New to Blu: October 18 – 24

Baby Driver roars on to both 4K-UHD and Blu-ray, with top US reviewers praising the fidelity of the former over the latter.

“Baby Driver was reportedly finished at 2K, but even so this marks a solid upgrade over a decent-not-great 1080p Blu-ray picture,” Blu-ray.com said.

Sony’s 2160p/HDR-enhanced release delivers a more intricate and stable picture, one that reveals much more detail, that offers a sharper image overall. Details that were (sometimes more than) a little lacking on Blu-ray — facial features in particular — are much more stout here, capable of revealing finer intricacies with greater complexity and more easily identifiable nuance.

High-Def Digest reckons “Edgar Wright’s exceptional genre exercise handles the tight curves and tough streets of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray thanks to a fantastic HEVC H.265 encode that shockingly leaves its Blu-ray counterpart in the rearview mirror.”

Shot on a combination of traditional 35mm film and digital cameras capable of up to 3K resolution, the freshly-minted transfer screeches unto the scene with excellent detailing in the architecture of buildings, the gravel of city streets and Baby’s apartment.

Baby stylishly eludes the police with a fantastic Dolby Atmos soundtrack that surprisingly leaves its DTS-HD MA counterpart in the dust, consistently pulling viewers into the thick of action and as though sitting in the getaway car.

But DVD Active had few qualms about the Blu-ray audio and video: “Sony’s Blu-ray comes packed a with nice, natural-looking transfer, a fantastic DTS-HD MA soundtrack, and loads of extras, fronted by deleted/extended scenes, dual commentaries, and extensive animatics.”

The week’s only other Blu-ray newcomers are the direct-to-disc Dead Awake and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.