The Fifth Element 4K UHD (1997) (20th Anniversary Edition)

[GxyExpress999]

[Show spoiler]

[Ian B]

Watching this one tonight after work. Can not wait.

Ian B

[Khronikos]

They would do well to make more of those steelbooks. Why is it so hard to find?

[Cook]

Its a best buy exclusive. Is it not available on bestbuy.com?

[bobbylee]

Originally Posted by Khronikos

They would do well to make more of those steelbooks. Why is it so hard to find?

They underestimated the demand. The regular edition is hard to find too.

[singhcr]

I wasn't referring to the ISO rating, Geoff, but the four digit stock/emulsion number. Reading my post now I can see I wasn't clear about what I was referring to. My bad.

I was making the assumption that in general newer emulsions would be finer grained, just like how modern Velvia 100 looks identical to old school Velvia 50.

Or perhaps 100T 80s stock would look as grainy as modern 200T stock. That kind of thing.

As for Snyder, knowing he used 500 speed film and the DP even pushed it sometimes explains the heavy grain of his movies.

[Khronikos]

I don't understand at all why this film gets a BD 66 and Leon gets a BD 100. Err, does Leon have two ACTUAL cuts? If so I guess that says why. No more seamless branching then?

Would have been cool to see them push even more bits into this stunning transfer. Just for the hell of it.

[Joe6286]

I just ordered the steelbook for store pickup. It said my store had a copy but I'm not holding my breath that it's actually there (it's not showing in stock now after my order so there was only 1 in their inventory). Crossing my fingers maybe I'll actually get it, but I'm fully expecting my order to be canceled because there really isn't one anywhere in the store.

[AllOuttaBubbleGum]

Re: The Caps at:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comp...7203/picture:3

Originally Posted by grodd

Thanks Nice improvement! A little upset my steelbook order is in Limbo from best Buy.

If the download's close to representative of the UHD, the MI4K Blu seems to hold up pretty well, capturing the gist of the detail. No question that grain is better resolved on the UHD. Long shots probably won't fare as well with the standard blu, but I haven't turned up any examples yet.

Someday it will be my pleasure to give the two formats the "normal viewing distance" test with this title.


..

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Khronikos

I don't understand at all why this film gets a BD 66 and Leon gets a BD 100. Err, does Leon have two ACTUAL cuts? If so I guess that says why. No more seamless branching then?

Would have been cool to see them push even more bits into this stunning transfer. Just for the hell of it.

Leon is branched AFAIK, hence the triple layer disc. Branching is not a magic bullet that requires no additional bitrate, but let's not get into bitrates shall we?

[Geoff D]

Branching for Leon confirmed:

Originally Posted by d514

In case there are any doubts, the disc uses seamless branching. Extended cut has a size of ~77GB.

[DJR662]

Just saw it this morning.

Even though I'm not the movie's biggest fan, I have to say it's worth owning it just for the PQ alone. Absolutely gorgeous and colorful picture, very lifelike with amazing details (especially during close ups) and a fine HDR grade. A truly wonderful cinematic UHD presentation.

As mentioned earlier by someone else, I too think the visual effects have stood the test of time (20 years!) rather well. Everything still looks amazing and it all blends in perfectly. I haven't seen this film in years so I don't know if the UHD's PQ has something to do with it, but the effects look exceptionally good!

[Pieter V]

BD-66 or BD-100?

[Darev]

For those of you, most of you I presume, who have watched this on a "proper" home theater audio system, I have a quick question.

During the various scenes with off camera dialogue (announcing the priest to the president in the early parts of the movie as an example) does the disembodied voice come through from all the surround speakers, or the front speakers?

When I saw the movie a couple months ago at the theater, those portions of dialogue were pumped through the surrounds making it seem like you were actually sitting in that room.

On my speaker system, with 25+ year old radio shack optimus cube speakers as my surround speakers, that effect was not present.

[abenamou]

Bestbuy has the Steelbook for online ordering available...

[silversnake]

Watched this yesterday. It looked a lot better then I anticipated since its' a 20 year old movie. Some of the shots (mostly the spaceships) showed it's age but what a beautiful movie.

Watching this made me think about double dipping for Leon now...

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by silversnake

Watching this made me think about double dipping for Leon now...

I was also thinking of getting Leon as well now that I have seen this.

[Badrock63]

I thought the same thing. In that same spot in the movie I thought the voices were low as well.

Originally Posted by Darev

For those of you, most of you I presume, who have watched this on a "proper" home theater audio system, I have a quick question.

During the various scenes with off camera dialogue (announcing the priest to the president in the early parts of the movie as an example) does the disembodied voice come through from all the surround speakers, or the front speakers?

When I saw the movie a couple months ago at the theater, those portions of dialogue were pumped through the surrounds making it seem like you were actually sitting in that room.

On my speaker system, with 25+ year old radio shack optimus cube speakers as my surround speakers, that effect was not present.

[I KEEL YOU]

Originally Posted by grodd

Thanks Nice improvement! A little upset my steelbook order is in Limbo from best Buy.

Originally Posted by AllOuttaBubbleGum

Re: The Caps at:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comp...7203/picture:3





If the download's close to representative of the UHD, the MI4K Blu seems to hold up pretty well, capturing the gist of the detail. No question that grain is better resolved on the UHD. Long shots probably won't fare as well with the standard blu, but I haven't turned up any examples yet.

Someday it will be my pleasure to give the two formats the "normal viewing distance" test with this title.


..

I'd say that it's a substantial improvement in grain clarity, but a marginal improvement in actual detail. It becomes even more evident when you sharpen the blu ray cap and adjust the colors and brightness to fit with the UHD:



With that said:

1. The caps are a web rip and not the actual UHD.
2. It's not the best choice in the variety of caps. It would've been better if a long shot was included, and not only close ups and medium shots.

[RockyIII]

Originally Posted by DJR662

Just saw it this morning.

Even though I'm not the movie's biggest fan, I have to say it's worth owning it just for the PQ alone. Absolutely gorgeous and colorful picture, very lifelike with amazing details (especially during close ups) and a fine HDR grade. A truly wonderful cinematic UHD presentation.

As mentioned earlier by someone else, I too think the visual effects have stood the test of time (20 years!) rather well. Everything still looks amazing and it all blends in perfectly. I haven't seen this film in years so I don't know if the UHD's PQ has something to do with it, but the effects look exceptionally good!

Wow, with new movies like Guardians of the Galaxy, it's hard to imagine that this movie's visual effects are still relevant today