Bram Stoker's Dracula 4K UHD (1992) (25th Anniversary Edition)

[cynatnite]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

I know there was a kerfuffle about the framing of this transfer, but I don't know if this one is actually less correct than prior releases or just different. Do you?

It looked the same as the last one. The title is very large rather than centered in the middle of the frame. After Dracula comes through the window to save the poor guy from getting drained, the window behind him is partly cut off. They did a lot of re-framing throughout. I imagine Coppola might've thought it was better. What do I know? LOL

I still have the DVD release, but the UHD is so much more pleasing to watch. That's why I can live with it.

[OutOfBoose]

I have only two complaints about the new master. I wish it had tiny bit more headroom like older releases and I don't like sepia tint in the scene where Dracula meets Mina for the first time. Other than that it looks freaking amazing. Colors are realistic and contacts on brides look actually purple unlike on the previous blu.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by JohnCarpenterFan

Flicked through the UHD and the remastered Blu-ray, and the UHD looks a lot better to me, especially when it comes to colors. I looked at a few scenes on the UHD which had a strong red hue, then looked at the same scenes on the Blu-ray and by comparison it looked kind of pinkish and washed out.

I took some images of both on my TV, I took them in landscape but they look to have been cropped when I uploaded them to my computer. Of course the colors in these pictures do not look exactly like how they look on my TV, but it gives a good idea of the differences between the two discs.

[Show spoiler]
Blu-ray:


UHD:


Blu-ray:


UHD:


Blu-ray:


UHD:

Looks really nice and I hop to sit down and watch it all soon. I prefer what I've seen on this to the other Sony UHDs I've seen so far. It seems Sony are pushing some of their UHD masters to their limit which results in eyeball-melting brightness levels and obtrusive grain, I guess Coppola was very strict with what could be done for the UHD presentation.

Frankly, at least insofar as these screenshots are concerned, I really don't see much difference - the oranges and reds are a little deeper on the UHD, but that's about it. I don't know how much of that was a limitation of the camera that you used and the compression to a JPG. And also we're dealing with a film with largely desaturated color in most scenes. But I wouldn't buy a UHD TV based on these screenshots.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by OutOfBoose

I have only two complaints about the new master. I wish it had tiny bit more headroom like older releases and I don't like sepia tint in the scene where Dracula meets Mina for the first time. Other than that it looks freaking amazing. Colors are realistic and contacts on brides look actually purple unlike on the previous blu.

Yeah, I don't get the continued whinging that it's too dark. That's not an issue with it at all for me. I can understand the headroom cropping complaint, though it's very minor.

[captainsolo]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

The Mi4K has the original 5.1 mix as a selectable Dolby Digital track too, the 4K UHD does not (unless it's been re-assigned as the hidden DD 5.1 legacy track).

This is what I'm curious to find out. I haven't seen the film in ages and wanted to see it with its award-winning sound mix. So the remastered Blu-ray has it as an alternate lossy track, does this mean the PCM on the original Blu-ray was the original mix as well? If so that means I need that just for HD quality of the original audio track.

The nerd in me is even wondering what the laserdisc audio sounds like since there are apparently differences in the matrixed audio track, as when criterion did theirs they made a 2.0 surround fold of the 5.1 mix and indicated at least 40 differences.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

This is what I'm curious to find out. I haven't seen the film in ages and wanted to see it with its award-winning sound mix. So the remastered Blu-ray has it as an alternate lossy track, does this mean the PCM on the original Blu-ray was the original mix as well? If so that means I need that just for HD quality of the original audio track.

The nerd in me is even wondering what the laserdisc audio sounds like since there are apparently differences in the matrixed audio track, as when criterion did theirs they made a 2.0 surround fold of the 5.1 mix and indicated at least 40 differences.

The Atmos remix is a BETTER version of the Academy Award-winning sound mix. It's subtle, but effective at steering sounds in a logical manner. The overheads are not as aggressive as some immersive remixes (and sometimes that can be a fault on certain movies that need that extra 3D sensation), but the Sony sound mixers did call upon the overhead speakers when necessary and that helped widen and, of course, heighten the atmospheric and creepiness factor.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

This is what I'm curious to find out. I haven't seen the film in ages and wanted to see it with its award-winning sound mix. So the remastered Blu-ray has it as an alternate lossy track, does this mean the PCM on the original Blu-ray was the original mix as well? If so that means I need that just for HD quality of the original audio track.

The nerd in me is even wondering what the laserdisc audio sounds like since there are apparently differences in the matrixed audio track, as when criterion did theirs they made a 2.0 surround fold of the 5.1 mix and indicated at least 40 differences.

personally I find the bass on the laserdisc edition to be superior over the bluray (I have yet to hear the UHD, but I'm assuming it sounds the same) ~ tight and deep notably when Dracula is in large bat like form stomping around the room.

[Laserdisk]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

This is what I'm curious to find out. I haven't seen the film in ages and wanted to see it with its award-winning sound mix. So the remastered Blu-ray has it as an alternate lossy track, does this mean the PCM on the original Blu-ray was the original mix as well? If so that means I need that just for HD quality of the original audio track.

The nerd in me is even wondering what the laserdisc audio sounds like since there are apparently differences in the matrixed audio track, as when criterion did theirs they made a 2.0 surround fold of the 5.1 mix and indicated at least 40 differences.

It's not radical, it had it's moments I have the UK disc and the cirterion disc.
Not a huge fan of the Atmos messing

[Darth Marcus]

Found a copy with its beautiful slip at my local Walmart for $19.96. It’s $5 more than the Best Buy sale price, but I haven’t found a copy at BB with this slip, and since it’s so rare I don’t mind paying the additional $5.

[i_max2k2]

Originally Posted by Darth Marcus

Found a copy with its beautiful slip at my local Walmart for $19.96. It’s $5 more than the Best Buy sale price, but I haven’t found a copy at BB with this slip, and since it’s so rare I don’t mind paying the additional $5.

Price match? or use a CC with price protection.

[Darth Marcus]

Originally Posted by i_max2k2

Price match? or use a CC with price protection.

I asked about price matching and the clerk told me they only price match through their online retailer. I might try talking to online customer support to see if they can help at all.

[cynatnite]

Originally Posted by Darth Marcus

I asked about price matching and the clerk told me they only price match through their online retailer. I might try talking to online customer support to see if they can help at all.

Walmart is doing away with price-matching. They have savings catcher on their app. It searches for lower prices and then gives you the difference either back to your account or in their store. It's mainly incentive to spend the savings in their stores. Most of the time you only get a few dollars here and there. A few times we've gotten quite a bit back and I've accumulated as much as $40 which took a while to get.

Best Buy's is much better. I just talked to them on the phone and I'm getting over $50 back because of their price-match guarantee. I'm elite plus so my price protection is 45 days. Walmart doesn't have that as far as I know.

[imsounoriginal]

Walmart tends to have the lowest (or same) prices anyway, but them no longer PMing competitors is a big turn-off. Had pretty much completely scaled back my shopping there anyway; only go when they have UHDs that the other B&Ms don't (Song to Song, Kingsman, and their Mummy exclusive, recently).

[grodd]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

personally I find the bass on the laserdisc edition to be superior over the bluray (I have yet to hear the UHD, but I'm assuming it sounds the same) ~ tight and deep notably when Dracula is in large bat like form stomping around the room.

I was thinking that same scene. The bass stomping is unquestionably stronger in that scene on the LD. I kind of miss it. But the directionals are a nice touch on the Atmos. Especially when the castle gate goes down.

I also miss the old (Superbit) color timing, although I think there may be some truth that Dracula was made with more than one color variation early on.

[ROSS.T.G.]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Yeah, I don't get the continued whinging that it's too dark. That's not an issue with it at all for me. I can understand the headroom cropping complaint, though it's very minor.

Yeah I’ve never felt any of the UHD’s I owned look dark. I suspect many people making this claim are used to the more washed out look that certain BD’s present.

[ROSS.T.G.]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

Frankly, at least insofar as these screenshots are concerned, I really don't see much difference - the oranges and reds are a little deeper on the UHD, but that's about it. I don't know how much of that was a limitation of the camera that you used and the compression to a JPG. And also we're dealing with a film with largely desaturated color in most scenes. But I wouldn't buy a UHD TV based on these screenshots.

Shouldn’t judge from screen shots. Have to see it in motion.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Yeah, I don't get the continued whinging that it's too dark. That's not an issue with it at all for me. I can understand the headroom cropping complaint, though it's very minor.

Since we don't know the quality of anyone's TV unless they tell us what it is, whether their set is calibrated, what the lighting conditions are in their viewing room and what that person considers normal and acceptable (maybe they want everything to look like a sporting event), it's really nearly impossible to tell if there's an issue or not based on other people's criticisms.

The Godfather was originally really dark. When it played in revival and new prints were made, they were made lighter. When Coppola restored it, it went back to being dark again. Some people had a problem with that, but that's the way it was supposed to look. Although Gordon Willis also shot movies that weren't dark, based on The Godfather, he was referred to as "The Prince of Darkness".

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

The Atmos remix is a BETTER version of the Academy Award-winning sound mix. It's subtle, but effective at steering sounds in a logical manner. The overheads are not as aggressive as some immersive remixes (and sometimes that can be a fault on certain movies that need that extra 3D sensation), but the Sony sound mixers did call upon the overhead speakers when necessary and that helped widen and, of course, heighten the atmospheric and creepiness factor.

I haven't heard this in Atmos, but I find most Atmos theatrical mixes to be disappointing and lack localization. When you have atmospheric effects, like wind howling or rain, whether meant to sound natural or eerie, I feel like that's an opportunity to put Atmos to its full use. I remember in that recent Tarzan movie, there was so much opportunity to get the sounds of the forest into the overheads and individual surrounds, but I simply didn't perceive that.

One interesting thing is that I was at the AES Convention last week and Dolby and JBL had a joint demonstration room to promote mixing Atmos with these amazing JBL active monitors. I think they call them the Series 7. One of the monitors has just a 5" driver (there's also a slightly larger model) and the sound was absolutely spectacular including such good bass (they shut the subwoofers off for part of the demo) that it was hard to believe. IIRC, the setup was 7.1.4 or 7.2.4 and I heard more localization in that setup than I hear at the local Dolby Vision theater, which has something like 64 speakers or even the Dolby Screening Room.

[Ray_Rogers]

Saw one in Best Buy but without slipcover. $14.99 but I would've bought it with it cause IS NICE. Might try Target in Watsonville later in the week and pricematch, but would rather buy at BB because of Reward Points. Gonna swap the BD from the release I own for the BD which is with this release. Prefer the disc label artwork instead of the generic.
Feels as though I'm missing another film featuring Gary Oldman in UHD for some reason. Hoping for Air Force One to be released, eventually.

[Spoonscott]

I have a Samsung 65 inch Qled and the Blu-ray is better.