Shane and Ealan go over their Top 5 picks for the worst looking 4k blurays. What's on your list? SUBSCRIBE TO EALAN HERE: / @ealanosborne THE SECOND CHANNEL IS HERE: @dynamicallychallenged
I disagree with District 9 being bad, I loved it on 4K and I loved the film even after multiple watches. Still got my fingers crossed for the sequel at some point!
@@chrisjfox8715 yeah I honestly don't get it. I thought the video and audio were both a 4/5. Everyone's entitled to an opinion even if they are wrong 😂
@@mcarr416ix setups and settings matter tho. We too often share our opinion on transfers as if we're comparing apples to apples and that oftentimes, if not always, isn't the case. People can only comment on what they see with their own two eyes
@@chrisjfox8715 very true, being that both of these fellows are well known film buffs though, it's hard to imagine they are viewing these films in a sub par setup or scenario. Shane definitely is NOT viewing anything on a non optimal setup.
I've watched a few of his videos and I'm starting to think Shane has bad taste in movies. I don't mean his eye for detail. He's obviously very good at that. But his taste in what a good movie is, is suspect.
@@donjaun540 well the movie was good and mostly liked and had the best box office of the year when almost everything was tanking so… maybe some people dont like it which is fine, cant win everybody iver but really lol ?
@@GamezGuru1 man I’m so tempted. They put out crap for the most part and I’m tired of the whole agenda. They’ve ruined some good opportunities with Marvel and Star wars etc. They honestly don’t deserve your money, they take it for granted for sure. This is coming from someone who grew up in “Disney Family” haha from movies to the parks, it’s all gone down hill…
I prefer my LotR 4k blurrays over the extended editions blurray because the colour palette is much better and the green tint is finally gone (it was extremely noticeable in the fellowship of the ring). The Dolby Atmos sound is also an improvement. I agree they could have done a better job but it is still better than the normal blurray especially on a big screen.
It has so much CGI I would assume it would be mastered in a 2k digital intermediary, so them shooting on film wouldn’t do much for a 4K remaster as say Lawrence of Arabia being shot on 35mm.
I only agree with the 1st film, that one is in need a remaster from the 35 mm print. The lost world is an excellent transfer that looks great, no complaints there. Jurassic park 3 though is a mix feeling for me. It needs help with brightness and colors greatly but the actual transfer is excellent though.
@@sgandrew Battle of Helms deep is so much clearer and you can actually see what's happening in way more detail over the blu-ray which automatically makes it awesome for me. Return of the King visually is stunning as well.
Man I'm glad I heard that I was about to buy it the other day. It was only $14 but I'm still glad I saved the money. They'll probably come out with a new better transfer in the future right?
4k77-83 are better than the official 4k blu-ray which is crazy! The fan restoration from theatrical prints. Eternals definitely looks so dark and crushed, really bad.
I interviewed Nicholas Meyer and he talked about the way ST2 was shot. All the scenes with the Enterprise crew was shot with soft focus to smooth the skin textures to make the aging crew members look younger.
I disagreed with District 9 and Harry Potter Collections. District 9 is a pure reference disc with excellent picture and super sound, only the 1st HP movie has the worst looking picture, HP 2-3 has too much DNR going on, only HP 4 till 7.2 has good picture quality in it, I thinks the black noise that Ealan was mentioning about it are coming from the first 3 bc ever since the 4th it getting better since.
The real question should be = Would you prefer having LOTR in Blu-Ray or the new 4K versions? Just because the 4K version isn't the best quality that the UHD format can possibly offer, doesn't mean they're trash. Agreed on the Star Wars 1-6 boxset though. Yikes.
not trash.... but it’s one of those titles that should’ve been treated sooooo much better. Jackson clearly is in love with digital, but he should’ve left the original trilogy with its filmic look instead of “DNRing the s*** out of it”....
THANK YOU! All these reviews of "this movie looked terrible on 4k Blu-ray" they never answer the question "should you get the 1080p instead." I recently picked up Terminator 2 because I don't have that movie. I looked at the Blu-ray and I looked at the 4k Blu-ray and to my eyes the 4k Blu-ray was better. Not claiming it's amazing, but it was better. Only movie I've seen that may qualify for get the 1080p version was Pirates because the 4k Blu-ray was so dark on my screen that I literally couldn't see what was going on in daylight shots. I've heard better displays do a better job of fixing it up, but yeah. Harry Potter? LotR? District 9? Heck even T2 - All of them look better on the 4k disc than their 1080p counterparts and you'd never know that from reviewers on RU-vid. I only know it because I spent the extra couple of bucks.
@@dan_hitchman007 Depends on what kind of TV people have. On a tv that supports all the new changes they've made on this transfer, it is the best LOTR has ever looked. I've owned both DVD & BLU-RAY of these movies and this 4K is a way better upgrade on the picture quality from those 2 imo!!!
@@MrDoddi1984 Not really. The heavy DNR is still there no matter the display you have. Perhaps you have your sharpness setting turned up. Most 4k displays need that set at zero. The additional problem is that it is used inconsistently where some shots have a bit of detail and then others are a smeary mess, all in the same sequence.
To not see the difference between the 2009 Star Trek blu-ray's and the recent 4K scans means his eyes are faulty. It truly is night and day and the 2009 blu-ray's looked awful, especially in comparison. What a bizarre thing for him to say and observe.
I'd have to disagree on the Star Trek 4Ks. And while I think the LotR 4Ks have their problems, I think it is kinda crazy to put them on a top 5 WORST list. And telling people there's a problem with their eyes if they happen to like the LotR 4Ks... really?
Have to disagree with Ealan on Harry Potter. I wouldn't say they are reference Material but there is a noticeable improvement Over the Blurays. Part 1 and 2 got a new 4k DI and Look much sharper and Detailed than the Standard BluRay. Grain is more noticeable but that is to be expected. Contrast and colors Look Better too. The Blu-ray of Part 3 was so DARK that you couldn't See anything in the Shadow. The 4k Version resolves that issue. Its still a dark and muted movies (as are Part 4-8) but that's Done Intentionally. It represents the Mood of the wizarding World. And the spells have that nice HDR Impact. Some cgi effects from the first movies don't hold Up But that's Not on the 4k Transfer itself. A 4k Blu-ray should Show a movie in its Most Natural Form and that's what they do. I would Take the 4k Version Over the Bluray everyday. They are technically the much Better Versions. Agree on Shane that the DNR in LOTR is one of the worst i have ever Seen. But the HDR and colorgrading are amazing. Thats why i wouldn't Put IT on my top 5. I still prefer the 4k Version Over the older Blurays. The theatrical Blu-ray was even smoother and more waxy than the 4k edition. The extended Blu-ray was sharper and had No DNR but Had this horrible Green Tint and black crush. So: Pick your poison My worst would be: Cornetto Trilogy Bourne Trilogy
PTA was always one of the dullest duds I ever saw. Now it now also looks like a loser? Good! For a classic Candy film of the '80s, that would of course be Uncle Buck.
despite the disappointing presentations of the hobbit and the lord of the rings. I thought the 4k presentation of the movies (even for the theatrical editions) was pretty good on Amazon Prime. I particularly like the 4k of the two towers as an improvement over the 4k blu-ray.
Despite the DNR with LotR I still thought the improved and more natural color pallet made it an upgrade over non 4K release. I have it on Blu Ray and 4K. The environments and cinematography also look leagues better on 4K. I had no issues with the Hobbit trilogy, thought it looked better than the Blu Ray across the board.
I know the comment I made is about a month old, but I wanted to make one correction. As a typo, when I said I particularly liked the 4k of two towers over the 4k blu-ray. I mean to say over the original blu-ray, because I don't have (or have watched) the 4k blu-ray of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers". Only the presentation on amazon prime. My bad.
I remember getting the 4k set for a good deal and when it came home I was super excited to watch it because of all the great reviews it was getting but then when I started to watch it I wasn't at all impressed. Yes the HDR is great and still think it's the best way to watch the trilogy but the level of detail just isn't there and the film grain is practically gone now. It's definitely not the best looking but I still prefer it over the blu ray releases.
@@MarquezDaniel "the level of detail just isn't there and the film grain is practically gone now" + "It's definitely not the best looking" seems to totally disagree with "it's the best way to watch the trilogy".
@@zanfear how so? If I lived in a small town and someone asked me what's the best Pizza spot here so I point them to the best one this town has to offer, sure it's not the greatest pizza ever but it's the best one in town. It's the same concept with the Lord of the Rings 4k trilogy, it's not the greatest looking 4K but it's still better than the DVD and Blu Ray.
@@MarquezDaniel But if the film is visually less detailed now, then what's the point? For the flashy HDR colours and the object-based surround sound? Do those outweigh a more detailed blu-ray SDR presentation with already great surround sound?
I think his projector might just be bugged out, cause he also mentions that Forest Gump 4K was as bad as Terminator 2. And Gump looked amazing on OLED. So I'm not quite sure what is going on. Haha
I mostly disagree with Star Wars Empire Strikes Back. The Hoth scenes don’t look as good but all The Dagobah and Bespin scenes I’m pretty happy with. You can definitely see more detail on Vader when he’s in the shadows on Bespin. Yoda looks great too
Guys. I will stress this enough. The reason why your movies in 4k do not look great is because the player need to be updated. My panasonic UB840 has been playing great until I got the movie Dracula Untold. I said. What a piece of trash this movie is. Suddenly I decided to do a firmware update......and...Holy cow. What a difference it did.
You sure hit the nail on the head with that comment!! Because my wife just sat with me in our living room, checking her emails, while I had a laptop play this video on our 85" TV. And after she'd heard a few minutes of Shane and his co-host listing their 5 Worst 4k Blu-ray picks, she turned to me & said: "Those 2 gentlemen are so low key and laid back, in their commentary styles, that their soft way of speaking could easily cause a person to start dozing off." And after she heard about 15 minutes more of the video, my wife noted that Shane, in particular, tends to soften his voice as he is completing a point, as if he thinks that such softening will give emphasis to whatever idea he's trying to highlight, BUT actually, such softening just UNDERPLAYS what he's saying, instead of making a point strongly! Now if a typed symbol existed which meant the OPPOSITE of an exclamation point (!), and someone would make a transcript of Shane's remarks in this video, such an Anti-Exclamation Symbol would be PERFECT for putting at the end of several of Shane's spoken sentences of the video, so folks reading the transcript would clearly understand how Shane had been undercutting his own points in certain sentences, by using his overly soft delivery style. However, the Mrs & I sure both agree that Shane's hushed way of speaking would sure be ideally suited for getting a nap resistant 3 year old girl, of my wife's family, to calm down, & have her easing off into dreamland. He has the perfect voice for that!!
Ealan nailed it on the Marvel non-IMAX issue. This annoys me to no end and keeps me from purchases various movies on physical media. Another case-in-point is the latest Dune movie. How in the world does a studio release a movie like Dune without its enhanced aspect ratios??? This movie was made for IMAX-enhanced and the disc is sufficiently hindered without offering it. It is for this reason that even with the Black Friday pricing of only $9.99 I refuse to purchase Dune, and HOPE that they release the IMAX-enhanced version someday, maybe even in the distant future when the trilogy is completed and released in a set 🤞
I would add the 4K release of ‘King Kong’ to the list. Way too much DNR used throughout the transfer. Funny that you have included Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Ring series! I also preferred Michael Mann’s’ Blu-ray release of ‘Heat’ over the 4K. As we head into the holidays, I’ve found the “aliasing” found on the 4K release of ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ to be a distraction.
T2 and LotT would have been on my list, too! Too much DNR, just as Shane says. The Potter Series looks very good though. Especially the first two that got newly remastered from the negatives. But how you perceive this, heavily depends on your perception of grain as either sth. organic or as nuisance. And the latter often goes back to the fact that many viewers have kept the original (or dialed up the) sharpness settings on their projectors or TVs instead of reducing them to a minimum as intended. Thanks for the video!
I prefer to see movies recorded as our eyes percieve images in real life, so there can NEVER be too much digital noise reduction for my taste. I really dislike any percievable film grain. Its an eye sore to me. It contradicts the whole purpose of 4K clarity, which is to precisely bring out the minute detail of images. So apart from the HDR upgrade, it makes no sense for people who like film grain to even buy 4K discs. 🤷♂️
@@tonyorob That's a pretty bad take. By applying too much noise reduction to remove film grain, you actively scrub away detail of the picture itself. Small details like skin pores and wrinkles just get smoothed over too and not just the grain and it makes everyone and everything look like wax figures. If a movie was shot on film, you want as much grain to be intact as possible to get the highest grade of detail.
@@wolfbrigade8042 Not according to a dvd of the 1976 Assault In Precinct 13 I have. It was originally shot on 8mm but when digitally remastered for the disk it came out pristine without any discernable fuzzyness and skin textures of the characters looks very natural. Its just a regular outdated dvd.
@@tonyorob A "regular outdated dvd" wouldn't be a good point of reference anyways, no? Not sure what point you were trying to make but film grain is actually good for the picture as it's responsible for a lot of the detail. It's fine not liking film grain but for older movies shot on film, you definitely wanna have it to get the best and most accurate picture.
Over 95% of all "super hero" movies are total trash, in every way. At the very best, there are a few one timers, that is, watch them once, and they are easily forgettable, (again,) in every way.
Woah. I have to disagree with the Lord of the Rings 4Ks. I think it looks amazing. It's like watching the movies for the first time all over again. Infact, I'm a 4K collector because of this collection. But I watched on OLED. So maybe that is why it looked incredible.
Yeah I'm not quite sure why, but it seems to me that LOTR movie trilogies do not interest Shane Lee, or perhaps its not his cup of tea? He does in fact says and admits that he falls asleep/lala land while watching LOTR movies and/or the Harry Potter series. Perhaps he and other people like him, don't have the patience to watch movies that are 3 plus hours long? Anyhow, I still enjoy very much watching Mr. Lee's product(s) reviews on home theatre receivers/amps, movie projectors and other home theatre things. :)
What the battle where strider goes over the cliff. You'd think their faces had the worst makeup ever. The smear and then sharp catch-up is a real thing in the series. The second movie had the most bad shots. I had LOTR to a high standard, and the studios royally botched one of the greatest movies. I wish a boutique studio would refo these.
Star Trek 5 and 6 have come out on 4K. Of all the Star Trek movies, I thought 5 was the worst (maybe they didn't spend much time on that one because of it being the least popular). For the original blu-rays, there were people who didn't like any of the movies: saying they all had too much DNR. I did find that was really true for ST 6. However, the 4K is a definite improvement. Also about District 9: it is listed as upscaled 4K. But keep in mind that a studio master has slightly larger 2K resolution than HD. That plus the fact that video masters were in HDR color spaces, it's going to still potentially have an improvement over BD. RE: Shaun of the Dead....yes, those movies were shot on film: which does have a limited dynamic range (depending on scenario, the shot would either have to have blown out parts or they could compensate with camera techniques). The newest digital cameras have better dynamic range, so it's easier to not have blown out skies.
Grease is the worst 4K blu-ray I have seen in my life. Every white zone is hyper over softed and bad color corrected there are some moments that real shots looked fake like the musical car scene ☹️ The Lord of the rings is a pretty good master, you can see they have the correct colors in all the Rivendell scenes, not like the DVD when they are orange, in the cinema prints they weren't.
I just watched the Cornetto Trilogy 4k and thought they all looked pretty good and the sound was the best I’ve heard yet for the three films. District 9 was also an impressive release.
Ealan, I’m with you there on the MCU films. It’s Disney screwing around since we know from other films like say MAVERICK and half of Nolan’s output have shifting ratios.
1. T2: Judgement Day. 2. Black Panther. The crushed black levels esp at the beginning in the challenge scene are horrible. I still feel Disney owes us a replacement for the 4K release. The standard Blu-ray looks great there. Also bought the 3D release (when I had my LG 55OLEDC6 TV in my living room). 3. Kick-Ass. Think the Blu-ray looks better. 4. Charlies Angels (2000). Ditto. 5. Forest Gump. Based on reviews, haven't seen it. Honorable Mentions: Totally agree on the MCU IMAX Enhanced D+ versions: Those look so good, won't be buying any more MCU 4K releases till they give us those on 4K Blu-ray. LOTR Trilogy: Thought the discs sounded great, but pitcher was kinda meh. Star Wars (I-VI): Based on reports, only bought ANH & ROTS on 4K Blu-ray.
on the Star Trek The Motion Picture - the later relesae of the Directors Cut is far superior - this film had a 70mm print Paramount utilised many different original elements and the Dir cut release was delayed some months before its release.
Harry Potter 4k boxset are one of the wurst 4k transfers I have ever seen. These movies are dark shot movies, and looks like they have done nothing to these movies to improve picture quality. Looks like watching regular blu-ray instead of a 4k transfer. luckily i only paid around 40€ for this 4k boxset.
I saw the Star Trek movies in the theater. The 4K versions are way better than any prior home release. They look great on my 83 inch screen. The films looked like that in the theater. Stop applying modern digital photography to older films.
I agree with Shane about Lord of the Rings, PQ looked pretty bad. The only reason to get the set is for the Atmos sound. Can't agree with Ealan about the Harry Potter films, I thought they look great. Also, all of the Potter films were shot on film. For me, the worst looking 4K disc that I've seen is The Bourne Identity. It looked like a complete up-converted from the 1080p disc. It's a disgusting looking disc.
@@stevenlornie1261 Are you referring to The Lord of the Rings 4k discs? If so, then I thought the Lord of the Rings 4K discs didn't look that much better than their regular Blu-ray counterparts. But of course, this is all subjective. What you see on your display will look different than mine.
I like DNR - the "grain" is not really just grain - it's random garbage from multiple sources, including noise from the CCD during digitization or original filming. Old movies displayed with bulb movie projectors used to automatically "remove grain" because of imperfections of bulb light source and lens imperfections - that DNR is closer to original film viewing experience than the messy grain so beloved of some. Love of grain is like vinyl lovers adoring hisses and scratches.
@@therealshanelee I digitize about a hundred 8 and 16mm films per year using frame by frame imaging at 2k res. Believe me, "grain" is not what you seem to think it is. I can vary the 'grain' by changing the CCD sensitivity or lowering the light source. What you are seeing is often a combination of noise from the digitization process as well as some genuine film noise that is due to the limitations of the film's chemistry. Grain itself is not a desirable feature of film - it is a result of the poor resolution of film chemistry or noise from light levels that are too low.
@@paulcarter7445 what films might you have worked on that I have seen? Or are you a hobbyist. If you think T2 or Phantom menace, LOTR is done correctly then you must not be as good at your job as you think you are.
@@therealshanelee Oh, I see, resorting to personal insults. I suggest you study the optics and electronics of digitization, then follow that up with an understanding of the various DNR techniques, particularly the tools used in film by e.g. Neat image plugins. When used correctly, DNR can and often does improve image resolution and clarity, neatly removing and repairing the noise generated by multiple sources. The 'smearing' that you noted when characters move can be a product of poor film exposure or due to automatic dust and scratch removal, not DNR. Sometimes automatic dust and scratch removal is performed by tools similar to DNR but using different algorithms (usually a simpler frame to frame comparison operator) and that can cause significant artifact loss during sudden movement - but that is NOT Noise Reduction. Another (rare) source of image smearing is when frames rates are changed and optical flow is used to interpolate missing frames - but that is used infrequently.
@@paulcarter7445 when you come on here and try to "Educate" come with something better than "I like DNR". If you haven't worked on any of these films then move on.
I love how “the worst” 4K’s are like my prised possession box sets. Also I don’t thing the skywalk we sega is a bad 4K, especially the originals. They look great on 4K in my opinion. Edit: I don’t and don’t plan on getting T2 on 4K. I have seen the comparisons and how bad it looks.
Harry Potter, yes. I have another: Sonic the Hedgehog. I just upgraded to an LG G2 from and "old" and dim C6. It is amazing how much BRIGHTER most content is to me now. So I was looking forward to yet another viewing of Sonic the Hedgehog with my 5-yo daughter because I thought my old TV was making the picture too dim. But no: Sonic the Hedgehog is just a very dim movie. Scenes outdoors in full sun should be vibrant, right? Not so in this movie, and indoor scenes are even worse.
There's more garbage 4k movies and you should have a segment pointing it out. I bet you get a lot of people with there own complaints. I have seen little to no real upgrades in movies. Yet they slap a 4k on the box and a lot extra cost. I can imagine the kaleidoscape is even worse. 😅
just picked up sunshine of the spotless mind, and it was pretty rough from the source and almost disorienting. Only a few scenes on the beach were clear.
I'm really upset about the Lord of The Rings extended cuts. And T2 breaks my heart. Its possibly my favorite movie of all time. I still bought T2 in 4K but I refuse watch to it. I watch my previous Blu-ray cuts.
Gotta ask why about the IMAX ratio ? Personally I find it annoying when they swap out the ratios especially on Christopher Nolan movies. I don’t see any difference in the picture quality. All I notice is it goes from black bars to no black bars back to black bars. Am I missing something ?
Another comment (because I like to type I guess): I have heard that T2 used the generated right eye from the 3D version of the movie for the 4K. So basically the entire movie presented at a slightly different angle. Of course legacy movies have to be DNR-d to death when making a 3D version because duh. I have also heard that there will be a new transfer at some point that should look good. As for Harry Potter, I've not ever seen any of the movies, but it could be a case where it was DNR'd and they put some artificial grain back on top to make it look more natural. This is not uncommon. Maybe with Harry Potter they put NOISE instead of grain?
I have the same list as yours Shane. I'll sadly have to add Aliens, True Lies, Titanic and Abyss... DNR & AI upscale fest... with zero work on the color profile. You can check my latest video on my Aliens comparison with my own upscale & HDR color grading work. Can't wait toi see your new setup. 😊
I was going to watch this then I saw Star Trek. Um... those 4ks are not only good looking but are a HUGE improvement on any home media copy. Trek 2-6 are grainy, detailed and finally the correct colour. Yep, stupid video.
THANK YOU, Shane. I can't speak about the book series (I've never even read a single page of them but I can be pretty sure they're more enjoyable cos of the nature of books as a medium), but the Harry Potter films bar 'Philosopher's Stone' (yes, not 'Sorcerer's Stone) and 'Chamber of Secrets' are absolute borefests and the colour palettes of them are equally so.
The star wars movies are visually bad. I think the best ones visually were Rogue One, Rise of the Sky Walker (End scene is omg with the force lightning), The phantom Menace (End scene) 4,5, & 6 looks nice. I sold my star wars movies, because they're visually not great. The only one I would pick up honestly is Han Solo & Rogue One. I agree with this video, except Lord of the Rings. It's an major upgrade visually & audio wise over blu-rays.
Could some of this badness be related to funky disc or player? As an example Saving Private Ryan. First time I watched the disc I thought it looked horrible and didn't understand the reviews. I watched on an LG UB870 that did not not have Dolby Vision. When I got a LG UBK90 which does and played that disc it was a world of difference. Another movie The Shallows. My particular disc plays but a lot of the audio and action has a stuttering issue. Borrowed my friends disc and it played fine. On my setup with my discs Harry Potter looks great!