UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Once Upon a Time in the West -- in 4k UHD (4 Viewers)

[mskaye]

My guess is it will be the same master but a re-encode on a 100gb disc.

Paramount in its current state is not "remasteriing" or "re-encoding" anything based on complaints in this forum. It didn't happen with The Godfather, Liberty Valance, Planes/Trains and it won't happen with this title.

 

[stevenalejandro]

.After TMWSLV and the infamous "To Catch a Thief" another insult from Paramount.

TMWSLV? The Magician With Silver Leafed Vegetables? That was a terrible transfer

 

[jayembee]

Folks , do you know what I miss on Once Upon A Time...In The West and every film transferred to bluray/4k? Cue Marks.

I'm another one who misses cue marks.

Cue marks were always my means of keeping track of time. It worked for all films except roadshow / mag productions.

Depending on where they appeared on the screen, they also made it obvious (for non-scope films) whether a "full screen" presentation was cropped or open matte.

 

[JoshZ]

I've been on the fence about buying this, due to the controversy. I actually didn't realize that I already owned the prior Blu-ray. It turns out I do. That being the case, I may just give that a spin and see how I feel it holds up before investing in another copy. At the very least, I'll probably hold out and hope for a price drop in the future.

Grain issues aside, on the subject of colors, from the screencap comparisons linked earlier in the thread, it kind of looked like the UHD has been given one of those L'Immagine Ritrovata yellow washes that everyone hates. Maybe not as bad as the old Blu-ray for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but it seems more yellow than the corresponding Blu-ray for this movie anyway. Is that not fair/accurate?

 

[Robert Harris]

I've been on the fence about buying this, due to the controversy. I actually didn't realize that I already owned the prior Blu-ray. It turns out I do. That being the case, I may just give that a spin and see how I feel it holds up before investing in another copy. At the very least, I'll probably hold out and hope for a price drop in the future.

Grain issues aside, on the subject of colors, from the screencap comparisons linked earlier in the thread, it kind of looked like the UHD has been given one of those L'Immagine Ritrovata yellow washes that everyone hates. Maybe not as bad as the old Blu-ray for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but it seems more yellow than the corresponding Blu-ray for this movie anyway. Is that not fair/accurate?

No.

 

[OliverK]

Grain issues aside, on the subject of colors, from the screencap comparisons linked earlier in the thread, it kind of looked like the UHD has been given one of those L'Immagine Ritrovata yellow washes that everyone hates. Maybe not as bad as the old Blu-ray for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but it seems more yellow than the corresponding Blu-ray for this movie anyway. Is that not fair/accurate?

I think it can be said that just about everybody has been happy with the colors on the new UHD.
The colors on the BD are off and it has a kind of desaturated look but textures look fine - can't have it all in this case...

As for the textures / film grain issues and with you having a front projection system why not wait how the Italian release turns out. There are indications that the master that I am sure they will use, too is already filtered to a degree but the encode MAY be adding problems on top of that. We don't know for sure so it will be interesting to see if the Italian disc brings an improvement.

If it doesn't then at least the US release will probably have come down a bit in the meantime in case you still want it.

 

[JoshZ]

As for the textures / film grain issues and with you having a front projection system why not wait how the Italian release turns out. There are indications that the master that I am sure they will use, too is already filtered to a degree but the encode MAY be adding problems on top of that. We don't know for sure so it will be interesting to see if the Italian disc brings an improvement.

I feel like $30 for the U.S. disc is already too much to risk. Importing from Italy will probably be a lot more than that.

In any case, I'm skeptical that the encode has anything at all to do with the issues people are complaining about. The filtering is almost certainly baked-in to the master.

 

[OliverK]

I feel like $30 for the U.S. disc is already too much to risk. Importing from Italy will probably be a lot more than that.

In any case, I'm skeptical that the encode has anything at all to do with the issues people are complaining about. The filtering is almost certainly baked-in to the master.

I am sure that there will be comparisons once the Italian release is out. I also have strong doubts that the master is somehow pristine and only the encode the big issue but it is not like we have to wait for years to find out.

 

[Robert Harris]

I am sure that there will be comparisons once the Italian release is out. I also have strong doubts that the master is somehow pristine and only the encode the big issue but it is not like we have to wait for years to find out.

Since I’ve not been following the “Italian” release, is it presumed to be the Paramount domestic version?

 

[Paul Bosquet]

Just saw that this title is available on Amazon Prime, I’ll forgo the disk for now and enjoy the stream.

 

[Bartman]

Just saw that this title is available on Amazon Prime, I’ll forgo the disk for now and enjoy the stream.

I was disappointed with the Prime HD stream of the new transfer. You may be off with a 4K stream from ATV+?

 

[Paul Bosquet]

Just finished watching it and looked good to me. I watched first half via Prime direct to my TCL and the 2nd half using the Apple TV4K & Prime app. I preferred the Apple TV image better, more film like, less sharpening. I will say I noticed Claudia Cardinale's close ups were much smoother than Fonda, Robard and Bronson's. Could be age, director's preference or something else! Haven't seen this since purchasing the DVD and must say I enjoyed it greatly.

 

[Ignacio]

The filtering is almost certainly baked-in to the master.

That's probably the case. It reminds me of some of the early Digital Intermediates, circa 2003: "Seabiscuit", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Kill Bill". They went too far with some tools (such as DNR), which created artifacts and made them almost unwatchable when transferred back to 35mm. And the digital versions are not good either.

 

[titch]

I was thinking that yesterday, whilst viewing Furiosa.

Did it remind you of Wadi Rum, in places?

 

[Robert Harris]

Did it remind you of Wadi Rum, in places?

Precisely. Yes. And one XXXLS with someone in the far distance, a bit akin to Ali’s intro.

 

[OliverK]

Since I’ve not been following the “Italian” release, is it presumed to be the Paramount domestic version?

It will be released by Eagle Pictures

This is a pretty big company and the expectation is that they will at least do a different encode and possibly more.

Eagle Pictures - Casa di produzione e distribuzione cinematografica italiana

www.eaglepictures.com

 

[Robert Harris]

It will be released by Eagle Pictures

This is a pretty big company and the expectation is that they will at least do a different encode and possibly more.

Eagle Pictures - Casa di produzione e distribuzione cinematografica italiana

www.eaglepictures.com

But using the Paramount cut?

 

[Dave H]

Paramount in its current state is not "remasteriing" or "re-encoding" anything based on complaints in this forum. It didn't happen with The Godfather, Liberty Valance, Planes/Trains and it won't happen with this title.

I don't understand the relevance of this to my post regarding the overseas release coming. Please explain.

 

[titch]

I don't understand the relevance of this to my post regarding the overseas release coming. Please explain.

The Italian Eagle Pictures 4kult 4K UHD release has not yet been officially announced. There is the potential for encoding the master differently, by using a 100 GB disc. Bill Hunt feels that a bigger bucket for the data would benefit the picture quality, for those who project, or who sit very close to the screen.

There is a Reddit post detailing how other Eagle Pictures 4K UHDs have fared:



Note: regarding "superior encoding" for an identically graded master - I definitely think that this is more a term bandied about by people who sit and put everything through a computer and print out graphic readings of the data file, than having anything to do with what is actually visible on a large screen, in motion. I have purchased several European 4K UHDs, which people have touted as having "superior encoding" - Citizen Kane, Mulholland Drive, Videodrome, Carrie, Wings Of Desire, The Three Colors Trilogy, to name a few, and saw no arresting visual differences, compared with their Criterion counterparts, on a projected image in motion. There might be some very subtle differences in motion artifacts, or how black levels or grain is managed. But these are practically invisible in motion. And certainly not worth all the fuss generated. After all, the real upgrade lies in the rescanning and regrading of the original elements.

 

[OliverK]

But using the Paramount cut?

Looks like they did not make that effort for the Blu-ray so for now I would not expect that: