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

[Markgway]

Anyone else notice shenanigans in the bottom black bar during First Blood's climactic scene? The blacks greys fluctuate badly between slightly grey and really grey. Haven't seen this on anything else on any format.

[johnnyringo7]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Really? I watched this last night and thought the black levels were milky grey which made the night scenes tough to watch (almost to the point of a fault). Maybe it was a bad idea to watch this before First Blood?

Some interior shots have cinematic black levels but night scenes on the jungle have good black levels in my opinion.

[trekky76]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Anyone else notice shenanigans in the bottom black bar during First Blood's climactic scene? The blacks greys fluctuate badly between slightly grey and really grey. Haven't seen this on anything else on any format.

Didn't notice that here..black bars being the only part actually black.
Watched it today for the first time. While generally not a bad looking picture (and more appealing than the 2008 effort) I found the black levels non-existent. And while you adjust to that after a while I just don't see the point of such cinematography. Anything that should be inky black is just a grey shade of blue with no more detail present. Colors otherwise are good and look natural. In any case, it's another one of those were I wish I could change the gamma setting for a more appealing 2.4.

[karsten]

Originally Posted by Lion

Not in a rush to upgrade my blu-rays, perhaps when the price falls. I wonder if and when the 4th will be released on 4K.

IMO, those are the superior discs.

Really I can only speak about First Blood, which is one of my favorite films and the only one in the series that I care to own on home video, but IMO you should never seek to replace those blu-rays, because from what I've seen, the supposed "upgrades" are color downgrades.

I initially bought the Studio Canal remaster a few months back, but something about the picture looked... off.

And when I checked caps-a-holic,

https://caps-a-holic.com/c_list.php?c=4935

the caps for the initial Lionsgate release in your post looked better.

So I went back and brought a new copy of that Lionsgate blu-ray (which is apparently now out of print, but still widely available), and -- as I'm finding to be so often the case with blu-rays -- the older release's colors are much superior. The greens look like greens, the blues look like blues, etc. All the colors look more natural and appealing.

But in the newer Studio Canal disc that I bought first, the forest looks brownish more than green, the blues have cyan in them, etc. Even the color of Rambo's army jacket (a definite color reference) looks off in the newer disc, whereas in the Lionsage blu-ray it looks correctly army-olive green.

(And based just on caps-a-holic caps alone, I wouldn't get the 4k version if you paid me; it all looks soaked in mucus green and urine yellow. That's a physically revolting picture. No thanks.)

I just wish I'd found this forum, and through it caps-a-holic, before I brought the newer Studio Canal release. If I had, I would have gone straight to the Lionsgate edition and saved some money.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by karsten

IMO, those are the superior discs.

Really I can only speak about First Blood, which is one of my favorite films and the only one in the series that I care to own on home video, but IMO you should never seek to replace those blu-rays, because from what I've seen, the supposed "upgrades" are color downgrades.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Anyone else notice shenanigans in the bottom black bar during First Blood's climactic scene? The blacks greys fluctuate badly between slightly grey and really grey. Haven't seen this on anything else on any format.

Didn't notice it on First Blood but definitely caught a bit of it on FB part II. I find that setting black just a click below where it should be helps to bring the black bars down to black. Good old StudioCanal.

[pumpkihn]

Finally got Rambo III the other day, gave it a quick spin and it was immediately apparent from the credits that the framing was pushed over to the left. I read there were some framing issues with part 2 but wasn't aware of it on this (I haven't managed to read every post in the thread). I guess it's not noticeable for most of the film but still an annoying error.

I got the US 4K release but I assume this remaster is the same everywhere?

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by pumpkihn

I got the US 4K release but I assume this remaster is the same everywhere?

Correct.

[kurtc1996]

Hello Friend,
Can you confirm me that there are french tracks on the trilogy 4K and blu-ray please (for the UK version)?
Thanks a lot
Regards
J.

[Schwartzy]

Did anyone else notice in rambo part 2 that couple of explosions had like split second pixelated quality?
Mainly the where rambo blows ups the car on the bridge, split second the inner part of the explosion looks bit pixelated

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by Schwartzy

Did anyone else notice in rambo part 2 that couple of explosions had like split second pixelated quality?
Mainly the where rambo blows ups the car on the bridge, split second the inner part of the explosion looks bit pixelated

It's hard not to notice sadly.

[Schwartzy]

"Good" to know it wasnt my disc... Read some of the 4k reviews and no one mentioned that brief problem.

Otherwise the quality is very filmic as it should be, some greyish blacks but still

[Keung]

Why don’t the English subtitles match anything that’s being said on screen?

[Noremac Mij]

How far back in the home video format history does one need to go back to get a proper and faithful presentation of Rambo II?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by elk3605

I’ve bought a VHS re-release in the 90s. VCD, DVD, SE DVD, BD and 4K. 6 for me. Just watched it on my birthday, great film. Better than I remembered.

My parents bought the first family VCR back in Christmas of 1985, when I was in eighth grade. Shortly after that, I gave a blank VHS tape to a neighborhood friend of mine who had HBO so that he could record Rambo: First Blood Part II for me.

That blurry-as-hell dubbed VHS pan-and-scan video of this movie rocked my face for several years, and I must have watched it a million times, along with a dubbed VHS tape of pan-and-scan Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid, and Rocky III that my uncle recorded for me from HBO, and another VHS tape that the above friend recorded from HBO for me with pan-and-scan Stand by Me, The Silver Bullet, and Creepshow on it.

This is one reason why I secretly want to throat-punch people in this forum who harp endlessly about minor noise reduction or compression artifact issues on otherwise stellar Blu-ray and 4K UHD presentations of such movies.
I mean, we all, including me, want to see flawless transfers, but most of us have experienced worse.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. ABC edited-for-television Sunday night showings of Jaws and Alien, Betamax tapes, $90 MSRP VHS editions of The Shining, pan-and-scan DVD discs, the Predator Ultimate Hunter Edition Blu-ray... All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

[Markgway]

Bet you haven't seen anything worse than this:



VHS, P&S, censored by 3:03 (even then sleeve art is censored!).

[dullboy]

Originally Posted by Keung

Why don’t the English subtitles match anything that’s being said on screen?

Because it was a lazy job probably done on the cheap.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

My parents bought the first family VCR back in Christmas of 1985, when I was in eighth grade. Shortly after that, I gave a blank VHS tape to a neighborhood friend of mine who had HBO so that he could record Rambo: First Blood Part II for me.

That blurry-as-hell dubbed VHS pan-and-scan video of this movie rocked my face for several years, and I must have watched it a million times, along with a dubbed VHS tape of pan-and-scan Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid, and Rocky III that my uncle recorded for me from HBO, and another VHS tape that the above friend recorded from HBO for me with pan-and-scan Stand by Me, The Silver Bullet, and Creepshow on it.

This is one reason why I secretly want to throat-punch people in this forum who harp endlessly about minor noise reduction or compression artifact issues on otherwise stellar Blu-ray and 4K UHD presentations of such movies.
I mean, we all, including me, want to see flawless transfers, but most of us have experienced worse.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. ABC edited-for-television Sunday night showings of Jaws and Alien, Betamax tapes, $90 MSRP VHS editions of The Shining, pan-and-scan DVD discs, the Predator Ultimate Hunter Edition Blu-ray... All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

I don't aks for "flawless", never have done. I only aks for competence and after all this time, 30 years of being a movie nut, I don't think that's too much to aks for. If we're paying a premium - and we are - then that also plays into some people's perceptions, rightly or wrongly, and as 4K UHD will in all likelihood be the last physical movie format then for me it comes under increased scrutiny, not less.

My favourite tape as a kid was a 4:3 version of Die Hard recorded off the TV. Pan and scan, cut to ribbons, adverts (even a break for the news I think?), terrible dubbing for the swearing, and I still watched it religiously, the rest of my family was absolutely sick of seeing it. But not me. And even now that version of the movie is still seared into my brain, so watching it on uncut widescreen DVD, Blu, UHD or whatever is like seeing some amazing director's cut every time. Same with Ghostbusters, I had the proper store-bought P&S VHS and I can still remember the trailers that were on it. Also had loads of other movies on VHS which got repeated play. So if you think you're special for having this experience, you ain't.

But I upgrade formats as continually as I've done because I'm always after that extra few percent of the experience, this forum wouldn't even exist if people didn't want and appreciate seeing their favourites in best-ever quality. And if those goalposts get shifted regarding "best-ever quality" then I'll be right there with it, my 'eye' for this stuff got me some work doing QC on an upcoming restoration of a beloved horror classic, so I dare say my persnickety nature has even done some good. As for yourself, if you don't care then why upgrade to 4K at all? Why take the time to send back that first 4K TV (which you were amazed by anyway IIRC) and get a much better one if you're just content to sit back and enjoy the show? Shouldn't you be happy with an old VHS player hooked up to a CRT?

[SirStack]

Originally Posted by Keung

Why don’t the English subtitles match anything that’s being said on screen?

I honestly suspect the company translated it from a French translation of the subtitles back into English via Google.

[MikeRoda]

I bought this 4K BD when it first came out but just got around to watching it tonight, it stopped playing midway, started pausing pixellating and then just won't play at all, I had to use my digital code to stream it from that point on which I hated because the quality is shit. anyone else has thi9s problem?