Immensely disappointed with Advent Children 4K

I wanted to make this post to save others from making my mistake.

Under no circumstances should you ever buy the advent Children 4K blu ray.

To be clear: I am Viewing on a calibrated LG C3 using a Panasonic UB820. I am running at the native frame rate of the disc, using the “Real Cinema” mode on my display to allow the frame rate to distribute smoothly. (This is not any kind of AI upscaling or interpolation, just allows correct frame rate playback.)

This movie looks ATROCIOUS. Blown out HDR highlights yet everything below that brightness looking washed out and dull, some kind of poor upscaler was used that causes almost every 3d model to warp and wobble when not in a close-up.

Wide shots (the beginning of the film showing destroyed Midgard for example) look like a complete disaster. Smudge-y, blobby smears that are absolutely indicative of an AI upscaler used across the image.

Small detail is obliterated, many objects look as if they are floating, and the image is riddled with perfectly square-shaped compression artifacts.

Grain is present in chunks across most frames but is usually half erased by DNR, which is also responsible for making objects like the metal-mesh elevator shutter (another scene at the beginning of the film) have edges that fizzle and fray as if I turned on an awful anti-aliasing method in a modern PC title.

This is by far one of the worst discs I’ve ever seen. It’s just as dim as the notoriously horrid Pirates of the Caribbean 4k (along with the peaking issue in bright shots making things invisible). It’s also just as much of a visual mess as Terminator 2’s terrible upscale.

I cannot believe some people have said this disc looks acceptable, and wanted to openly say that this is a horrible 4k disc not worth your time. Please buy the standard Blu Ray or DVD release, both genuinely have a more natural and regulated image than this. 4k does not always mean better and this disc is painful proof.

If anyone tells you this disc is “good enough” it is because they just can’t tell. It is the worst looking home release we have gotten yet. All of these flaws are visible on my PlayStation 5 as well, so even with an entry level 4K player, the terrible image quality is glaringly apparent.

Very disappointed I listed to people who said it looked good, I wish I never bought it.