Thanks for another great video. The questions that remain unanswered are 1) The director is still alive, so does he have a say in what happened here? 2) Does the Kodak Vision 3 35mm camera negative still exist? 3) If so, could the director remaster it in 4K or above, or might he think he would lose what he achieved in 2K? 4) What kind of so-called AI did they use and 5) Could we get a set of screen captures of several versions of the film to study more specifics?
to answer question 3, The Evil Dead was shot in 16mm by a small group of friends and the true 4K UHD looks absolutely spectacular (albeit some unfortunate revisionism from Sam Raimi such as removing Robert Tapert from the shot on the bridge, more work on optical shots etc).
@@nighttimevideo Many Rockumentaries, several underrated TV shows, key music videos, classic TV commercials DARK STAR, the original TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, PI, EL MARIACHI, HURT LOCKER, LEAVING LAS VEGAS, original HILLS HAVE EYES, GANJA & HESS and BASKET CASE were all shot on 16mm, but how that answers question 3, I don't know what you mean. I meant he may have done so much work with painstaking detail fun 2K that it might be very hard to recreate it all over again. 16mm can look great and at least a 4K scan of all of those would be worth it with MASSACRE and EYES already have solid 4K releases on disc.
1. Probably not, it lies with whatever company owns the film. 2. You'd assume so? 3. He may not be interested in remastering it for 4K, I suppose that's dependent on each filmmaker, and whether a 4K remaster is for creative or commerical purposes. As Plain said in their email this isn't a big film so there's unlikely to be a big market for a 4K restoration to justify the cost. 4. There are a number of programs out there, and I'm sure that number will grow more and more. I'm fairly certain AI upscaling was used, but I don't know or can't guess any specifics in terms of programs. 5. I'm unable to capture 4K UHD discs at the moment otherwise I would've been able to do this, the comparisons of screen captures I put in this video were posted by Plain themselves on social media.
That brought back some awkward memories of the first time I employed interpolated images (created in Photoshop CS circa 2003) in an illustrated book commemorating England's rugby World Cup win. Still don't exactly know how I feel about it all.
Second Sight have been releasing 4K discs from 2K intermediate (upscaled) masters for some time which I consider a bit dodgy and not really 4K. This is the next level and it was only of question of time. The Cameron travesties are the perfect example of movie labels ‘getting away with it’ and unfortunately we’re going to see more of it. 4K discs have become such a cash cow these days and I’m glad I purchased the Panasonic ub820 4K player for its incredible upscaling of the great number of fantastic Blu-ray Disc already released. Personally, I’ve learned to be cautious before deciding on any 4K release. Well done for getting your message out there in an attempt to make a difference and it worked. I don’t think you would have received the same response from Cameron, lol.
Yeah.. Second Sight release such great films in 4K, but it's hard to get excited about them (and indeed I haven't bought any except for Dawn of the Dead) because of this. I don't see the need. Thanks, I give Plain credit for sending me such a ridiculously lengthy, thought out, and fair response. They could've just as easily gone "fuck this guy" and ignored me.
@@RazorwireReviews The only 4K I bought from them is Dog Soldiers which was quite an achievement as it was a low budget film shot on 16mm. I’m sort of interested in their 4K of Mean Streets but unsure of the colour grading, which has received mixed opinions.
This is one of the few times that I'm able to chime in about a release like this, as I also bought this gorgeous edition from Plain Archive, and like yourself have the old curzon bluray. I've never really done an image comparison before, but out of interest did try to compare a few scenes when it arrived, and I think roughly along the same lines as you. I didn't know until I watched your video that this was an AI upscale. To me it did look sharper, but retained a grain structure and didn't look blown out or wierd, so I guess I'm more or less happy with it. I think the precedence it sets for boutique lables is a worrying thing, as Plain Archive seem to suggest that more of these will come in the future, which is a real shame. For films like this which I love, I'm happy to just buy a lovely collectors edition with great artwork, packaging and care put into them, along with a booklet or artcards is fine by me. I would have happily bought this with just a bluray and not batted an eye. I guess it's good to know if boutiques use AI upscaling, hopefully it is sensitively done like this one, but I guess I'd say that it's just not needed. Either do a full and proper job, spend the money, or just release the film on a transfer as good as it can be, especially if the existing one is pretty good as it is. Good on Plain Archive for responding fully and good on you for getting them to add this info on their product pages.
Our Little Sister is next up in my to watch list (next day or two), so it’s encouraging to hear it’s one of your favourites. Luckily I’m completely happy with 1080p.
@@RazorwireReviews So, I watched Our Little Sister - what a lovely little film. Perfectly cast all round. Another Kore-eda masterpiece 👍. Having watched Maborosi in August, I’m going to aim for a new Kore-eda each month until the end of the year. …something to look forward to 😁
@steve4films nice! Maborosi is one the notable films of his I haven't seen yet. Many great, great films to explore. After Life, Still Walking, Shoplifters and Like Father, Like Son are all absolutely brilliant.
Interesting video -- I will look out for some of the issues you mention on my next re-watch of the Plain Archive. However, I thought it looked spectacular on first watch (4K OLED, Dolby-Vision enabled). By the time I got through the train station scene early in the film, it was already pretty much a forgone conclusion that I would be retiring my 2015 Curzon/Artificial Eye edition. But, then, I will readily concede that I'm not as discerning a viewer as many. I do draw the line at AI excretions in the manner of the True Lies 4K, which I would never allow in my home.
They handled it well in their response but unfortunately I knew this day was coming. If there’s only a 2K master then you release a BD that’s mastered and encoded as best as possible. That’s it. We used to only have to worry about old masters, bad masters, flawed restorations, bad encodes, revisionist HDR, upscales of older masters but now add AI upscales of a preexisting source to the list. Pleeeeeease don’t let the major boutique labels and studios get wind of this….imagine how bad a Kino upscale would be… As for checking every disc release…I can’t watch anything without analyzing it.🤦🏻♂️🤪
I agree that no tampering with AI should ever be utilized but a 2K master can still benefit from HDR so if a 2K master is all we can get I’d still be interested in that coming out on 4K depending on the film.
A shame if true. Kore-eda deserves to have more of his films properly restored. I’m still curious as to where the confirmation of AI use is in this situation. There are plenty of 4k releases on the market taken from 2k sources that did not utilise AI tools (The Shape of Water, Your Name, WALL-E, Synecdoche New York, Fury Road etc.). It’s important to note that a 2k DI and a blu-ray transfer are different things, which is why it’s possible for multiple releases taken from the same master to look different. Is it not possible that by traditionally upscaling it, encoding the release with a much higher bit rate and employing an HDR grade, added detail and density levels that were present in the DI were simply uncovered? As we’ve seen with plenty non-upscaled releases in the past? Personally, I still opt to buy UHD versions of films finished at 2k, simply for reasons of compression.
As I say, certain detailing show the telltale signs of AI upscaling that we've been seeing for the past few years, and considering I mentioned that in my email to Plain, and they didn't shoot it down, even admitting it's not a perfect process, leads me to believe it is indeed an AI upscale. They just didn't go balls to the wall stupid crazy with it like Cameron has been. If I didn't mention it in this video then I'll say that yeah, there are slight advantages to 4K releases of 2K DIs that can definitely look better than the blu-rays, and I would've rather seen that here. Better bitrate etc.
Big things have small beginnings. But also, at no point have I suggested it's a standard, we're very much in the early stages of this becoming very normal though.
They did that on a teaser trailer for The Warriors too, I covered that in my review of that otherwise excellent set... absolutely abhorrent use of the tech.
I was more tying it in to the idea that you can translate text to other languages via AI powered tools, and it would've been ironic given the subject if that was the case. I thought it was incredibly articulate, which I'm sure I mentioned.
I never thought old dvds would end up being the thing to actually get to see a movie now lol
Thanks for another great video. The questions that remain unanswered are 1) The director is still alive, so does he have a say in what happened here? 2) Does the Kodak Vision 3 35mm camera negative still exist? 3) If so, could the director remaster it in 4K or above, or might he think he would lose what he achieved in 2K? 4) What kind of so-called AI did they use and 5) Could we get a set of screen captures of several versions of the film to study more specifics?
to answer question 3, The Evil Dead was shot in 16mm by a small group of friends and the true 4K UHD looks absolutely spectacular (albeit some unfortunate revisionism from Sam Raimi such as removing Robert Tapert from the shot on the bridge, more work on optical shots etc).
@@nighttimevideo Many Rockumentaries, several underrated TV shows, key music videos, classic TV commercials DARK STAR, the original TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, PI, EL MARIACHI, HURT LOCKER, LEAVING LAS VEGAS, original HILLS HAVE EYES, GANJA & HESS and BASKET CASE were all shot on 16mm, but how that answers question 3, I don't know what you mean. I meant he may have done so much work with painstaking detail fun 2K that it might be very hard to recreate it all over again. 16mm can look great and at least a 4K scan of all of those would be worth it with MASSACRE and EYES already have solid 4K releases on disc.
1. Probably not, it lies with whatever company owns the film.
2. You'd assume so?
3. He may not be interested in remastering it for 4K, I suppose that's dependent on each filmmaker, and whether a 4K remaster is for creative or commerical purposes. As Plain said in their email this isn't a big film so there's unlikely to be a big market for a 4K restoration to justify the cost.
4. There are a number of programs out there, and I'm sure that number will grow more and more. I'm fairly certain AI upscaling was used, but I don't know or can't guess any specifics in terms of programs.
5. I'm unable to capture 4K UHD discs at the moment otherwise I would've been able to do this, the comparisons of screen captures I put in this video were posted by Plain themselves on social media.
That brought back some awkward memories of the first time I employed interpolated images (created in Photoshop CS circa 2003) in an illustrated book commemorating England's rugby World Cup win. Still don't exactly know how I feel about it all.
Second Sight have been releasing 4K discs from 2K intermediate (upscaled) masters for some time which I consider a bit dodgy and not really 4K. This is the next level and it was only of question of time. The Cameron travesties are the perfect example of movie labels ‘getting away with it’ and unfortunately we’re going to see more of it. 4K discs have become such a cash cow these days and I’m glad I purchased the Panasonic ub820 4K player for its incredible upscaling of the great number of fantastic Blu-ray Disc already released. Personally, I’ve learned to be cautious before deciding on any 4K release.
Well done for getting your message out there in an attempt to make a difference and it worked. I don’t think you would have received the same response from Cameron, lol.
Yeah.. Second Sight release such great films in 4K, but it's hard to get excited about them (and indeed I haven't bought any except for Dawn of the Dead) because of this. I don't see the need.
Thanks, I give Plain credit for sending me such a ridiculously lengthy, thought out, and fair response. They could've just as easily gone "fuck this guy" and ignored me.
@@RazorwireReviews The only 4K I bought from them is Dog Soldiers which was quite an achievement as it was a low budget film shot on 16mm. I’m sort of interested in their 4K of Mean Streets but unsure of the colour grading, which has received mixed opinions.
This is one of the few times that I'm able to chime in about a release like this, as I also bought this gorgeous edition from Plain Archive, and like yourself have the old curzon bluray. I've never really done an image comparison before, but out of interest did try to compare a few scenes when it arrived, and I think roughly along the same lines as you. I didn't know until I watched your video that this was an AI upscale. To me it did look sharper, but retained a grain structure and didn't look blown out or wierd, so I guess I'm more or less happy with it. I think the precedence it sets for boutique lables is a worrying thing, as Plain Archive seem to suggest that more of these will come in the future, which is a real shame. For films like this which I love, I'm happy to just buy a lovely collectors edition with great artwork, packaging and care put into them, along with a booklet or artcards is fine by me. I would have happily bought this with just a bluray and not batted an eye. I guess it's good to know if boutiques use AI upscaling, hopefully it is sensitively done like this one, but I guess I'd say that it's just not needed. Either do a full and proper job, spend the money, or just release the film on a transfer as good as it can be, especially if the existing one is pretty good as it is. Good on Plain Archive for responding fully and good on you for getting them to add this info on their product pages.
Yeah, agreed completely really. This is pretty much the best way to do it, but should it even be done in the first place? I don't think so.
Our Little Sister is next up in my to watch list (next day or two), so it’s encouraging to hear it’s one of your favourites. Luckily I’m completely happy with 1080p.
Oh it's wonderful, highly recommended!
@@RazorwireReviews So, I watched Our Little Sister - what a lovely little film. Perfectly cast all round. Another Kore-eda masterpiece 👍. Having watched Maborosi in August, I’m going to aim for a new Kore-eda each month until the end of the year. …something to look forward to 😁
@steve4films nice! Maborosi is one the notable films of his I haven't seen yet. Many great, great films to explore. After Life, Still Walking, Shoplifters and Like Father, Like Son are all absolutely brilliant.
Nice job getting their attention! I agree this kind of tampering should not happen...
Congratulations on making an impact!
Interesting video -- I will look out for some of the issues you mention on my next re-watch of the Plain Archive. However, I thought it looked spectacular on first watch (4K OLED, Dolby-Vision enabled). By the time I got through the train station scene early in the film, it was already pretty much a forgone conclusion that I would be retiring my 2015 Curzon/Artificial Eye edition. But, then, I will readily concede that I'm not as discerning a viewer as many. I do draw the line at AI excretions in the manner of the True Lies 4K, which I would never allow in my home.
If it works for you, it works for you. At least you can tell that much! Many can't...
They handled it well in their response but unfortunately I knew this day was coming. If there’s only a 2K master then you release a BD that’s mastered and encoded as best as possible. That’s it.
We used to only have to worry about old masters, bad masters, flawed restorations, bad encodes, revisionist HDR, upscales of older masters but now add AI upscales of a preexisting source to the list. Pleeeeeease don’t let the major boutique labels and studios get wind of this….imagine how bad a Kino upscale would be…
As for checking every disc release…I can’t watch anything without analyzing it.🤦🏻♂️🤪
I agree that no tampering with AI should ever be utilized but a 2K master can still benefit from HDR so if a 2K master is all we can get I’d still be interested in that coming out on 4K depending on the film.
A shame if true. Kore-eda deserves to have more of his films properly restored. I’m still curious as to where the confirmation of AI use is in this situation. There are plenty of 4k releases on the market taken from 2k sources that did not utilise AI tools (The Shape of Water, Your Name, WALL-E, Synecdoche New York, Fury Road etc.). It’s important to note that a 2k DI and a blu-ray transfer are different things, which is why it’s possible for multiple releases taken from the same master to look different. Is it not possible that by traditionally upscaling it, encoding the release with a much higher bit rate and employing an HDR grade, added detail and density levels that were present in the DI were simply uncovered? As we’ve seen with plenty non-upscaled releases in the past?
Personally, I still opt to buy UHD versions of films finished at 2k, simply for reasons of compression.
As I say, certain detailing show the telltale signs of AI upscaling that we've been seeing for the past few years, and considering I mentioned that in my email to Plain, and they didn't shoot it down, even admitting it's not a perfect process, leads me to believe it is indeed an AI upscale. They just didn't go balls to the wall stupid crazy with it like Cameron has been. If I didn't mention it in this video then I'll say that yeah, there are slight advantages to 4K releases of 2K DIs that can definitely look better than the blu-rays, and I would've rather seen that here. Better bitrate etc.
It's 1 movie from 1 label, it's grossly unjust to apply that as a trend to the standards set by other labels. Only other issue I've seen was jaws 3
Big things have small beginnings. But also, at no point have I suggested it's a standard, we're very much in the early stages of this becoming very normal though.
At least they didn’t reply telling you to leave your mom’s basement lol
😂
"You wanted a real 4K transfer? Are you kidding me?"
@@RazorwireReviews “You want us to not use AI? Do you want us to suffer?”
@@DeanH92 there just isn't enough *time* in the day to properly restore movies.
@@RazorwireReviews Hiring slobs to upscale this film was wrong then, and it’s wrong now. AI was the balls on the dick
If they can't do a genuine 4K, why do it at all?
Imprint also used ai in their BTS featurette for curse of the golden flower. The faces morph and have multiple eyes/mouths. It's terrible
They did that on a teaser trailer for The Warriors too, I covered that in my review of that otherwise excellent set... absolutely abhorrent use of the tech.
@RazorwireReviews Did you ever own a Commodore 64 or Amiga, and do you use any old systems under emulation?
Totally unrelated, but ive always wondered what is the film featured in your intro?
It will be revealed, at the appropriate time... there's a video coming at somepoint that will tie in.
Clown World we live in now.
Since you've criticised their English, I wonder how well can you express yourself in other languages.
I was more tying it in to the idea that you can translate text to other languages via AI powered tools, and it would've been ironic given the subject if that was the case. I thought it was incredibly articulate, which I'm sure I mentioned.
I dont know, I think you just need to get out of mom's basement tbh 😜
*You got me*