New to Blu: January 18 – 24

There are two 4K releases this week — Inferno and Resident Evil: Afterlife — but the biggest UHD omission, Deepwater Horizon, is Blu-ray and DVD only, despite surfacing on 4K across the Tasman.

“The 1080p transfer, compressed using the AVC codec, retains the films theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1, and provides an almost exceptional presentation,” Home Theater Forum said.

“Colours are accurate and natural, never appearing over-saturated or washed out, especially flesh tones.”

High-Def Digest agreed it was “nearly flawless” but suffered from “significant banding” as the camera pans lower and lower during underwater sequences.

There’s no word yet from distributor Roadshow Entertainment on why Australians can enjoy Deepwater Horizon in 4K, along with Sully and re-issues of classics like Goodfellas, while Kiwis can’t. I will keep you posted.

In the meantime, Inferno lands here on 4K and Blu-ray a week ahead of the US while High-Def Digest deemed Resident Evil: Afterlife “a fine-looking and strong HEVC H.265 encode in HDR10, offering some improvements offset by a few lesser ones”.

Concurred Home Theater Forum: “There is a noticeable improvement in contrast and colour depth, as well as fine detail.”

Blu-ray.com thought the week’s other big release, Pete’s Dragon, “a nicely balanced, not too flashy, tried-and-true 1080p transfer.”

“Detail is excellent, bringing life to the unreal muppet-puppet-style beast with his thick green fur that is rich and layered,” AVForums said.

“Black levels are strong, rich and deep, primed with excellent shadow detail.”

Also new are:

• In a Valley of Violence (“a very impressive and sharp transfer with only an occasional shot a little less than razor-edged”)
• The Hallow (“sharpness and clarity are excellent, and fine-object detail and texture are abundant”)
• Rampage: President Down.