Unfortunately, there’s both good and bad news for fans of the Predator series, as Fox releases its new 4k home theater variant.
Let’s get the bad out of the way first.
At just under $50 for the three films at street price, this is a fair deal, but it guarantees an expensive August for said fans, as everyone is going to need a copy.
The good news is that all three films have been meticulously scanned and cleaned for an absolutely perfect 4k experience.
While the second and third offerings have never been problematic, the first seemed to never be quite right. Even with it’s re-issue in 2008, perfection was never met. As I recall, there was a slight problem with grain management.
In the new 4k, however, color, black levels, shadow detail (when it’s there), and film grain, all appear natural, and pleasing.
HDR is very nicely handled.
Nary a problem in sight.
Audio, in DTS-HD MA 5.1 is loud and huge.
Although there are basic extras on the 4k discs, it appears (I’ve not fully checked), that all of the earlier extras are intact on the Blu-ray variants.
Image – 5
Audio – 5 (DTS-HS MA 5.1)
Pass / Fail – Pass
Highly Recommended
RAH
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Who Replied?DavidJ
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The good news is that all three films have been meticulously scanned and cleaned for an absolutely perfect 4k experience. While the second and third offerings have never been problematic, the first seemed to never be quite right.
Predator 2 also suffered a lot of DNR on Blu-ray.
Predators (#3) was shot digitally at 2k.
Konstantinos
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Malcolm R
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That's par for the course with most catalog titles recently. New scans/masters for the 4K discs, but the blu-rays are of the older versions. That's why I haven't bothered with most of them since I already own those older blus.Another bad news is that FOX apparently doesn't care much for the non 4K users, since the new scans haven't been released on 1080p bluray.
Michael Osadciw
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Carlo Medina
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I just have one question: when Arnold's teammember says "there's something else...it looks like a surveillance bird to me" when they first discover the downed chopper (around 15m in), does that dialogue sound weird to anyone else? Like it was poorly looped in later? I checked both the 5.1 and the 4.0 DTS tracks and it's there in both. Maybe I just never noticed it before because most of my viewings of this film were on DVD many years ago.
I agree with RAH's assessment though, it's an exceptional transfer of a great film.
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We watched Predator 2 last night. Another GREAT job by Fox! Say what you will about the merits of the film itself - this 4K release is spectacular.
That’s Mr. Belston & Co.
Mr. Masters
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2008 they made the first Blu-ray with an old scan and bad encoding. It's a shame that Fox doesn't use the opportunity to remaster the 1080p Blu-ray as a compensation for the Ultimate Hunter Edition disaster.
I enjoyed 2 almost as much as the first.We watched Predator 2 last night. Another GREAT job by Fox! Say what you will about the merits of the film itself - this 4K release is spectacular.
hanshotfirst1138
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I enjoyed 2 almost as much as the first.
It’s not a great movie, but unlike most sequels, it’s not just a remake with a bigger budget; it does genuinely do something different. The city setting is really cool.
Michael Osadciw
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Watched Predators and thought that maybe the HDR would reveal a little more detail in the white light that comes through the leaves in the jungles. There isn't anything new in there, instead it just looks a little too blown out when compared to the rest of the shot. Maybe the detail lies in the original photography before the 2K render sent to the DI and one would need to go back to those files and extract the detail. Or maybe it's green screen and the white is a visual effect added in. There may have never been anything there to begin with. Things to ponder... The more true 4K stuff I watch, the easier it is to spot a 2K DI. There's just not nearly as much information in the frame. I'm sure as time goes on, the real 4K stuff will look even better. Much like putting in a Blu-ray disc from 2006-2011. Watching many of those today, they don't look nearly as impressive.
You realize this was not shot on film.
Michael Osadciw
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Yes I do. Resolution aside, when I was reading an article on digital video cameras for movies (it was a Sony one), there was a comment made by the Sony representative. I'm loosely paraphrasing, but he said that movies shot on digital in the past contain more highlight information than what we've been able to see because of restrictions in the HD video system, thus those highlights were blown out. He mentioned it was possible to go back to those original files (I'm assuming if they still exist) and with the new HDR system, we'd be able to see more of the information captured in those bright areas. I don't have a reference for the article (it was in a production or post-production magazine). Maybe I misunderstood what he was saying..?
Were not the original files HD?
Michael Osadciw
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