▶ Comparison of 2001: A Space Odyssey 4K Dolby Vision vs 2001: A Space Odyssey Blu-Ray Edition

4K Video Comparison, Logo & Montage by Score Man from The3hirdEye PRODUCTION®

[TheTerryGene]

It’s great to see a classic film get a true 4K upgrade. One wishes that Lawrence of Arabia will receive the same treatment.

[SSmith-fmkg]

Probably the greatest visual experience of all time. I don't remember these enhanced colors in the film in 1968.

[GeneSavage]

They just can't stop punching up the reds and greens in these 4K remasters... *sigh* Is it especially difficult to reproduce green in NTSC? I know red used to be a problem, but I wasn't aware of green being something we were missing... the way they punched the reds up in this one makes everything looks like it's cherry colored instead of red/orange. In some places they've made improvements, turning the cream print into true white, but in other cases... not so much. Some day we'll have to get remasters of the remasters...

Thanks, as always, for the excellent comparison video.

[SturmAH]

I feel mixed about this release, things look very pink in places but at the same time some colors are better as well. I just hoped we would finally get perfect black space, but I didn't see that anywhere during the movie, only very dark grey.

[jeffcrenshaw]

“My God, it’s full of stars!” Wow, do the stars pop or what? Looks like an amazing upgrade!!

[JosephDickersonUX]

No question the 4K version is absolutely better. I have it and watched both on the same gear and it's an astonishingly better version. Looks like it was shot yesterday.

[roseoftibet]

They f.... up a masterpiece. The Blu-Ray edition is how people (of my age) remember 2001. You cannot improve Mona Lisa. Have you noticed the green fringe on the monolith at 13:43 ?

[johngalt]

some 4k stuff looks awesome, some looks like the contrast is blown out.

[csjcsj]

The '2018 edition' Blu-ray you're referring to is actually the 2007 Blu-ray. It's because the actual 2018 Blu-ray has been remastered as well, essentially being the same one as the 4K edition.

[tkusterb]

In some of these comparison shots, the difference in contrast is astonishing.

[Zach_Films]

It's interesting to me how this differs from the trailer for the 4K version, I'm seeing a lot more pink/magenta in this. Is the trailer not an accurate representation of the 4K Blu Ray itself?

[fuzzywzhe]

Looks like the over-saturated the colors in 4K.

[madahad]

I worked at a movie theatre and every Sunday we had classic film series. One particular morning we screen the King Kong remake from the 70's. The 35mm print was obviously an original that had been languishing in a vault or studio warehouse and in an advanced stage of decomposition. Every human had a violet tint. The manager was so embarrassed he wasn't even charging anyone who wanted to see it, but were warned of its condition. It also had a distinct vinegar scent. Watching the 4K version of 2001 revived these memories of King Kong. It's really terrible. The blu-ray version seems vastly superior, especially in skin tones. While watching the comparisons I kept thinking: Was the 4K version done by a colour blind individual? I got to see it (finally) on a proper big screen in 2018 when it was on a limited for the film's 50th anniversary and cannot recall this over saturation of violet. I'll stick with my blu-ray version.

[thomasmiller]

I like the color better on the older version (1080) for the Dawn of Man section. Other than that the 4k HDR version looks warmer with more reds and looks great but I hope the edge artifacts on the 4k examples here aren’t on the 4k disc

[emoxvx]

The movie looks astonishing in Blu-Ray, but this 4K upgrade just blew the old version out of the water. What an incredible update. The details are more clear this time around and the colours, oh boy, the colours pop much more in this one!

[KRAFTWERKK]

The biggest difference is the MUCH higher bitrate now on the 4K Remaster release. Back when the old 2001 Blu-ray came out, the Bitrate was already way too low because Warner Bros. was using a Singlelayer Blu-ray. And it also suffered a bit from crushed blacks. Colour-wise it was closer to the 1989 Criterion Collection Laserdisc release, which Kubrick himself supervised and approved. However it was done using a 35mm source. Not the original Super Cinerama 70mm camera negative.

[JohnSmith-zlrz]

I just see a saturated thing on the 4K, looks more clear, but saturated, why? Example 7:24

[FirstPlace]

If only I had 4K player and TV... I'm getting addicted to the thought of 4K movies from the past, haha. 2001 is one of the greatest visual experiences ever

[castironchaos]

At 7:32, the 4K color seems oversaturated. Is this intentional? Did the 2018 version deliberately mute the colors?

[richardgoddard]

10:51 this is dissappointing. you can no longer see the sweat on daves face on the 4k counterpart