Oldboy 4K UHD (2003) - Blu-ray Forum

McCrutchy · 04-06-2018, 04:31 AM

Capelight Pictures have announced that they will bring Park Chan-wook's Oldboy (올드보이) (2003) to UHD Blu-ray (with HDR) in Germany later this year.

Capelight's 2017 German 1080p Blu-ray does appear to contain both German and English subtitles for the main feature, although this obviously doesn't guarantee that their UHD BD disc will, too.

Keyser Soze. · 04-06-2018, 04:42 AM

Yes!

Yes!!

Yes!!!

OutOfBoose · 04-06-2018, 04:44 AM

Nice. I hope they do something with crushed blacks.

Fendergopher · 04-06-2018, 04:58 AM

Neat, would be cool to see if they could do this one better, especially with the crushed blacks, as mentioned earlier. According to IMDb it was mastered to a DI, but it was shot on 35 mm, so there presumably is a negative stored somewhere. Seems unlikely that they'll scan the negative for a UHD release, but who knows. No idea what resolution the DI is at, most likely 2K given the vintage.

Sky_Captain · 04-06-2018, 11:57 AM

Must. Not. Fap.

qw0aszx · 04-06-2018, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fendergopher

Neat, would be cool to see if they could do this one better, especially with the crushed blacks, as mentioned earlier. According to IMDb it was mastered to a DI, but it was shot on 35 mm, so there presumably is a negative stored somewhere. Seems unlikely that they'll scan the negative for a UHD release, but who knows. No idea what resolution the DI is at, most likely 2K given the vintage.

I remember the restoration extra in Korean blu-ray said they used some photochemical ways to print the film to achieve the special color and contrast, so when they did the new restoration, they could only scan the IP, not OCN.

Fendergopher · 04-06-2018, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by qw0aszx

I remember the restoration extra in Korean blu-ray said they used some photochemical ways to print the film to achieve the special color and contrast, so when they did the new restoration, they could only scan the IP, not OCN.

Maybe that explains somehow the crushed blacks, what with the limited dynamic range of BD. Makes me wonder just what WCG/HDR could do do alleviate any issues like that.

panasonicst60 · 09-26-2018, 06:37 AM

When is the 4k supposed to be released? Will there be a US version?

gskmeva · 11-27-2018, 04:14 AM

First of all, I love this film. It is simply a masterpiece and I have yet to watch the latest remaster but have heard good and bad things about it.

As for the upcoming 4K release on Germany, I did check the company's Facebook page that is handling the 4k release (Capelight Pictures) and there are a lot of comments (though in German) from fans. I was able to get the gist through google translate (as I don't speak German) and everyone is still quite confused and the company has been quite hesitant to give full details.

One thing for sure is that it very likely we won't be a 4K transfer from the original camera negatives. That'll be very time consuming and increase the overall cost. And I do believe there might be some CGI moments in the film (e.g. the knife in Oh Dae-su's back in the famous one take fight in the hall was definitely added in post) so these would have be added back in. A complete restoration and remaster using the original camera negatives would be like the blurays for Star Trek TNG - time consuming, expensive but best quality, though very unlikely for this release of "Old Boy".

So the question now is whether or not we're getting a 4K scan from the interpositive (the master that is colored timed and directly printed from the original camera negative but still having some flaws) or worse, an upscale of the recently released remaster from a few years ago by the director which was very likely 2k.

Only time will tell.

docmoejones · 11-27-2018, 01:25 PM

yes please! the first Korean movie in UHD (right?), and I hope it opens the flood gate for more Korean movies to come to UHD. Hard to believe it's taken this long.

cmetz1984 · 11-27-2018, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docmoejones

yes please! the first Korean movie in UHD (right?), and I hope it opens the flood gate for more Korean movies to come to UHD. Hard to believe it's taken this long.

If you mean released in UHD I believe so, however the Handmaiden is available streaming in 4K UHD with HDR through Amazon Prime. Really hope that will have an official UHD release in the future too.

docmoejones · 11-27-2018, 09:30 PM

wow! didn't know that, thank you! love Handmaiden, can't imagine the HDR effects on the color, the skin tone, those voluptuous lips...

on a second thought, never mind, I'm not watching Handmaiden on Prime. I can't have Amazon servers logging the fact I keep re-winding certain segments of that movie over and over and over again...

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmetz1984

If you mean released in UHD I believe so, however the Handmaiden is available streaming in 4K UHD with HDR through Amazon Prime. Really hope that will have an official UHD release in the future too.

bradnoyes · 11-27-2018, 11:47 PM

Would be great if the entire trilogy makes it to UHD. As much as I love Oldboy, I love the other two movies even more. Would also kill for Tale of Two Sisters.

cmetz1984 · 11-28-2018, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docmoejones

wow! didn't know that, thank you! love Handmaiden, can't imagine the HDR effects on the color, the skin tone, those voluptuous lips...

on a second thought, never mind, I'm not watching Handmaiden on Prime. I can't have Amazon servers logging the fact I keep re-winding certain segments of that movie over and over and over again...

I actually came back to warn you away from it. I finally tried to watch it myself last night and am now scared of visiting any HDR content that doesn't have an official release on disc. Only made it through 10 minutes, but the colors in this were so overdone and just plain wrong looking at times that it felt like I was watching one of those old colorized classics where someone essentially drew over a black and white film. I compared it to the regular HD release and it was plain to see they messed this up big time.

docmoejones · 11-29-2018, 02:18 PM

bummer, that's unfortunate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmetz1984

I actually came back to warn you away from it. I finally tried to watch it myself last night and am now scared of visiting any HDR content that doesn't have an official release on disc. Only made it through 10 minutes, but the colors in this were so overdone and just plain wrong looking at times that it felt like I was watching one of those old colorized classics where someone essentially drew over a black and white film. I compared it to the regular HD release and it was plain to see they messed this up big time.

bradnoyes · 02-23-2019, 08:37 PM

Whatever happened to this? I was looking forward to it but I’m also finally making my way through the Canadian release of the entire Vengeance trilogy and I’m pretty happy with how it looks and sounds. Not sure if I’d upgrade.

Edit: nevermind! Made this post after finishing Sympathy, which I thought looked very good, but I’m watching Oldboy now and it is rough.

Agent Kay · 02-23-2019, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

Must. Not. Fap.

multiformous · 02-24-2019, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradnoyes

Whatever happened to this? I was looking forward to it but I’m also finally making my way through the Canadian release of the entire Vengeance trilogy and I’m pretty happy with how it looks and sounds. Not sure if I’d upgrade.

I own the Canadian trilogy release as well, but Oldboy got a remastered blu-ray release in Korea: comparison.

AlexIlDottore · 02-24-2019, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiformous

I own the Canadian trilogy release as well, but Oldboy got a remastered blu-ray release in Korea: comparison.

Yep. That master was released in Germany too.

Now where's an update on the UHD?

professorwho · 02-24-2019, 08:01 PM

The German release is the best in terms of PQ. Better than the remastered Korean (and uses the same master).

04-06-2018, 04:31 AM	#1
McCrutchy Contributor Top contributor Member since:Dec 2008 Location:East Coast, USA Home Theater Gallery:2 4K collection:1263 Blu-ray collection:6773 DVD collection:253 Blu-ray reviews: 5 Trading Score:17	Oldboy 4K UHD (2003) Capelight Pictures have announced that they will bring Park Chan-wook's *Oldboy* (올드보이) (2003) to UHD Blu-ray (with HDR) in Germany later this year. Capelight's 2017 German 1080p Blu-ray does appear to contain both German and English subtitles for the main feature, although this obviously doesn't guarantee that their UHD BD disc will, too.

11-27-2018, 04:14 AM	#9
gskmeva Member Member since:Sep 2010	So confused First of all, I love this film. It is simply a masterpiece and I have yet to watch the latest remaster but have heard good and bad things about it. As for the upcoming 4K release on Germany, I did check the company's Facebook page that is handling the 4k release (Capelight Pictures) and there are a lot of comments (though in German) from fans. I was able to get the gist through google translate (as I don't speak German) and everyone is still quite confused and the company has been quite hesitant to give full details. One thing for sure is that it very likely we won't be a 4K transfer from the original camera negatives. That'll be very time consuming and increase the overall cost. And I do believe there might be some CGI moments in the film (e.g. the knife in Oh Dae-su's back in the famous one take fight in the hall was definitely added in post) so these would have be added back in. A complete restoration and remaster using the original camera negatives would be like the blurays for Star Trek TNG - time consuming, expensive but best quality, though very unlikely for this release of "Old Boy". So the question now is whether or not we're getting a 4K scan from the interpositive (the master that is colored timed and directly printed from the original camera negative but still having some flaws) or worse, an upscale of the recently released remaster from a few years ago by the director which was very likely 2k. Only time will tell.

02-23-2019, 08:37 PM	#16
bradnoyes Blu-ray Knight Member since:Dec 2016 4K collection:775 Blu-ray collection:816 Trading Score:255	Whatever happened to this? I was looking forward to it but I’m also finally making my way through the Canadian release of the entire Vengeance trilogy and I’m pretty happy with how it looks and sounds. Not sure if I’d upgrade. Edit: nevermind! Made this post after finishing Sympathy, which I thought looked very good, but I’m watching Oldboy now and it is rough. Last edited by bradnoyes; 03-07-2019 at 07:47 PM.

04-06-2018, 04:42 AM	#2
Keyser Soze. Power Member Member since:Aug 2013 Location:Right behind you. Blu-ray collection:42 Trading Score:44	Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!

04-06-2018, 04:44 AM	#3
OutOfBoose Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Aug 2015 Location:The City Blu-ray collection:1	Nice. I hope they do something with crushed blacks.

04-06-2018, 04:58 AM	#4
Fendergopher Expert Member Top contributor Member since:Oct 2017 Location:Norway 4K collection:104 Blu-ray collection:150	Neat, would be cool to see if they could do this one better, especially with the crushed blacks, as mentioned earlier. According to IMDb it was mastered to a DI, but it was shot on 35 mm, so there presumably is a negative stored somewhere. Seems unlikely that they'll scan the negative for a UHD release, but who knows. No idea what resolution the DI is at, most likely 2K given the vintage.

04-06-2018, 11:57 AM	#5
Sky_Captain Blu-ray Duke Top contributor Member since:Jan 2008 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:17	Must. Not. Fap.

09-26-2018, 06:37 AM	#8
panasonicst60 Power Member Member since:Sep 2016 4K collection:297 Blu-ray collection:442 DVD collection:17 Trading Score:44	When is the 4k supposed to be released? Will there be a US version?

11-27-2018, 01:25 PM	#10
docmoejones Active Member Member since:Jun 2018 Location:Virginia 4K collection:206 Blu-ray collection:246 Trading Score:2	yes please! the first Korean movie in UHD (right?), and I hope it opens the flood gate for more Korean movies to come to UHD. Hard to believe it's taken this long.

11-27-2018, 11:47 PM	#13
bradnoyes Blu-ray Knight Member since:Dec 2016 4K collection:775 Blu-ray collection:816 Trading Score:255	Would be great if the entire trilogy makes it to UHD. As much as I love Oldboy, I love the other two movies even more. Would also kill for Tale of Two Sisters.

02-24-2019, 08:01 PM	#20
professorwho Blu-ray Champion Top contributor Member since:Apr 2017 4K collection:229 Blu-ray collection:982 Blu-ray reviews: 64 Trading Score:7	The German release is the best in terms of PQ. Better than the remastered Korean (and uses the same master).

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