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The 4k release of Blade Runner--is anyone as disappointed as I am??

Being a huge fan, I decided to buy the 4k version of Blade Runner, making it only the second disc I own in the format.
Boy, am I disappointed.

First, the colors are extremely muted, NOT more saturated as I’ve read on some impressions online. (Yes, I know about the somewhat noisy picture as well) The colors are so bad in fact, it makes the movie less involving, drab, and depressing. It looks more like the DVD version! Flesh tones are muted. I noticed it right away, but I made sure by A/B-ing with my Bluray version, which looks beautiful, and color saturated.

Second, the sound is more aggressive, bright, and MUCH MUCH louder in the surrounds....to the point where dialog in the center channel greatly suffers. Its terrible. For whatever reason, some dialog is also audible in the surrounds..what a disgrace. The sense of space and echo is much more pronounced in some scenes, which might be a matter of taste, but for me it was distracting. In the scene at the club where Deckard approaches the thug about the origin of the snake scale, I can barely hear what he says because the surrounds are so loud and echoey. Again, on the Bluray it sounds correct. Is this a new mix??

So, my question is, does everyone notice the change, approve of it, and find it better than the bluray?? I for one, do not. This is NOT an improvement.

Impressions anyone? Thanks in advance.
jonasandezekiel

Showing 2 responses by nonoise

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,544 posts
 
A quick look at your player shows it doesn't handle HDR10+ so, like teo_auido pointed out, that may be the problem. There's also no compatibility with Dolby Vision, just regular HDR. Here's some pertinent info:

The player interpolates UHD with 4:4:4 subsampling. By default, the UBP-X1000ES sends the maximum data from disc to screen, based on the capability of the connected receiving device. For example, when playing a 4K 60p disc, if the sink (receiver) permits, then the player will send resolution at 4K 60p, Deep Colour at 12 bit and chroma at 4:4:4.

If this isn’t possible, then the amount of information is reduced in the following priority order: resolution, frame rate, HDR, Deep Colour and Colour Space. Use a high-speed 18 Gbps HDMI cable for the best possible picture quality. If you use a lesser 10.2 Gbps HDMI cable, the player could output 4K at SDR, and 8bit with 4: 2: 0 colour subsampling.

So it may very well be the cabling that's holding things back.

All the best,
Nonoise
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,544 posts
 
I read a review of one of the newer Pioneer 4K players and with the UHD (or was it HDR10?) set to auto, it kicks the nits up to unacceptable levels. One needs to fine tune it down to where you like it and if necessary, make it an across the board setting for all inputs. I believe it’s in the white level settings where you can adjust it.

All the best,
Nonoise
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