A Few Words About A few words about…™ Lawrence of Arabia - in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[PMF]

And what a year it’s been for Robert A. Harris.

Not one.
Not two.
Not three.
but four...four of his painstakingly, meticulous frame by frame restorations all released within six months of each other in the 4K/UHD format.

Lawrence of Arabia
Spartacus
Rear Window
Vertigo

How many combined and committed years of his efforts, expertise and mastery were given over to save and preserve these now drop-dead gorgeous looking classics?

In this ”stay-at-home” year of 2020, one can only hope that the membership of AMPAS has been soaking in these magnanimous results within the comforts of their own home theaters.

Yes, doesn’t AMPAS and 2021 have a handy Honorary Oscar from their Scientific and Technical branch for this gentleman of the archives?

I, for one, am of the belief that they do.

 

[papanoida]

Apologies if this has been discussed. There are numerous places throughout the film where frames are missing and there is a noticeable jump in the image. Two quick examples:

Disc 1 0:11:36
Disc 2 0:06:39

It's the same on the 1080p Blu-ray. Does anyone know the cause behind this? My guess is maybe damaged frames were removed during the restoration.

 

[Robert Harris]

Apologies if this has been discussed. There are numerous places throughout the film where frames are missing and there is a noticeable jump in the image. Two quick examples:

Disc 1 0:11:36
Disc 2 0:06:39

It's the same on the 1080p Blu-ray. Does anyone know the cause behind this? My guess is maybe damaged frames were removed during the restoration.

Frames were lost due to cutting and re-cutting. Today, we could help it digitally, but not in 1988.

 

[papanoida]

Frames were lost due to cutting and re-cutting. Today, we could help it digitally, but not in 1988.

Thank you for the quick reply sir. The cuts happen in the middle of a shot. Can I presume this is where edits were made to shorten scenes after the initial release?

 

[Robert Harris]

Thank you for the quick reply sir. The cuts happen in the middle of a shot. Can I presume this is where edits were made to shorten scenes after the initial release?

Precisely. When trims or deletions are made, the adjacent frame is cut in half, allowing a couple of perfs for resplicing. When the negative is re-cut again, yet another frame is lost. There are no protection elements, as the masters are re-cut to match the negative. Life would be far easier if masters were left untouched, but then there would be generational loss.

 

[RICK BOND]

Lawrence of Arabia is on Amazon Prime in 4K UHD Digital for just $7.00 !! Has anyone seen or bought this ?? I did Not buy the Box set because I only want Lawrence in 4K. Is the PQ as good as the 4K UHD Disc ? I have the Bluray and it looks Great. Is this Better ?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Lawrence of Arabia is on Amazon Prime in 4K UHD Digital. Has anyone seen or bought this ?? I did Not buy the Box set because I only want Lawrence in 4K. Is the PQ as good as the 4K UHD Disc ? I have the Bluray and it looks Great. Is this Better ?

I rarely watch movies on Amazon Prime because I don't think their video presentation is as good as iTunes or Vudu. With that said, the 4K stream on Prime appears to be the same as those that appear on those other two services. Yes, it's a significant improvement over that prior BD release.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Lawrence of Arabia is on Amazon Prime in 4K UHD Digital for just $7.00 !! Has anyone seen or bought this ?? I did Not buy the Box set because I only want Lawrence in 4K. Is the PQ as good as the 4K UHD Disc ? I have the Bluray and it looks Great. Is this Better ?

I rarely watch movies on Amazon Prime because I don't think their video presentation is as good as iTunes or Vudu. With that said, the 4K stream on Prime appears to be the same as those that appear on those other two services. Yes, it's a significant improvement over that prior BD release.

FWIW, yeah, you're probably best off watching it via Apple or maybe MoviesAnywhere (after buying it from wherever) since it's MoviesAnywhere-eligible. 4K streams tend to be best from those two due to their generally substantially higher bitrates -- their 4K bitrates can be as high as ~2x as high as Amazon, Netflix, HBO Max, et al and maybe ~1.5x-plus as high as Vudu (though HD should be about the same as Vudu).

_Man_

 

[RICK BOND]

I was watching Lawrence of Arabia 4K UHD Version on VUDU tonight. Very Dark ! Tried to make some adjustments on my Sony 75 " 4K TV Nothing helped. The PQ on the Bluray is Much Better. I got my order Refunded $14.00. I give up with streaming versions of Lawrence in 4K ! Got Barabbas (1961) on VUDU also. It looks much better than the old DVD I used to own.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I was watching Lawrence of Arabia 4K UHD Version on VUDU tonight. Very Dark ! Tried to make some adjustments on my Sony 75 " 4K TV Nothing helped. The PQ on the Bluray is Much Better. I got my order Refunded $14.00. I give up with streaming versions of Lawrence in 4K ! Got Barabbas (1961) on VUDU also. It looks much better than the old DVD I used to own.

Did you try MoviesAnywhere (or maybe whichever Apple/iTunes app you might have access)?

Probably wouldn't make that much diff if the DV/HDR grading is simply much too dark for your setup, but it would've been worth checking anyway since the bitrate is probably significantly higher on MA than Vudu...

_Man_

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Yes, it's a significant improvement over that prior BD release.

Crawdaddy,

That's quite a compliment, especially considering what RAH had to say about the Blu-ray back in 2012:

"As to specifics, image quality in terms of overall resolution is other-worldly. Color is dead-on perfect. Shadow detail, superb, along with image steadiness. Grain structure properly represents the film elements."

He scored the PQ as 6, out of 5! It seems that there is always something better down the road!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Crawdaddy,

That's quite a compliment, especially considering what RAH had to say about the Blu-ray back in 2012:

"As to specifics, image quality in terms of overall resolution is other-worldly. Color is dead-on perfect. Shadow detail, superb, along with image steadiness. Grain structure properly represents the film elements."

He scored the PQ as 6, out of 5! It seems that there is always something better down the road!

TBH, RAH and I have our disagreements regarding some of his reviews as they pertain to what I'm seeing on my OLEDs.

 

[Robert Harris]

TBH, RAH and I have our disagreements regarding some of his reviews as they pertain to what I'm seeing on my OLEDs.

I don’t believe we’re disagreeing on this point.

The available image resolution in Aurens is immemse. Take a beautifully rendered Blu-ray, with static available real estate, and place it in a bucket four times the size, and real information is allowed to expand exponentially.

Precisely the same situation with any large format production, digital or film-based, when constraints are removed.

A superb example from the digital realm is Midsommar from A24. Try comparing the Blu-ray with the 4k release, both based upon the same wonderful Panavision 8k imagery.

 

[Bill McCamy]

I am another of those who LOVE this movie, after seeing it in its original theatrical release and owning most video versions over the years. It irks me that Sony has only released this in a 4k package with movies I don't care to own, and then let that package go OOP so that the only method to purchase a 4k LoA is on the secondary market. I won't reward that behavior with a purchase, but damn, I want the 4k disc, not a streaming, compressed Amazon version.

 

[roxy1927]

But don't you think Sony will release it separately? 2001, 10C, My Fair Lady. It has to be added to this august list. I'm expecting Sound of Music, WSS, GWTW and Ben Hur as well.

 

[Bill McCamy]

Bill Hunt, over at the Digital Bits, linked to a German site announcing that Sony was releasing several individual movies from the boxset. LoA was not included in the new release news. Perhaps Sony will wait for the 60th Anniversary in 2022? As optical media makes up less and less of the video market, what could go wrong?

 

[RICK BOND]

Bill Hunt, over at the Digital Bits, linked to a German site announcing that Sony was releasing several individual movies from the boxset. LoA was not included in the new release news. Perhaps Sony will wait for the 60th Anniversary in 2022? As optical media makes up less and less of the video market, what could go wrong?

I can wait. The Bluray is Excellent.

 

[RATLSNAKE]

LoA was not included in the new release news.

It may be now:
"Lawrence of Arabia (single-film SKU) (US/UK/DE) – TBA 2021"

Source: https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/the-4k-uhd-release-list/4k-uhd-list-01

 

[RICK BOND]

It may be now:
"Lawrence of Arabia (single-film SKU) (US/UK/DE) – TBA 2021"

Source: https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/the-4k-uhd-release-list/4k-uhd-list-01

Also .......The Guns of Navarone and Ben-Hur are listed for 2021 ! I Sure hope it's True !

 

[B-ROLL]

Also .......The Guns of Navarone and Ben-Hur are listed for 2021 ! I Sure hope it's True !

Hopefully you mean the 1959 and/or the 1925 version of BH ?