Was starting to bugger up the Abyss thread a little bit.
I finally have a decent 4K TV so what are some must own movies in 4k.

So far I have Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick along with ET.
Those were movies I wanted to buy anyway and the Blu Ray 4k bundle was inexpensive so I bought them before getting a 4K TV.

I still buy the physical disks not looking for download or streaming purchase.

Some movies/shows really aren’t worth the 4k remaster but what are some that are well worth owning?

Start with 1917, hands down. Some of the scenes are absolutely jaw-dropping in 4K, even on subsequent viewings. Hopefully your new 4K TV can keep up with the intense black levels of the best scene. On a high quality OLED, with a good Atmos system, it'll make you swear off the movie theater ever again.

From there, in no particular order:
Blade Runner 2049
Mad Max Fury Road
Dune (the new one)
Interstellar
Dunkirk
Black Hawk Down
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Rises
The Northman
Alien
(Aliens should be out on 4K disc in a few months too...)

All look amazing in 4K, on top of being films worth owning.

Whereas there are a few examples that fit the first part, but fall short of the latter one. Like Avatar.

Rogue, BR2049 is a masterpiece, Sir Roger Deakins hittin home run after home run, glad to see it mentioned high on the list.

quote:

Originally posted by Brother:
Sir Roger Deakins hittin home run after home run

Indeed. He's the cinematographer for three of the top movies in my personal list of all time best shot films: BR2049, 1917, and O Brother Where Art Thou.


Also, funnily enough, I just realized over 1/3rd of my list of "Must Own 4K Films" are Christopher Nolan films.

Dune
Top Gun Maverick
Skyfall
Apocalypse Now
The Godfather series
Forbidden Planet

That last one is a Blu Ray… but the sound and the upscaled detail will blow your mind.

I would say go get Oppenheimer on 4K, but good luck finding it. Amazon says it'll take several weeks to ship, Best Buy and Target were out, and I had to settle for Walmart because they had a steelbook exclusive.

Blade Runner also looks amazing in 4K. Ridley Scott and WB did a great job on the Final Cut.

2001: A Space Odyssey is also a must have, and the recent release mostly ditches the flat blue filter on the Blu Ray that kills all the detail Kubrick and Douglas Trumbull put into the movie.

Two oddball mentions for a 4K disc as follows:

1) Tron: Legacy. All of the scenes inside The Grid pop in HDR.

2) Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition. The 2001 DVD finally got a restoration last year that looks pristine with a new Dolby Atmos sound mix. The extra scenes and completed FX work keeps the 2001 like pacing but fills out the story better. It's not perfect, but if they could have put this version in theaters, they would have made a lot more money.

Lord of the Rings ultraHD set. It’s so good, and the remaster removed the green hues.

Lord of the Rings extended versions and The Hobbit ones.

Is there any meaningful advantage to Blu Ray over streaming a 4K version assuming no limitations with internet connections?

quote:

Originally posted by MikeNH:
Is there any meaningful advantage to Blu Ray over streaming a 4K version assuming no limitations with internet connections?

Ownership, not having to worry about the streamer editing it down the road when someone finds something offensive.
Not having to go search across different platforms to stream it. Don’t have to have internet to watch it.

There's a functional quality difference as well.

Streaming video and audio data is compressed into a smaller data package for transmission, which results in a loss of quality to one extent or another, compared to the uncompressed data being read from a disc. (The good news is, compression technology has advanced quite a bit, which helps narrow the gap.)

Yes, a 4K stream and a 4K disc are both being shown at the same 3840 x 2160 "4K" resolution, but streaming video will often have a loss in fine detail and less color depth, along with some compression artifacts (pixelation/blurring). Compressed 4K UHD video can still look good, just not quite as good as the same material in uncompressed UHD from a disc.

The difference is even more noticeable in audio than video. If you have a higher end audio system, compressed streaming audio is noticeably inferior to uncompressed lossless audio on a disc. (If you're using the TV speaker or a basic soundbar, you won't be able to tell a difference.)

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Start with 1917, hands down. Some of the scenes are absolutely jaw-dropping in 4K, even on subsequent viewings. Hopefully your new 4K TV can keep up with the intense black levels of the best scene. On a high quality OLED, with a good Atmos system, it'll make you swear off the movie theater ever again.

From there, in no particular order:
Blade Runner 2049
Mad Max Fury Road
Dune (the new one)
Interstellar
Dunkirk
Black Hawk Down
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Rises
The Northman
Alien
(Aliens should be out on 4K disc in a few months too...)

All look amazing in 4K, on top of being films worth owning.

Whereas there are a few examples that fit the first part, but fall short of the latter one. Like Avatar.

Great list. BR2049 remains the 4k disc standard by which I measure anything else. Yes the PQ is among the best released thus far, if not the best. On the audio side, there is no comparison. It will push 6 figure HT audio systems to the brink, it’s that good. It’s a full Atmos soundtrack and will push your front stage harder, your subs harder, than any other disc made. Oblivion is also reference in the audio department. A good reference test is to boot that disc up for the opening credits. It should rattle the whole room, in a good way. LFE and your front stage will be pushed to the edge. Not my favorite movies by any means either, but Ready Player One is reference, as is, get this, Aquaman. But I wouldn’t buy either unless you have an Atmos set up. Ready Player One uses incredible LF to RR pulses from shots, RF to RR. So you have shots going diagonally across your HT, front to back, with a corresponding LFE hit. You hear the shot fired, and it go across the room, unreal stuff. It’s ridiculously good. Aquaman, like BR2049, has some of the best, if not the best, PQ available yet. Especially the scenes in the desert. And the sound quality is tops of the chart. If I watched that thing on streaming or something, big meh. But on 4k disc you’re viewing going damn, this is pretty fucking good.

I also own Interstellar and the Batman Trilogy from Christopher Nolan. The Batman Trilogy, the IMAX scenes go to full screen on 4k disc on your panel, and it’s unreal. But keep in mind Nolan only uses Dolby 5.1, not Atmos. Nolan does this with most of his films. Dunkirk is another example. When it goes full screen you’re watching going got damn, what in the fuck is the point of the cineplex?

First Blood is actually really good. For 4k disc content most old film transfers get better but nothing compared to the newer films. Many of them aren’t worth buying and the 1080p disc will be the better purchase. Some of the 4k discs are money grabs where the 1080p version has the better audio quality. But First Blood transferred really well. The scenes up on the mountain in the forest with John J wounding the officers, especially Teasle under Rambo’s knife, the skin under the faint light, such good PQ. I bought it used for $15 and worth every penny. A good point to mention. If you want to buy 4k discs, go to blu-ray.com and look it up. Their 4k disc reviews will give you a up to 5.0 rating for PQ and SQ. They do a little write up with it, not just score it. If they are festering, hard, about something, it’s usually a damn good disc. But I’d bookmark the site, and check their review of said disc before you buy anything. I rent everything before I buy it. The only pre-buys I have ever done and both are worth purchasing, are Dune and Maverick. Joseph Kosinski and Dennis Villenevue are two directors, if they’re releasing a 4k disc from either director, you can trust it. Same for PTA.

Hostiles is really good on 4k disc, so much that I bought it. As well as Phantom Thread. PTA’s film at home, on 4k disc, is theater like. Wonderful film and disc.

And Dune, the latest one, DV is the director, same as BR2049 and the disc, while not as good in the audio department, is pretty damn good and close. DV’s discs, the last 2, wow. So damn good that I first stupidly streamed Dune on Max and was sort of 50/50. Then I rented it on 4k disc and it was a completely different film and I loved it, and bought it. The sound, anything with synths, is just ridiculous. Hans Zimmer is fucking ridiculous. On Sardaukar, you’ll look sideways when that audio is going with all those soldiers and the Priests in rhythm. The audio is just fucking stupid. I was like this

Please support this space. If people don’t get it into it, and keep the physical media going, we will all be stuck with streaming films, which is not the same. I’ve seen some pretty good PQ 4k streaming on Netflix, but the audio is severely compressed as Rogue said, so much so that it’s just shit. A triple layer 4k disc is 100Gb. On a 4k player you can hit one of the buttons to see how many Mbps per second it’s delivering. Streaming it’s a fraction of that. Rogue is dead on here, all the streaming bullshit is compressed. Some .com business is going to end up doing an app, that is full bit rate, for streaming, and will become the new standard in the future. A Netflix 1080p blu ray equivalent, but streaming in 4k.

Oh and one last note as it’s well known in the industry. Disney 4k discs are trash and the worst in the industry. I’ve watched independent films on 4k disc that are better than Disney trash. All their discs are limited range where you have to turn your shit way up and even then it’s limited range, limited LFE. So don’t buy any of them. They have more $ than anyone yet they chintz their 4k discs on purpose to get you to sign up to their streaming service. Why bother in the first place? A notable exception for this, is Tron Legacy, a 1080p disc, but in DTS-HD 7.1. Buy it too, absolute reference turf. That soundtrack will rock your system and then some. And lastly, if the 1080p Blu Ray is notable, your player and/or panel will upscale it. Makes 1080p discs look phenomenal. With some becoming 4k like in appearance. You’ll have a ball of a time going back through your 1080p disc library and watching again, and the upscaling will turn it into a better film.

CGI movies always look great on Blu-ray. The new Mario movie is only $10 at Bestbuy, along with a bunch of others during Black Friday weekend

Looks like Amazon has several of the 4k discs I listed on sale for $8-$11 each as a Black Friday deal.

Blade Runner 2049
Dune
Mad Max Fury Road
1917
Dunkirk
Interstellar

Grabbing all six of those for ~$60 is a pretty tough deal to beat.

Here's a couple I forgot:

Saving Private Ryan

and

Master & Commander, The Far Side of the World, only Blu-Ray, but the soundtrack is excellent.


.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
Saving Private Ryan

Which reminds me, I've been meaning to pick that up in 4K/Atmos. The opening Omaha Beach scene is what I always used to use to show off my 5.1 and 7.1 systems.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
Master & Commander, The Far Side of the World, only Blu-Ray, but the soundtrack is excellent.

An excellent film, and great audio disc for a standard surround sound setup, for sure. However, since it's just a standard bluray, the picture quality will be good but not exceptional, since even if upscaled to 4K resolution it will still lack some of the more modern dynamic color/brightness technologies. And it doesn't have vertical spatial audio.

It really does deserve a new 4K remaster with HDR and Atmos. Hopefully Fox/Disney gets around to that soon.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RogueJSK,

Oh boy, now I have to get a 4k TV!

Sound I am lacking.
Still using a 12 year old Pioneer DTS 7.1.

I have not paid attention to audio stuff really.
I am seeing Spacial Audio and Atmos I think.
Sounds expensive. I am afraid to look at it really. As I won’t be able to afford it.

Oppenheimer just came out. I think it was supposed to be good visually.