4K - 8K Resolution and/or Dolby Atmos/DTSX Content Reviews

[Movie2099]

Yeah, that's my #1 complaint of K-Scape. Since they are charging a lot of money for the Media Player already, why not let people use their own hard drives?

All my storage drives are NVMe SSD now. I don't even use the old HDD anymore.

So I bet K-scape charges a lot more money if you opt for SSD, instead of the old HDD.

There is no question and ZERO debate that K-scape charges an insane amount for storage space. Reason they won't open it up to have your own storage is because they have very strict contracts with the movie studios for their metadata. They know if people were to download to their own devices, they would just pirate the movie online to everybody. Reason Apple doesn't offer players with storage space to allow you download their movies from their servers. It's the movie studios placing protections with these companies.

K-scape uses SSD's in some of their devices. Price is more than normal HDD's, but not too much more. Also, the people who do put in the massive 80TB+, want to have instant access to everything they purchase. If you are good with only having less than 100 movies available at one time and are ok waiting 8-10mins for a movie to download, then you would just go with the least amount of storage space. There are options available.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

If you are good with only having less than 100 movies available at one time and are ok waiting 8-10mins for a movie to download, then you would just go with the least amount of storage space.

For that kind of money, I think most people would have a problem with that kind of limitation.

I get the anti-pirate measures on their HDD, but they didn't have to charge that much for it.

120TB HDD hardware is about $4K in cost (12TB ~ $400). I can see an upcharge. But $35K is a ripoff.

I don't see K-scape being more than a small niche market because of the huge upfront cost of the Player + huge upfront cost of the HDD-Storage + paying $30 for each new movie.

 

[Movie2099]

For that kind of money, I think most people would have a problem with that kind of limitation.

I get the anti-pirate measures on their HDD, but they didn't have to charge that much for it.

120TB HDD hardware is about $4K in cost (12TB ~ $400). I can see an upcharge. But $35K? That's a total ripoff.

I don't see K-scape being more than a small niche market because of the huge upfront cost of the Player + huge upfront cost of the HDD-Storage + paying $30 for each new movie.

Yeah, as long as the K-scape stays where they're at pricing wise for the hardware, it will only be a niche system. But plenty of home theater enthusiasts purchase it. Anybody with a decent to very nice home theater setup is going to own one. Whether it be an older one or brand new. Grand majority of people that actually have a dedicated theater, don't want to own physical discs any longer. They want to sit and pick from a library and have the best quality out there. Which K-scape gives them that.

Price of actual movies is the same as physical disc or better. A good amount of new releases are cheaper than physical disc upon release. I just got an email for special pricing for Project Hail Mary $25. My physical disc will be around $28 for the normal case but if you want the Steelbook, it will be close to $35-$40.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Anybody with a decent to very nice home theater setup is going to own one (K-scape).

Not everyone with a nice HT is going to buy K-scape.

Not everyone with money is going to buy everything.

People will buy what they BELIEVE in.

 

[Movie2099]

Watched the new horror movie Obsession on 4k disc last night. GREAT movie! I'm giving it a 9/10 for a horror movie. These super low-budget horror movies have been kicking butt in the last couple of years. This one cost under $1m to make. Everyone involved did a fantastic job. The actress that played Nikki was crazy good in her role. I don't want to give too much away, so I won't say too much. If you're a fan or horror, you need to see this! I'm sure it will be on streaming very soon.

 

[j_garcia]

Watched The Odyssey. It was good, as expected from Nolan, but it definitely has some issues. Entertaining and big enough that it is worth seeing in the theater. It can drag at times given that run time, but the way the story rolls out is well metered. We saw it in Dolby Cinema because the IMAX theaters were mostly sold out. Sound was a bit excessively loud, but active Atmos.

 

[Movie2099]

Watched The Odyssey. It was good, as expected from Nolan, but it definitely has some issues. Entertaining and big enough that it is worth seeing in the theater. It can drag at times given that run time, but the way the story rolls out is well metered. We saw it in Dolby Cinema because the IMAX theaters were mostly sold out. Sound was a bit excessively loud, but active Atmos.

Wife and I went to The Odyssey yesterday. I'm disappointed, it was not that great. We saw it in a random XL screen with Dolby Atmos. There was ZERO bass. I heard this movie has tons of it, but our theater had the bass turned off.

My issues: I felt nothing for the characters. Most the movie didn't even feel like it was a Nolan movie. The modern dialogue was a hit or miss. When it was a miss, it took you out of the scene. The casting definitely had issues. Nolan didn't need a 5ft nothing to play an "Ultimate warrior" type of character, that's not even in The Odyssey or Iliad. He could've easily picked someone else. People saying Damon and Hathaway's performances were just "amazing! and Oscar worthy!". Yeah, not even close. The actress that played Cersi claimed she was as good as Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight. What a stupid thing to say. Her part was so small, and she was not special at all. The pacing was not good. If you like movies that keep jumping back and forth the entire time, The Odyssey will give you that. To me, the score for this is one of Nolan's worst. I did not like it at all. Which is crazy because I've loved almost all of his movie's scores.

I love Nolan and all of his movies. I'm not a "Super fan boy" or anything, but just really love what he does. Every time I'd see a Nolan movie in theaters, I would just be in awe of what was happening on screen and listening to his amazing movie scores. I would leave the theaters wanting to see it 2-3 more times and couldn't wait to get it on 4k Disc. Here, with The Odyssey, I felt none of it. I left the theater disappointed and at the end of the day will rank this movie in the bottom half of the Nolans films.

I'm going to give The Odyssey a generous 7/10. I consider most of Nolan's movies to be 9/10 and a couple that are 10/10. So, for me a 7/10 is pretty low.

 

[j_garcia]

People complained about the casting, but I found the modern dialog to be the biggest issue. Definitely not one of Nolan's his best. I read a commentary by the lady who's translation of the poem was the inspiration for the film and she said some of the things that are main themes, which would pull you into the characters, are toned down in the film. That is why the characters are less compelling. Odysseus was a trickster, so there were many more instances besides the Trojan Horse where that comes into play and none of that was in the film. Anne Hathaway's character was reduced to a few minutes total, so she's not interesting. It does come off almost like an action movie more than an "odyssey". The slow parts where it drags make it feel longer though.

The bass was overwhelming in our theater lol.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Wife and I went to The Odyssey yesterday. There was ZERO bass.

The bass was overwhelming in our theater lol.

There's no place like Home--Theater.

Set the bass to the JUST-RIGHT level at home.

Turn on the Subtitles to catch all the dialogue.

 

[Movie2099]

There's no place like Home--Theater.

Set the bass to the JUST-RIGHT level at home.

Turn on the Subtitles to catch all the dialogue.

A rewatch in my home theater will be happening. Was very front heavy in the theater I went to. Which I suppose is the norm for Nolan movies since he doesn't do Atmos. I know a good amount of people are complaining about the dialogue audio and not hearing things. Personally, I didn't' have any issues with that.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

A rewatch in my home theater will be happening. Was very front heavy in the theater I went to. Which I suppose is the norm for Nolan movies since he doesn't do Atmos. I know a good amount of people are complaining about the dialogue audio and not hearing things. Personally, I didn't' have any issues with that.

It seems like 50/50 say they had issues with dialogue and/or Sound in general, which understandably depends on the actual theater environments and sitting arrangements.

Did you give Nolan any extra credits for capturing the movie in 70mm-IMAX-Analog instead of 8K Digital cameras?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

As for me, I’m going to just watch The Odyssey in my HT because I’ve never experienced anything better at the commercial theaters in terms of PQ/SQ than at home.

Sure, there may be some theaters somewhere else that are truly better, but I’ve never been there. They are definitely not in Oklahoma.

I would rather not watch the movie at all than watching it in a bad enclosure- without bass, poor dialogue, or some other important things.

Not surprised, but the reception/reviews for The Odyssey are polarizing. Some call it a masterpiece, some absolutely hated it, and then some are in-between.

I’ve liked every single Nolan movie, so I want to give this one the best chance.

 

[Movie2099]

It seems like 50/50 say they had issues with dialogue and/or Sound in general, which understandably depends on the actual theater environments and sitting arrangements.

Did you give Nolan any extra credits for capturing the movie in 70mm-IMAX-Analog instead of 8K Digital cameras?

I love that Nolan wants to be the guy to keep IMAX alive, but when there are only 25 of the 70mm in the country and that is the "BEST" way to see the movie, I think that's dumb. Our true IMAX 70mm theater shut down a few years ago. IMAX decided our area wasn't good enough, so they didn't resign the lease. So, now we just have a regular IMAX non-7mm, and tons of faux-MAX pretender screens around me. Don't get me started on the sound. They are all over the place with sound. That's why, like you, I would rather watch these movies in my own home theater where I know the sound quality will be 10x better and the picture quality will be better as well.

 

[Movie2099]

As for me, I’m going to just watch The Odyssey in my HT because I’ve never experienced anything better at the commercial theaters in terms of PQ/SQ than at home.

Sure, there may be some theaters somewhere else that are truly better, but I’ve never been there. They are definitely not in Oklahoma.

I would rather not watch the movie at all than watching it in a bad enclosure- without bass, poor dialogue, or some other important things.

Not surprised, but the reception/reviews for The Odyssey are polarizing. Some call it a masterpiece, some absolutely hated it, and then some are in-between.

I’ve liked every single Nolan movie, so I want to give this one the best chance.

I love Nolan and almost all of his films, but people need to realize that even as great or awesome as he is, he can still make mistakes and make a sub-par movie. There are many people that hate his Dark Knight trilogy, there are tons that hated Tenet. Interstellar had a sizable amount that disliked it. I loved all those films. This one though, I just didn't like. It had some cool scenes; I will give it that. But the hype from the media, who is doing their best to prop the movie up (helps to get handed bags of money to help promote a movie) and the annoying "super fan boys" who will never criticize anything Nolan does, it just so overdone with this movie. If any other director had done this movie, it wouldn't even touch what it made over the weekend. Nolan can still make a sub-par movie and sell tickets. But at the end of the day this movie is just not that great. Out of his 13 movies, I would rank The Odyssey at 12 just above The Following (his first movie).

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I love that Nolan wants to be the guy to keep IMAX alive, but when there are only 25 of the 70mm in the country and that is the "BEST" way to see the movie, I think that's dumb. Our true IMAX 70mm theater shut down a few years ago. IMAX decided our area wasn't good enough, so they didn't resign the lease. So, now we just have a regular IMAX non-7mm, and tons of faux-MAX pretender screens around me. Don't get me started on the sound. They are all over the place with sound. That's why, like you, I would rather watch these movies in my own home theater where I know the sound quality will be 10x better and the picture quality will be better as well.

Going through all that work with 70mm-IMAX so that a whole 25 total screens in the whole USA can “benefit” seems truly silly.

And then refusing to adopt ATMOS sound after 13 years is adding to that silliness even more, especially when many people are still complaining about the SQ of some of his movies (Tenet, Odyssey).

is it possible that perhaps Dolby Atmos could improve the SQ of his movies? Possibly more significantly than making movies on 70mm-IMAX vs 8K-Digital camera, especially giving the fact that there are only 25 70-IMAX screens in the entire USA?

And then now you have to add his latest casting choices whether they are significant or not.

 

[j_garcia]

There are 2 domes and one 70MM here. The one 70mm sold out a year ago lol. They did some super early presale for those 25 70mm theaters, so you probably would not have been able to get a ticket the first week anyway. Due to the action sequences, I don't think you'd want to see this on a dome.

 

[Movie2099]

Going through all that work with 70mm-IMAX so that a whole 25 total screens in the whole USA can “benefit” seems truly silly.

And then refusing to adopt ATMOS sound after 13 years is adding to that silliness even more, especially when many people are still complaining about the SQ of some of his movies (Tenet, Odyssey).

is it possible that perhaps Dolby Atmos could improve the SQ of his movies? Possibly more significantly than making movies on 70mm-IMAX vs 8K-Digital camera, especially giving the fact that there are only 25 70-IMAX screens in the entire USA?

And then now you have to add his latest casting choices whether they are significant or not.

I saw that around 53% of the ticket sales this last weekend just came from IMAX theaters. I believe those tickets are at least $25/person. The Odyssey gets 1 more weekend by itself in all the big screens before Spiderman 3 drops and takes over everything but the IMAX 70mm. Nolan gets the 70mm IMAX under middle to end of August. I do see that those 70mm IMAX screens are now playing the Odyssey almost 24 hours round the clock. I saw a showtime starting at 6am!!!

Nolan is a purist, he won't go with Atmos. Maybe in 20 years he might finally cave, but as of right now, he's a 5.1 kinda guy.

Regarding the resolution, shooting on IMAX 70mm is the equivalent of shooting in 12k-18k resolution. He has to scale that back down so it can be played in theaters and fit on normal hard drive. I can't imagine the movie uncompressed would be many terabytes in size. I saw a picture from some IMAX projectionist, that showed how big the file was, I believe the paper said the file size was around 116 gigs.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

There are 2 domes and one 70MM here. The one 70mm sold out a year ago lol. They did some super early presale for those 25 70mm theaters, so you probably would not have been able to get a ticket the first week anyway. Due to the action sequences, I don't think you'd want to see this on a dome.

So the "dome" has the 1.9:1 ratio and the "70mm" has the 1.43:1 ratio?

I think they just take the 1.43-70mm and crop the top and bottom sections to make it 1.90.

I hope Nolan releases "The Odyssey" on UHD in 1.43:1 ratio so that I can use Kodi to crop the top and bottom to make it 1.78.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I saw that around 53% of the ticket sales this last weekend just came from IMAX theaters. I believe those tickets are at least $25/person. The Odyssey gets 1 more weekend by itself in all the big screens before Spiderman 3 drops and takes over everything but the IMAX 70mm. Nolan gets the 70mm IMAX under middle to end of August. I do see that those 70mm IMAX screens are now playing the Odyssey almost 24 hours round the clock. I saw a showtime starting at 6am!!!

Nolan is a purist, he won't go with Atmos. Maybe in 20 years he might finally cave, but as of right now, he's a 5.1 kinda guy.

Regarding the resolution, shooting on IMAX 70mm is the equivalent of shooting in 12k-18k resolution. He has to scale that back down so it can be played in theaters and fit on normal hard drive. I can't imagine the movie uncompressed would be many terabytes in size. I saw a picture from some IMAX projectionist, that showed how big the file was, I believe the paper said the file size was around 116 gigs.

I can definitely understand and appreciate the 12-18K equivalent-resolution compared to the 4-8K digital-resolution. So I guess more power to him.

Regarding sound quality, whatever he's doing or using is not the best because I keep hearing people complain one thing or another regarding his movie sound works. If everyone is raving about the SQ, then I can also understand not changing his surround format choices. But that's not the case. When enough people are complaining about something (in this case the Sound Quality), there must be a good reason for that.

Let's say I love ATMOS and I keep making movies in ATMOS. But if so many people are complaining about my SQ, then as a film maker, I have to wonder why people are complaining. I have to ask myself, could I improve the SQ.

Who knows. Maybe he's already tried using ATMOS in his movies and he thought the SQ was even worst than this DTS-HD MA.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Wait, there's no analog FILM GRAIN on "The Odyssey", is there?

Don't make me use my Topaz Film-Grain Remover !!!