First Blood / Rambo: First Blood Part II / Rambo III 4K UHDs (1982-1988)

[Geoff D]

Yes, it was projector owner humour (though I'm not so sure on the humour part when it comes to jh901)

[Bourne1886]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Job? They need competent professionals, not amateur pontificators.

They don’t have either. I’m sure an amateur pontificator would be better than what they’ve got! They have a macroblocking specialist!

[lilboyblu]

Originally Posted by Jimllfaxit

A bit off topic but, Can macroblocking be caused by upscaling bluray to 4k by the player also? I have a panny dmp400 4k player and am getting some blocking on upscaled bluray. I don't remember it on my old player (panny dmp500 regular bluray player) which wasn't upscaled. Playing through a non hdr panny tv.

I happened to be near the tv when I had Kill Bill on and noticed these little blocks. Also, solid black areas can be blocky. I can't really notice it from my seating distance but I keep going up really close to the screen now to see if the blocking is there. It's like mental torture, I just have to keep a very close eye on the blockiness even though I don't really want to.

Which discs do you have? The earlier Disney/Miramax version, or the later Studio Canal/Lionsgate version? If it's the latter, it's probably no coincidence.

[Jimllfaxit]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

Which discs do you have? The earlier Disney/Miramax version, or the later Studio Canal/Lionsgate version? If it's the latter, it's probably no coincidence.

As suspected, its the Studio Canal release,i just checked. Its the one in the UK box set with the sequel and other Tarantino films.

I guess my main question was could my player (panasonic dmp 400) be introducing macroblocking when upscaling 1080p to 4k. I just never noticed it on my previous regular bluray player in 1080p but then again i wasn't looking that closely. I only happened to see the blocking as i was only a few inches from the screen doing something. I also watched Hammer House of Horror tv series which had some crazy blocking. Maybe i didn't realise how bad the compression can be on some discs.

[lilboyblu]

Originally Posted by Jimllfaxit

As suspected, its the Studio Canal release,i just checked. Its the one in the UK box set with the sequel and other Tarantino films.

I guess my main question was could my player (panasonic dmp 400) be introducing macroblocking when upscaling 1080p to 4k. I just never noticed it on my previous regular bluray player in 1080p but then again i wasn't looking that closely. I only happened to see the blocking as i was only a few inches from the screen doing something. I also watched Hammer House of Horror tv series which had some crazy blocking. Maybe i didn't realise how bad the compression can be on some discs.

Aside from when the TV's various DNR and smoothness functions are turned on, I've not heard of upscaling introducing artifacting in and of itself. However, I too have noticed that on other discs after upgrading to a 4K system. Some discs that I used to think were decent are actually fairly awful. More detail at a higher resolution will also enhance flaws in the original source. In those instances though, if it's bad enough, I'll just switch my TV to output at the source's original resolution to resolve the issue. DVDs upscaled to 4k are generally horrendous, so I usually only watch them scaled to 1080p (or their native 480p if they're really awful).

[Rocklandsboy]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

Aside from when the TV's various DNR and smoothness functions are turned on, I've not heard of upscaling introducing artifacting in and of itself. However, I too have noticed that on other discs after upgrading to a 4K system. Some discs that I used to think were decent are actually fairly awful. More detail at a higher resolution will also enhance flaws in the original source. In those instances though, if it's bad enough, I'll just switch my TV to output at the source's original resolution to resolve the issue. DVDs upscaled to 4k are generally horrendous, so I usually only watch them scaled to 1080p (or their native 480p if they're really awful).

It depends on the DVD. Some look pretty decent upscaled to 4K. The colours tend to suffer more than the resolution, in so far that they look washed out.

[Jimllfaxit]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

Aside from when the TV's various DNR and smoothness functions are turned on, I've not heard of upscaling introducing artifacting in and of itself. However, I too have noticed that on other discs after upgrading to a 4K system. Some discs that I used to think were decent are actually fairly awful. More detail at a higher resolution will also enhance flaws in the original source. In those instances though, if it's bad enough, I'll just switch my TV to output at the source's original resolution to resolve the issue. DVDs upscaled to 4k are generally horrendous, so I usually only watch them scaled to 1080p (or their native 480p if they're really awful).

Ok thanks man. Kill Bill was looking amazing from my seating position but when i noticed the blocks i just thought wtf. I tried setting the player to 1080p but it was the same. I still have my previous regular bluray player. When i can be bothered i will hook it up and check the same scenes just out of curiosity. But then again, do i really want to know.

[Blu MacReady]

As these gems arrived today, had to dive straight in and I just finished Rambo II (seen these many times to not need the correct running order, II is my favourite)

Not read back through the comments here. For me this looked amazing, I bought the dvd trilogy set day one and never upgraded them. This UHD of Rambo II looked incredible, not 100% throughout (can only think of one or two scenes that dropped quality a bit) but most of the scenes. A lot of this looked incredible tbh, when Rambo is sharpening his knife getting ready to go on mission. Mint. Audio was good too. In fact, maybe cause the jump from dvd rather then Blu and watching on a much larger screen then before, I’d show this to mates as how good 4k is. It’s a mid 80s icon, and a lot looked like it was made yesterday.

Going to do III tomorrow afternoon, good to hear the US one is uncut so I’ve probably never seen it uncut and First Blood at the weekend. Love how this format gets me all excited again about seeing films I’ve seen countless times and they mostly so far feel like watching properly for the first time.

[StingingVelvet]

Watched Rambo III. Overall very impressive. I believe someone said a while back it was their least favorite remaster wise, but I gotta disagree. It looks really detailed and has more of a "normal" look to it. The blacks are still thin a lot of places but not AS thin. The whole thing does look yellowy, but it fits the desert location. Wonderful color and daytime scenes have nice contrast/gamma, less issue there. Nice HDR explosions, they pop more than Rambo 2's.

I did notice a couple issues. I saw some compression blocks a few times, probably 'cause that darn Geoff Duck had me looking for them. During the first helicopter attack there's a moment where the last chopper veers off quickly and I saw compression blocks in its wake. Also when Rambo sends the kid off right before treating his wound I saw quite a few compression blocks in the blacks around them, flickering in the fire light. Also the explosions in the nighttime base raid really lacked detail, looking like huge orange blobs. The rest of the explosions in the movie looked great though.

All in all though those were relatively minor issues and the movie mostly looked wonderful. Obviously kicks the BD's ass all over the place, and for a cheap price.

[Sky_Captain]

Originally Posted by Croweyes1121

But I’m not talking about the blacks within the film itself. I actually didn’t notice any raised blacks in the letterbox bars on First Blood. Only noticed the issue with Part II. III looked fine, too.

Just watched Part II in with DV mode on via my player, and saw nothing resembling a grey bar.

This however, stood out like a sore thumb:


It's only there at the start during the prison scene, but still. It made me think I'd burn-in for a second lol

[ROSS.T.G.]

Took the day off Thursday so I can have a marathon while the wife is at work.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by ROSS.T.G.

Took the day off Thursday so I can have a marathon while the wife is at work.

Get that media room going Ross.

[ROSS.T.G.]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Get that media room going Ross.

[lilboyblu]

I put in the Mongrel Media (i.e. remastered Studio Canal) Blu-ray disc of First Blood tonight just to check it for upgrade worthiness, and noticed some artifacting in the Stallone closeups when the film is cutting between Stallone and Denehy during the confrontation of Rambo walking back towards town before he’s arrested. The Denehy shots look fine and filmic, whereas the Stallone shots look like a third generation print. Is there artifacting of Stallone in those scenes on the 4K too? I don’t remember seeing that before, but then again I last watched this on my old 50” plasma.

[johnnyringo7]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

I put in the Mongrel Media disc (i.e. Studio Canal 4K Blu-ray Remaster) of First Blood tonight just to check it for upgrade worthiness, and noticed some artifacting in the Stallone closeups when the film is cutting between Stallone and Denehy during the confrontation of Rambo walking back towards town before he’s arrested. The Denehy shots look fine and filmic, whereas the Stallone shots look like a third generation print. It’s like the scenes were shot on different film stocks. Does it look like that in the 4K too? I don’t remember it being like that.

On the DVD and the old blu-ray looks the same

[Frank@Chicago]

I was watching a YouTube rundown of all 4K movie deals on Black Friday.

It seemed pretty through (AR Media) and covered about 30 titles w/ prices.

There was no mention of any Rambo movies...are we sure these will $8?

[JEDGAR1000]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Pretty sure that's the original Lionsgate Blu-ray, not a remaster, so it's no wonder it looks awful in comparison.

Isn't it a new bluray though because they created the "Rambo takes the 80's" feature for this release?

[ray0414]

Originally Posted by Frank@Chicago

I was watching a YouTube rundown of all 4K movie deals on Black Friday.

It seemed pretty through (AR Media) and covered about 30 titles w/ prices.

There was no mention of any Rambo movies...are we sure these will $8?

If not, the entire 4 movie collection just went on sale on iTunes for 9.99, with 1-3 being 4k hdr.

[Bates_Motel]

The raised blacks are garbage, as is the real tint in the blacks. Neither are representative of the look of a film from the early 1980s, but cool people like revisionist fiddling, I guess.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by JEDGAR1000

Isn't it a new bluray though because they created the "Rambo takes the 80's" feature for this release?

You're quite right, I realised that when looking at the back cover yesterday.

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

I put in the Mongrel Media (i.e. remastered Studio Canal) Blu-ray disc of First Blood tonight just to check it for upgrade worthiness, and noticed some artifacting in the Stallone closeups when the film is cutting between Stallone and Denehy during the confrontation of Rambo walking back towards town before he’s arrested. The Denehy shots look fine and filmic, whereas the Stallone shots look like a third generation print. Is there artifacting of Stallone in those scenes on the 4K too? I don’t remember seeing that before, but then again I last watched this on my old 50” plasma.

This may/may not be related to what you saw but yeah, on the old StudioCanal BD remasters I saw a fair bit of weird artifacting on all three movies. As Bruce Hornsby sez: some things never change.