Jurassic Park Collection 4K UHD (1993-2015)

[Geoff D]

Ze Lost World. So, SO close from Universal! Right off the bat you can see it's got a less fudged-with appearance than JP1, grain is very much present and although it's not in-your-face Sony grain it's a breath of fresh air vs the more "managed" look of its predecessor. The titles are opticals so the shots they're attached to still look a bit ropey, as does the shot of the little girl in the clearing when the CG Compys first pop up out of the undergrowth, but when we see Robin Sachs sitting in the chair on the beach you can see the level of crisp detail that this transfer is capable of.

I say "is capable of" because DP Janusz Kaminski LOVES his filters, loves them loves them loves them, and various shots in the movie have some sort of in-camera filtration, like the gorgeous four-point star filter being used in the scenes with Malcolm visiting Hammond, look at the way the direct light sources flare into those beautiful stellar shapes. But it also has the effect of eating into the available detail so don't expect amazing clarity from start to finish, but when they ease up on that stuff the detail really is excellent, proper 4K excellent, and I think the only overtly noise-reduced shot I caught in the entire show was when the trailer's gone over the cliff and they're dangling there, which was probably like that all along anyway. I always liked the previous Blu-ray, unlike some people, but this new 4K transfer absolutely kills it for detail.

Unlike its predecessor the VFX shots rarely disgrace themselves with regards to resolving power, retaining a solid amount of detail although the occasional dino looks a bit soft within a shot, if that makes sense. Dynamic range is still curtailed somewhat on the VFX however, like on the little girl's bright white dress in the shot I mentioned above, but way more troubling is a very posterised look to the black levels in most (but not all) shots with a CG creature or some sort of CG tweakery.

Universal have done their usual thing of bringing down the black level for the HDR grade (which I'd hoped that a new transfer would avoid) and while the effect is not too deleterious to the main body of the movie, with only a handful of first-generation shots looking blatantly "crushy", the CG shots have a very hard transition between black and near black that makes it look distractingly posterised as I said. (I noticed the exact same thing on Straight Outta Compton, FWIW). So as the movie starts it's fine, but as it progresses the CG shots become more numerous and often take place in darkness so it turns from a niggle into an outright annoyance, at least for me. Others probably won't see anything wrong but if you're not already crushing your black level to avoid near-black artefacts then it should be fairly apparant, particularly in the shots of the 'high hide' when Malcolm's daughter is up there. Yeah, those shots never looked great before but that harsher transition into black makes it ultra-blatant now.

As to the HDR itself, it pulls back a HECK of a lot of highlight detail in all the usual places and retains a semblance of the blooming that's a feature of so many shots in this movie. It does however lack the wonderfully dreamy look that the blooming engenders on the regular BD, the UHD's lighting being more realistic without a shadow of a doubt but it makes it feel a tad more workmanlike at the same time. That said there are still moments that will take your breath away, like the backlighting that Kaminski uses on people in certain moments to give them a bright 'halo' of light around of them.

Colour is fine, the BD tends towards a yellowy cast to skin tones whereas the UHD neutralises things and gives everyone their own particular complexion whilst still being able to make it look richer than the BD. A lot of this flick takes place in darker environments once it gets up to speed so there's only so much for the colour to do in such shots.

Some photos (and no, they're not from a phone). REMEMBER: they are not 100% accurate representations of either image but are there for illustrative purposes only, take note of what I'm directing you towards rather than taking each image's attributes as gospel.

Malcolm at the beginning, NO THE UHD ISN'T THAT DARK but just look at the highlight detail that it brings back, my goodness:

[Show spoiler]
BD



UHD

Baby rex, mightn't be super amazing but look at the difference in detail, the BD almost looks out of focus in comparison. Neither shot is actually is dark as this, and the highlight detail is better on the UHD than this photo would suggest:

[Show spoiler]
BD



UHD

Last one is just to show off some detail, this is Cowboy addressing the camera crew at the harbour near the end. SO much more detail on his face and clothing.

[Show spoiler]
BD



UHD

To sum up, this 4K edition of Lost World kicks some major ass when it's let off the leash but dat Universal black crush does it thing again. Whether this will bother anyone is down to their personal preference I guess, I can stand it on the 1st-gen shots simply because the dynamic range has been expanded in the upper end of the scale which allows the image to breathe despite having the lower end plugged up, but on the VFX shots they lack the kind of extended range that can really be exploited by HDR and (as with JP1) they become rather more obvious for that reason. And as this one has way more VFX shots than its forebear the effect is compounded. It's a shame that they applied a blanket HDR transform to these grades rather than treating the VFX shots with an adjusted LUT that takes the restricted dynamic range into account, but there we are. It's still a learning curve and Lost World's 4K presentation gets way more right than it does wrong.

[imsounoriginal]

Starting to get really excited about these transfers, the Park caps have been very promising so far.

[buckeye1]

Which edition will be more limited the steelbook or non steelbook?

[Leonidas King]

TLW looks f**king great!!!!

[imsounoriginal]

I'm glad the movie I will watch the least has been treated well.

[Leonidas King]

I’m glad people like myself are fans of TLW cause that UHD looks really promising!

[DJJez]

Originally Posted by buckeye1

Which edition will be more limited the steelbook or non steelbook?

the steelbook for sure

[rashbeep]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

I'm glad the movie I will watch the least has been treated well.

lmao

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

I'm glad the movie I will watch the least has been treated well.

I've gotta say I kinda enjoyed it this time around. I still rolled my eyes so hard at defeating raptors with gymnastics that they almost fell out of my head, and I tune out by the time they get to San Diego because it feels so tacked-on and false, but as a series of exciting dino-related vignettes the movie kept me well entertained. The entire trailer sequence is one of many career highlights for Señor Spielbergo (double the Rexy's, double the fun, DOUBLE REX).

[Leonidas King]

The gymnastics vs. raptor scene is still a stupid reason to hate it.

[BenjaminG]

Thanks for the screenshots s_har. So it looks like the 4K presentation is just as compromised as previous BD releases in terms of framing.

In front is the 4K release
In back (colour) is the same frame from a 35mm release print.



You'll notice at the top, you can see a few more teeth at the top of Rexy's head and the complete bottom of his foot.

I don't totally understand why there is slightly more image on the left hand side on the 4K, since VFX shots were rendered hard matted to 1:85:1, but there's a good few percent missing from top and bottom of the frame.

[Vangeli]

I stan for all Jurassic Park movies

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I've gotta say I kinda enjoyed it this time around. I still rolled my eyes so hard at defeating raptors with gymnastics that they almost fell out of my head, and I tune out by the time they get to San Diego because it feels so tacked-on and false, but as a series of exciting dino-related vignettes the movie kept me well entertained. The entire trailer sequence is one of many career highlights for Señor Spielbergo (double the Rexy's, double the fun, DOUBLE REX).

The dangling trailer bit is nice, but it's a fun blip on an otherwise shockingly... boring radar for me. I find myself tapping out earlier and earlier each time I try watching this.

[buckeye1]

Placed my order for the steelbook. Hope this well worth the money I spent on it. After checkout it says I should have it by Friday the 25th with free shipping. Does that seem right? Why wouldn't I get it Tuesday? Could I get it any sooner than Friday?

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

I'm glad the movie I will watch the least has been treated well.

So far it appears the JP movies which looked best on BD are looking best on UHD BD as well.

[The Rider]

Originally Posted by aphid

[/SPOILER]
Whoever scanned that print didn't know what they were doing. It's also missing a profile. I doubt they even had the means to create the proper profile for it.
Here's a closer approximation of how it should look

Your print looks fantastic, I hope some Blu-ray looked like this.

[buckeye1]

Originally Posted by The Rider

Your print looks fantastic, I hope some Blu-ray looked like this.

Same here.

[The Rider]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Ze Lost World. So, SO close from Universal! Right off the bat you can see it's got a less fudged-with appearance than JP1, grain is very much present and although it's not in-your-face Sony grain it's a breath of fresh air vs the more "managed" look of its predecessor. The titles are opticals so the shots they're attached to still look a bit ropey, as does the shot of the little girl in the clearing when the CG Compys first pop up out of the undergrowth, but when we see Robin Sachs sitting in the chair on the beach you can see the level of crisp detail that this transfer is capable of.

I say "is capable of" because DP Janusz Kaminski LOVES his filters, loves them loves them loves them, and various shots in the movie have some sort of in-camera filtration, like the gorgeous four-point star filter being used in the scenes with Malcolm visiting Hammond, look at the way the direct light sources flare into those beautiful stellar shapes. But it also has the effect of eating into the available detail so don't expect amazing clarity from start to finish, but when they ease up on that stuff the detail really is excellent, proper 4K excellent, and I think the only overtly noise-reduced shot I caught in the entire show was when the trailer's gone over the cliff and they're dangling there, which was probably like that all along anyway. I always liked the previous Blu-ray, unlike some people, but this new 4K transfer absolutely kills it for detail.

Unlike its predecessor the VFX shots rarely disgrace themselves with regards to resolving power, retaining a solid amount of detail although the occasional dino looks a bit soft within a shot, if that makes sense. Dynamic range is still curtailed somewhat on the VFX however, like on the little girl's bright white dress in the shot I mentioned above, but way more troubling is a very posterised look to the black levels in most (but not all) shots with a CG creature or some sort of CG tweakery.

Universal have done their usual thing of bringing down the black level for the HDR grade (which I'd hoped that a new transfer would avoid) and while the effect is not too deleterious to the main body of the movie, with only a handful of first-generation shots looking blatantly "crushy", the CG shots have a very hard transition between black and near black that makes it look distractingly posterised as I said. (I noticed the exact same thing on Straight Outta Compton, FWIW). So as the movie starts it's fine, but as it progresses the CG shots become more numerous and often take place in darkness so it turns from a niggle into an outright annoyance, at least for me. Others probably won't see anything wrong but if you're not already crushing your black level to avoid near-black artefacts then it should be fairly apparant, particularly in the shots of the 'high hide' when Malcolm's daughter is up there. Yeah, those shots never looked great before but that harsher transition into black makes it ultra-blatant now.

As to the HDR itself, it pulls back a HECK of a lot of highlight detail in all the usual places and retains a semblance of the blooming that's a feature of so many shots in this movie. It does however lack the wonderfully dreamy look that the blooming engenders on the regular BD, the UHD's lighting being more realistic without a shadow of a doubt but it makes it feel a tad more workmanlike at the same time. That said there are still moments that will take your breath away, like the backlighting that Kaminski uses on people in certain moments to give them a bright 'halo' of light around of them.

Colour is fine, the BD tends towards a yellowy cast to skin tones whereas the UHD neutralises things and gives everyone their own particular complexion whilst still being able to make it look richer than the BD. A lot of this flick takes place in darker environments once it gets up to speed so there's only so much for the colour to do in such shots.

Some photos (and no, they're not from a phone). REMEMBER: they are not 100% accurate representations of either image but are there for illustrative purposes only, take note of what I'm directing you towards rather than taking each image's attributes as gospel.

Malcolm at the beginning, NO THE UHD ISN'T THAT DARK but just look at the highlight detail that it brings back, my goodness:

[Show spoiler]
BD



UHD

Baby rex, mightn't be super amazing but look at the difference in detail, the BD almost looks out of focus in comparison. Neither shot is actually is dark as this, and the highlight detail is better on the UHD than this photo would suggest:

[Show spoiler]
BD



UHD

Last one is just to show off some detail, this is Cowboy addressing the camera crew at the harbour near the end. SO much more detail on his face and clothing.

[Show spoiler]
BD



UHD

To sum up, this 4K edition of Lost World kicks some major ass when it's let off the leash but dat Universal black crush does it thing again. Whether this will bother anyone is down to their personal preference I guess, I can stand it on the 1st-gen shots simply because the dynamic range has been expanded in the upper end of the scale which allows the image to breathe despite having the lower end plugged up, but on the VFX shots they lack the kind of extended range that can really be exploited by HDR and (as with JP1) they become rather more obvious for that reason. And as this one has way more VFX shots than its forebear the effect is compounded. It's a shame that they applied a blanket HDR transform to these grades rather than treating the VFX shots with an adjusted LUT that takes the restricted dynamic range into account, but there we are. It's still a learning curve and Lost World's 4K presentation gets way more right than it does wrong.

Thank you for your review and pictures.

On my opinion The Lost Worldc looks at the best at the 2011 Blu-rays, it have the most filmic piocture no EE like part I and III. It is possible, that Universal did for TLW a new 4K scan and they used this 4K scan again for the UHD with postproduction and HDR in 4K resolution?

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by BenjaminG

Thanks for the screenshots s_har. So it looks like the 4K presentation is just as compromised as previous BD releases in terms of framing.

In front is the 4K release
In back (colour) is the same frame from a 35mm release print.



You'll notice at the top, you can see a few more teeth at the top of Rexy's head and the complete bottom of his foot.

I don't totally understand why there is slightly more image on the left hand side on the 4K, since VFX shots were rendered hard matted to 1:85:1, but there's a good few percent missing from top and bottom of the frame.

Except that the entire 35mm frame wouldn’t have been seen theatrically anyway. There’s a little leeway in the masking so you aren’t seeing the frames on either side when projecting film. Every theatrical projection I’ve seen had the tops of Dino’s heads slightly shaved off, despite what the DVD shows.

[buckeye1]

I noticed that there is a book that comes with this limited edition, but will that come with the steelbook as well?