Heat 4K UHD (1995)

[Telemachus]

It's not hard to imagine he graded this in a pitch dark room on an insanely sensitive and expensive screen to dial in how dark he wanted it. People have mastered albums on one set of ridiculously exotic headphones/speakers when no one will hardly ever hear it that way. Some of Deakins' HDR was giving people fits on certain screens with discs like Blade Runner 2049 and that's no different, Heat is just even more extreme.

[stonesfan129]

Originally Posted by azmodien

I doubt that he would sign off on a transfer that requires a $3000 display with finely tuned settings, and even if he did he is was in his late 70's at the time. His films were always super dark but they still looked fine on any display. People need to stop boot-licking so that changes can be made.

I'm just asking if that's how he wanted it. I much prefer the look of the Special Edition DVD and even the 2009 Blu-ray. I also felt that they should have kept the full theatrical cut of the film instead of shortening it. It also seems like they did a new audio mix for the Blu-ray that I just don't care for. The Laserdisc Dolby mix that was on the SE DVD is superior imo. REALLY hoping that Arrow or someone picks this up to do up right.

[EliWallou]

Good luck figuring out what he wanted, when it looks so different on different TVs. I can imagine he wanted it darker than previous releases, exploiting the capacities of HDR. But how dark exactly? We can only guess.

On my TV, with HDR Tone Mapping on, I think it looks great. How similar does it look to how he graded it on whatever setup was used?

[hanshotfirst1138]

Mann is one of those directors who wants different things on different days.

[Terentin Quantino]

The magic of hdr is that things can get super dark when needed and nicely bright when needed too - this disc is dark all the time and no tone mapping trickery changes that.

[b0b]

Originally Posted by eChopper

Rumour on Twitter that Heat 4k was released in Nordic countries on 100 GB disc with a better encode

Was it ever confirmed this had a better encode?

[Pieter V]

Originally Posted by b0b

Was it ever confirmed this had a better encode?

False rumor.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by Pieter V

False rumor.

False and dumb, the US / European disc already has Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subs.

[b0b]

Originally Posted by Pieter V

False rumor.

So is it the exact same encode as the original US/UK releases?

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by b0b

So is it the exact same encode as the original US/UK releases?

YES. What's with the obsession about different encodes?

[b0b]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

YES. What's with the obsession about different encodes?

Because some foreign encodes have turned out to have horrible chroma errors.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by b0b

Because some foreign encodes have turned out to have horrible chroma errors.

Yeah, but the international releases from big studios with different encodes from US discs are rare exception, not the rule. Asking about it in random threads will get you nowhere

[moviemaker]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Me, I dig it, I dig it a lot, but it *is* dim as balls and I can see why it would annoy some folks even if watched in the absolutely purest viewing conditions.

After months of owning, I finally watched the 4K edition of HEAT, expecting the worst. Instead, it's beautifully dark—Fincher-like, maybe up to a stop darker than I remember, but perfectly so. The detail is striking.

On set, I'm a total control freak—obsessing over every lighting angle, camera setup, and atmospheric detail. But at home? Total 180. I'm basically a human donut, flopping on the floor, back to the couch, drink in hand, rocking my Apple Max Pros, and just hitting play. Textbook definition of "least ideal viewing conditions" right here.

I watched HEAT during both day and night, and it looked fantastic—truly cinematic—even with harsh natural light from my window overlooking the San Fernando Valley.

I'm using a now dated SONY X900H TV and Panasonic 820, with zero calibration. I've only disabled motion and image over processing BS. I can't explain why others find the film unbearably dim. To me, it looks like Mann's 1990s version of film noir: moody, visually obfuscated, with enigmatic characters. The grade feels intentional, capturing a pure noir aesthetic.

See the image below. The lighting in this scene is just gorgeous - it's pure noir perfection. The way the shadows play across her face, the dramatic contrast, it all creates such a moody, atmospheric vibe. And that picture hanging on the wall behind her? It just adds another layer of intrigue and mystery to the whole setup. It's really striking, especially considering I captured this with my"crap" iPhone 13 mini.




The lighting seems intentionally designed to tamp down the natural brightness and vibrancy of the California setting, draining the color but preserving plenty of detail. The second image has a similar muted, low-contrast look, almost reminiscent of the visual style in The Limey. My iphone is over brightening slightly and doesn't fully capture the nuanced lighting and color palette.





And finally, you can tell this is a process shot but it still retains its richness and beauty. While my iPhone tends to over-expose faces, the actual image looks balanced.





I respect others' opinions, but my experience with the 4K version, straight out of the box without adjustments, is very different.

I went back and replayed the 2009 Blu-ray of HEAT after having just watched the 4K. It's overly bright - think Sonny Crockett white-suit levels of brightness. While Mann clearly aimed for a muted, grayish color palette, on my old blu-ray, the harsh California sunlight often results in blown-out, washed-out scenes with lost detail. Compared to the 4K release, it's a drastically different look. My 2009 Blu-ray is now more of a nostalgic piece than a reference copy.

[Jorvic]

Originally Posted by moviemaker

After months of owning, I finally watched the 4K edition of HEAT, expecting the worst. Instead, it's beautifully dark—Fincher-like, maybe up to a stop darker than I remember, but perfectly so. The detail is striking.

I watched HEAT during both day and night, and it looked fantastic—truly cinematic—even with harsh natural light from my window overlooking the San Fernando Valley.

I'm using a now dated SONY X900H TV and Panasonic 820, with zero calibration. I've only disabled motion and image over processing BS. I can't explain why others find the film unbearably dim. To me, it looks like Mann's 1990s version of film noir: moody, visually obfuscated, with enigmatic characters. The grade feels intentional, capturing a pure noir aesthetic.

I agree that the 4K looks fantastic and the grade is intentional. Not sure I'd call it a "pure noir aesthetic", but I know what you mean and at times it can be said to lean in that direction. It's difficult for me to watch the 2009 Blu-ray now, though I've viewed it many times in the past.

[GiorgioV]

Originally Posted by moviemaker

The grade feels intentional, capturing a pure noir aesthetic.

Dude, this is so noir even Batman would need night vision. But, of course, to each his own.
It does look better than the BD despite Mann's dubious aesthetic choices, I'll give you that.

[RageATL]

Originally Posted by moviemaker

I recall this bottom-most shot looking egregiously bad during my viewing in a dark basement. Like, it was a mess.

[EliWallou]

Originally Posted by moviemaker

I respect others' opinions, but my experience with the 4K version, straight out of the box without adjustments, is very different.

Your images look fine but you assume people's opinions are based on it looking the same as on your setup, and that's not necessarily the case.

It looked significantly darker on mine, not in a nuanced moody noir way, just in a wrong way (barely visible dark scenes, cloudy lack of lighting on day scenes), until I turned HDR Tone Mapping on. Then the movie looked good.

I don't need to turn HDR Tone Mapping for most movies, often it doesn't make such a big difference, but with Heat it does. To the point I think there's either an authoring error with the HDR on Heat, or the way different manufacturers/models are handling the HDR metadata causes inconsistencies.

[capricho]

I wished it looked like the pics posted above on my tv. I haven't been able to watch the movie because the image is too dim (I have tried several times). I always thought it was my tv that has the problem, but after reading this thread it seems I'm not the only one. I haven't sold the 4K BD because I'm planning on buying a new tv. Maybe I'll get lucky and can enjoy Heat again.

[GiorgioV]

Originally Posted by capricho

I wished it looked like the pics posted above on my tv. I haven't been able to watch the movie because the image is too dim (I have tried several times). I always thought it was my tv that has the problem, but after reading this thread it seems I'm not the only one. I haven't sold the 4K BD because I'm planning on buying a new tv. Maybe I'll get lucky and can enjoy Heat again.

No need to sell the disc, you should try a different player with HDR optimizer. I watched It on my Panny and with the optimizer on it looked fine. Nothing can be done about those 'colors', though (or lack thereof).
It is still better than the previous BD releases.

[SpoonerUK]

I picked this up this week, the UK version.

Having been a huge fan of this film over the years, owning it on VHS, DVD, Blu, and UHD, I have to say in my opinion that some scenes look amazing, and others not so much. Especially that reference above with Neil and Eady overlooking the LA landscape at night, on my telly, it looked like a greenscreen shot, which is something I'd never noticed before, was it on greenscreen or something?

In addition, WTF is going on with the audio mix, on the 4K disc? Some scenes you can make out the dialog as normal, whereas others, the dialog levels are almost drowned out by the ambient sounds.

The weapons and bullet firing parts are great, and for the first time, I noticed the difference in calibre between the 5.56 M4s and the 7.62 FAL in the first takedown on the armoured car. The bank heist and street shootout sound phenomenal as well, best so far on any format.

But i'm far from an expert on anything AV, just enjoying a recent upgrade to my TV, from an older 2016 model HDR only LED Panasonic, to my new Panasonic 65 "W95 MiniLED.