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Precisely.
Most recent example is that new 4K remaster of LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. Though the first was mastered on film, the next two were done on DI at 2K, and Peter Jackson went back to the original film elements in order create a new 4K master for the 4K release. But as said, this is kind of a rarity.
I don't know how good they are though.
I liked the look of both CR & QOS, it isn't night and day but still looked pretty vibrant on my 55" OLED.
I've heard a lot of people are not impressed what Jackson has done with LOTR, he apparently has tried to make them all (including the pointless Hobbit trilogy) look the same.
I'll stick with the Blu-ray's, I think it is unlikely they'll be worked on again to return their original theatrical look and these 4K's will be like the very controversial Terminator 2 4K, which I believe caused much gnashing of teeth as Cameron has pretty much scrubbed all the grain off it and it has a waxy look.
Doesn't bode well for the Abyss finally turning up on a physical format in HD or 4K at some point.
I never saw it but Friedkin's original Blu-ray of The French Connection was another example where people were exasperated at his choices, thankfully DP Owen Roitzman who was horrified collaborated on another restoration which is the one I own in The Film Maker's Signature series.
HD & 4K versions don't always mean you are getting the best possible versions unfortunately.
It seems some intentions are to return them to look as much like they did on original release with obviously some of the anomalies removed from the period, hence some directors claiming they look better than they did on original release.
Or some directors choose it as an opportunity to revise the original product, possibly in most cases it is better than someone else not associated with the film isn't making the decisions on how it should look.
All the best ones seem to have some contribution from someone be it the director or the DP but the decisions are taken based on researching knowledge and material of the time to make sure the colours etc are as close to the original intention as possible.
Don't own a Blu-ray version of The French Connection yet, but thanks for pointing this out! On the subject of 4K, TFC is probably one of those films that might tempt me to make the jump to 4K, should it get a 4K release. As of now, I'm happy enough with Blu-rays and DVDs.
It will take some proper favourites for me to upgrade in most cases, new titles I will get on UHD but I still continue to get Blu-ray's of some titles as in some cases like T2 the 4K's aren't an improvement at all in fact they are worse than the previous versions.
My version of TFC is from the U.S although it is region free so no issues if like me your player is locked to your region, the advantage of UHD is currently they haven't chose to lock the regions and all as far as I know worldwide releases will play on any UHD player.
I have a few U.S versions, the only downside is the Blu-ray's included are locked you can't play them but as I will be playing the UHD it doesn't pose a problem for me, my DC UHD set has the Blu-ray's but they are region free if I need the use of them.
Whereas as I have the U.S version of The Fifth Element and that comes with locked Blu-ray it depends on requirement I guess.
Obtaining a region free bumps the price up usually £100 + I find, I got LG UHD player for £100 and have been happy to live with the locked situation, I did have a region free Blu-ray player but wanted to make the jump to UHD, it required sellng of some Region A titles but the gain was worth it in my case.
I've been more than happy with Player that I bought in September 2019 and a pretty much all the upgrades I've done have been worth it, I'm currently watching a Christmas present, The Bridge On The River Kwai and this without doubt one of the best I own, the restoration is astounding.
Agree, it would take some proper favourites to become available for me to even consider a new format and upgrading the DVD/Blu-ray I do own, and going back and upgrading the entire or even just parts of my existing collection would be too expensive in itself.
It's interesting that the UHD players are region free (that was news to me!). A lot of times I've had to skip getting at Blu-ray title just because of the region locking, and getting another player just for those specific titles have been out of the question. Backward compatibility I guess is a given with any UHD player?
It is a surprising stance they went for with UHD considering the region locking of Blu-ray's, possibly s @MakeshiftPython might have some thoughts on that being regular expert in this area.
It might have something to do with UHD being a very niche format, the fact that it isn't going to supersede Blu-ray, as that format hasn't even ruled out DVD, possibly the fact it won't ever be wide selling format like those others this stance has been taken, I don't actually know.
No region locking could be the difference between getting a player or not for some, myself included. As you write, it's a niche format (or likely to be), and people are maybe likely to buy more films when there's no region locking. Still though, it's an interesting stance.
Wow, me too. I have a box set of Region 2 Avengers (TV) DVDs that I can't watch now that I've had to replace my previous laptop. Knowing this could lead me to getting a 4K player if the price is right, although I'm still hesitant to totally convert to the format. It would just be great to have something all-inclusive.
Exactly! I got enough players as it is, but if I find a region free 4K player at the right price, then that might be the solution.
It's the other way around here, as I would like to have more region A releases in my collection. There are so many great releases from American equivalents to the labels you mention above @Revelator.
Make sure you set your gamma right too.
What brand and size tv do you have ?
Anyway, I see there are multiple Blu-Ray editions of the film, dating from 2008, 2012, and 2015. Is the 2015 version just a repackaging of the 2008 transfer? Should I try and obtain the 4K digital file instead?
The only difference with the 4K online version is that it gets rid of that magenta tint that was prevalent in the blu-ray.
https://007homemedia.blogspot.com/2020/01/live-and-let-die-1973.html
days ago I was informed that they'd been upgraded to the 4k UHD versions. I'm hoping
that as I've all the Bonds, ...... they might be generous to update those too, when available :D
but I won't hold my breath
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8794820?clickPR=clearance:40:54
Great price! Could this be evidence of an incoming 4K set?
No, it's more that Argos seems to be getting out of the market and are selling off their stock of everything at clearance prices.
More of their clearance items here:
https://www.argos.co.uk/clearance/technology/dvds-and-blu-ray/c:29964/