Jurassic Park Collection 4K UHD (1993-2015)

[d3nt0n]

Originally Posted by Rick Grimes

Six years since the first UHD BD, ever was released (March 1st, 2016), and as far as I know, there has not been one UHD title that was re-released with a newer scan/transfer/version.

Drive, Ghostbusters, plus what's already been posted. I'm sure there's more as well.

[Deezer1986]

Originally Posted by RdCrestdBreegull

So it seems like the new Ultimate Collection (4K+BD) is that same kind of packaging that the Back to the Future set was released in, a.k.a. disc scratch city. Really want to get this but this kind of packaging should be banned.

Well that’s disappointing. Didn’t realize this. I’ll just get the individual titles. I moved the Back to the Future 4k discs over to the previous Blu ray box I had because that packaging just flat out sucks.

[Rick Grimes]

Originally Posted by d3nt0n

Drive, Ghostbusters, plus what's already been posted. I'm sure there's more as well.

There you go. A handful of titles, not too many.

Hopefully like Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Spielberg picks up the phone and complains to execs at Universal and demands a new JP transfer to fix the flaws in the current one.

Off topic: But can anyone comment on the DV & BD-100 version of Ghostbusters? Is it much better than the first UHD release?
Shame they haven’t released it separately.

[Geoff D]

I’m not sure Señor Spielbergo’s all that bovvered

[Rick Grimes]

It would be nice to know he cared about our little cohort.

[Riddhi2011]

Universal doesn't care about the Jurassic Park movies enough to give them proper remasters on home video. They don't even care about the new "World" films, which are written terribly and directed/edited amateurishly, I feel. I think it's safe to say that we MIGHT get a proper restoration, with the original framing, the original colour timing et all, when the copyrights of those films expire and video companies other than Universal take a crack at them.

As for restorations, there are some key things people need to know -

1. The very first VHS release of JP1, 2 and 3 have the original 35mm colour timing, which was changed in all other subsequent editions. Apart from the poor resolution, however, these VHS editions are in 1.33:1 (opened up vertically for non-fx shots and cropped horizontally for fx shots).

2. The framing of the widescreen Laserdisc is the closest to the projected 35mm frame of JP1; compared to the other widescreen home video releases.

3. The JP 3D blu-ray tried to restore the warm timing of the 1993 prints but made it a bit too reddish. Also, the image is heavily cropped at the top and dinosaur heads get chopped out.

4. The original 35mm projected framing is shifted top and left and does not chop dinosaur heads at the roof of the frame. The laserdisc framing is similar to this, but is also wider at the sides. The DVD, Blu-ray and UHD are shifted towards the right and bottom sides, losing the top and left of the frame and causing dino heads to get chopped. You see more of the dinos feet and less of its head.

5. The colours of the DVD, BR and UHD are all shifted towards a flat grey-blue-pink tone with dull contrast and gamma, duller colours and lack of good colour separation. The emerald green of the Ford explorers look dull here, but looks punchy in the film prints. The nighttime shots look too blue, when it looks black-ish in the prints. The skin tones look pale in the videos when they look warm and sun-kissed in the prints.

If they correct these things, then it will be the perfect restoration of the theatrical versions of JP and also the other films.
As of now, The Lost World looks the most faithful to its 35mm counterpart, but has a slightly different framing compared to the 35mm, which is shifted a bit more to the right than the left. The vertical framing is about the same.

I discovered these things by extensively comparing the various home video editions and the projected 35mm image (not the scan floating online). I don't have much information regarding JP3s projected 35mm framing, but it will likely be tighter at the edges than the current video versions.

What I know about JP3 is it looks more deep blue, magenta and cyan and is much more contrasty than the home video versions. It's also brighter than the 4K UHD, which I heard is too dark.

[Law212]

Originally Posted by Riddhi2011

.

Very interesting. I Didnt really notice anything different on my 3D blu, but I wasnt really looking.

I should bust out the VHS, the 3d and the new 4k to compare , also maybe i need to hunt down the laser disc.

[Riddhi2011]

1. 35mm Theatrical VS Blu-ray

i. JP 35mm Brachi vs BD 1.jpg

ii. JP 35mm Vs 2DBD Rex Eye.jpg

2. 35mm theatrical Vs 3D BD

iii. JP 35mm Vs JP 3D 2.jpg

# You'll notice that in the 35mm (especially the VFX shots), you'll see more image on the top and the right sides, which get cropped out in the Blu-ray editions. the BR, on the other hand, show unnecessary extra image at the left and the bottom, which are masked off on the projected print.

[Law212]

Wow those theatres shots look terrible. The blu ray images look great though . I havent watched my 4k yet.

[Riddhi2011]

Originally Posted by Law212

Wow those theatres shots look terrible. The blu ray images look great though.

I only shared the theatre pics for comparing the framing of the shots. A 35mm showing does not look as poor as that in person. As for the Blu-ray, DVD and UHD, they have the same dull look with flattened contrast and colder, unnatural colours. They have none of the warmth present on the prints, nor the punchier contrast or the deeper colours. The 35mm prints have much richer and natural looking colours and proper white balance as opposed to the home video versions, which as i mentioned before, are have greyish-blue whites.

[Law212]

Originally Posted by Riddhi2011

I only shared the theatre pics for comparing the framing of the shots. A 35mm showing does not look as poor as that in person. As for the Blu-ray, DVD and UHD, they have the same dull look with flattened contrast and colder, unnatural colours. They have none of the warmth present on the prints, nor the punchier contrast or the deeper colours. The 35mm prints have much richer and natural looking colours and proper white balance as opposed to the home video versions, which as i mentioned before, are have greyish-blue whites.

I cant agree. I think the blu has some nice natural colours. The scene with Rex coming in had great natural light for the time of day that it is.

The scene where they first see the bronchs is nice and bright and looks like a nice sunny day. Very nice colours IMO

[Riddhi2011]

Originally Posted by Law212

I cant agree. I think the blu has some nice natural colours. The scene with Rex coming in had great natural light for the time of day that it is.

The scene where they first see the bronchs is nice and bright and looks like a nice sunny day. Very nice colours IMO

I can't agree with you either. None of the colours in the Blu-ray look natural. There is poor white balance and lack of good contrast which flattens the images. The morning looks overly bright and so does the night shots, which also have a layer of blue applied on top of it that is absent on the 35mm, where skies during the rex escape scene looks appropriately black almost.

I understand why you prefer the Blu-ray's look, though. Most of us grew up on the TV airings and then the DVD and later the Blu-ray. These have gotten burned in our memory for such a long time that we have accepted them to be "good." So, when presented with a different-looking image, our minds reject it as being too "exotic" or "foreign" looking. It does not feel good because it does not feel familiar. This is the same reason why most videophiles rejected the warmer look of the 3D BD, even though it was closer to the look of the projected prints and approved by Spielberg himself.

[Riddhi2011]

A difference of framing between the Laserdisc (faithful to the 35mm projected framing) and the UHD -

1. UHD

JP Rex roar UHD.jpg

2. Laserdisc

JP rex roar LD.jpg

Look how the top and right sides are cut off in the UHD compared to the LD. This results in part of the snout of Rexy being cropped out, while retaining her foot pads and the lobby floor, which are unnecessary to the shot. The laserdisc also gains a bit more image at the right side and loses a bit of the left which help almost "Centre" the image in respect to the large vertical window frame separating the image between the left and right. See below -

JP lobby roar Centre window bar.jpg

[RdCrestdBreegull]

Originally Posted by Law212

Wow those theatres shots look terrible. The blu ray images look great though .

I hope you understand that those theater shots are very low-resolution pictures and not an HD scan of a 35mm print. Of course the images themselves look terrible, that's not the point.

Originally Posted by Law212

I cant agree. I think the blu has some nice natural colours.

In the above comparison shots you can see the colors are very off and unnatural. The scene with the girl in the car at night is realistic in the film picture while in the Blu-ray screenshot it is kinda hideous in comparison -- imagine if you were in that car at night, which of the two comparison shots would it look like in real life? Same with the comparison shots of the T-rex in the building -- in real life the colors of the room would be naturally lit by sunlight and not super crazy red -- once again proving the Blu-ray's colors are extremely off. Bright flashy colors does not mean "natural" or that it's correct/good.

[joenostalgia23]

I’ve never liked how JP looks on Blu-ray, the DNR and the flat contrast/colors just make it so dull. I think the 3D version is the best looking official release as far as colors go, though some of that color correction is still too heavy handed. It still has framing issues, and also the entire image has been modified for its 3D conversion - DNR, removal of things like stray hairs at the edge of peoples heads, additional environmental effects like rain in the foreground, and in general every shot is slightly different looking because both “eyes” of the 3D need to be offset from the original.

Still, it’s the warmest looking of the ones Universal has put out since LD. I was hoping the 4K version would have similar color, but with more nuance and none of the DNR or 3D VFX manipulation. Unfortunately it looks too much like the original blu-ray with its neutral color scheme and even the HDR is underwhelming, the film still looks too bright and flat.

The best looking version of JP that I own is an amateur’s scan of the 35mm French version. Presented in full frame, you can see the microphones that were matte’d out, but it has the best colors and a decent amount of grain considering the low bitrate. It still skews too teal in some shots and can look a bit washed out, but watching it was still a revelation.

[Riddhi2011]

The biggest issues I have with the home video versions is the revisionist colour grading where the image is flattened and washed out and then turned to a gray and blue mess with video noise. Also, I don't know why they chose to change the framing by positioning it lower than the 35mm version, which forcibly crops out the dinosaur heads. Then of course, the 4K goes further and applies DNR. Why can't they just look at a projected 35mm print and frame it, grade it accordingly? Is this really too much to ask from a company that earns billions of dollars per Jurassic World film? Why do they treat the original film with so much apathy? It's just laziness and cheap behaviour. They have learnt that no matter the number of editions they put out, people will buy it irrespective of the quality of the transfer. They know that people will let nostalgia rule their wallets and some will even defend the poor regurgitated masters.

[Kyle15]

The original color timing is fabulous and so specifically Jurassic Park. That pale blue and pale pink cast on home video ruined it all, especially those gorgeous high contrast Blue gel night shots. I hope one day they finally do it justice.

[Riddhi2011]

I mean, who wouldn't want Jurassic Park to look as gorgeous as this?

eb6f96_0e38a720bb854c5a936133c21c470fe0_mv2 lowres.jpg

eb6f96_b3d7bc76be944782bb9b0967772b359e_mv2 lowres.jpg

eb6f96_973374f6d6864fbcad8bf9b5f5c134f9_mv2 lowres.jpg

eb6f96_ede9a3417b4a489e958123215ab6a595_mv2 lowres.jpg

[IndyMLVC]

I wanna put VickPS and Riddhi2011 in a room and watch the lovemaking.
This thread is dying for it.

[Samu_]

Originally Posted by Riddhi2011

I mean, who wouldn't want Jurassic Park to look as gorgeous as this?

Attachment 281597

Attachment 281598

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Ooh la la!