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

[happydood]

I'm wondering if my player is faulty if it can't automatically pull up the subtitles on the intro without me manually turning them on. I have no problems on Close Encounters- another Sony title- it generates them automatically.

Edit: Well... weird. I know folks talk about their various players having occasional bugs and freezing and having to be rebooted. My new older model Sony has played everything I've thrown at it with no issue until now. And then I checked it again this morning and it played the subtitles properly. Dunno what gives but I'll give the disc a proper spin tonite, I reckon.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Pyoko

It's a shame, perhaps the added cost of doing separate encodes/authoring for international editions is a reason.

As for The Godfather it will likely not have burned-in subtitles because they went back to the original negatives for many of those sections for the 4K restoration, however the subtitles on the Blu-ray were styled so hopefully they'll do the same for the UHD release. If they were anything like the theatrical subtitles I don't know, but at least they look better than the usual generic ones.

IIRC they scanned the original subtitle elements (in 6K) for the 4K resto of the Godfathers and for versions with burnt-in subs eg prints or DCPs then they composited them into the 1st gen image as you say. For the Blu then they used player generated ones, but styled to emulate those OG ones. So they're the proper subs but not the original optical, it demonstrates that Coppola's quest to redo the opticals in Godfather Coda isn't a new obsession of his. Forgot how good the numerous dissolves looked in the Godfathers, I don't know whether it had an A/B roll neg cut originally or Coppola had them redone for the restoration but they look naice regardless.

But yes, Sony have had this 'international disc' mindset since the BD days, DVD days even, they're one of the worst culprits for removing OG subs and replacing them with generic player generated stuff. They still remaster those scenes with the stylised subs included (though not like as described above, they don't often do digital rebuilds though the credits to Karate Kid come to mind), as proven by the streaming 4K version of Bram Stoker's, but they rarely use that version on disc. Universal also do this a lot, but at least Uni put the proper subs on the US version and leave the player generated ones for the international disc so we've got the option, whereas Sony will just press one disc for all.

Originally Posted by happydood

I'm wondering if my player is faulty if it can't automatically pull up the subtitles on the intro without me manually turning them on. I have no problems on Close Encounters- another Sony title- it generates them automatically.

Edit: Well... weird. I know folks talk about their various players having occasional bugs and freezing and having to be rebooted. My new older model Sony has played everything I've thrown at it with no issue until now. And then I checked it again this morning and it played the subtitles properly. Dunno what gives but I'll give the disc a proper spin tonite, I reckon.

Other folks have had these issues with Sony UHDs before, doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason, sometimes it just doesn't run the proper sub track. If you want to make sure they'll be activated before playing then I seem to remember that going into the audio options and clicking on the English audio (even if it's already highlighted by default) did the trick.

[happydood]

Thank for the tip. Yeah, it played without a hitch last night, but I hope this doesn't crop up with other titles....

[Caniac11]

Don't know if this has been discussed here, but the pictures of the case all show a digital copy. Just got mine from Amazon, and it doesn't have a digital copy included. Re-examined the back covers that's available to see and sure enough, no mention of a digital copy included. Has anyone else had one included or is this normal? The info available here in the review definitely shows a digital copy on the front. Any suggestions? Not a deal breaker because I wanted the movie anyway.

[Brosef78]

Originally Posted by Caniac11

Don't know if this has been discussed here, but the pictures of the case all show a digital copy. Just got mine from Amazon, and it doesn't have a digital copy included. Re-examined the back covers that's available to see and sure enough, no mention of a digital copy included. Has anyone else had one included or is this normal? The info available here in the review definitely shows a digital copy on the front. Any suggestions? Not a deal breaker because I wanted the movie anyway.

It appears that Sony has been re-releasing 4K titles without the digital copy from initial pressings. I noticed it when I repurchased "The Bridge on the River Kwai" that had additional 2.0 audio track--that the cover didn't mention the digital copy that the initial pressing did, nor had a code.

Are there any other non-commentary English language tracks on your copy of "Dracula" other than the Dolby Atmos/Dolby 7.1 track? I wondered based on "Kwai" that Sony was going back to including original theatrical audio tracks to 4K discs that initially didn't have them, and if not advertising a digital copy on the cover meant a repressing to include such.

[BluMonday]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mESbAwiCaTw

[Agent Kay]

I hate their stuff of late, but did watch this as it wasn't them shitting all over it

[Mierzwiak]

It's 30th anniversary next year. So... Dolby Vision? New extras?

[rexinnih]

That's what I'm counting on. Had the 4K with slipcover that I sold for good profit anticipating a new release down the road. If Sony can do it for Labyrinth, can justify Dolby Vision on this one also.

[JohnCarpenterLives]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

It's 30th anniversary next year. So... Dolby Vision? New extras?

...better framing?

[BluPat]

Recently watched my 4K and it looks great to me.

[Christian Muth]

Originally Posted by JohnCarpenterLives

...better framing?

Even in the Laserdisc days, there was controversy over the framing of this film on different releases. Columbia released their own LD at the same time as the big Criterion box set, but used their own master that was supervised by cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, and it looked different and was framed differently (as I recall, brighter image and looser framing with more image on all sides) then the Criterion transfer which was supervised by Coppola's son.

Chris

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

It's 30th anniversary next year. So... Dolby Vision? New extras?

That would be awesome!

[BluMonday]

Originally Posted by Agent Kay

I hate their stuff of late, but did watch this as it wasn't them shitting all over it

Their re:View segments don’t shit all over the movies and are also less jokey. They tend to be about their favorite films, more seriously discussed.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by BluMonday

Their re:View segments don’t shit all over the movies and are also less jokey. They tend to be about their favorite films, more seriously discussed.

I dunno, dude. I'm still traumatised from their video on Blade Runner.

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by BluMonday

Their re:View segments don’t shit all over the movies and are also less jokey. They tend to be about their favorite films, more seriously discussed.

It's not the jokes, it's their (Mike's) views on some things

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by JohnCarpenterLives

...better framing?

Some things really do never die

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

I dunno, dude. I'm still traumatised from their video on Blade Runner.

They hated Blade Runner? Monsters!

[dvining]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

They hated Blade Runner? Monsters!

It's more like, they respect the technical aspects but don't get involved in the story.

So, they're pretty much monsters.

[BorisKarloffice]

Originally Posted by dvining

It's more like, they respect the technical aspects but don't get involved in the story.

I consider Blade Runner one of my favorite films and I completely get that.