Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review: The Basics
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DISCLAIMER
Smokey and the Bandit (1977) 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray was bought by us at the HD MOVIE SOURCE Family. The opinions in this review are my own.
Smokey and the Bandit 4K Blu-ray
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Universal Studios | 1977 | 96 min | Rated PG | Jun 01, 2021
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio
English: Dolby Atmos
French (Canadian): DTS 2.0 Mono
Spanish: DTS 2.0 Mono
Subtitles
English SDH, French (Canadian), Spanish
Discs
4K Ultra HD (UHD)
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1x 4KUHD, 1x BD)
UPC 191329157282
Story: The Basics
The Bandit is hired on to run a tractor-trailer full of beer over county lines in hot pursuit by a pesky sheriff.
Director: Hal Needham
Writers: James Lee Barrett, Charles Shyer, Alan Mandel, Robert L. Levy, Hal Needham
Starring: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, Paul Williams, Jackie Gleason, Mike Henry
Smokey and the Bandit (1977) Official Trailer
Video: The Basics
It's a lot of fun reviewing this movie, it has a nice sense of humor, very relaxed, I like that. But, how does it look on 4K? Let's dig in.
The upgrade to 4K is absolutely obvious over the terrible Blu-ray, it looks really nice. At times with close-up shots, it looks great! The big thing with this movie is its consistency, and it's not that good, I'll explain later. The colors look natural and look like film, I really like this.
The resolution is quite sharp at times, with some softness here and there, I'm fine with this, I think it looks nice. I felt that there was some slight sharpening visible (edge enhancement), light but I can see it. There's minor ringing around hard objects and faces, but nothing too bad. Overall, I'm pretty happy in this regard.
The movie has quite inconsistent film grain. This can cause issues, and going from one shot to another is quite jarring. There are some awfully low res shots too, these look ugly, plain, and simple. I found that the bit-rate was not high enough to delineate the film grain fully. I think it's a bit of a shame. The movie needed around 20 Mbps more bit-rate and it would have looked very good. The average bit-rate is around 75 Mbps which is not high enough for movies with film grain. This shows prooves that, and there's no getting away with it. Universal? We need and deserve more bit rates for Physical Media, please. 90+ Mbps should be the minimum average bit-rate for anything with film grain.
It's okay, but I'm very aware that I'm watching a digital image. Django 4K however, looks like film and never looks digital. Django's bit-rates are 95 Mbps, and that's what's needed here.
Overall? A good-looking 4K disc, it has a great filmic color and has never looked better in the home. A perfect transfer? No, bit-rates are a little bit of a problem and has some poor-looking low-resolution shots. Consistency is also an issue. Some artifacts are visible.
If you're a fan of this movie then I recommend it. Compared to the Blu-ray it's a huge upgrade. A fun movie.
VIDEO SCORE: 4 OUT OF 5
THE BASICS: DECENT / MINOR ISSUES HOLDING IT BACK
Audio: The Basics
Another Univeral title gets a Dolby Atmos upgrade, cool!
Dialogue volume is absolutely perfect and has been mixed excellently. Get this right and it's always a great start. very nice.
The music is really good in this movie, it's clean and clear. There's minor use from the surround and height channels. I heard them used probably once. I assume the approach here was to pay respect to the original intent of the movie, and this has been achieved.
Overall, I think it's a decent-sounding movie, it's not flashy, but good.
AUDIO SCORE: 4.5 OUT OF 5
THE BASICS: GOOD / NO COMPLAINTS
HOW I REVIEW THE BASICS
REVIEW SCORES
2 - POOR
3 - AVERAGE
4 - GOOD
5 - EXCELLENT
5 - REFERENCE
EQUIPMENT I USE TO REVIEW
- POWER CONDITIONER - FURMAN ELITE-15 PF I
- DENON - X6500H (DOLBY ATMOS, DTSX, AND AURO 3D)
- ELAC - UNI-FI FLOORSTANDERS UF51
- ELAC - UNI-FI BOOKSHELF UB51 (INCLUDING DOLBY ATMOS)
- ELAC - UNI-FI CENTER SPEAKER UC51
- ELAC - TWO SUB3030 SUBWOOFERS
- PANASONIC - UB9000 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY PLAYER
- LG - C9 77 INCH - (ISF CALIBRATED - DOLBY VISION)
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