New to Blu: May 26 – June 1 UPDATED

Since posting this, I’ve learned that A Perfect Planet has been released on 4K-UHD as a JB Hi-Fi exclusive.

One of the year’s best demo-worthy 4K-UHD discs is being released here only on Blu-ray and DVD.

At least the eye-popping natural history sensation A Perfect Planet is out on disc in NZ, unlike its predecessor Seven Planets, One World.

“This 2160p, HDR-enhanced image absolutely bursts with colour and fine detail,” Blu-ray.com raved about the 4K-UHD edition before adding:

The Blu-rays provide a capable silver-medal presentation that still pushes the boundaries of 1080p while obviously not standing toe-to-toe with their 4K counterparts in colour, clarity, or depth.

But this is still a great-looking pair of discs: colours run reasonably deep, close-ups frequently reveal ultra-crisp details, and the whitest whites show almost no blooming even in the harshest gradients.

At least the Dolby Atmos mix has been retained for the Blu-ray.

“The Dolby Atmos surround track really opens up the surround field to immerse you in the action,” AVForums said.

“The narration is anchored to the front, while the majority of the surround field comes from the sweeping and majestic score that utilises all of the speakers to become an encompassing whole.”

There is better news for 4K-UHD buyers with Universal Pictures NZ releasing three classics on the format: The Sting, Rear Window and Vertigo.

“The Sting has had a rough run on home video dating back to the DVD days,” High-Def Digest said.

With the very purposeful cinematography to give the film a soft-focus aged look while replicating old-time transitions, there are a lot of in-camera photographic tricks that don’t lend themselves to high-resolution scrutiny.

Past releases slathered on edge enhancement and DNR with mixed-to-terrible results. This new transfer is a massive leap forward but is still held back from being a full-on demo-worthy disc.

Rear Window and Vertigo were released with The Birds and Psycho on a 4K-UHD Hitchcock box set last year in the US, where they were praised for their unprecedented picture quality, and are for sale here as separate editions (no word yet on if Birds and Psycho will follow).

Commendably, UPNZ is marketing them as two-disc releases, complete with the exhaustive Blu-ray extras included in the box set, making them a steal for $30 each.

Also new on Blu-ray are Sound of Metal ands a re-issue of ’70s classic Three Days of the Condor.