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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Oblivion -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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If a film must rise or fall on the concepts and performance of a single filmmaker, Oblivion in one of them. This is our old auteur theory.

In spades.

Based upon an unpublished graphic novel by Mr. Kosinski, apparently used to get the project green-lit, Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion, for Universal, is an interesting, albeit occasionally infuriating ride.

Effects work seamlessly with production photography, making it impossible to survey a frame, and delineate green screen, from digital to practical, or anything that happens to be thrown at the audience.

It's another running, jumping, standing still film for Mr. Cruise, which is something he's honed over the decades, and can probably now do in his sleep. While smiling.

The cast is rounded out by Andrea Riseborough (Bridman), Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Silence) and of course, Morgan Freeman (his 38th film in 2013), with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in a small, but important role, with big billing, and Melissa Leo, as the Beaver.

In a strange way, similar to Now You See Me, Oblivion seldom makes itself known as to what or who might be real, or possibly computer driven reality. There are sequences that seem somehow self-important, as if the filmmaker knew that he was creating a modern classic.

My take is that either the film was an hour longer, and shed cogent details in the cutting, or the script went into production before it was ripe for picking.

Regardless, Oblivion is an interesting exercise for our new 4k media, in that there are shots, especially some XLS in space, that I cannot imagine working properly in a lesser resolution.

HDR provides the black blacks necessary for the film, while the overall resolution, acquired as 4 and 5k sources, was completed as a 2k DI.

Universal's UHD 4k release makes good use of every pixel, yielding a gorgeous final result. Dolby Atmos (my personal go-to for audio) provides a huge, controlled sound stage that matches the aura of the film.

Part Planet of the Apes, part 2001, part Star Wars, the film is an amalgam of bits and pieces ripped from our memories, that in some cases seems to work, and in others...

A final word regarding Universal's proprietary packaging. There are slipcovers that make a statement, that can look beautiful or horrific. Some that are destined for the trash heap.

What seems to have become Universal's signature packaging for 4k UHD shines, and actually provides a pseudo-glimpse as to what the film may look like in HDR. A very elegant, and thoughtfully designed package.

Image - 5

Audio - 5 (Dolby Atmos)

4k - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Worth the double-dip - 5

Recommended (more as a disc, than as a film)

RAH
 

Dave H

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Robert,

Have you compared the BD to the UHD BD? There are a lot of complaints from front projector owners at AVS how the standard Blu-ray version looks sharper and more detailed. It appears the UHD BD has been filtered (presumably to remove 2k to 4K upscaling artifacts) by comparison.
 

PMF

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First time I've seen the new category "Worth the double-dip".
Great idea and guide. Thanks.
 

Robert Harris

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Robert,

Have you compared the BD to the UHD BD? There are a lot of complaints from front projector owners at AVS how the standard Blu-ray version looks sharper and more detailed. It appears the UHD BD has been filtered (presumably to remove 2k to 4K upscaling artifacts) by comparison.

This is a slippery slope.

No matter what one does, there is going to be up-rezzing from a Blu-ray, as viewed on a 4k device. Whether achieved by the projector / panel, or via the player.

My preference is to allow a post company, or the studio to do the up-rez, which is the route Universal has taken.

For the record, I did see a single shot with banding.

Bottom line, there is no answer, as much is in the eye of the beholder, as based upon their personal perception, and their hardware.

I have no way of viewing the Blu-ray, as no matter what I do, it's always going to be up-rezzed to 4k.

Why am I sounding like Ethel Merman?

RAH
 

Dave H

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This is a slippery slope.

No matter what one does, there is going to be up-rezzing from a Blu-ray, as viewed on a 4k device. Whether achieved by the projector / panel, or via the player.

My preference is to allow a post company, or the studio to do the up-rez, which is the route Universal has taken.

For the record, I did see a single shot with banding.

Bottom line, there is no answer, as much is in the eye of the beholder, as based upon their personal perception, and their hardware.

I have no way of viewing the Blu-ray, as no matter what I do, it's always going to be up-rezzed to 4k.

Why am I sounding like Ethel Merman?

RAH

Just to be clear...the issue is, as I understand it...this is a native 2K DI movie that the studio upscaled to UHD on the disc. Hence, the studio is using a certain filtering algorithm (seemingly too aggressive) that is creating the issue - at least this is the speculation. People are saying the standard Blu-ray doesn't have this problem and hence, the projector or player upscaling the BD looks sharper.
 

Jeff Cooper

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This is a rare movie where I specifically remember the sound design being fantastic and playing a huge part. Specifically with the drones. The drones just visually would look silly and barely register as a threat. But the sound design behind them made them absolutely terrifying. Fantastic movie.
 

George_W_K

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This is a rare movie where I specifically remember the sound design being fantastic and playing a huge part. Specifically with the drones. The drones just visually would look silly and barely register as a threat. But the sound design behind them made them absolutely terrifying. Fantastic movie.

I agree, they are a really big part of why I love this movie. The scene in the library was fantastic. The drone's warning sounds right before unleashing its laser barrage, followed by the angry bleeps when it was finished, and then when it scanned Jack and hesitated on recognizing him. Great scene.
 

Robert Harris

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Just to be clear...the issue is, as I understand it...this is a native 2K DI movie that the studio upscaled to UHD on the disc. Hence, the studio is using a certain filtering algorithm (seemingly too aggressive) that is creating the issue - at least this is the speculation. People are saying the standard Blu-ray doesn't have this problem and hence, the projector or player upscaling the BD looks sharper.

If there is an issue. I'm not seeing problems,
 

Johnny Angell

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I kinda/sorta like this movie and have the blu-ray. I like Morgan Freeman but in this movie it seems like he's just shown up with the attitude that "I'll just thrill 'em with this voice of mine, and that'll do it." I thought he mailed it in.
 

OliverK

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Just to be clear...the issue is, as I understand it...this is a native 2K DI movie that the studio upscaled to UHD on the disc. Hence, the studio is using a certain filtering algorithm (seemingly too aggressive) that is creating the issue - at least this is the speculation. People are saying the standard Blu-ray doesn't have this problem and hence, the projector or player upscaling the BD looks sharper.

There is probably so much detail in the 4k version that compared to other UHD discs sourced from 2k masters it still looks very good, probably still better than Exodus ;)

Vudu UHD usually is a pretty good indicator of the detail level in the UHD discs if things do not move very much that is why I like to have a look before buying some more interesting titles.

FWIW checking out Oblivion this was the first movie that while it looked very good in vudu UHD it was softer than the Blu-ray. I had to look twice as I first could not believe the difference. All the other titles that I have checked from Warner (about 4 or 5) looked more detailed on vudu UHD compared to the Blu-ray version even though the difference is not huge.

I think this may be because Warner is doing something right that Universal might have been doing worng, at least for Oblivion. My hunch is that Warner employs little to no filtering in the UHD version as upscaling basically makes filtering near the resolution threshold unnecessary. We are coming from a 2k source to UHD so that is almost twice the resolution in both directions. The Blu-rays on the other hand get some filtering as Warner is coming fom 2k to 1080p, possibly without cropping which means that some downscaling might be reducing picture quality anyway to go from 2048 to 1920.

Universal on the other hand with Oblivion has a movie that compared to the Warner BD titles is apparently less filtered (if at all) and it indeed looks stellar. For the UHD disc they probably went the other way and used more filtering / smoothing / the wrong upscaling algorythm so that indeed with good upscaling the Blu-ray has more detail than the (still very good) UHD version.

Like I said the UHD disc probably still looks very nice by itself so only a direct comparison will show the difference. Maybe I will peek into the UHD Blu-ray at some point but as one of those titles where a few bucks was saved in order to produce only a 2k DCP even though he director really wanted a 4k finish I will pass for now.
 

Ray0414

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The softness at times was atrocious.

Here's some shots on my Samsung KS9800, their flagship tv this year which also won the UK HDR shootout. Yes everything is setup properly and there are no variables. The black crush is just a camera issue when capturing an hdr picture.

Clearly you can see the top picture is sharper, with more definition of the trees. The bottom picture (uhd) is blurry and soft. I found almost all wide shots to have similar blurriness. Close up shots weren't as bad, but this is a complete botch job. Kris Deering at Sounds Vision was also appalled at the softness compared to the 1080p blu ray.



lK3k08M.jpg

UXx61eX.jpg
 

Robert Harris

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The softness at times was atrocious.

Here's some shots on my Samsung KS9800, their flagship tv this year which also won the UK HDR shootout. Yes everything is setup properly and there are no variables. The black crush is just a camera issue when capturing an hdr picture.

Clearly you can see the top picture is sharper, with more definition of the trees. The bottom picture (uhd) is blurry and soft. I found almost all wide shots to have similar blurriness. Close up shots weren't as bad, but this is a complete botch job. Kris Deering at Sounds Vision was also appalled at the softness compared to the 1080p blu ray.



lK3k08M.jpg

UXx61eX.jpg

The top image may be sharper, and indeed it is Far sharper.

But it is not representative of the actual 4k image, at least in projection.

Not buying the difference, as shown.
 

OliverK

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This looks bad, I only saw a closeup in the beginning when Tom Cruise is getting out of bed and that looked quite good, at least on the 43" TV where I did my little comparison.

I suggest a recall and a new 4k master - then I will also buy a disc :)
 

Robert Harris

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This looks bad, I only saw a closeup in the beginning when Tom Cruise is getting out of bed and that looked quite good, at least on the 43" TV where I did my little comparison.

I suggest a recall and a new 4k master - then I will also buy a disc :)

You cannot use a 43" panel to judge 4k.

Nor will one be able to use 60" panel to judge 8k, when it arrives in 2020.

A waste of totally good pixels.
 

OliverK

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You cannot use a 43" panel to judge 4k.

Nor will one be able to use 60" panel to judge 8k, when it arrives in 2020.

A waste of totally good pixels.

Even on that panel size the blu-ray showed more detail so on my front projection system the differences may have been greater but I could see enough on the small screen, As I wrote that was the UHD streaming version, not the UHD disc. Vudu allows to check out the first two minutes of of a movie for free which in this case was enough. Mad Max and American Sniper for example looked a bit more detailed on vudu UHD than the blu-ray and I expected the same from Oblivion.
 

Robert Harris

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Even on that panel size the blu-ray showed more detail so on my front projection system the differences may have been greater but I could see enough on the small screen, As I wrote that was the UHD streaming version, not the UHD disc. Vudu allows to check out the first two minutes of of a movie for free which in this case was enough. Mad Max and American Sniper for example looked a bit more detailed on vudu UHD than the blu-ray and I expected the same from Oblivion.

I'm at a loss to understand this, as panels will allow a more highly resolved image than a Sony projector.

The Sony glass is good enough, but not great. And certainly not up to professional projection lens quality. Therefore, imagery is never as highly resolved as it might be.

RAH
 

OliverK

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I'm at a loss to understand this, as panels will allow a more highly resolved image than a Sony projector.

The Sony glass is good enough, but not great. And certainly not up to professional projection lens quality. Therefore, imagery is never as highly resolved as it might be.

RAH

True the lens quality is not as good as it could be but standing at the same absolute distance from the picture a projected image can be so much bigger which in my experience more than makes up for the sharply delineated pixels. I hope Sony improve their lens quality, there is room for further improvement over the lens in the 320, 365 , 520 and 665.
 

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While I thought this disc was good... It is the worse one of the four Universal titles so far. I give it in the same ball park as Mad Max. I was disappointed that they didn't use the 4K DI / Master that was created in Australia (at least what I read). This movie begged a top rated conversion since they used 4K and 5K cameras to film it.
 

Robert Harris

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While I thought this disc was good... It is the worse one of the four Universal titles so far. I give it in the same ball park as Mad Max. I was disappointed that they didn't use the 4K DI / Master that was created in Australia (at least what I read). This movie begged a top rated conversion since they used 4K and 5K cameras to film it.

A conversion is generally, a conversion, with a layer of HDR added.

Are you suggesting that either Mad Max or Oblvion was put through post again, in 4k, after the theatrical release.

Please keep in mind, everyone, that home video, regardless of resolution, is akin to reading a paperback book.

Everything is still compressed.
 

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