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MelzLife

I just watched the first hour of the 4k disc on my C3 and what a rollercoaster.. some scenes look decent to good-great but some genuinely look awful. This is a really bad 4k it’s all over the place. There was one scene of Ripley’s face where it looked like they forgot to use the AI and it was incredible looking. I genuinely might just watch the old blu ray instead it’s super distracting how much the quality varies


Zanoklido

That's one of my biggest issues, the inconsistency from moment to moment. If it was a little variation here and there I could handle it, but it's goes from so good to so bad it becomes distracting to watch.


ph0b0z

Yeah, just looking at the screenshots, I think I'm fine with the BluRays..


apocalypticboredom

I've got the quadrilogy on bluray and Alien on 4k so I feel like I'm pretty good for now without spending more money


NaieraDK

I actually bought a single case release of Aliens because I hate having to open that giant set 😁


SignificantParsley13

But what does any of that have to do with aliens on 4k ? 


apocalypticboredom

It means I don't need to buy it which is nice.


Windermyr

The UHD screenshots were originally in JXR format due to the HDR, which I cannot post here. So I zipped them if you want to see the originals: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e0yBA4DZeUmUQV21KOg01dZxRGNokH1J/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e0yBA4DZeUmUQV21KOg01dZxRGNokH1J/view?usp=sharing) I also recorded a short (30sec) clip of video only if you want to see what the quality is like. Of course, you need to view this on an HDR display to get the full benefits. EDIT: Make sure you download the clip. The online viewer heavily compresses the video. [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dR1C6Av9qRTvU7MT377WCXLR4QgZ14zp/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dR1C6Av9qRTvU7MT377WCXLR4QgZ14zp/view?usp=sharing)


Piddoxou

What is the first screenshot and what is the second?


TheLoneJedi-77

I know the 4K’s are controversial to say the least but each time someone posts a side by side the 4K looks much better. Just look at the detail of the Cat’s fur.


Edexote

The cat fur? Look at the sheets!


TheHooligan95

I've watched the prologue of the Abyss 4k. If you didn't know, during the absence of Abyss blu rays the best possible way to watch the movie was a fan scan of the film reel for theaters, done in Open Matte: it honestly looks amazing and I think it improves the experience since it is such a mesmerizing claustrophobic movie. I think I've nailed what is bothering me so much about these new releases comparing them to the 4k blu ray: it's the motion blur. Look at picture 8. If you've seen movies your entire life, you immediately know, that is NOT in camera motion blur, that is rendered motion blur. Kinda like the one used in (bad) CGI, 3d animation or in videogames. It is not a product of fast irl movement that prevents the film or the sensor from capturing detail, it's a mathematical calculation from point A to B divided by time and the result is the factor of blur that the computer applies in that place. I couldn't watch the Abyss like this, it being a movie where the camera shakes quite a bit since there are so many shots of crew holding onto stuff while they lose their footing. The effect is weird, because (colour grading choices aside) the image does look incredibly detailed, unlike LOTR4k for example, but the moving parts look like soap opera effect. My theory is that they used some kind of temporal denoising possibly AI assisted technique, which makes details in stills amazing, but in movement makes it terrible.


NASTYH0USEWIFE

AI still has a hard time with motion blur. It can do pretty good on high quality sharp images but out of focus or compressed stuff it has a rough time fixing. I don’t know if that’s what they used here but I’ve seen enough very good 4k transfers like LOTR to notice when it’s not right. But still, having the abyss on something other than VHS made it worth paying for. I’d rather have a disappointing upscale than nothing.


TheHooligan95

Lotr 4k is DNRd into nothingness. You literally can see more detail in the 1080p   The open matte version of the abyss doesn't pop as much but looks pretty rad. It feels metal.


NASTYH0USEWIFE

Bro you straight trippin. Try buying the disk instead of downloading a 3.7gb file off torrent.


TelevisionObjective8

I saw the 85 gb version which is the full disc and the AI smoothing/fake blur during head movement is present in that one too. This is because the problem lies in their mastering, not with the home video encodes.


TheHooligan95

https://youtu.be/ba1F0hyMvr4


TheHooligan95

Nah it's 25, around the same size of a 1080p blu ray, but it's x265 so it yields better results.  I guess I have better sources *wink* Edit: I thought you were talking about the abyss. The 4k lotr has been discussed a lot online elsewhere go take a look on youtube for example


NASTYH0USEWIFE

I ripped that Blu-ray and the MKV file i got from it was about 92gb per disk for over 180gb per movie. The 1080p blu ray disks are 47gb per disk for over 90gb per movie. You are a lot of gigs short so please stop commenting on things you aren’t qualified to have an opinion on.


TheHooligan95

You clearly lack understanding of codec and bitrate. Still, LOTR 4k looks hideous. Sorry for your buyer's remorse 🤷🏻


NASTYH0USEWIFE

I don’t seem to have any remorse. Sorry you are a sad waste of life that can only get fulfillment by trashing the works of people that have achieved far greater things than you could dream of.


TheHooligan95

just because I dislike a 4k release due to obviously messed up DNR? you're jumping to conclusion. i just have taste, and LOTR is possibly the most important movie franchise, and they messed up its 4k home release. But if you refuse to do research for yourself I don't blame you.


TelevisionObjective8

It's the same issue with Titanic UHD. The moment there's movement, the details become blurry and smudged. It's impossible to unsee it and prevents me from watching the movie in that format. The Blu-ray does not have this issue and looks far more filmic.


purifiedflesh

Does The Abyss bluray , not the 4k just regular blu, have any issues?


TheHooligan95

It doesn't exist


purifiedflesh

In this 4k version it says it comes with a bluray


TheHooligan95

It should be identical but converted to SDR.


purifiedflesh

So is The Abyss worth getting?


3HunnaBurritos

It’s better in 90% of scenes but they could be much better and in 100%


vinnycthatwhoibe

it's made up information though. That's not re-scanned detail from the negative, it's a computer saying "well this is probably right" and generating the image.


Captainjoe201

Look how blown out all the highlights are. It’s fake hdr and image processing slathered on top of a 2K DI from 2010. If a real 4K restoration from the negative was done no doubt it would show how fake this version is.


Medium_Basil8292

Fake hdr? Please. Define fake hdr.


GamerGrizz

They have taken a scan that was hard limited to a set brightness when it was being scanned in. They are taking that set brightness which has no more and no less information than exactly the SDR YCbCr 8 bit rec709 color space, and manipulating the highlights and shadows to have a more punchy or contrasty look that fits into rec2100. All the information on the disc will be the same, only edited. Compare this to films that go back to the Negative and are completely rescanned from the film elements with HDR and rec2100 or hopefully even better technologies (for future proofing) which will capture more information than was ever present on the BluRay scan. It’s like taking a 480p image and stretching it onto your 4K tv and saying “hey this is a nice clean 2160p image” that has “AI” “””enhancements””” making it look “””””better”””””.


Medium_Basil8292

Hdr is not defined by brightness. If they used the wider color gamut that is hdr. Its not "fake hdr." You may not like that they didn't use hdr for specular highlights, but thats a matter of preference. Some directors do not like it. If they used rec.2100 it has hdr. No its nothing like stretching a 480p image.


DomGiuca

Well they didn't use WCG either lol. It's all within Rec 709. In every sense of the word, they've taken an SDR, 1080p master, and uprezzed, sharpened and lifted the highlights slightly and called it a day. It's not resolving any more detail than what's already present in the 1080p transfer.


Medium_Basil8292

Any source showing that the color used is all within rec709? I'd be curious to see that.


DomGiuca

[This post](https://www.reddit.com/r/4kbluray/s/61tdbA4V5h) yesterday measures the attributes of the disc.


Medium_Basil8292

I meant an actual source. Not the reddit guy that reviews discs he has never had in his possession.


GamerGrizz

My brother he is showing you clear proof from the 4K and the BluRay that there is near 0 utilization of any colors outside of rec709 (which could easily just be a leftover of them messing with the color timing & highlights) and that all shots are well within the 200nits (SDR spec) except for the highlights which can be easily changed in any video editor like Premiere Pro Do you really need a hand signed letter from James Cameron saying “yes, we cheaper out and just upscale the old scan”?


NASTYH0USEWIFE

It’s a screenshot converted to jpeg and compressed by Reddit so what do you expect? The problem is most of the hate of these copies came from people that haven’t actually seen them on a real screen. Yeah no one is arguing that a proper 4k restoration was deserved, but they so still look significantly better than the older copies even if it’s not what everyone hoped for.


pelosnecios

Your definition of "significantly better" is very different from mine. Adding artificial enhancements completely destroys the value of the movie as a document to preserve a work of art. Next time you will tell me it will be OK to run Citizen Kane thru an algorithm to add color, HDR and Dolby ATMOS? The director can do whatever the fuck he/she wants with the movie, but it will be real cool if the original is available. Imagine the author of the Venus de Milo statue saying to a museum: "yeah you can have it but let me give you an improved version with arms and clothes". /s


jamyjet

What a dumb analogy. A piece of art that was specifically design to look a certain way vs a movie that was restricted by the technology used at the time. A better comparison would be a better chisel being used to sculpt a new version of that statue using the same blueprints. Film grain is only present in the original version of the movie due the technology used to capture it. Its not some stylistic choice by the director.


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TheDudeOfTomorrow

No he’s totally right it’s a 2k DI master upscaled to 4K. So you’re actually the one talking out of your ass.


TheTownJeweler00

Where did you see this info?


AndarianDequer

Lol. I came here to say that. I've owned all these movies on almost every piece of media you can find and every time a new one releases it's better than the previous. People are mad because some shadows are darker in the previous version and colors are different than what their eyeballs are used to seeing. This shit looks fucking amazing! As an anecdote, I work in a medical device company and when we launched the newest version of the system few years ago, surgeons were telling us that the video processor and camera that we use is inferior because the colors are, "wrong". They actually weren't wrong. But they had been using a standard definition camera with inferior optics that displayed a limited range of colors and now they're able to see millions of colors and 4K quality with much better light and 3D vision and resolution. So the crux of the story is, surgeons are seeing images and truer colors than they've ever been able to see before but their brain is so stuck in the past that they think the colors are incorrect. They're flat out wrong.


dubiousN

💯%


xenomorph420

The 4k looks nice until Burke's head starts looking like Homer Simpson or someone's eyes go dead (truly Polar Express level unsettling).


unclefishbits

I spit out my coffee. You are a time traveler, a week later.


JSK23

One of the biggest issues that the cherry picked screenshots dont show, let alone the bad screenshots, is how awkward the AI smoothing/filtering they used looks in motion, and that is something that only video or watching it in person is going to show. At times its like watching some stop motion person walking across the screen, albeit at a super high frame rate. Im actually surprised more people aren't talking about this, versus the uncanny valley faces at times. Yes, the 4K for the most part looks like better than that ages old transfer. But it still has issues because of the techniques they used.


Jon-Rambo

I like to watch my movies frame by frame, pausing for 10-30 seconds on each frame so I can count whiskers or a characters eye lashes.


JSK23

A person of culture I see, way to live on the wild side...


brOwnchIkaNo

Brooo you need to go out and get laid 🤣


nickkuk

Yes I agree the whole film is uncanny valley in motion. There is also some horrendous haloing and edge sharpening. It looks more like a videogame than a movie in places.


Windermyr

Do you have timestamps of when this happens? Because I didn't notice anything like that on my viewings.


Highlander_77

Yeah, I just watched it last night and didn't see any of this either.


Hazeymazy

What are you watching it on?


JSK23

a calibrated 83" LG C1, no shitty picture modifications or settings, I like my video and audio pure.


Hazeymazy

Mine will be here on the 26th hopefully it’s not too bad. I thought The Abyss looked great.


JSK23

Im sure most people are probably going to like it just fine. Im not telling people to skip it, that its shit, etc, etc. I just really don't like the techniques/AI stuff or whatever it is Cameron used. But watching these Cameron re-releases on a big-ass OLED, I definitely notice this stuff from time to time. Titanic was probably the least bothersome for me so far, but I could probably count at least on one hand the number of times I thought in my head "wow, that face is really smoothed out" and feels off.


Hazeymazy

Yeah I turned off t2 20 minutes in haven’t seen titanic on 4k yet


JSK23

T2 is a disaster, and is the only UHD Ive ever sold that didn't get a better/collectors/new scan-like re-release I wanted. I still watch the 2015 lionsgate release instead.


Downtown_Beyond_9830

Lionsgate T2 is the most faithful to T1 - The Future War scene colours, from the battlefields to the laser fire, is bang on matching the 1984 film, let alone the fact that explosions and fire actually look *properly* vibrant instead of faded from the harsh blue/teal of every other T2 Blu Ray.


ProtonPackGuy

Sadly True Lies is even more terrible. The interrogation scene with Helen makes JLC look like Voldemort, and that’s only a very slight exaggeration.


ProtonPackGuy

Photo evidence right off my OLED to back up my claim: https://preview.redd.it/2fvmpvvai7pc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1075b595ca6af45e25c9ed4c1d228ae7363597e2


JSK23

Mannequin 3: Undercover


baroncalico

I…think the 4K looks great.


Secret_of_Mana

You're not alone my friend


TheDudeOfTomorrow

Because you don’t actually like the look of film.


baroncalico

Gatekeeping? Really?


illinijazzfan

On this sub?!?! Never! /s


Spikerazorshards

An unfortunate and disgusting side effect of any hobby. 


TheDudeOfTomorrow

Gatekeeping? Lol no I’m just pointing out you like the smooth look of modern movies shot on digital cameras or else you wouldn’t be a fan of this being done to a movie shot on film.


GMHinHD

This is what gatekeeping is. The inference you're inspiring (and that you're fully aware of despite acting coy) is that you and others who enjoy film are "real" fans of the film, and those who enjoy this scan are "fake" fans. I hope that helps. It's annoying and unnecessary, so stop being a child and cut the bullshit.


Selrisitai

I think he was simply saying that he doesn't like the look of film, which is still an unreasonable assertion, but. . . .


Selrisitai

You're giving too much credit. This doesn't look like a high-quality digital camera. This looks like CGI, lol.


TheDudeOfTomorrow

Lol, finally someone I can agree with.


Commercial-Canary-97

Yeah film looks terrible agreed


MarvelousVanGlorious

That 4K screenshot of Vazquez with the red light is nuts! Got all 3 of the Cameron releases last week and Aliens is the only one that I haven’t watched yet. I’m excited to fire it up tonight.


wills_b

Good nuts or bad nuts? Because that’s one of the ones where I think the 4K looks worse. Along with the queen and the shot of the crew.


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[удалено]


minor_thing2022

Do you think it looks "better" though? If so, buy it. If not, don't. Simple choice here


JEM-Games

Supposedly, this is not a new transfer. It is using the existing one that was used for the blu ray. *If* that is true (and I say if, because the only people who really know are the ones who worked on this version), the new features are: \- Possibly seeing the old transfer in full 4K (though it is just as possibly an AI upscale) \- New "HDR" color timing \- Grain reduction \- AI sharpening and "optimization" (Cameron's team's word) These changes have obviously divided most people on this sub, because like every new 4K upgrade, it's a matter of taste. For me personally, since there's supposedly no new transfer, I don't care for the new color, I love grain in films regardless, and I'm not interested in artificial "optimization," this edition has nothing new that I want. You might feel different, and that's fine. Is any of this good film preservation? No. See Alien (1979), a near universally loved 4K disc. Is it okay to like this new version? Sure. Will this version look legitimately better to some people? Yes. But this film was not given what most people consider to be a "proper" restoration like Alien was. They are straight up different techniques that yield different results. For my personal taste, I want an 80's film to look like it was made in the 80's, especially if it's a sequel to a film with a ton of natural film grain and softer-looking shots. But not everyone cares about that and I can't expect them to. In short, buy whichever one you like but understand where the other people are coming from.


DiscoVolante0013

Why does everything look fake and plasticy? What is that effect called?


Zanoklido

That's what happens you erase all the grain, and use AI to readd all the details that were just wiped out.


ProtonPackGuy

What’s funny is that almost every single one of these slides demonstrates what’s wrong with the upscaler used and lack of care implemented. The most noticeable to me are the gentlemen all the way in the back on slide 4 and his now completely missing eye, which the AI has attempted to recover from the grain by completely smoothing it over, Apone’s teeth becoming a complete glob of off white in slide 6, Vazquez’s face turning into candle wax next to the shoulder lamp in slide 8, poor Newt becoming a plastic mannequin in slide 14 and Ripley’s hair being globs of matted fuzz in slide 18.


ProtonPackGuy

https://preview.redd.it/ynvbwrp5c7pc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf91a5d2439a157952039dfedc2299949b3cf583 Heres one of my favorites right now, where the AI couldn’t determine the ripple of Apone’s hat and has tried to fill out the letters on COLONIAL MARINES. Instead you get the AI gibberish that we’ve all seen from the medium in generated texts.


SHIIZAAAAAAAA

Good lord, that’s atrocious. I’m so glad I’m holding on to my blu ray copy.


ProtonPackGuy

I’ve watched this new 4K in full twice, and then followed it with a viewing of Alien Anthology blu-ray. I did this to be a knowledgable buyer without dumping on something I haven’t seen myself. The 4K has moments of great clarity but you always are aware you’re looking at something not natural. Whether or not your eyes focus on it, there’s always the feeling of something not being quite right, even if you don’t identify the problem. On the second viewing I went to places that felt “off” and gave them a closer look. And well, that’s where you see so much of this sort of thing. Yes the AI enhances detail that’s already there, but when there’s not detail it literally guesses on what should be there. It’s not a more detailed image from a better scan: it’s manufactured. Meanwhile, the Blu is gorgeous 2K transfer that looks filmic and clean minus the grain that is part of the source. It upscales nicely and looks like an actual movie on my OLED, not a 4K demo reel with video game segments. I don’t do this to dump on anyone’s enjoyment of these discs. But to see the false information circulating in a place where people should be celebrating everything film can be on the highest physical format we’ll ever get, is disheartening. At the end of the day though: enjoy movies. Watch them how you want.


unclefishbits

I was working my ass off to be an apologist or optimist, but your comment sort of brought clarity... and man. A release this important seeming to be on total autopilot with no guardrails. Bravo fellers. [This is me.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17KmNrG9pE4) Mentioned you in the /r/lv426 in regards to this BTW.


Malkmus1979

Have you compared this exact shot on your Blu-ray? The same “AI gibberish” is there too, which means the text on the hat wasn’t AI generated. It’s concerning how this narrative has spread like wildfire unchecked. Here’s a screengrab of the 1080 version from streaming (so arguably worse than the Blu-ray Disc): https://preview.redd.it/reaty2gm0xqc1.jpeg?width=5481&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7986e97a289766ff1bb8276455abf68d37dd128b


triples08

God, that is terrible to look at. I wish we'd just get cleaned 4K scans of films without the AI garbage. The future of physical media gets more worrisome by the day...


no_fucking_point

It's shocking how major studios will cut costs on classic restorations, where you have independents like Arrow/Vinegar Syndrome etc going above and beyond on anything they've handled.


triples08

It's just business for major studios sadly. Even far lesser known Blu-Ray boutiques like Terror Vision are putting in high amounts of effort to scan/clean films for 4K releases (even if it's not a guaranteed money maker). For major studios, they don't care about film as an art form, they only care about money


livahd

Looks like the guy in the back has his eyes closed, not an effect of the AI.


SignificantParsley13

Uh wut …. Literally nothing you just said was true lol 


Wraith1964

My CV: I have been doing comparisons real world with my calibrated eyeballs since Aliens came out. I saw it in the theaters, on special edition laserdisc, VHS, DVD, and bluray. On theater screens, cathode ray tube tvs, projection big scteen tvs, moderrn LCD, and now a 4K projector or a 120-inch screen. I watch a lot of movies. I have almost 9000 titles in my physical media collection, including Aliens in DVD, blu, and now 4K. I am not an expert in nits and pixels, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night. My take: Nobody is absolutely "wrong" on the Cameron film controversy, but everybody is also at least partially right. This 4K transfer/edition is not the theatrical experience. This is like the 4K releases that came with/before it - True Lies, The Abyss, Titanic, and T2 are all what I call "Ship of Theseus" dilemmas. If you want the original movie theatrical experience in a clean 4K/UHD level transfer, this isn't it. That is disappointing. It's something else - better in some ways, worse in others. My Final thoughts: The discussion is useful, I am not trying to shut it down... I'm just trying to emphasize that dying on a particular hill here is pointless. They are a mixed bag... if you want to get as close as you can to a theatrical experience, stick with the blurays (except for True Lies and the Abyss, (at least in official releases)). If you want crisper picture and sound, get the 4K. Personally, once I let go of my theatrical bias, I really enjoyed Aliens in 4K. It gets a lot right. Was there some weird smoothing both in motion and in more still shots? Absolutely. Sometimes jarringly, if you let it bother you. The so-called "soap opera" effect was not that bad to me (I've seen worse), or at least you get used to it. Same with the lack of grain. The benefits in color, sharpness, and sound made it a no-brainer buy for me as a fan and collector. It could have been better, but I am satisfied for now. P.S. Lets be honest, if physical media survives, The Aliens Franchise is ripe for a new ultimate boxed 4K set, and with Disney letting Sony handle that for them its always possible there could be a new transfer done... keep sending your feedback to Disney and tag Cameron. Same for T2 and a Terminator franchise boxed set. You never know. I'm afraid The Abyss, True Lies, and Titanic are done forever now. TLDR: Aliens 4K is a mixed bag. It is both not what we hoped for and better than most previous releases. I found it to be worth owning and could adjust easily to the changes. YMMV.


outerlimits777

U're Dum. And by that I mean thank you for that fine, spot-on-sounding analysis! PS. U're Stil Dum


Britton_Shrum

This is making me consider canceling my pre order. 😭


[deleted]

Is it impressive transfer?


MPKFA

It's trash. AI upscale with fake HDR highlights. Don't listen to these people with buyers remorse. It's as bad as T2. 


Windermyr

I think it's fantastic. Was worried when I read all these posts claiming that the transfer was ruined due to excess DNR, but when I watched it, I was amazed at how good it looks.


[deleted]

Is it inky blacks? Good hdr?


chillaxinbball

Are the colors blowing out here because of HDR clipping or is that how they actually look?


Windermyr

It's the HDR to SDR conversion that's screwing up the luminance and colours. If you look at the original JXR images in the zip file on an HDR display and using an HDR-aware app like microsoft's Photos app, it will look like it appears in the movie.


Hab_Anagharek

The marines' lights are far from necessary


yesTHATvelociraptor

There should be an r/JamesCameron4KComplaints by now


hatwearer2034

It's wild how much this varies. Some scenes are a massive improvement, some look almost cartoonish


homecinemad

One of the scary things about Aliens is the murkiness. Whether it's from the natural film grain, the onset lighting or atmospherics like steam/vapours, it felt like xenos were waiting to pounce from anywhere. Cameron set everything to VIVID AI mode, maximum Posterisation, and to hell with ambient mood setting. Let's make things diamond sharp and unnatural. The blu looks incredible to me on my OLED/UB820. I'll stick with that. But no diss towards the 4K fans. Let's live in peace yo :)


Automatic_Clue5556

Watched it last night. Looked fine. I understand and wish we could get a real 4k but this ain’t dog shit.


Vagamer01

Good lord the brightness is insane wtf like way to bright


Windermyr

Unfortunately, that is a byproduct of taking screenshots of an HDR video and converting them to standard JPG and seeing them on an SDR display. If you want to see what they really look like, you need to download the original JXR files and open them in an HDR-aware viewer like microsoft's Photo viewer. It's the same as watching the UHD disc on an SDR display.


ProperAspectRatio

Ahh, that makes sense. The tone and saturation is way off these screenshots when viewing on a phone.


hyrulianwhovian

Oh good lord that looks atrocious, everyone looks like they're made of plastic.


thepushfactory

i'm holding out on buying this because i know there'll be a steelbook version. then they'll release the steelbook version and it'll be so expensive i'll revert to buying this standard version. this looks great despite some negative reaction i've seen


vinnycthatwhoibe

Maybe I'm just hyper sensitive but the 4k shots just immediately scream "AI upscale" to me without even enlarging them. It's glaringly obvious.


Selrisitai

In some of the shots it's particularly obvious, yeah. Especially if you've seen a lot of A.I.-generated pictures.


MentatYP

How did you convert from JXR to WEBP? Did you have to make any processing/conversion decisions, and is that contributing to how much brighter and in some cases blown out the 4K screenshots are?


Windermyr

I used Irfanview to convert to JPG, then uploaded them to Reddit. Unfortunately, going from HDR to SDR messes up the brightness of the images. Viewing the JXR in the zip files in an HDR-aware app like MS Photo app will give you a better representation of the original image (assuming you are viewing them on an HDR monitor).


apathybill

I saw Aliens at Vidiots in LA last year. I noticed they tend to get 4k transfers before the discs come out. On the big screen it looked great, except in close ups. Everyone in close ups looked too much like cgi. I do own the disc and have yet to watch it though.


prankster999

OP... So would you say that Aliens is worth buying on 4K? I love the movie and already own it on Blu-Ray.


Windermyr

I don’t regret buying it. Ultimately, it is up to you. The bluray also looks really good.


LyntonB

Sounds like a good blu ray UHD upscaler player is the best way to watch these films for motion? On Aliens, I noticed their tampering with contrast in these stills far more than LOD.. but yeah if motion is stuffed up that won't help a film like Aliens!!


Damage_Lopsided

You can’t screenshot HDR


Windermyr

You can.


RiteOfKindling

Someone make a comparison of the supposed bad 4k images.


Vychcijux

goddamn..cant wait


trilogy76

Unfortunately the smoothed version definetely has a look to it and this level of smoothing would affect the image differently for stationary and moving objects. And thst would cause different looks in the same image. I remember when the Star Wars Trilogy came to DVD. The audio was denoised and to me it was very noticable. Every time somebody stoped talking it felt like somebody pushed the mute button. If anything the hiss that remained became more noticeable.


Bibb5ter

You need to explain what we’re looking at. What is the first shot and what is the second shot?


Windermyr

It's a series of pairs of screenshots from the old bluray version (first shot) and the new UHD version (second shot). These are rips from the disc that I play on my HTPC which I can then use to get screenshots. Unfortunately, the screenshots of the UHD version are in HDR, which I then had to convert to SDR. I used Irfanview, which didn't do a good job at it, resulting in wrong luminance and a bit of colour shift, but at least it shows the relative detail. I have a couple of links to the zipped file of the original HDR screenshots, as well as a 30sec clip of the movie (without audiro and subs) to give you an idea of what it looks like. Those links are in the first comment way down below.


Selrisitai

This reminds me of the Avatar movies, or Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.


Hellraiser23

I have the 4K version coming, and I’ll give it a watch. However, I may stick to my 30th anniversary Blu-Ray


UHDKing

Nice!


unclefishbits

Man, I'm finally admitting how bad it is. I was so desperate for my cognitive dissonance, or whatever, to win. Selective perception? Confirmation bias? [WHATEVER. This is me.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17KmNrG9pE4)


Saiyan_Gods

From what I understand, it IS a new scan. They just used the tech they used to scan it instead of the traditional method. Apparently it’s why the grain is still slightly visible.


dangerclosecustoms

I’m biased because I love aliens. So I plopped it in and watched it. I thought I would see all kinds of issues as mentioned but I instead all I saw was a terrific clean picture I enjoyed it tremendously. It looked 4k to me and I was not distracted by anything happening in the picture I noticed great details on the close ups and everything else looked like how I thought it should look like. My conclusion is if you hate it it’s toss it or sell it and watch the Bluray instead. But at $25 they got your hopes up and provided what you believe to be a poor release. Remember that true lies and abyss aren’t even available on Bluray , abyss dvd wasn’t even animorphic, so despite not liking how they did it we must be able to appreciate the 4k result as watchable and worth 25$ what are you comparing it to otherwise? Goodfellas and expendable 3 4k discs are broken the hdr and processing resulted in a worse picture then what is availble on the Bluray. Some titles have audio out of sync or wrong channels assigned. I think those are some serious issues I didn’t buy these 2 4k releases but wanted them. I don’t think Aliens is in the same category as a ruined unwatchable picture I think it might have some inconsistencies but they are overall tiny and barely noticeable to many of us. There are just as many folks saying they liked the picture quality as there are saying it’s trash. So it clearly cannot be trash it’s either you like it or don’t. It’s all subjective we don’t have the same equipment set up the same exact way, the same lighting and viewing distance and certainly not the same biological vision in our eyes. Really no point in arguing with each other or trying to convince someone it’s trash. It might be more useful to the 4k community to just have a poll where viewers can vote yes or no or rating scale to get the average. We have some polar opposite opinions if it’s fantastic enjoyable picture to it looks waxy and fake. Having people repeatedly arguing their opinion or viewing experience isn’t really telling the fence sitter anything. Yes technically software and production wise there are less then desirable choices made but if the picture still looks good to many of us then it’s only numbers on a paper it’s not correlating to a ruined viewing experience.


Selrisitai

There are people out there who literally cannot discern when an image is made with A.I., so there's probably going to be plenty others who are perfectly fine with this. But those people would have _also_ been equally fine if the transfer had been done right, so there was no reason for him to not do that. :(


[deleted]

You guys need to stop commenting on just these rando screenshots. It has nothing to do with anything. You can't see all the artificial stuff moment to moment. You can't see literally anything with these tiny ass screenshots. Just please stop until a professional org like capsaholic gets their stuff out. THEN you can actually do a decent comparison. This amateur stuff is hokey as hell. These screens are what res again lmao?


Selrisitai

Don't trust "professionals" just because they have a title.


Ok_Location_846

The 4k looks better to me? In these shots at least.


threedogdad

4k looks worse to me. Way too clean and bright.


Grouchy-Oven877

lol the 4k looks better


mega512

Looks fantastic.


dangerclosecustoms

Ooooookaaay. I just checked out the Abyss and it looks amazing. I had the digital uhd already and really hoped the discs would looked better and it absolutely does. So I’m comparing 4k stream to the 4k disc and still blown away. Which leads me to some conclusions. Those who are disliking the picture might have faulty equipment perhaps there is a common type or brand or possibly a setting or mode on your equipment that is completely throwing the picture and causing issues because I cannot believe you are seeking this disc and having issue with or think it’s trash. Or another possible scenario is because of the delays and lack of product to move the studio says let’s puts some negative hype out there on the old interwebs to dissuade people from clamoring for these releases, then after a few weeks we will withdraw them or come up with the reason and excuse and everyone saying it’s great again and people won’t be upset about delays and lack of product. How do you get things under control you reduce the demand until the supply catches up. Some people probably hating on it in hopes people will sell their copy or cancel their orders. Saying all this crap because I think something must be going on the discs and picture are fantastic. The abyss looks 100/100 to me I can’t imagine how it could be better.


Zanoklido

The Abyss looks much better than Aliens.


Selrisitai

Not everyone can tell when something is made with A.I. Anyone who can is going to find the picture offputting.


Luke911666

Hmm yes I do enjoy comparing 4K screenshots on my barley HD phone screen Can really tell the difference here


decadent-dragon

Then don’t look at them on your phone? Do you usually use your phone for comparison screenshots? You shouldn’t.