Why Older Movies Look Better in 4K UHD (2023 Update)

hey everyone Jeff here from films at

home and in today's video we need to

talk about why older movies that were

shot on film can look so incredible on

the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format and on

your 4K TV and why you should not ignore

these when building a new home theater

and starting your collection

[Music]

hey everyone thanks for coming back to

the channel today for this video if

you've been following me for a while you

may know that I've done a similar video

like this just about four years ago at

this point and it's one of the most

popular videos on my channel now four

years ago I had no idea what I was doing

on YouTube so thank you all for sticking

with me but that video is out of focus

it's completely filmed incorrectly it

sounds horrible and it's such an

important topic that I wanted to make

sure I did a refresher plus we've gained

so many new subscribers and a much

larger audience since then that I want

to make sure you all see this so I'm

still seeing in the comments people

talking about you know I just got a 4K

setup why would I buy It's a Wonderful

Life why would I buy Blade Runner why

would I buy Jaws those are old movies I

want to watch Avatar I want to watch

Black Panther I want to watch the latest

greatest from Christopher Nolan like

that's what I want to see I want to see

these colorful digitally shot clean

movies and while I agree some of those

can look great we'll talk about the the

cons to some of those movies and where

you may see a dip in quality the movies

that are shot on film from as far back

as the 1920s 30s 40s 50s you know

decades and Decades of movies that were

shot on film can be an incredible

experience on your 4K TV and I want to

help you understand why that is and why

you should not be sleeping on these

movies when thinking about stuff to buy

for your 4K collection the first thing

you have to really understand is the

difference between film and digital when

we're talking about film and digital

it's sort of apples and oranges when

you're comparing resolutions but you can

give a rough estimate as to how a

certain film stock matches up to a

digital resolution and kind of do that

comparison it's not perfect but the

general consensus is that the Blu-ray

format 1080p HD fully uncompressed

Blu-ray discs they have just over 2

million pixels a 4K Ultra HD disk has

just over 8 million 8.3 million pixels

four times more than Blu-Ray so those

are important numbers to remember and

that's true if somebody shoots their

movie as a 2K digital intermediate or a

4k digital intermediate that's the

resolution that they're shooting at and

that is as high as it can go sometimes

they do shoot digitally at higher six 8K

resolutions but there are very very few

movies that have been rendered any

higher than 4K so think about that 2

million pixels for blu-ray call it 8

million pixels for 4K that's sort of the

limits now when we talk about film

you've got three different types of film

that primarily have been used in

Hollywood the biggest one being 35

millimeter that's the most common but

you also have 16 millimeter and then you

have 65 70 millimeter which a lot of

times is just a blown up version of 35

millimeter movies but there are a few

films that have been shot in that format

if we think about resolution again

remembering Blu-ray 2 million 4K 8

million a 16 millimeter shot film film

is somewhere around that Blu-ray Mark

it's somewhere around 2 million pixels

so 16 millimeter hits right at about HD

Blu-ray maybe a little bit higher this

is going to be a movie like Texas

Chainsaw Massacre if you look at the

great Blu-ray transfer that was done and

the new 4k disc they're very very close

in terms of detail and resolution

because there's not much more you can

squeeze out of 16 millimeter to really

go to 4K now if we talk about 35

millimeter General consensus is anywhere

from 10 to 20 million pixels is what a

35 millimeter film could get squeezed

out of it in a digital transfer so 4K

being 8 million it's basically on the

lower end right around 4K resolution and

could be higher even closer to like a 6K

resolution if it had a pristine source

and other things matter lighting and

technology that was used but somewhere

10 to 20 million so a standard 35

millimeter movie has more data in it

than a digitally shot 4K movie and if we

think about 65 or 70 millimeter for

those rare instances that's 30 to 40

million pixels which is essentially

equal to about 8K resolution and that's

why I say 8K resolution really only

makes sense for those movies because

otherwise 35 millimeter stuff shot on HD

stuff shot in 4k digital it just can't

get to that higher resolution it just

doesn't make sense unless the technology

in Hollywood gets better but we have

hundred years of movies that wouldn't

see any benefit to 8K which is why it

doesn't really make sense as a format

but that's another topic so if you think

about that right you're thinking about

35 millimeter that's your primary format

that's what most movies that were shot

on film were shot with that's going to

higher resolution natively than 4K Ultra

HD digitally shot movies stuff like the

Batman that was shot at 4K up to about

6K that's about equal to a 35mm meter

movie and that movie looks fantastic

there's other stuff like Marvel movies

often are shot down at 2K resolution so

if you think those look fantastic

there's a lot more detail and a lot more

data and a 35 millimeter film than there

is in those 2K digitally shot movies so

the point is when they take a 35

millimeter reel and they go to scan that

at 4K resolution they're actually having

to take it down a step because it's

probably even higher resolution than

that depending on how great a source it

has but what it means is that 4K is

really sort of the Tipping Point for 35

millimeter and that's why it's such an

important format for these movies that

were shot on film like a Jaws which

looks absolutely incredible in 4k

because this is pulling all of the data

out of that film reel it is giving you

the best presentation it has even more

data to pull from than if Steven

Spielberg had a 4k camera in 1974 when

he shot the movie and that's why it can

look so fantastic as a 4K transfer so

that's the basics of like why you

shouldn't sleep on older movies and it

really comes down to the fact that film

resolution 35 millimeter and up is much

higher quality just speaking resolution

wise than 2K or 4K digitally shot movies

there's just a lot more data now that's

not to say every movie shot on film

looks pristine you know they don't

there's lots of film stock differences

stuff in the 70s looks pretty rough for

the most part there's some color fading

that can happen there's lots of

restoration work that has to go into

that that you don't have to do with a

digital release but if you get a really

pristine looking print like 2001 A Space

Odyssey and you bring that to the 4K

format that's going to look better than

99 of stuff that's coming out new in

theaters today it's just an incredible

experience with so much detail and so

much Rich color that you get from that

film stock so ultimately when you're

looking at which movies to buy on 4K I

know a lot of you will probably want to

gravitate towards the latest greatest

movies the John Wicks the Marvel movies

the DC movies whatever's come out you

know

the latest greatest technology the

reality is though if you bought the

1080p Blu-ray of those movies and

compare it to the 4K the difference is

going to be minimal the Blu-ray is going

to look great the 4K is going to look

great however if you take a Blu-ray

release of a movie which has not been

restored and had an old film transfer

and you get a new 4k restoration of that

movie it's going to blow you away and I

think people don't realize that until

they pop it in put 2001 A Space Odyssey

into your 4K player and tell me you're

not blown away put Blade Runner into

your 4K player put Apocalypse Now put

grease into your 4K player and tell me

you're not blown away the difference in

the leap in upgrade between 1080P

Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray when it

comes to older movies that have those 35

millimeter it's just incredible it's a

huge leap forward that you're just not

going to see with modern stuff that's

shot on digital cameras in the last note

here is that yes film has grain so you

should never expect something if it's in

4k that doesn't mean it's not going to

have grain it doesn't mean it's going to

look like Gemini man or Marvel Avengers

end game that's not what Jaws is going

to look like that's not what 2001 A

Space Odyssey is going to look like it's

shot on film so it has grain that's part

of film digital has noise film has grain

so if you see grain that's not a bad

thing it should be there if you don't

see it that means it's been scrubbed and

it's actually lost some detail so I

often see people say this movie it's so

grainy I can't make out anything look at

past releases of that same movie and

you'll see how big a difference this is

you can't compare apples to oranges and

compare the way that Rocky looks on 4K

so the way that Avengers end game looks

on 4K Rocky on 4K is as good as it's

ever looked so is end game put them

together not a fair comparison but just

understand that Rocky looks as good as

it can right now and it's an incredible

transfer much like other 35 millimeter

movies and that's why it's really

important not to sleep on those old

movies and you guys should be picking up

these things like Casablanca and new

releases from Warner Brothers like Rebel

Without a Cause And The Maltese Falcon

and Cool Hand Luke The Great Escape and

Some Like It Hot from Kino lorber some

of the great Criterion and even black

and white stuff because of HDR looks

incredible on the 4K format so please do

not sleep on these older movies they

deserve just as much attention and

honestly I usually have a much better

viewing experience with them than the

latest stuff because I feel like I'm

just getting more from the 4K disc it's

a bigger upgrade than what you're used

to so that is it hopefully that helps

clear some stuff up if you guys want

more information I'm no cinematographer

I'm no expert on like film and

resolution and film transfers I'm trying

to interview more people like that on my

podcast definitely trying to learn more

about it but I just want to make sure

this video got refreshed and got out

there and didn't look like crap because

it did before on YouTube because this is

such an important topic that everybody

who collects 4K movies and invests in a

4K system in a home theater really needs

to understand or you're doing yourself a

disservice so if you want some

recommendations on great 4K discs that

were movies that were shot on film I'll

put some purchase links down in the

description if you click those to help

support my channel but just remember

keep in mind that every film is

different you can't compare one film to

another from different time periods but

don't just write off a film because it

was done in the 1960s it could be one of

the best looking discs in your

collection so thank you guys for

watching this video I hope this was

helpful I hope this cleared some stuff

up and I hope this inspires more of you

to go out and buy older movies because

they definitely deserve all the support

so if you're interested in more content

like this follow me here on YouTube make

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films at home podcast and of course

check all the links in my description

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channel and my partners which I

appreciate so thank you for watching

have a great rest of your day stay safe

stay healthy out there long live film

and I will talk to you all soon