Apple TV+ Terence Malick's Badlands on ATV+? (1 Viewer)

[Bartman]

I have the Warner DVD of Badlands & it's looking long-in-the-tooth. The ATV+ HD version is sourced from Warner (not Criterion), does anyone know the provenance of the transfer or alternately can comment on the streaming picture quality?
Thanks, Trevor.

 

[Bartman]

It appears the ATV+ Badlands is most likely the 2017 transfer used for European Blu-ray releases, inc a Premium UK set, because of the multiple languages shown at ATV+. The transfer should be superb, I'll report back.

 

[Bartman]

The ATV+ streaming version is OK but not superb. It's better than upscaled DVD but suffers from softness & low contrast. I assume a higher bit rate would have improved it. If you're a fan of the movie the Criterion Blu-ray would be a much better bet.

 

[Mark-P]

It depends on which you prefer. The digital version which is an older transfer with 1.78:1 aspect ratio and 5.1 audio remix, or the Criterion Blu-ray which is a newer transfer from 4K scan (2013) at 1.85:1 aspect ratio, but only monaural audio.

 

[Bartman]

It depends on which you prefer. The digital version which is an older transfer with 1.78:1 aspect ratio and 5.1 audio remix, or the Criterion Blu-ray which is a newer transfer from 4K scan (2013) at 1.85:1 aspect ratio, but only monaural audio.

I'm interested in your comments. Have you compared the picture quality of the Criterion vs Warner's streaming version?

 

[Mark-P]

I'm interested in your comments. Have you compared the picture quality of the Criterion vs Warner's streaming version?

No. I only own the iTunes version. However comparisons are are out there as others have done them:

Badlands Blu-ray - Martin Sheen

Badlands

caps-a-holic.com

The iTunes digital is basically the DVD transfer, but in HD resolution, while the Criterion and German Blu-rays appear to be from the 2013 4K restoration, though the German Blu-ray apparently also has 5.1 audio.

The chances of the iTunes digital getting upgraded to the new transfer are kind of slim, because it's Warner Brothers which doesn't pay much attention to their digital catalog listings, especially titles that they've licensed out to Criterion on Blu-ray.

 

[Bartman]

No. I only own the iTunes version. However comparisons are are out there as others have done them:

Badlands Blu-ray - Martin Sheen

Badlands

caps-a-holic.com

The iTunes digital is basically the DVD transfer, but in HD resolution, while the Criterion and German Blu-rays appear to be from the 2013 4K restoration, though the German Blu-ray apparently also has 5.1 audio.

The chances of the iTunes digital getting upgraded to the new transfer are kind of slim, because it's Warner Brothers which doesn't pay much attention to their digital catalog listings, especially titles that they've licensed out to Criterion on Blu-ray.

Thanks for the info. I did check those comparisons, that's what sent me down this rabbit hole. The DVD upscaled looked terrible. The ATV+ has a similar color palette & contrast as the DVD without artifacts, so I can believe it's from the HD version of the DVD transfer. According to Amz UK the German Blu-ray (that is still available) has mono audio (same as the Criterion?) but no English subtitles.

My hope is, this will help others considering streaming or the Criterion Blu-ray of Badlands.

 

[Bartman]

One more comment. MoviesAnywhere lists the movie file size, a very useful feature, to enable an informed download. For Badlands the HD file size is 5.6GB, that is small & implies a low bit rate encode, a clue I chose to ignore when I watched Badlands on ATV+. Caveat emptor.

 

[Mark-P]

One more comment. MoviesAnywhere lists the movie file size, a very useful feature, to enable an informed download. For Badlands the HD file size is 5.6GB, that is small & implies a low bit rate encode, a clue I chose to ignore when I watched Badlands on ATV+. Caveat emptor.

You can’t compare digital download file size to Blu-ray file size. They are completely different encode processes. 5.6GB for a 93 minute movie is actually a very large file size for digital.

 

[Bartman]

You can’t compare digital download file size to Blu-ray file size. They are completely different encode processes. 5.6GB for a 93 minute movie is actually a very large file size for digital.

I understand they maybe different encode processes (although that's not guaranteed) but I don't believe video encoder compression efficiencies have increased by the factor 28GB (Blu-ray) to 5.6GB (MA digital) or 5:1, please advise?