Okay, just bought a copy of the UHD. Some thoughts after having a browse through some scenes, then directly comparing the UHD to the original Blu-Ray, then afterwards the restored Blu-Ray (on an OLED and an Xbox One S, so no Dolby Vision):
- The UHD looks really, really good. I don't think anyone should be worried about raised blacks or blown highlights here. The blacks are, for the most part, inky as can be with a few exceptions where it works fine. In fact, at first I thought I was getting crushed blacks, but comparing it to the other versions, I'm almost certain this is a creative choice in the photography, with silhouettes and deep shadows utilized quite often.
- It's a very different grade, and on the whole, less green, but I have to say, I'm kind of surprised at how understated the green in the original BD often is. It's not the vomit fest I remember it as, and there are some scenes where the UHD is a little greener (The interrogation scene for example, is darker and richer, with the back walls a deeper green now. It's also, now that I've seen it at 4k resolution, one of the grainiest fucking scenes I've ever seen. I wonder what iso stock they filmed this scene in...). On the whole it feels like the original BD is often more saturated, and the skin tones warmer, not greener. The UHD is a little more relaxed with its colours, overall less saturated I'd say, and yes, a little less uniform in its colour scheme, allowing more granular colours to pop. Probably more accurate to the original master. Looks really nice, and yes, The Matrix logo at the start is fucking white.
- It's actually a little dim/flat looking sometimes. Some of the scenes in the real world especially, and especially in comparison to both the original BD and the restored BD. This may just be because, in the original BD's case, it's a colour grade for the DVD, where its contrast levels needed to be more defined to make up for a lack of resolution, and in the restored BD's case, it's generally brighter than the UHD on the whole (more below). Which is fine, but sometimes the UHD looks a little murky to its detriment I think. It almost looks like a metadata problem where some of the rolloff on light sources looks off. Wondering if Dolby Vision would improve things. I'm experimenting with bumping dynamic contrast ratio to high which certainly helps, but I think that's not recommended, right? I'll continue to play around.
- The restored BD is a little bit fucked for the reasons discussed here. Generally, blacks are raised (but not all the time), and whites are often blown out to a really ugly degree. Neo and Morpheus in the construct is way too bright and the clearest example I think. As discussed here, another good example is the woman in the red dress scene - also somewhat blown out, and the colour scheme too cool (While the UHD leans into the blues in this scene, it looks perfectly natural). It's a lot sharper than the original BD - compression has come a long way, but I think I might watch the original BD before the restored for these reasons.
