The magnificent seven

Cowboyjon

Established Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2013
Messages
144
Reaction score
49
Points
34
Just watched this with my two boys.

An enjoyable if forgettable film but the lads enjoyed their first western!

Anywho, the main reason i started this thread was to comment on the picture quality - or lack thereof.

I have now watched five 4k blu-rays and the picture quality has ranged from eye wateringly beautiful (The Revenant, Lone Survivor), to stunningly crisp (Sicario), to dissapointing (Fury Road).

I have to say its been a wee bit up and down so far and this latest film has been the worst example of 4k blu-ray i have seen.

Serious grain issues in lots of scenes (not just one or two like the otherwise excellent Deadpool uhd) and a bare minimum (if any) implementation of hdr throughout just really doesn't cut the mustard in this format. Also the absolute minimum we should expect, or indeed accept from this format i believe is a nice clean 4k picture and i swear i can't imagine the standard 1080 blu-ray looking any worse than whats on display here. I doubt anyone would come waltzing into the room and even spot that you are watching a uhd.

The sad thing is I love westerns. Of all movie genres i can't think of any that should benefit more from 4k hdr with their immensely wide shots of grass plains, mountains, forests and great plains all with the sun going up or down. This uhd is a missed opportunity at what should have been reference material.

I'll be selling my copy on ebay straight away and I'll pick it up on 1080 blu-ray if the notion takes me in the future and I'd advise anyone else to go for the standard blu-ray too.
 
I watched mine last night and the PQ and SQ were both excellent.
I can only remember only one scene,at night,where I noticed grain,otherwise the picture I was really happy with.

I've not tried the blu version but I'm very happy with my purchase.
 
Me and the Mrs watched the first hour last night (turned off and went to bed as it was getting late but will finish tonight) and I thought the image was very good. Some of the wide outdoor shots of hills / mountains look stunning, as does Haley Bennett!
 
Just watched this, I liked it too, some great performances.

The disc is not night and day over the BD but more of a fine tune, I did a few a-b shot tests, both discs are rich and warm in colour but the UHD edges it for me, more detail in close up shots, with the hdr use, brighter sky, flames, etc. And both discs have milky blacks.

But the UHD has Atmos, the BD has a 7.1 DTS-MA so that edges it even more for me.
 
Good looking image but not up there with the best which is a good thing otherwise it would look too polished which would spoil the overall look of the movie.
Excellent Atmos track with bullets flying all over the place during the action sequences and super clear centre channel for dialogue.

Noticed the movie was co written by Nic Pizzolatto who iirc is the guy who wrote True Detective which was great especially season 1.

I enjoyed the movie, always been a Denzel Washington fan and he's teamed up with Antoine Fuqua again who also directed Training Day and The Equalizer.
 
Good looking image but not up there with the best which is a good thing otherwise it would look too polished which would spoil the overall look of the movie.

And that's the point, in a nutshell. I noticed grain in certain scenes, but it was totally complementary. A western isn't the type of film you want to look too smooth, unlike, say, a sci fi title. I'm happy with the PQ and SQ of this, but that's not why I've decided to keep rather than pass on. I actually really like the film, and that was the motivation for buying 4k in the first place, having already seen and enjoyed it at the flicks.
 
Just watched this with my two boys.

An enjoyable if forgettable film but the lads enjoyed their first western!

Anywho, the main reason i started this thread was to comment on the picture quality - or lack thereof.

I have now watched five 4k blu-rays and the picture quality has ranged from eye wateringly beautiful (The Revenant, Lone Survivor), to stunningly crisp (Sicario), to dissapointing (Fury Road).

I have to say its been a wee bit up and down so far and this latest film has been the worst example of 4k blu-ray i have seen.

Serious grain issues in lots of scenes (not just one or two like the otherwise excellent Deadpool uhd) and a bare minimum (if any) implementation of hdr throughout just really doesn't cut the mustard in this format. Also the absolute minimum we should expect, or indeed accept from this format i believe is a nice clean 4k picture and i swear i can't imagine the standard 1080 blu-ray looking any worse than whats on display here. I doubt anyone would come waltzing into the room and even spot that you are watching a uhd.

The sad thing is I love westerns. Of all movie genres i can't think of any that should benefit more from 4k hdr with their immensely wide shots of grass plains, mountains, forests and great plains all with the sun going up or down. This uhd is a missed opportunity at what should have been reference material.

I'll be selling my copy on ebay straight away and I'll pick it up on 1080 blu-ray if the notion takes me in the future and I'd advise anyone else to go for the standard blu-ray too.

I have to agree, heaps and heaps of grain and whilst I thought it was shocking at first - in the end I did think it suited the feel of the movie.

The thing I don't get is that whilst I appreciate why they added the grain, the regular ray version doesn't have hardly any. I compared both and the regular blu ray was on the whole, very clean and smooth.

So why just add it to the 4K version?

But in the end I do think it was a good disc to be fair. Some fantastic detail and close ups etc.

Ps. For me the worst shots for grain was 100% the clouds. In pretty much every scene but after a while you didn't notice so much
 
I only watched the first 25 mins yesterday just to get a feel for the quality, all I can say is "what grain" I know what grain looks like and could see virtually none.

I was looking for it after seeing the comments and was expecting to see something like private ryan but it was just not there.

I have a panny UB700 and Panny 65" 4k HDR tv and it looked great on my tv, maybe it's your settings that's making the grain more pronounced or mine making it virtually vanish. :)
 
I only watched the first 25 mins yesterday just to get a feel for the quality, all I can say is "what grain" I know what grain looks like and could see virtually none.

I was looking for it after seeing the comments and was expecting to see something like private ryan but it was just not there.

I have a panny UB700 and Panny 65" 4k HDR tv and it looked great on my tv, maybe it's your settings that's making the grain more pronounced or mine making it virtually vanish. :)

Oh that's a strange one then!

I also have a 65" Panny (DX902) and really could see loads in the clouds. Using it with the Oppo 203.

What's even more strange is I've had the TV calibrated (as best can be for HDR) and in generally don't have any issues with grain - it usually provides a stunning pic which is why I'm thinking it's the disc.


This pic won't really show it but I think it's around 5/6 chapters in at the start of the scene there's a view of the town then a few seconds in there's this shot showing a path with the sky filling the top part of the screen.

IMG_7132.JPG


Be curious to hear if others have seen it?
 
I watched this the other evening, I didn't notice the grain too much but will check this part over the weekend, @Anton2015

The WCG and HDR were brilliant I thought. Huge difference from the BD. Some grain in parts, not to the extent that it reduced my enjoyment of the film. Some scenes were clear and crisp, close ups had lots of detail

The wider shots especially the landscape looked really fitting with some grain, matching the genre of the film. It would have looked odd to me if the PQ was up there with the likes of Lucy and Lone Survivor

The Atmos soundtrack was mega!!! :thumbsup:
 
I am a bit peeved at the moment as my lounge 65" 4k hdr setup is not atmos enabled but my main theatre room with 100"+ screen is Atmos/DTS X 7.2.4 enabled but only 1080p video via JVC X35 projector.

I won't be getting a 4k pj for at least 1-2 years so can't get the full combined 4k/atmos treatment till then.:(
 
I am a bit peeved at the moment as my lounge 65" 4k hdr setup is not atmos enabled but my main theatre room with 100"+ screen is Atmos/DTS X 7.2.4 enabled but only 1080p video via JVC X35 projector.

I won't be getting a 4k pj for at least 1-2 years so can't get the full combined 4k/atmos treatment till then.:(
Tough trade off. It'll be worth the wait (unless we're on 8K, Auro 3d 20+ speaker set ups by then :rotfl: )

Wish I had the available space for 7.2.4, bet it sounds awesome!!
 
Yes it does sound awesome, if you are ever in my area (Wolverhampton) you are welcome to pop in for a listen.:)
 
I watched this the other evening, I didn't notice the grain too much but will check this part over the weekend, @Anton2015

The WCG and HDR were brilliant I thought. Huge difference from the BD. Some grain in parts, not to the extent that it reduced my enjoyment of the film. Some scenes were clear and crisp, close ups had lots of detail

The wider shots especially the landscape looked really fitting with some grain, matching the genre of the film. It would have looked odd to me if the PQ was up there with the likes of Lucy and Lone Survivor

The Atmos soundtrack was mega!!! :thumbsup:

Thanks Simon.

I may be being over critical as most of the new movies I've bought really have been pristine with no grain.

Once I got into the movie I didn't notice it as much - and it was more fitting with the movie.

I also agree some of the close ups looked amazing as did other parts.

I think one of the reasons I was much more surprised was that when I went to the cinema to see the movie there was no grain there either. The picture was so good in fact I specifically remembered thinking this would look amazing in 4K.

It does have a lot more detail than the blu Ray but when I did the a/b comparisons the grain was virtually non existent.

I think this is maybe another example of what works for one movie doesn't work for others depending on how it was mastered, what nits they were using (1000-4000) etc.

I'm confident my HDR settings are as good as they can be based in the calibration and having watched around 20 new movies over the Xmas period (had a pile of new Ines whilst waiting for the Oppo to be released)

Thanks for checking!
 
I am a bit peeved at the moment as my lounge 65" 4k hdr setup is not atmos enabled but my main theatre room with 100"+ screen is Atmos/DTS X 7.2.4 enabled but only 1080p video via JVC X35 projector.

I won't be getting a 4k pj for at least 1-2 years so can't get the full combined 4k/atmos treatment till then.:(

First World problems 101 :rotfl:
 
It was shot on film (Kodak) grain is an inherent part of that medium, yes there was grain, unequivocally. But I personally thought it looked amazing.
UHD being so detailed, combined with HDR really brings out all the details, warts and all.
Wait till more classic films are released on the format, (LoA, Ben-Hur etc) it's gonna be 'grain ahoy-hoy' (technical term) :laugh:
 
It was shot on film (Kodak) grain is an inherent part of that medium, yes there was grain, unequivocally. But I personally thought it looked amazing.
UHD being so detailed, combined with HDR really brings out all the details, warts and all.
Wait till more classic films are released on the format, (LoA, Ben-Hur etc) it's gonna be 'grain ahoy-hoy' (technical term) :laugh:

Lol what fun to look forward to ha.

It is interesting though how it's was so crisp at the cinema!

I think the backlight up on max really amplified it as when I put on reg blu Ray ray backlight is only on 24 yet HDR it's at 100. Possibly also partly why the blu Ray / cinema appeared to be grain free.
 
I must be some silly bugger that likes film so much that film grain is not a huge distraction to me. I'm not immune to it though, thought this release was pretty darn good myself on PQ and Atmos
I even enjoyed the film ......ish to some point. Some of the colours going on in the scenary shots were very nice indeed and the action scenes were very clear, crisp and precise.

End of the day fellas this is how he likes to film his movies with a slightly gritty/dirty look to them. And I might add it is the look I would expect from the genre involved.
 
I must be some silly bugger that likes film so much that film grain is not a huge distraction to me. I'm not immune to it though, thought this release was pretty darn good myself on PQ and Atmos
I even enjoyed the film ......ish to some point. Some of the colours going on in the scenary shots were very nice indeed and the action scenes were very clear, crisp and precise.

End of the day fellas this is how he likes to film his movies with a slightly gritty/dirty look to them.

Bet he loves the crackle on records too [emoji12]

Personally I think it's just a casualty of HDR for my taste.

When I saw this at the cinema it was Crystal - very little grain - but that's not as bright / HDR.

The blu Ray was much like the cinema in very little grain.

I think soon as you ramp up that backlight / contrast it just hits me.

That said once I got used to it, it wasn't so bad and was in keeping with the movie which had a very cinematic / western feel.

Would have seemed even more weird I guess if it was razor sharp like most of the movies I've seen lately.
 
I finished this last night and didn't find the Atmos up to much, didn't even notice my overheads once. Anyone else find it lacking? I did have the volume a little lower than usual which could've been part of the reason but only a few db lower than usual.
 
Bet he loves the crackle on records too [emoji12]

Personally I think it's just a casualty of HDR for my taste.

When I saw this at the cinema it was Crystal - very little grain - but that's not as bright / HDR.

The blu Ray was much like the cinema in very little grain.

I think soon as you ramp up that backlight / contrast it just hits me.

That said once I got used to it, it wasn't so bad and was in keeping with the movie which had a very cinematic / western feel.

Would have seemed even more weird I guess if it was razor sharp like most of the movies I've seen lately.

Might be you display mate , dunno who gave you the idea that the Panny was any good ;).
 
Might be you display mate , dunno who gave you the idea that the Panny was any good ;).

Yeah you could be right [emoji12]

Can't trust anyone these days ha ha
 
Watched this tonight and although a few scenes had dodgy blacks and a little grain thought the PQ was really good.

Not compared to the bluray but happy i bought the UHD.
 
Last edited:
Played this last night and thought this was a great film, the picture looked great, plus the sound was also really good.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom