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UHD What do you think of the 2K shot LIFE OF PI coming out on UHD? (1 Viewer)

pinknik

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Is that controversial? Should it be? It was shot on 2K Alexa's, yet is slated to be one of the first UHD titles released. Should ALL 4K UHD discs have a completely 4K workflow? Just curious about what the forum thinks, thanks.
 

pinknik

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P.S. I suppose a 2k title on UHD could benefit from HDR and better color gamut, even if the lines of resolution aren't as high. Would that be sufficient reason to consider UHD over blu?
 

Josh Steinberg

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Is that controversial? Should it be? It was shot on 2K Alexa's, yet is slated to be one of the first UHD titles released. Should ALL 4K UHD discs have a completely 4K workflow? Just curious about what the forum thinks, thanks.

I don't know that we're all of one mind on this.

My take: The overwhelming majority of titles that have been announced for UHD so far are 2K titles. The overwhelming majority of theatrical releases are still completed at 2K resolution. There's nowhere near as much content in true 4K as there is hype for the format. Many of the titles that would seem like great demo disc material for UHD are locked in at 2K forever - including all of the Marvel Studios movies, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Gravity, etc., etc.

Some people have pointed out that the UHD spec also includes expanded color, called HDR, which in demonstrations seemed more impressive than the resolution jump from 2K to 4K. I haven't seen anything in HDR yet, so I can't comment on what it looks like. But my concern for a title like "Life of Pi" would be that in 2012, there was no such thing as HDR. Fox has promised that all of their UHD releases will feature HDR. If that includes Life Of Pi, and I have no reason to believe that it doesn't, that means that the look of the movie is being changed for the UHD BD release, and in principle I'm not a fan of that.

I think the studios needed to actually start producing all of their content in 4K before the hardware manufacturers started selling us consumers on it. I'm concerned that so many titles being released and advertised as "4K" aren't actually 4K.

In the case of Life Of Pi specifically, it was conceived from the start as being a 3D movie, and it's been cited as one of the best 3D productions of the modern era. In my opinion, seeing this title in 3D is more important than any other hardware additions, be it a Dolby Atmos type of audio or 4K. 3D is where this movie draws its power from, and it's strange to see it being released on a format that, at the moment, is not capable of doing 3D. Seems like a waste to me.
 

DavidMiller

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The 4K - non-HDR version is pretty amazing. I have a copy on my Samsung Drive I got to download movies on. I think that if the 4K UHD disks are scaled well then I'm fine with it. However, I would like to see movies rescanned from the original where possible. Obviously lots of movies have now been filmed with 2K systems which is going to limit some of this. Josh of the titles announced it is 60% - 2K intermediates, 40% 4K intermediates just to put a fair picture on it.
 

Robert Harris

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HDR alone is a significant addition.

Professional technology can do a better job of an uprez, as opposed to an HD player or 4k panel or projection device.

HDR is not something new. It's been used for years in photography, as well as scanning what might be considered problematic elements, by scanning twice for what are essentially high and low lights, or the most and least exposed areas of a film element, and combining.
 

OliverK

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Like with all previous formats titles will have to be evaluated in your system and compared to the other format that you already have or that you could also buy but for a lower price.

From a purely technical point of view and if done properly there will be a difference to 1080p Blu-ray but only you will be able to say if it will be worth buying the movie again or pay the much higher price for the UHD version.
 

Dr Griffin

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Hasn't Fox's Mr. Finn gone on record that 2K finished theatrical films from Fox will go back to the raw data and redo them for 4K release?
 

Dr Griffin

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I'm not sure where I read it, but I remember it pertained to raw data above 2K of course.
 

Johnny Angell

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HDR alone is a significant addition.

Professional technology can do a better job of an uprez, as opposed to an HD player or 4k panel or projection device.

HDR is not something new. It's been used for years in photography, as well as scanning what might be considered problematic elements, by scanning twice for what are essentially high and low lights, or the most and least exposed areas of a film element, and combining.
Even my iPhone Camera has an HDR option.
 

Carabimero

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So much depends on the cinematography, the camera and the lenses. I shot my last movie with my home camera at the same resolution that Lucas shot REVENGE OF THE SITH: 1080. But my camera wasn't near as good. My lenses weren't near as good. It isn't the lines of resolution so much as it is the technical and artistic synthesis that ends up on the screen, the dynamic range in a nutshell. So I don't have a problem with a 2k movie being released in a 4k format. Above 1080, lines of resolution are overrated and dynamic range is underrated, IMHO.
 
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OliverK

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What's the point of releasing a 3D movie in 2D, regardless of the resolution?

Fox probably thinks that the 3D movies they have chosen look so good in 2D that people will love them as a UHD release.
As you certainly know 3D is limited in brightness and therefore HDR and 3D do not go together very well at the moment.

Warner is doing the same with Mad Max, San Andreas and with the Lego movie so it seems as if 3D is not considered that important anymore.
 

Lord Dalek

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Yeah Home Consumer 3D's pretty much dead as a dodo. If you invested in it, sucks to be you.
 

Joel Fontenot

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Even my iPhone Camera has an HDR option.

So does my BlackBerry Z10.

But isn't HDR on a consumer level camera different from what is part of the UHD spec?

The photo version is basically reducing the overall dynamic range so that the extreme lights and darks are artificially evened out and things get a bit of an eerie look to them. I thought it meant something different in UHD like the color range, or something like that.

Was I wrong? Are we now going to see what was inside the cabin around the doorway in the opening and closing shots of The Searchers when it hits UHD?
 

Johnny Angell

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So does my BlackBerry Z10.

But isn't HDR on a consumer level camera different from what is part of the UHD spec?

The photo version is basically reducing the overall dynamic range so that the extreme lights and darks are artificially evened out and things get a bit of an eerie look to them. I thought it meant something different in UHD like the color range, or something like that.

Was I wrong? Are we now going to see what was inside the cabin around the doorway in the opening and closing shots of The Searchers when it hits UHD?
I am no expert, but I thought HDR on my iPhone meant it was taking 2 or more pics and combining them to get the widest range proper exposure for a single, final photo.
 

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