A Few Words About A few words about...™ Harry Potter: Years 5 - 7 -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[JoshZ]

Watched Prisoner of Azkaban with the kids today. I didn't compare with the old Blu-ray, but the 4K disc was noticeably a big drop in quality from Chamber of Secrets.

If I'm not mistaken, this was the first movie in the series to have a full end-to-end DI (at 2K resolution) when produced, and 2004 was still early days for that technology. The image has nowhere near 4K worth of detail. It hardly seems to have 2K worth most of the time. (Was the new master uprezzed directly from the original DI, or was a film-out done and a new scan performed of that element?) The colors are also rather drab, and the HDR has few highlights of note.

It's not unwatchable or anything, but by 4K HDR standards it's definitely lacking.

The DTS:X soundtrack is OK, but not as aggressive as Chamber of Secrets.

We're going to start reading the next book tomorrow. Given that Goblet of Fire is about 700,000 pages long, I expect it's going to be a while before we get to the next movie.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It just goes to show that aside from marketing/business reasons, there isn’t a technical reason for many films to come to 4K. There’s more than a decade worth of films that exist as 2K DIs and will always be 2K DIs. They are what they are.

And yet, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Warner and the creative team felt the 2K DI was sufficient to release the film in IMAX on the world’s largest screens. I saw it back in 2003 in that format; it was spectacular. If 2K was enough to fill IMAX’s 100+ foot screen at their flagship location, surely it’s enough for home viewing on screens that are mostly smaller than 100 inches.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Watched Prisoner of Azkaban with the kids today. I didn't compare with the old Blu-ray, but the 4K disc was noticeably a big drop in quality from Chamber of Secrets.

If I'm not mistaken, this was the first movie in the series to have a full end-to-end DI (at 2K resolution) when produced, and 2004 was still early days for that technology. The image has nowhere near 4K worth of detail. It hardly seems to have 2K worth most of the time. (Was the new master uprezzed directly from the original DI, or was a film-out done and a new scan performed of that element?) The colors are also rather drab, and the HDR has few highlights of note.

It's not unwatchable or anything, but by 4K HDR standards it's definitely lacking.

The DTS:X soundtrack is OK, but not as aggressive as Chamber of Secrets.

We're going to start reading the next book tomorrow. Given that Goblet of Fire is about 700,000 pages long, I expect it's going to be a while before we get to the next movie.

I don't know what they did to that one, except, as you say, it was early days for digital. I recall the whole feature looking strikingly different from its predecessors. The new director did something in post where he desaturated the color palette. And this I know because I recall seeing trailers where everything was brighter and more colorful than what we got. Now I have to go around online and figure out if somebody's posted those old trailers. But if you want a really weird-looking movie, look no further than Half-Blood Prince. The women look like they are on leave from Madame Tussauds' while the men look like they were all quarreling with the makeup department. And that's the way it looked in the theaters and that's the way it looks on home video.

 

[Tino]

The new director did something in post where he desaturated the color palette.

That new director is two time Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron. .

 

[Ethan Riley]

That new director is two time Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron. .

Not ah!

 

[Jeff Cooper]

For me the 4k disc of Goblet of Fire is much worse than the blu-ray. When I watch the series I watch all of them on the 4k disc, except Goblet of Fire.

Something went wrong with the color in that one, the whites are completely blown out. When the minister is announcing the start of the world quidditch cup, his face is just a bright pure white blob, where as on the blu ray you can clearly make out his face.

Same exact thing for the ghosts that come out of Voldemort's wand during the final battle in the graveyard.

Funnily enough, I haven't heard anyone else complain about this.

 

[Chewbabka]

Funnily enough, I haven't heard anyone else complain about this.

Probably because it “pops”… that’s what HDR is about, isn’t it

 

[JoshZ]

For me the 4k disc of Goblet of Fire is much worse than the blu-ray. When I watch the series I watch all of them on the 4k disc, except Goblet of Fire.

Something went wrong with the color in that one, the whites are completely blown out. When the minister is announcing the start of the world quidditch cup, his face is just a bright pure white blob, where as on the blu ray you can clearly make out his face.

Same exact thing for the ghosts that come out of Voldemort's wand during the final battle in the graveyard.

Funnily enough, I haven't heard anyone else complain about this.

I haven't gotten to that movie yet, but could this be a tone-mapping issue with the display?

 

[Jeff Cooper]

I haven't gotten to that movie yet, but could this be a tone-mapping issue with the display?

I would never say never, but out of all my 115 UHD discs, this is the only one to display such an issue. Even the other 7 movies in the Harry Potter collection don't have the problem.