Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (UK) Blu-ray Review

Casimir Harlow

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Surprised on the 10/10 for sound Cas? I just felt it lacked any real punch during certain scenes (ST laser blasters?). Don't get me wrong it was good but could have been so much better.
 
Is the bonus disc definitely identical to the US? as I was thinking perhaps the deleted scene that is exclusive to the digital copy in the US might have been included on disc seeing as the UK release does not include a digital copy.
 
apparently JJ Abrams has ruled ou luke or leia being Rey's parents
 
Is the bonus disc definitely identical to the US? as I was thinking perhaps the deleted scene that is exclusive to the digital copy in the US might have been included on disc seeing as the UK release does not include a digital copy.
I 2nd that request please. Does it have any of the Target exclusives?
The target exclusives were titled
•Inside the Armory
•The Scavenger & the Stormtrooper

 
Given the Zavvi edition comes up short in some areas, and I want to buy this thing only the once, which one should I get?
 
Given the Zavvi edition comes up short in some areas, and I want to buy this thing only the once, which one should I get?

If you want a steelbook then Zavvi, if not then the standard release.
 
Is Zavvi the only place in the UK to buy the steel book version or is the limited edition as on Amazon UK going to be the same as being sold on the high street supermarkets?
 
If you want a steelbook then Zavvi, if not then the standard release.

Don't get the Zavvi one! Read the thread in the steelbook section. All the smart people are importing the US Bestbuy steelbook.

Zavvi one doesn't have the film actually mentioned on the case (or even on the spine!)... o_O:rolleyes::eek:
 
Is Zavvi the only place in the UK to buy the steel book version or is the limited edition as on Amazon UK going to be the same as being sold on the high street supermarkets?

It's exclusive to Zavvi in the UK.
 
Thanks a lot. Also Is it true that Zavvi got hacked a few years ago? Because I want to order from them.
 
Is the bonus disc definitely identical to the US? as I was thinking perhaps the deleted scene that is exclusive to the digital copy in the US might have been included on disc seeing as the UK release does not include a digital copy.

Yes it's identical, so we miss out on the Solo deleted scene.
 
I 2nd that request please. Does it have any of the Target exclusives?
The target exclusives were titled
•Inside the Armory
•The Scavenger & the Stormtrooper

Nope, neither of those, it's basically just the same disc as the standard US release.
 
Gutted no Atmos
 
This should look better than most modern bluray as the movie was shot on celluloid. I saw it at the cinema in imax 3D. It's great to see movies being made again on celluloid as it's far superior to digital.
 
Sorry Casimir Harlow
I am also surprised on the 10/10 for sound, I would have scored it 9/10 considering we now have better 3D surround formats. 10/10 should have gone to Dolby Atmos or DTS-X.
Really disappointed no Dolby Atmos!
 
It's certainly not a 10/10 surround mix by a long shot - altho it is mixed well it's no more outstanding than any Avengers film, it's very safe and stable. I've tested this disc on 3 different systems and 3 different onboard EQ and it is still a tightly compressed mix.

some credit to the force power bass wobble in a scene or 2. atmos certainly won't save it unless it's remixed.
 
It's certainly not a 10/10 surround mix by a long shot - altho it is mixed well it's no more outstanding than any Avengers film, it's very safe and stable. I've tested this disc on 3 different systems and 3 different onboard EQ and it is still a tightly compressed mix.

some credit to the force power bass wobble in a scene or 2. atmos certainly won't save it unless it's remixed.

Interesting that the audio seems to be dividing opinion so much ; it's one of those things which rarely provokes debate. I don't think this is anywhere near compressed as Age of Ultron, but I do think it's been mixed a bit low - I watched this at -5db compared to my normal 10-12

One thing which I find bemusing is people criticising mixes for not having Atmos, as if all of a sudden 7.1 is poor man's surround and doesn't sound good any more.
 
Interesting that the audio seems to be dividing opinion so much ; it's one of those things which rarely provokes debate. I don't think this is anywhere near compressed as Age of Ultron, but I do think it's been mixed a bit low - I watched this at -5db compared to my normal 10-12

One thing which I find bemusing is people criticising mixes for not having Atmos, as if all of a sudden 7.1 is poor man's surround and doesn't sound good any more.

It's not Ultron bad but it's not much better than some of the other Marvel ones and they're not bad, but it's not even remotely a 10/10 score. Yes you do have to give it a bit of wellie, but that's just because it was mastered very safely.

Absolutely, Atmos or DTS:X cannot save a bad mix - the blame here falls squarely at the feet of the studio engineers, it's not like it was recorded with cheap mics in some pikey studio. We recently compared this mix with a few of the classics, this time on a KK / Arcam / AB Cinema / Adernal set up and the mix had the exact same characteristics as on all the other higher end systems I've heard it on.

It's not bad.. but it's by no means amazing - it's immediately apparent swapping from it to something like Lone Survivor.
 
One thing which I find bemusing is people criticising mixes for not having Atmos, as if all of a sudden 7.1 is poor man's surround and doesn't sound good any more.
Was thinking the same exact thing recently.

In some posts you see something like "the Atmos ST blows the 'old 7.1 legacy' DTS-HD MA out of the water".
As I've said, I seen and heard the True HD-7.1 Mad Max; Fury Road ST and it was head spinning...but off course I will be told I haven't heard anything, if I haven't got Atmos codecs on my processor.

I'm am really looking forward to the new upgrades concerning UHD and UHD audio, but I have also
learned the hard way to take hype and expectation with a degree of realism and rationality.
 

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