty haven’t had a dispatch email but already have their copies.

*Leaves everything behind and runs down to the mailbox like crazy*

[sudbury78]

Has nobody commented on the audio? Any good?

[jayman3]

Originally Posted by Joshjp

https://www.target.com/p/jurassic-pa...y/-/A-53442480

Didnt know they were releasing a Bluray version also.

Yeah. You press a button on the side and it plays the JP theme

Also comes with collectible art cards from Fallen Kingdom.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by pawel86ck

And BTW Geoff, as I remember you are using sony ZD9. Do you think it's possible that your HDTV (even as good as yours) cant resolve all shadows details in HDR content? Some HDR movies are mastered with 4000 nits in mind, and because even ZD9 is nowhere near that point it can explain crushed blacks in some places. Do you have some features like dynamic tone mapping on your ZD9 (Feature like that should help with crushed blacks in HDR content)?

Resolving 4000 nits or less has absolutely nothing to do with how black can be resolved. The information is simply not there in the signal vs the previous SDR grades. And when I get to my Jurassic World review you'll understand why my TV isn't doing anything untoward.

But for now a one word review of JW will suffice: WOW.

[Joshjp]

Originally Posted by jayman3

Yeah. You press a button on the side and it play the JP theme

Also comes with collectible art cards form Fallen Kingdom.

Ohh nice..its a good price to...wish the 4k version had that.

[SynViks]

Originally Posted by pawel86ck

Exactly, grain on the first BD was pushed to hard because of EE. I have tried applying EE to UHD screenshots and I could see grain much more clearly. IMO the amount of DNR on UHD transfer is acceptable and the end results doesnt look nearly as bad like terminator 2 on UHD (that one was DNR'ed to the extreme).

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comp....php?id=113889

But there is no grain in that pic, no grain at all. It has been completely DNRed because DNR = not Sony grain and -- no I don't care that the grain is so finely resolved you can see the chroma R+G & B pattern in the structure IT'S BEEN DNRed OKAY! Waxed and smoothed over, 1/10, BUYER BEWARE!

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Resolving 4000 nits or less has absolutely nothing to do with how black can be resolved. The information is simply not there in the signal vs the previous SDR grades.

If you look at the Close Encounters 4K UHD vs the Blu, you'll notice that the blu has blacks that seem clipped vs the UHD, even though it's just an SDR conversion of the UHD. I'd wager tone mapping can come in to play with more than just the brighter tones (depending on the method of course as hard clipping shouldn't effect them).

In anycase, have you had your display calibrated or measured with a spectra profiled colormeter?