A Few Words About A few words about...™ Arrival -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Johnny Angell]

I may be alone in this, but why can't exit signs be put on a dimmer? The human eye adjusts to light levels, meaning that a dimmed exit sign would still be visible at half brightness in a dark theatre. The answer is probably that there is some regulation preventing this. *sigh*

There is always the chance someone has just entered the theater when the exit sign is really needed and they won't have adapted to the dark yet.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I may be alone in this, but why can't exit signs be put on a dimmer? The human eye adjusts to light levels, meaning that a dimmed exit sign would still be visible at half brightness in a dark theatre. The answer is probably that there is some regulation preventing this. *sigh*

That's exactly it. In most places, there are local city ordinances, and sometimes additional county or state regulations, about exit signs. In general, it seems that older buildings with less visible ones may be grandfathered in, but that any new theater needs to have it clearly displayed, which of course makes for a less than ideal viewing environment.

There's a funny bit in the "Steve Jobs" movie where the Jobs character wants to have the exit lights turned off for just thirty seconds during a video presentation, and being vexed when he absolutely cannot get permission for it.

My favorite IMAX theater has just been negatively affected by this. They completely renovated the seating area and installed new state of the art laser projectors, but also installed blue lights in the entrance corridors located to the left and right of the screen (which used to be completely unlit, and yet, never was an issue) - the spill from those blue lights now intrudes into the screening room and shines on about a quarter of the screen on either side during the entire movie. It seriously detracts from the presentation in a major way. I spoke to the CQO for IMAX, who personally visited the theater, saw the lights, and yet was powerless to affect any change in the situation. They spent about $4 million on a laser projector and then ruin the effect with a $4 light strip.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I suppose the other option would be a hood to prevent light spillage, but that would probably obstruct portions of the sign from different viewpoints. A no-win situation indeed.

 

[Adam_S]

I saw this last week at arclight Hollywood and it had a very washed out low contrast look with especially milky blacks throughout.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I suppose the other option would be a hood to prevent light spillage, but that would probably obstruct portions of the sign from different viewpoints. A no-win situation indeed.

The thing is, with most movies in most theaters, I don't have a problem with the spill from the exit times - the image on the screen is bright enough to counter any detrimental effect from the light. "Arrival" stood in sharp contrast to every other movie I saw last year because it just was that dark. I appreciate that they graded the picture based on ideal conditions, but I wish they would have taken real world theatrical conditions into consideration too. I don't think the filmmakers intended the image to be so dim that an "exit" light would seriously affect it.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

A local place by me has orange LED runway lights as their aisle lights and they cast a shadow on the screen so bright that it absolutely kills the contrast. When the overhead lights are dimmed and the screen is black you can clearly see two cone-shaped swaths of orange light from bottom to top of the screen. Terrible. I complained and was told they couldn't dim them. It just changed ownership and they're supposed to renovate this year - I should go and speak to the manager and tell them to get dimmer lights.

 

[rsmithjr]

An ex-patriot Brit, screwing up one of the quintessential points of proper English grammar?

It was none other than Sir Winston Churchill, who uttered those famous words...

"One should never use a preposition to end a sentence with."

I have usually heard it as some variant of:

“This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put.”

However, there is considerable discussion about who actually said this or what the wording was. See for example:

https://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/churchill.html

 

[Mike Frezon]

I chose Arrival as my first UHD disc to watch on my home system.

[While I have an Oppo 203 player and 4k-capable receiver, I have a non-UHD Panasonic Plasma as my display.]

And I think I picked the wrong disc as my first-ever watch. When you guys said this film is dark (visually), you weren't kidding!

The film itself is really good (It zoomed way ahead of Manchester by the Sea and Lion for me in this year's crop of hot new releases.) I am going to be thinking about this film long after I forget about those others. And it looked great on the brightly lit scenes.

But I will now turn to something like The Shallows to get a better sense as to what I might be able to expect from watching 4k discs on my current setup.

 

[dpippel]

Mike, since you don't have a 4K display I don't think you're gaining anything by watching the UHD disc as opposed to the Blu-ray. In fact you may be introducing problems since the UHD has to be downrezzed to 1080p. Personally I'd stick with Blu-ray until you upgrade your panel.

As for Arrival, we watched it for the first time last night and I absolutely LOVED the film. It is so unique and so well done that I'd say it's become my favorite movie of 2016. Very thought-provoking. Yes, the 4K UHD HDR presentation is dark, but from what I've read this is the way it looked in the theater and is the intent of the director. I've got no problem with that.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I know! Great film, right?!? Very exciting when that happens!

I figure that it's not accomplishing anything to spin the 4k disc yet...but I'd heard in other threads that members were doing the same with no ill effects, so I wanted to give it a try.

Oh. AND the "UHD" light on the Oppo display DID kick in! So all wasn't lost!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Again, this film is very dark and that's the way it should be viewed if you want to capture the theatrical experience. My 4K/UHD disc won't arrived until tomorrow (no pun intended). Looking forward to seeing this film again. Amy Adams should have been nominated for AA.

 

[dpippel]

Agreed Robert. BTW, the 4K UHD HDR presentation of this film is VERY different from the Blu-ray, which is not nearly as dark.

 

[dpippel]

I know! Great film, right?!? Very exciting when that happens!

I figure that it's not accomplishing anything to spin the 4k disc yet...but I'd heard in other threads that members were doing the same with no ill effects, so I wanted to give it a try.

Oh. AND the "UHD" light on the Oppo display DID kick in! So all wasn't lost!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Agreed Robert. BTW, the 4K UHD HDR presentation of this film is VERY different from the Blu-ray, which is not nearly as dark.

I'll take a look when my disc arrives tomorrow.

 

[Mike Frezon]

BTW, the 4K UHD HDR presentation of this film is VERY different from the Blu-ray, which is not nearly as dark.

So...maybe I got a more accurate presentation by watching my 4k disc, Doug!

 

[zoetmb]

We're very lucky to have an Arclight Theater in Bethesda, Maryland. So when I saw this film it was in a pitch black theater without the blasted red Exit signs throwing light on the screen. The film is dark, and very rich in its blackness. I don't have 4k equipment, so am hoping the blu looks good. A wonderful and thought-provoking film.

You're lucky. In NYC, the Fire Department insists on the red exit signs and even the AMC Dolby Vision screen at the Empire 25 has them. I saw this at a brand new Alamo Drafthouse theater in Brooklyn. They serve food and each seat has a table in front and there are lights below each table that don't turn off. That annoyed the hell out of me, but in spite of that, the projection was quite good and I didn't get the sense that the projection was too dark like I do for many 3D movies in many theaters. It looked fine to me within the context of what I thought the visuals were supposed to look like.

And yes, I loved the film.

 

[KeithDA]

OK, so I love most sci fi and didn't get to the cinema to see this one. I'm sort of planning an upgrade to 4k this autumn (OLED plus Oppo if possible) - do I 'future proof' and get this one as a 4k disc, or simply stick to the Blu Ray? Is it worth it, would I regret not getting it?

 

[Robert Harris]

OK, so I love most sci fi and didn't get to the cinema to see this one. I'm sort of planning an upgrade to 4k this autumn (OLED plus Oppo if possible) - do I 'future proof' and get this one as a 4k disc, or simply stick to the Blu Ray? Is it worth it, would I regret not getting it?

Why would you not go 4k, as it comes with Blu?

 

[DavidJ]

I'd recommend buying the 4K package too, if you think you may upgrade. I did that with some discs in the months before I upgraded. I would warn you though, that having the discs does increase the temptation to upgrade.

 

[Robert Crawford]

OK, so I love most sci fi and didn't get to the cinema to see this one. I'm sort of planning an upgrade to 4k this autumn (OLED plus Oppo if possible) - do I 'future proof' and get this one as a 4k disc, or simply stick to the Blu Ray? Is it worth it, would I regret not getting it?

As RAH stated, buy the 4K/UHD Release that also has the BD disc. Before I took my 4K/OLED plunge a few months back, I started to buy 4K/UHD Releases using that same strategy.