UHD Review Avatar UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[Todd Erwin]

The top-grossing movie of all-time, James Cameron’s Avatar, finally makes its way to 4K, albeit with a few minor changes.



Avatar (2009)



Released: 18 Dec 2009
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 162 min




Director: James Cameron
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy



Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver
Writer(s): James Cameron



Plot: A paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.



IMDB rating: 7.9
MetaScore: 83





Disc Information



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



Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: Dolby Atmos, English 5.1 DD...

Continue reading...

 

[Carlo_M]

It's unfortunate, but understandable given the length of the films and the storage requirements, that they didn't include the longer cuts (or at minimum the lengthiest cut) that they did in the Collector's Edition Blu Ray. I find that the footage re-incorporated into the film, and the changes in editing decisions, made that cut my favorite in terms of story flow and narrative. It's one of those cuts that, while being longer, flowed faster, at least to me.

 

[SD_Brian]

It's unfortunate, but understandable given the length of the films and the storage requirements, that they didn't include the longer cuts (or at minimum the lengthiest cut) that they did in the Collector's Edition Blu Ray.

They likely only did the full-on 4K remaster on the version that was theatrically re-released last year.

 

[Todd Erwin]

It's unfortunate, but understandable given the length of the films and the storage requirements, that they didn't include the longer cuts (or at minimum the lengthiest cut) that they did in the Collector's Edition Blu Ray. I find that the footage re-incorporated into the film, and the changes in editing decisions, made that cut my favorite in terms of story flow and narrative. It's one of those cuts that, while being longer, flowed faster, at least to me.

That edition is available on Movies Anywhere as a separate purchase, but it appears that it is only available in SD.

 

[Tino]

That edition is available on Movies Anywhere as a separate purchase, but it appears that it is only available in SD.

I have it in HD on iTunes. Available to purchase for $19.99. Has been as low as $7.99.

 

[Kyle_D]

For those who are interested in such things.

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[Kyle_D]

I watched the first 2/3 of this last night. The live action footage does not look much better than the Blu-ray --- the limitations of the Sony F950 source footage are baked in, and there's only so much that can be done to enhance it. The CG footage, however, gets a massive upgrade in color and dynamic range throughout the remaster. It's really transformative, especially during the nighttime bioluminescence scenes and scenes set in harsh daylight. The original Blu-ray looks dull and flat by comparison, although it hides some of the limitations of the CG a bit better.

Also, I initially thought I was imagining things, but I perceived some motion processing on this release, and Googling confirmed it here:

https://www.slashfilm.com/1027970/h...-release-was-enhanced-by-this-new-technology/

Essentially, Cameron and co. postprocessed the film to 48fps, and the disc appears to use half the frames from the 48fps master for the 24 fps encode. Consequently, a lot of the motion blur and panning artifacts associated with 24 fps have been reduced. It does not look like a soap opera, but it's akin to turning on the motion smoothing on my tv at it's lowest setting ("Cinema Motion" on LG G1). I did not mind it, but YMMV.

 

[JoshZ]

Also, I initially thought I was imagining things, but I perceived some motion processing on this release, and Googling confirmed it here:

https://www.slashfilm.com/1027970/h...-release-was-enhanced-by-this-new-technology/

Essentially, Cameron and co. postprocessed the film to 48fps, and the disc appears to use half the frames from the 48fps master for the 24 fps encode. Consequently, a lot of the motion blur and panning artifacts associated with 24 fps have been reduced. It does not look like a soap opera, but it's akin to turning on the motion smoothing on my tv at it's lowest setting ("Cinema Motion" on LG G1). I did not mind it, but YMMV.

I think that would totally rule it out for me. I only find motion smoothing (at the lowest setting) tolerable on 3D, because my projector has a lot of judder with 3D otherwise. On 2D, forget it.

Not that I was inclined to buy another copy of Avatar, anyway.

 

[Kyle_D]

I suspect most people will not notice it -- the motion processing is much more sophisticated than what TVs can do in real time. Also, the video is still 24 (technically 23.976) fps, and motion does not look artificial. There's just a distinct lack of motion artifacts during horizontal pans, and movements within the frame appear crisper with less blur than the previous blu-ray releases. It's difficult to describe, and it definitely cannot be captured in a screenshot.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Sooo basically the old blu-rays of Avatar are better than this weird smeary improperly speed adjusted UHD?

 

[Kyle_D]

Sooo basically the old blu-rays of Avatar are better than this weird smeary improperly speed adjusted UHD?

No - I much prefer the UHD. The screenshots posted on the other forum are not representative of how the disc looks in motion and do not show the benefits of the new HDR grade. The live action footage has never looked good, and it does not look great on this release either. The CG footage, however, gets a remarkable upgrade.

 

[Tino]

By the way, Avatar has now been edited and changed to add an additional scene at the end of the film where Giovanni Ribisi’s character tells Sully that “This is not over” which was originally deleted from the original theatrical film.

The digital versions have also been changed.

So If you want the original theatrical version of Avatar, better hang on to your old discs.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Oddly enough I don’t think I have this digitally. I bought it three times on BD (movie-only 2D version, deluxe 2D version with three different cuts of the film, and then the movie-only 3D version) and none of them came with a digital code.

 

[Todd Erwin]

By the way, Avatar has now been edited and changed to add an additional scene at the end of the film where Giovanni Ribisi’s character tells Sully that “This is not over” which was originally deleted from the original theatrical film.

The digital versions have also been changed.

So If you want the original theatrical version of Avatar, better hang on to your old discs.

This was already mentioned in my review:

Prior to the release of the long-awaited sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, Disney released a “new” 161 minute cut of the film, now remastered for 4K and high dynamic range with some scenes now presented in high frame rate (48fps), which also included a new version of the sky people being escorted off the moon of Pandora, with Giovanni Ribisi’s Parker Selfridge warning Sully and the scientists that “This isn’t over,” thus setting up the planned sequels (it has been rumored that Selfridge will play a larger role in upcoming sequels). It is this latest cut of the film that is included on Disney’s new 4K UHD Blu-ray release, that also replaces the opening studio logo with the newer 20th Century Studios logo.

 

[Tino]

Oddly enough I don’t think I have this digitally. I bought it three times on BD (movie-only 2D version, deluxe 2D version with three different cuts of the film, and then the movie-only 3D version) and none of them came with a digital code.

I did the same. I think I originally got the digital version by converting the dvd on VUDU.