Current Events > So the new 4k release for Pirates of the Caribbean (1st movie) is legit garbage

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-The-Curse-of-the-Black-Pearl-4K-Blu-ray/303535/#Review

Disney, what happened? The studio's 4K UHD release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl shows all the telltale signs of gross processing and looks like it should have been released a decade or more ago. The picture's grain has been reduced to a meshy, artificial appearance, looking frozen and flat and certainly less than genuine and flattering. Edge enhancement is in evidence. Textures have been scrubbed down and sharpened back up. Details appear waxy and lacking complexity. It's not that there is no detail, it's that it's been manipulated, rendered less than ideally lifelike or at least filmic, robbing the picture of its grand visual complexity and natural filmic beauty.

The HDR color grading does little to make the image pop, either. The grading renders the image darker and some colors deeper such as Sparrow's red bandana or the red British military uniform and flag colors, but there's not a lot of pop or depth. Black levels are middling, flesh tones are pasty, and whites lack brilliance. This is just a real clunker of a UHD image and one of the least impressive the format has seen.

Disney's Dolby Atmos soundtrack is wanting at reference level. The track lacks fullness and aggression when played back at calibrated reference norms. It's basically the same song and dance from most Disney releases, where there's just not a lot of verve or vigor at work. The subwoofer is not muted, but neither does the track exhibit the kind of commanding low-end depth the material demands (such as when the Pearl shells Port Royal in chapter four). The overhead channels are used sparingly, at least in terms of offering discrete effects. A few bursts do manage to reach up above for obvious engagement, but light complimentary duty is about all that's here. The net improvements to spatial engagement over the old LPCM 5.1 track are negated by the lackluster dynamics and depth. Dialogue does present clearly from the center and musical engagement is appropriately wide and immersive with positive definition to all instrumental elements.

Wow I'm glad I actually skipped this one, because I probably would have just opened it without even thinking anything could be wrong.

i don't even bother uprgrading. if i have something on dvd / blu ray its gonna stay that way. no sense in wasting money on something i already have.

SauI_Goodman posted...

i don't even bother uprgrading. if i have something on dvd / blu ray its gonna stay that way. no sense in wasting money on something i already have.

There are notable improvements though. Like for example the 4k release of the Lord of the Rings trilogy fixed a lot of the issues with colour grading that the blu-rays had.

i don't doubt it. im just the kind of guy who doesn't really notice that kind of stuff. or i guess i dont really care lol i can enjoy a movie in any form really. audio/visual dont really mean much to me.