UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Heat -- in 4k UHD (1 Viewer)

[Bartman]

Which one? I reckon you are referring to "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters", which is used brilliantly for the finale of the film - but Moby's "New Dawn Fades" is also used: it is a version of a Joy Division song, and it is the music used when Hanna is tailing McCauley prior to their coffee shop chat.

Back in the day (dawn?) I was a big Joy Division fan*, I didn't catch New Dawn Fades, now I'll have to listen out for it.

*Fan is the wrong word. Joy Division was almost a religious experience for those living in Thatcher's Britain. Perhaps others know of similar poetry coming out of desperation, depression and epilepsy but you really have to live thru it to appreciate it.

 

[Carlo_M]

*Fan is the wrong word. Joy Division was almost a religious experience for those living in Thatcher's Britain. Perhaps others know of similar poetry coming out of desperation, depression and epilepsy but you really have to live thru it to appreciate it.

Tangent: this is really well put, I can relate to some degree as someone who lived as a child through the excess of the 1980s, went to college in the early 1990s with not much in my pocket, and the Seattle Sound (later to be named grunge) captured my generation of disaffected youth. While their music has stood the test of time in terms of quality and musicianship, you had to live through it to understand much of the angst and anger. We didn't wear flannel as a fashion statement. It was what was affordable at the thrift shops and surplus stores.

 

[Bartman]

So which do folks prefer, The Director Definitive Edition (DDE) or the earlier Warner Blu-ray?

I definitely have a problem with the DDE's dim/dull, blue/grey appearance but I've never seen the Warner.

I pulled out my Anchor Bay Manhunter DVD, I hadn't watched it in twenty years, the DVD looks good and the movie holds up well due to excellent acting except, the Tom Noonan character is a little hokey, the only weak point. Mann should have spent more time on the development of Tooth Fairy. Is there a preferred Blu-ray for Manhunter?

I did not get a response and believe I've answered my own question by visiting DVDbeaver and comparing transfer stills, I prefer the DDE. I'll put a note on the case that this must be watched in a pitch black room for full enjoyment.

Does anyone have an opinion the Manhunter Blu-ray with the best picture quality?

 

[Carlo_M]

Game on, this weekend...

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I rewatched my streaming copy of Heat last week without even thinking that the book was just about to be published. Serendipity! I’m ready now!

 

[tsodcollector]

Game on, this weekend...
View attachment 148181

I have that on my dvd viewing list.

 

[Robert Crawford]

My 4K disc was suppose to deliver today, but UPS delivered it to the wrong address in a different city. Luckily, it was to a business and I was on top of it and immediately notified UPS of their mistake. They got it back and will deliver it tomorrow.

 

[Carlo_M]

I couldn't help myself. Between meetings I spun up the opening armored car scene. Let's just say first impressions are extremely favorable. The film looks great, the HDR application for the first 15 minutes of the film looks appropriate...or maybe another way to put it is nothing out of the ordinary drew my eye to it and for now, that's good enough. I will say this, the film is dark and the sun's still coming through the living room windows (blinds are closed but it's still pretty bright in here). I did have to engage the Panny UB820 player's HDR Tone Mapping to "Light Environment" to compensate for the brightness of the room (normally I do critical movie watching at night in a minimally lit environment).

But the best part is they used either the same, or very similar DTS soundtrack that was so impressive in the earlier BD release. I was afraid after what happened with the Atmos soundtrack in the recently released Edge of Tomorrow 4K (where the LFE and rear surround activity were noticeably different from the opening scenes in the movie from the previous DTS soundtrack of the BD) that there might be a "tamer" (for lack of a better word) Atmos track in place of the DTS-HD MA track. I can't swear it's the same track as the BD, but I can tell you from the small sampling, it's a very dynamic, active mix.

 

[Kyle_D]

I watched the disc through the bank robbery last night and thought it looked great. The disc appears to be sourced from the same master as the 4K version that has been streaming on iTunes for years, but it has a much healthier bitrate, so it is not plagued by the macroblocking in the shadows like the streaming version. Film grain looks natural. Watching in a totally dark room on a meter-calibrated LG OLED G1, nothing stood out as problematic to me about the HDR grade.

And yes, it still has one of the best audio mixes of all time. It's a dynamic mix that may sound muted at lower volumes, but holey moley, the gun shots are terrifying when played back at reference with a sub.

Here is the disc info for those who are interested:

Spoiler: Disc Info

Video
ID : 1
ID in the original source medium : 4113 (0x1011)
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main [email protected]@High
HDR format : SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible
Codec ID : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration : 2 h 50 min
Bit rate : 40.6 Mb/s
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.204
Stream size : 48.3 GiB (86%)
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics : PQ
Matrix coefficients : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries : Display P3
Mastering display luminance : min: 0.0050 cd/m2, max: 1000 cd/m2
Original source medium : Blu-ray

Audio #1
ID : 2
ID in the original source medium : 4352 (0x1100)
Format : DTS XLL
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Commercial name : DTS-HD Master Audio
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 2 h 50 min
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 4 222 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : C L R Ls Rs LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 5.02 GiB (9%)
Title : Surround 5.1
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Original source medium : Blu-ray

 

[Peter Neski]

The old warner Blu Ray has different color

 

[Wayne Klein]

Well the on set photos show these guys there during the sequence. I actually never questioned the choice He made. It made sense Because of their relationship to each other in the film.

 

[Lamphorn]

Hm... this disc has gotten enough great reviews for me to conclude I need to do more tinkering with my TV (LG OLED G2 77-inch), because to my eye this UHD disc is so dim it's unpleasant to watch and I'm squinting just to try to make out the actor's facial expressions during night scenes. Admittedly I've been mostly peeking at various scenes rather than watching the whole film yet, so maybe it's also partly a matter of letting your eyes get used to it?

I'm in a nearly pitch-black room, I'm in Cinema mode (with Filmmaker Mode on). OLED pixel brightness at 90 or above, contrast at 85, black level at 50, Energy Saver is off, AI brightness nonsense is off. And yet, the included blu-ray looks like a much better and more film-like image. I can see that the UHD is sharper in the areas that are bright enough to see, but it's overall just a misery to look at. Clearly I'm going to have to consider hiring someone to calibrate my TV, but other UHD discs that I own look fine to me. I know it's all very subjective.

 

[Bartman]

Hm... this disc has gotten enough great reviews for me to conclude I need to do more tinkering with my TV (LG OLED G2 77-inch), because to my eye this UHD disc is so dim it's unpleasant to watch and I'm squinting just to try to make out the actor's facial expressions during night scenes. Admittedly I've been mostly peeking at various scenes rather than watching the whole film yet, so maybe it's also partly a matter of letting your eyes get used to it?

I'm in a nearly pitch-black room, I'm in Cinema mode (with Filmmaker Mode on). OLED pixel brightness at 90 or above, contrast at 85, black level at 50, Energy Saver is off, AI brightness nonsense is off. And yet, the included blu-ray looks like a much better and more film-like image. I can see that the UHD is sharper in the areas that are bright enough to see, but it's overall just a misery to look at. Clearly I'm going to have to consider hiring someone to calibrate my TV, but other UHD discs that I own look fine to me. I know it's all very subjective.

I'm in the same position with the Blu-ray and an LG B8. Changing the black level just puts a misty cast over the picture. In fact, I had two Blu-rays this morning (Serenity & Lockout) with the same problem. My only recourse (as it only affects a few discs) is to add a sticker to the case VIEW IN A PITCH BLACK ROOM. I'll get up a little earlier, not a big deal just inconvenient. I assume a full TV calibration would be expensive.

 

[Kyle_D]

Hm... this disc has gotten enough great reviews for me to conclude I need to do more tinkering with my TV (LG OLED G2 77-inch), because to my eye this UHD disc is so dim it's unpleasant to watch and I'm squinting just to try to make out the actor's facial expressions during night scenes. Admittedly I've been mostly peeking at various scenes rather than watching the whole film yet, so maybe it's also partly a matter of letting your eyes get used to it?

I'm in a nearly pitch-black room, I'm in Cinema mode (with Filmmaker Mode on). OLED pixel brightness at 90 or above, contrast at 85, black level at 50, Energy Saver is off, AI brightness nonsense is off. And yet, the included blu-ray looks like a much better and more film-like image. I can see that the UHD is sharper in the areas that are bright enough to see, but it's overall just a misery to look at. Clearly I'm going to have to consider hiring someone to calibrate my TV, but other UHD discs that I own look fine to me. I know it's all very subjective.

Have you turned off the LG's automatic brightness limiter (ABL)? By default, LG OLED's will automatically dim static and dark scenes after a couple minutes to mitigate burn-in risk, and it can be aggressive, reducing dim scenes to almost pitch black. The only way to turn it off is with a service remote that can be purchased on Amazon for less than $10. Unfortunately, turning off ABL will void your warranty, but I can't watch dark content with the ABL turned on.

EDIT: Calibration also helped immensely with black levels on my G1.

 

[Bartman]

Have you turned off the LG's automatic brightness limiter (ABL)? By default, LG OLED's will automatically dim static and dark scenes after a couple minutes to mitigate burn-in risk, and it can be aggressive, reducing dim scenes to almost pitch black. The only way to turn it off is with a service remote that can be purchased on Amazon for less than $10. Unfortunately, turning off ABL will void your warranty, but I can't watch dark content with the ABL turned on.

ABL will automatically dim bright scenes after a couple of minutes. When I bought the B8 five years ago, the changes in brightness were very apparent. I (and many others) complained at the LG forum and mysteriously ABL stopped happening a couple of months later, I assume due to a software update.
What is the part number for a B8 service remote? Are there instructions online on how to use it? Thanks!

 

[dpippel]

ABL will automatically dim bright scenes after a couple of minutes. When I bought the B8 five years ago, the changes in brightness were very apparent. I (and many others) complained at the LG forum and mysteriously ABL stopped happening a couple of months later, I assume due to a software update.
What is the part number for a B8 service remote? Are there instructions online on how to use it? Thanks!

Here's the remote:

See on Amazon

and here's a video outlining the problem and how to change the LG service menu to disable ABL:



It worked wonders for my 65" E6P.

 

[Bartman]

Here's the remote:

See on Amazon

and here's a video outlining the problem and how to change the LG service menu to disable ABL:



It worked wonders for my 65" E6P.

Thanks, I'm pretty sure ABL is not the problem but that service remote is cheap enough to verify settings. Where is the password for the remote located? Vincent is my favorite TV reviewer!

 

[dpippel]

Thanks, I'm pretty sure ABL is not the problem but that service remote is cheap enough to verify settings. Where is the password for the remote located? Vincent is my favorite TV reviewer!

IIRC, Vincent gives it to you in his video.

 

[Kyle_D]

ABL will automatically dim bright scenes after a couple of minutes.

It's actually more problematic in dark scenes, because the ABL is not triggered by motion but by static average picture level brightness. So if the content maintains a static, low average brightness for more than a few minutes, it will still trigger the ABL, and the ABL will dim the picture even further. It's a problem when watching content with sustained night sequences (like Heat) and day-for-night sequences with static, low average brightness. Vincent goes into it in detail in his video.

 

[Carlo_M]

We discussed this very phenomenon in the TV subforum in the LG C2/G2 thread. I identified the issue (for me, on my previous generation C1) when I was watching the night fight scenes for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Towards the end of the Shu Lien/Jen fight, I thought I was losing my eyesight. And then when there was a cut to a daytime scene, the first split second of that scene was like a dim version of the bright scene, and then it brightened up considerably when the ABL registered the brightness change. That led me to do web research and ultimately to Vincent's video.

I've turned (and left) ABL off on my set ever since. I have had no issues with burn in during the following months (and have fallen asleep with the TV on more than a few times). But that's just my use case, proceed with caution, I take no responsibility if your viewing habits include leaving static images onscreen for prolonged periods of time.