We here at TechRadar love 4K Blu-ray – the best way to see your favorite movies and TV shows with the highest picture and audio quality – so much so that we’ve created a new regular feature to share the Blu-ray Bounty.
To start, we have a trio of 4K Blu-ray discs that will make excellent additions to your existing 4K Blu-ray collection, or even launch you on your 4K Blu-ray journey. When played on one of the best 4K Blu-ray players, these movies will look great on the best TVs, and sound great through one of the best soundbars.
For this roundup, we won’t be reviewing the movies themselves; we’re just commenting on the picture and audio quality. This month’s three movies are Double Indemnity, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and Power of the Dog – a classic noir, a modern action blockbuster and a somber, but beautiful drama, so three completely different movies to get us started!
For testing, the movies were played on a Panasonic DP-UB820 4K Blu-ray player connected to a Panasonic MZ1500 OLED TV and Samsung HW-Q990C soundbar, predecessor to the Samsung HW-Q990D, one of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars.
Double Indemnity (The Criterion Collection)
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Double Indemnity (1944) directed by Billy Wilder, is a classic noir that many argue helped define not only the genre but modern filmmaking in general. It tells the story of an insurance man (Fred MacMurray) who conspires with a woman (Barbara Stanwyck) to murder her husband in order to capitalize on his life insurance using a Double Indemnity clause.
Double Indemnity looks stunning in 4K with Dolby Vision, with textures taking on a realistic look. The Criterion Collection’s black and white 4K restoration does a fantastic job defining the film’s light and dark tones, with plenty of gray ones in between. There’s a good amount of film grain present, which movie fans will appreciate, though it’s worth noting that some grain has been cleaned up. Double Indemnity is a great example of a 4K release of a classic movie done right, and it looked fantastic on the Panasonic MZ1500 OLED TV.
The soundtrack is monaural – no Dolby Atmos here. Still, the sound has been cleaned up nicely, with clear dialogue and a good balance between the melodramatic, horn-heavy score and other sound effects.
Power of the Dog (The Criterion Collection)
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Power of the Dog (2021), directed by Jane Campion, is a Western drama that tells the story of a pair of ranch owners and brothers Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George (Jessie Plemons) who navigate life after George brings home a new wife, Rose (Kirsten Dunst), and her son.
Gorgeous landscapes and natural environments are used throughout the movie, and the wide open spaces, mountains and valleys look simply breathtaking. Criterion’s 4K Dolby Vision treatment brings out plenty of detail in not only these landscapes but also the characters’ facial features, and there is strong contrast in the film’s many night scenes. On the MZ1500 OLED, every aspect of the film’s picture looked incredible.
Power of the Dog’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack gives the mournful, string-heavy score a real sense of space and weight. Scenes in nature sounded expansive, with the bird cries, crackling branches, and gravel placed accurately throughout and clearly heard in the Samsung HW-Q990C’s rear speakers.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Disney / Buena Vista)
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Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) is the fourth installment in the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise – following on from Rise, Dawn, and War of the Planet of the Apes, respectively. With the apes now fully in control of the planet, a young ape (Owen Teague) discovers truths that make him question everything he has ever known about the ape world.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ greatest strength lies not in its visuals, but its sound design. Featuring a Dolby Atmos mix, this movie is the definition of an action blockbuster, with a thunderous score, crunching battle scenes and lively, open-sounding environments. From an eagle swooping through large landscapes in the movie’s opening, to the bruising fight scenes between the warring clans of apes, this movie is a perfect test for your sound system.
Visually, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes features beautiful natural environments and pretty good CGI creations of the different apes and monkeys throughout the movie. The 4K Dolby Vision transfer is detailed and dynamic-looking and it will show off what your TV and 4K Blu-ray player are capable of.
Want to grab the equipment we used for testing? Check out links to that equipment below. In some cases, we’ve provided alternatives that are more current or available in your region.
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james.davidson@futurenet.com (James Davidson)
