UHD Review Giant UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[Todd Erwin]

George Stevens’ epic western Giant gets a 4K upgrade from Warner Bros in this nearly bare-bones release.



Giant (1956)



Released: 24 Nov 1956
Rated: G
Runtime: 201 min




Director: George Stevens
Genre: Drama, Western



Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean
Writer(s): Edna Ferber, Fred Guiol, Ivan Moffat



Plot: Sprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.



IMDB rating: 7.6
MetaScore: 84





Disc Information



Studio: Warner Brothers
Distributed By: N/A
Video Resolution: 2160p HEVC w/HDR



Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HDMA, Spanish 1.0 DD (Mono), French 1.0 DD (Mono), Other



Subtitles:...

Continue reading...

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Thanks for the review Todd. Besides the vividness and “pop”iness of the colors is the film grain intact? If memory serve this film has a lot of it on the prior blu-ray.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Thanks for the review Todd. Besides the vividness and “pop”iness of the colors is the film grain intact? If memory serve this film has a lot of it on the prior blu-ray.

Yes, but appears natural.

 

[Joe Bernardi]

1.33:1 or 1.66:1? You mentioned both.

 

[plektret]

The soundtrack is free of hiss? That's not how it should be. Tape hiss is not an anomaly and should be left untouched!

 

[Todd Erwin]

1.33:1 or 1.66:1? You mentioned both.

The 1.33:1 was pulled from IMDB. The disc is 1.66:1.

 

[Panavision70]

I hope it's better than what's showing on HBO Max. That looks like a 16mm print a local station would air in the 1970s.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I hope it's better than what's showing on HBO Max. That looks like a 16mm print a local station would air in the 1970s.

That HBO Max stream is derived from the old scan used for the prior Blu-ray. This morning, I watched in it's entirety, my iTunes digital that upgraded from HD to 4K/Dolby Vision. It looks much better than the Blu-ray. My 4K disc has shipped from Amazon so I'll be watching this fine movie again tomorrow in its entirety. I'm interested in seeing any differences between 4K disc and stream.

 

[JPCinema]

The OCN parts of the film are stunning in clarity but in comparison it does make the other portions of the film look fuzzy and at times almost out of focus.

 

[Todd Erwin]

I just amended my review, as the Movies Anywhere code went live today. A slew of special features are now available on the Movies Anywhere app, exclusively at the moment.

 

[Todd Erwin]

I hope it's better than what's showing on HBO Max. That looks like a 16mm print a local station would air in the 1970s.

That HBO Max stream is derived from the old scan used for the prior Blu-ray. This morning, I watched in it's entirety, my iTunes digital that upgraded from HD to 4K/Dolby Vision. It looks much better than the Blu-ray. My 4K disc has shipped from Amazon so I'll be watching this fine movie again tomorrow in its entirety. I'm interested in seeing any differences between 4K disc and stream.

HBO Max is one of the slowest to upgrade their library to 4K, unless it has some relevance to an upcoming theatrical release (they quickly upgraded the first three Matrix films just before Matrix Resurrections was released) or is a new theatrical release. Giant is one of many films on the service in need of being swapped out for its new 4K transfer. Other titles include all 12 Middle-Earth films (6 theatricals, 6 extendeds), all of the Harry Potter films, 300, Watchmen, The Goonies, Gremlins, etc. These are all movies OWNED by their parent company and have been released in 4K on both physical and digital media.

 

[Kevin Antonio (Kev)]

The second half of the film looks good on this 4k. The dissolves issue or "fix", I don't really notice on this 4k. I haven't put it on my projector yet but I like this 4k. It's not perfect but it's as good as it gets with this marvelous film.

 

[ArnoldLayne]

My copy arrived this morning, and I had decided to leave it unopened for return until seeing caps-a-holic comparisons. After watching the first half of the old blu-ray this morning I see the caps are up. I guess I will open the UHD

 

[Lord Dalek]

Giant • US Ultra HD Blu-ray vs. US Blu-ray

caps-a-holic.com

Giant • US Ultra HD Blu-ray vs. US Blu-ray

caps-a-holic.com

Giant • US Ultra HD Blu-ray vs. US Blu-ray

caps-a-holic.com

Giant • US Ultra HD Blu-ray vs. US Blu-ray

caps-a-holic.com

Giant • US Ultra HD Blu-ray vs. US Blu-ray

caps-a-holic.com

4k is brighter but also shows significantly less grain than the blu-ray in stills (assuming that even is grain).

Also....yeaaaaaaaah dissolve portions look as bad as they always have.

 

[ArnoldLayne]

Dang what a mixed bag. I think I will just have to open the UHD and see it on the big screen. This one is a nice improvement:

Giant • US Ultra HD Blu-ray vs. US Blu-ray

caps-a-holic.com

 

[uncledougie]

The version showing tonight on TCM looked pretty bad, kind of smeared and almost out of focus. And even with all that the “old age” makeup and hairstyles for Rock and Liz were unconvincing, to put it kindly. That has always been the aspect that is jarring to me in an otherwise very well made film.

 

[warnerbro]

The shots that are not dupes (about 50 percent) look beautiful. George Junior says they used Eastman Color and were not able to get true greens on the grass. They had to do lab work because the grass came out brown and it still does in some shots. Why are there so many dupe dissolves in this film? You lose a lot of the performance because they are so muddy and blurry. When you download the digital version, all of the extras from recent releases are there including the best one, MEMORIES OF GIANT. I never get tired of watching that documentary.

 

[ArnoldLayne]

I've watched the first half of the UHD and give it a thumbs up. It's a marked improvement over the BD. (120" proj)

 

[Robert Crawford]

That HBO Max stream is derived from the old scan used for the prior Blu-ray. This morning, I watched in it's entirety, my iTunes digital that upgraded from HD to 4K/Dolby Vision. It looks much better than the Blu-ray. My 4K disc has shipped from Amazon so I'll be watching this fine movie again tomorrow in its entirety. I'm interested in seeing any differences between 4K disc and stream.

HBO Max has finally upgraded that older HD scan to the current 4K/Dolby Vision digital!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Watching this newly upgraded digital release in 4k as I type this response.

My very first James Dean movie watch. I owned the BD set for years but never opened it. I just didn't have a huge interest in watching the films but thought at some point I would look at them.

Will comment more on GIANT after I finish watching it. I can say, thus far, I am really enjoying it.
What bothers me is how inconsistent the 4k looks. When it's good, it's REALLY good.

However, there are a few shots that are blurry and out of focus. I take it this is something inherent in the original print?