Der Untergang 4K UHD (2004)

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Quint van der Vaart

lets hope another company makes a better release....

I'm not entirely sure how that could happen, sadly.

Constantin owns the film.

If anyone else licenses it for UHD in another market, Constantin will almost certainly just license them this master.

As nicwood explained, it sounds like Constantin had to Frankenstein the film together for 4K, since it was finished at 2K. The only way a superior master could be created is if Constantin gave some foreign company access to the film footage to scan, and to the effects shots to upscale. That seems super unlikely, sadly.

[James Luckard]

It's absolutely astonishing to me how many films made from roughly 2001-2017, especially in the earliest years, are now forever locked into looking really rough, or to being rebuilt digitally in ways that look nothing like organic film. The Pianist is in the same boat, they just did a more professional job on it.

[Dino-Killer 912]

I know this UHD is quite disappointing, but is it still the best one in terms of picture quality so far? How does it compare to the Shout! Blu-ray or the 2021 Japanese 3-disc release?

[Hedrox]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I'm not entirely sure how that could happen, sadly.

Constantin owns the film.

If anyone else licenses it for UHD in another market, Constantin will almost certainly just license them this master.

As nicwood explained, it sounds like Constantin had to Frankenstein the film together for 4K, since it was finished at 2K. The only way a superior master could be created is if Constantin gave some foreign company access to the film footage to scan, and to the effects shots to upscale. That seems super unlikely, sadly.

He said the 4K master itself is very good, with only the VFX shots being 2K upscales (which is reasonable) and everything else 4K OCN. A proper encode and implementation of subtitles is all it really needs.
Hell, even if this was just the clean 2K DI, without any of the DNR and EE from the old master, it would still be a massive improvement over all the previous releases provided the encode was competent.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Hedrox

He said the 4K master itself is very good, with only the VFX shots being 2K upscales (which is reasonable) and everything else 4K OCN. A proper encode and implementation of subtitles is all it really needs.
Hell, even if this was just the clean 2K DI, without any of the DNR and EE from the old master, it would still be a massive improvement over all the previous releases provided the encode was competent.

So is it just the UHD disc master that looks so awful? It doesn't look like film at all based on the caps. Does the actual new 4K master look more like organic film?

An upscale of the 2K DI wouldn't be terrible, but it seems unlikely that Constantin would license that when this newer master exits.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Dino-Killer 912

I know this UHD is quite disappointing, but is it still the best one in terms of picture quality so far? How does it compare to the Shout! Blu-ray or the 2021 Japanese 3-disc release?

The Shout BD is an appalling waxworks DNR fest. The UK and Canadian BDs look much better. Unfortunately, they're long OOP.

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

So is it just the UHD disc master that looks so awful? It doesn't look like film at all based on the caps. Does the actual new 4K master look more like organic film?

An upscale of the 2K DI wouldn't be terrible, but it seems unlikely that Constantin would license that when this newer master exits.

It’s only the encode that looks awful and ruins the showcase of the master, which has organic grain and should present a clear upgrade to the BD. The poor encode alone is responsible for the issues. Should Shout license the new master, it would be a massive upgrade in picture and sound and we’d be fine if they put it to disc as is.

[Cap.T]

German-Language Review with screenshots:

https://blu-ray-rezensionen.net/der-untergang-4k-uhd/

[Dino-Killer 912]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

The Shout BD is an appalling waxworks DNR fest. The UK and Canadian BDs look much better. Unfortunately, they're long OOP.

I didn't know the Shout! BD was so terrible... Since the Japanese three-disc release came out in 2021, I guess it must also be based on an old transfer. Given this, although the encoding of the German UHD is awful, does the new transfer still easily come out on top?

[dgmcinema]

Originally Posted by Dino-Killer 912

I didn't know the Shout! BD was so terrible... Since the Japanese three-disc release came out in 2021, I guess it must also be based on an old transfer. Given this, although the encoding of the German UHD is awful, does the new transfer still easily come out on top?

Looks like it. The old BD looks absolutely wretched by comparison.
You also get more of the original image from the UHD since it wasn't cropped and zoomed in.

[Nitroes]

So, here's some nice pine:


eBay

I'll be buying this release when it's a bit cheaper.

[Spartan21]

I wouldn't buy this. I would just wait until a better version comes out.

[roadwarrior980]

Despite the back of the packaging say that this contain DTS-DA MA 5.1, it is still indeed high resolution audio. Quite the let down

[roadwarrior980]

It is unlikely this will ever get a proper release unless Arrow, Kino, or someone other than Shout and others get ahold of it

[Nitroes]

Got my copy from Rarewaves https://www.rarewaves.com/products/4...-german-import they have 10% off this weekend making it £22.97.



Well, I watched it last night and thought it looked very good. I've read the comments on here and elsewhere of course.

Looks great to me not sure what/how much better they can make it look.

The 2nd disc (Blu-ray) works fine on a locked A player (not sure about all the extras).

A great cast. Ganz is Hitler.

[LetMeInPlease]

A real shame that the extended version is only available on DVD

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by LetMeInPlease

A real shame that the extended version is only available on DVD

But unfortunately there wasn't any DVD extended version that had English subtitles, was there?

[Steve526]

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/promotion..._cart_collapse

Have it as a 4 for 50 euros, worked out as £11.50 includes postage each

Only ever seen it on UK tv years ago, Blu-ray was OOP, took a punt on this 4k this month.
Thought it looks very good and sounded great even though not lossless.

[Paianni]

So if I've got this straight...

2K Blu-rays are generally pillar-boxed to 16:9 and have greenish tint, while the 4K disc has worse compression and permanent German subs in one scene.

I have the UK Momentum disc so presumably upgrading isn't really worth it.