Wings of Desire 4K UHD (1987)

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

Anyone hear yet whether the enclosed Blu-ray in the Criterion 4K release is the same Blu from the previous release, or remastered? The Blu in my new WINGS OF DESIRE is lightly scratched... so if it IS the same as the old one, I'd trade out for the unscratched copy. (I only ever plan to watch the new 4K, so I'm not heavily invested in this verdict; just some good ol' fashioned OCD talking.)

EDIT: Nevermind. Found my answer in one of ncraft's high-rez photos posted above: it's the old Blu-ray. I shall be switching out the scratched new Blu-ray for the pristine old Blu-ray... and then I shall never watch it again, in favor of the friggin' spectacular 4K.

I don't even try this because they have the discs labeled differently. The new discs are marked as being a disc from the UHD set even on the BDs. It is why I am bummed and can't swap out my Three Colours discs that are scratched.

[Kyle_g89]

any comparison between this and the UK cursor release?

[vinvanveen]

I received the Curson release in the mail yesterday, ordered via Amazon. It was shipped in a regular cardboard envelope; the steelbook box was all bent :-(

[CahiersDu4K]

Curzon has sometimes a red tint. Especially in library scene. Does anybody else notice that? It drives me crazy!

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by Kyle_g89

any comparison between this and the UK cursor release?

I now own both after only having the Curzon so far.
Verdict unfortunately as usual with Criterion - the video has been low-pass filtered, but not as much as their other recent 4K output (Three Colors).

If you have a large screen (mine is 83 inch) you will see a difference but, again, it isn’t much.

Encoding is subpar in highlights, effectively clipping them in addition to macroblocking around them. Normal sections of the image look good with nothing egregious standing out.
In short, it’s a typical Pixelogic presentation.

While the Curzon is definitely better in not being visibly filtered, the trade-off are equally badly encoded highlights as well and some instances of mushy blacks.
In the thread for their release (international section), you’ll find more information if you like.

I wish Studiocanal Germany would release a UHD. Their BDs of Wenders’ films look generally better than those released internationally by other distributors.

[kmhofmann]

Originally Posted by nicwood

Verdict unfortunately as usual with Criterion - the video has been low-pass filtered, but not as much as their other recent 4K output (Three Colors).

If you have a large screen (mine is 83 inch) you will see a difference but, again, it isn’t much.

Encoding is subpar in highlights, effectively clipping them in addition to macroblocking around them. Normal sections of the image look good with nothing egregious standing out.
In short, it’s a typical Pixelogic presentation.

Ugh, too bad. Guess I can skip ordering the Criterion, given that I already have the Curzon...

Originally Posted by nicwood

I wish Studiocanal Germany would release a UHD. Their BDs of Wenders’ films look generally better than those released internationally by other distributors.

They do! Unfortunately, with the exception of Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter and Im Lauf der Zeit, which both have strange vertical aliasing artifacts across the whole respective film. (Unless this was silently corrected at some point.)

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by kmhofmann

Ugh, too bad. Guess I can skip ordering the Criterion, given that I already have the Curzon...

They do! Unfortunately, with the exception of Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter and Im Lauf der Zeit, which both have strange vertical aliasing artifacts across the whole respective film. (Unless this was silently corrected at some point.)

Thanks for the reminder. I have both of these but never noticed the issue on my former equipment. You’re right, they are badly affected by this strange aliasing. My Tormann disc is from 2015 (should be the original) but I have a reprint of Im Lauf der Zeit which came out in 2019. Very unfortunately they did not make an effort fix it - changes are in design only, aligning with their other Wenders re-releases of the period. I guess no one ever properly mentioned it to them. On first glance I couldn’t find any negative Amazon reviews for instance.

Coincidentally I have the Curzon Wenders complete set in transit. I should have it by Monday. I’ll immediately check if they fixed it. Criterion’s Im Lauf der Zeit is correct, so I guess it’s not inherited with the master.
I strongly hope and expect that their BDs are good, paid nearly 200€ for the set. 300€ was the initial price including shipping and taxes. I guess they sat on their stock for that price, hence the early discount already. Will try to do a full breakdown as I haven’t read anything about the discs so far.

Edit: I just gave my Studiocanal DE BD of Wings of Desire another spin to see if they encoded the highlights better on the BD. To my great surprise the entire disc is atrociously encoded - another thing I have never noticed before on my old system. I guess there are too many extras on that disc, affecting the feature negatively. The Curzon 4K remains the best one so far!

[kmhofmann]

Originally Posted by nicwood

I guess no one ever properly mentioned it to them. On first glance I couldn’t find any negative Amazon reviews for instance.

I mentioned it to them a few years ago when I bought these discs and they sent me a reply that they looked into it but that the issue only affected part of the credits: (in German)

(...) wir haben uns die Filme genau angeschaut und folgendes festgestellt: Es handelt sich um einen von Anfang an vorhandenen Renderfehler im Original, der sich ausschliesslich auf die 2 angefügten Tafeln bezieht (Wim Wenders Logo und Restaurationstafel). Liebe Grüße, dein ARTHAUS-Team

Which is not true. I described the issue in excruciating detail and sent detailed screenshots, etc., but they never got back to me again.

[kmhofmann]

Originally Posted by nicwood

Coincidentally I have the Curzon Wenders complete set in transit. I should have it by Monday. I’ll immediately check if they fixed it. Criterion’s Im Lauf der Zeit is correct, so I guess it’s not inherited with the master.
I strongly hope and expect that their BDs are good, paid nearly 200€ for the set. 300€ was the initial price including shipping and taxes. I guess they sat on their stock for that price, hence the early discount already. Will try to do a full breakdown as I haven’t read anything about the discs so far.

Cool! Very interested in what you think about this set.

[sidetracked1]

Originally Posted by kmhofmann

Cool! Very interested in what you think about this set.

Me too - I've been on the fence about the investment, so any thoughts will be most gratefully appreciated!

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by kmhofmann

I mentioned it to them a few years ago when I bought these discs and they sent me a reply that they looked into it but that the issue only affected part of the credits: (in German)

Which is not true. I described the issue in excruciating detail and sent detailed screenshots, etc., but they never got back to me again.

What a load of crap. Tormann is unwatchable. Kings of the Road is somewhat better but still not ideal. I’ll gladly take a new 4K UHD of these though, without issues obviously but that doesn’t seem likely if StudioCanal DE hasn’t even bothered with a Wings of Desire UHD when they could have made one in 2018.

Originally Posted by kmhofmann

Cool! Very interested in what you think about this set.

Originally Posted by sidetracked1

Me too - I've been on the fence about the investment, so any thoughts will be most gratefully appreciated!

Will let you know in the UK thread. Delivery is scheduled for Monday.

[Dailyan]

Criterion UHD added to Caps-a-Holic

[OSHAN]

I'd like to pick up the Curzon release but it sounds like I'll be shipped a copy without the updated subtitles, and then I'll have to go through the process of getting a replacement, and all of that is compounded by the fact it's an import for me. It would be nice to know if Curzon sent the updated discs to any retailers, or if it is strictly a replacement upon ask only.

[M A]

Criterion seems to fare better in the dark areas that gave the curzon trouble:

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=2&x...5&l=1&i=1&go=1

[nicwood]

I've started a full breakdown of the UK Curzon Wenders collection which contains 22 of his films.

One of these is sadly among the worst Blu-ray's in my collection - the masterpiece Paris, Texas.

See here for more, including screenshots: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21176863

[FragnitoM]

Does SonyPC still have “Faraway, So Close!”? Their DVD has not been in print forever

I always hoped Criterion would also release the 2nd film one day.

[steel_breeze]

Finally got around to watching this Criterion 4K disc, after having pre-ordered it and having it in my collection from Day One -- which was stupid of me, 'cuz I'm watching my collection chronologically and KNEW I wouldn't get to this for awhile... so why I didn't hold off buying it 'til there was a Criterion or B&H sale I'll never knew.

But that's another story, lol; this post is about the anemic 5.1 sound mix. How is nobody talking about the sound? The new straight-from-OCN 4K transfer is an absolute win; a jaw-dropping revelation of such beauty and fine detail that I often found myself shaking my head in wonder... but that new 5.1 sound mix.

WHY weren't we given the option of the original stereo mix? It will always baffle me when a major release like this from a label like Criterion doesn't give us that choice. Even lossy, I will always choose "original". Why? Because people AREN'T AS GOOD AT THEIR JOBS AS THEY USED TO BE. With its iconic score BURIED when it should be soaring, this new 5.1 sound mix -- to my ears -- is every bit as flawed as the UHD of The Thing (and Almost Famous, to my ears, although no one but me ever mentions that one)... but this is worse than those, because so much of the score is placed into the center speaker, "married" to the dialogue.

I made the best of it -- as I do with the 4K discs of The Thing and Almost Famous -- by lowering the center channel and raising the right and left, but it's the least-fixable of these three examples. I'd honestly go back to watching the Blu-ray instead, but I cannot deny the awesomeness of these new OCN images; it's like jumping from DVD to 4K, so that ain't gonna happen. Just disappointed and surprised in the lack of original audio as a choice.

[mediafreak]

FYI I just got the UK 4K from Curzon and it is Region B-locked. I have a region-free UB820 and it said the disc was incompatible with playback. Switched the player to Region B and it was fine. The back of the J Card also says B only

Also this is the corrected disc which includes both English and English SDH subs. Can't speak to the initial incorrect disc's region coding

https://imgur.com/a/HGoaar6

[George.P]

Originally Posted by mediafreak

FYI I just got the UK 4K from Curzon and it is Region B-locked. I have a region-free UB820 and it said the disc was incompatible with playback. Switched the player to Region B and it was fine. The back of the J Card also says B only

Also this is the corrected disc which includes both English and English SDH subs. Can't speak to the initial incorrect disc's region coding

https://imgur.com/a/HGoaar6

I have the Curzon 4k disc and it plays without issue on my North American Panasonic ub9000.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by mediafreak

FYI I just got the UK 4K from Curzon and it is Region B-locked. I have a region-free UB820 and it said the disc was incompatible with playback. Switched the player to Region B and it was fine. The back of the J Card also says B only

Also this is the corrected disc which includes both English and English SDH subs. Can't speak to the initial incorrect disc's region coding

https://imgur.com/a/HGoaar6

I have the corrected 4k disc and it is region free. The blu is region B.

Also kind of weird as the steelbook is the only 4K release by Curzon as far as I know, and that pic looks like a standard release. Either way, the real 4K UHD isn't locked.