The Firm 4K UHD (1993)

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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!!

[asmodeux21]

Originally Posted by 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!!

Thank you so much! I was curious if you also got a chance to see the Italian "Vanilla Sky" 4k UHD.

[barrett75]

Originally Posted by asmodeux21

Thank you so much! I was curious if you also got a chance to see the Italian "Vanilla Sky" 4k UHD.

not yet. i thought about giving a quick look today at both Firm and Vanilla but i was so pleased with Firm that i ended up to watch it almost in full... i'll be happy to report back my two cents on vanilla tomorrow.

[jordanwalkert]

Originally Posted by barrett75

not yet. i thought about giving a quick look today at both Firm and Vanilla but i was so pleased with Firm that i ended up to watch it almost in full... i'll be happy to report back my two cents on vanilla tomorrow.

We need to start a new thread or compile a list somehow so the information is out there beyond the Firm and Vanilla Sky threads. I’d love to know which ones have better encodes as I would happily upgrade all of them since the improvement is so vast!

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by 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!!

Is the film entirely English-friendly?

I know Italian editions often change out onscreen English text for Italian alternates.

All titles in the original English?

[Fat Phil]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Is the film entirely English-friendly?

I know Italian editions often change out onscreen English text for Italian alternates.

All titles in the original English?

I don’t have my disc in hand yet, but I can’t imagine that being an issue because Paramount has prepped this new disc for multiple markets - Spain, Italy and the Scandinavian countries are essentially sharing the same re-press and it also looks to include English subs and audio.

[lilboyblu]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Is the film entirely English-friendly?

I know Italian editions often change out onscreen English text for Italian alternates.

All titles in the original English?

You could get the Scandinavian release. Looking at the listing, it states Original Language.

Also, yetanotherone posted a comparison between the Paramount and local release of Vanilla Sky and both include English subs. Can't imagine it would be different here.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

You could get the Scandinavian release. Looking at the listing, it states Original Language.

Also, yetanotherone posted a comparison between the Paramount and local release of Vanilla Sky and both include English subs. Can't imagine it would be different here.

Ah, I didn't mean player-generated subtitles for dialogue, I meant burned-in onscreen text like opening titles, end titles, title cards for place names, etc.

[lilboyblu]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Ah, I didn't mean player-generated subtitles for dialogue, I meant burned-in onscreen text like opening titles, end titles, title cards for place names, etc.

That's why I was saying it states original language as well.

Edit: Just found an image of the back cover. English is listed as the only audio option. That likely is not the only audio, but it does imply that any on screen text would probably be in English.

[Show spoiler]

[barrett75]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Ah, I didn't mean player-generated subtitles for dialogue, I meant burned-in onscreen text like opening titles, end titles, title cards for place names, etc.

same paramount master with everything in place, don't worry.

Originally Posted by Geoff D

What's interesting is that these aren't just redone for one territory, they're still serving quite a few markets that the original UHDs did not and so it doesn't seem like they're coming from Plaion or whoever, this had to have been a Paramount decision to actively re-encode these

yeah, i thought in the first instance it was a Plaion joint when i saw Vanilla report. as far back as i remeber Para never used MEL layer for DV.

[Markgway]

Stupid question, I'm sure, but I don't suppose they've snuck on the English stereo mix, have they?

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by spiltmilk

This is interesting. Especially since also The Firm, Flashdance and Beverly Hills Cop have recently been released in the Nordic countries. At least The Firm could definitely benefit from a better encode. It will be interesting to see if there's an improvement.

So, from the sounds of this, that could be at least four (including Vanilla Sky) Paramount titles which now could have "superior" 4K UHD discs in other European / Asian countries.

If they really are superior, I'm pleased but disappointed, as I believe I have all four in the original discs.