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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 1 response by teo_audio

teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
I have both discs, but I’ve never done the comparison.

I have to ask, or sort of ask via the proxy of just sayin’....

This is an HDR encoded 4k disc. (High Dynamic Range)

It will only look correct when decoded by a properly functioning HDR capable TV or projector.

Otherwise it will look exactly like you say it does. Or, the consensus is..when one plays HDR encoded 4k discs on a non-HDR TV, the image is too dark...and washed out.

Additionally, HDR has fast become the norm for 4k discs, and few are not encoded that way, so it makes HDR capable 4k display devices inescapable, re the need to have and use one. Even some Netflix 4k streaming is now transmitted with HDR encoding.

Nothing on the surround, though. I had 6.2 or 7.2 in 1986 (the original Yamaha DSP-1) and went so overboard...that I went around the bend on it... and now... I have not used surround at all, for the past 20 years. Just stereo.
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