Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone 4K Ultra HD

The first of the wildly popular Harry Potter books, written by J.K. Rowling, found its way to the big screen in 2001, with Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone (aka “Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone”). At the stroke of midnight upon his 11th birthday, Harry Potter (Radcliffe) learns from a giant named Hagrid (Coltrane) that he is the orphaned son of powerful wizards. With no more than a blink of an eye, Harry leaves his dreadful aunt and uncle to arrive at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Outside the dreary existence of Muggles (non-magic folk), Harry quickly makes new friends and begins piecing together the mystery of his parents' deaths, which appear not to have been accidental after all. (Gary Reber)

Special features include the In-Movie Experience with Director Chris Columbus; three featurettes An Introduction To The Many Special Features For The Harry Potter Films (HD 01:54), Creating The World Of Harry Potter, Part 1: The Magic Begins (HD 01:02:47), and A Glimpse Into The World Of Harry Potter (HD 09:15); seven deleted scenes (09:36); a teaser trailer; theatrical trailers; TV spots; and BD-Live functionality.

The 2.40:1 2160p HEVC/H.265 Ultra HD HDR10 picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, was photographed on 35 mm Kodak film stock using the Panavision Panaflex Millennium and Panavision Panaflex Platinum cameras in Super 35 and sourced from a 2K (not 4K) master Digital Intermediate format. As the 2K Digital Intermediate has been upconverted to 2160p, there is no real gain in native resolution. The previous Blu-ray Disc's picture quality was excellent with pleasing imagery throughout. This release exhibits sharper imagery but still a bit on the soft side when it comes to rendering fine detail. Still, during close-ups, detail is nicely revealing in facial features, hair, beards, clothing texture, against a backdrop of an elaborate production design. Colors range from somewhat subdued in some scenes to bordering oversaturation in others, though a wider color gamut is evident with richer and warmer hues. This is the effect of the stylization. The overall color scheme is bold and vibrant, with pleasing balance. Contrast and shadow delineation are nicely rendered with bright highlight appearing brighter and blacks deeper. The picture is pristine throughout with no objectonable film grain, and the best that the film has ever looked. The greater dynamic imagery and the fine visual presentation is sure the enthrall fans of the series. (Gary Reber)

The treatment for this DTS:X/DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1-channel soundtrack is far superior to the previous releases. The first release on DVD consisted of a 5.1 Dolby® Digital soundtrack (with Surround EX™). The previous Blu-ray Disc release consisted of a DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel encoding. This new DTS:X release is a remastering and extension of the Master Audio ear-level element to 7.1 channels. The Oscar®-nominated John Williams music score sports generally good fidelity and extends to all four surrounds, imparting an enhanced sense of expansion and envelopment. The distribution of atmospheric effects throughout the listening space is also very impressive, overall resulting in a holosonic® soundstage with good depth and immersion. The surrounds serve effectively with the many sweeps and pans, such as in Chapter 20. A great example of the use of this phantom channel can also be found in Chapter 28. Another notable aspect of this soundtrack is the dialogue, which features voices with remarkably natural tonality and impressive spatial integration. The low end is clean, poignant, and, at times, prominent with sub-25 Hz all around and occasionally aggressive .1 LFE. The music features a wonderful deep bass foundation. The Immersive Sound elements consists of envelops flying in the house, thunder storm sonics, brick movement, brief impactful sound effects, the sound of a steam engine train, ambience extension, ghostly voices, hall reverberation at Hogwarts, birds, ducks and owls outside, whiz sounds of broomsticks and balls, a giants growl, wood shattering sounds. crowd sounds at the outdoor arena and a student announcer's voice, a score ding, a flying Centaur, flying insects, sword sounds, flying debris, students cheering and the orchestral score. Except for the music, Immersive Sound elements are object-based and quiet brief. And while some carry some SPL weight, for the most part the perception is subliminal. Much in the way of soundscape dimension has been ignored by the sound designers. Yet this is certainly a wonderful soundtrack that is sure to please fans, with improved resolution and dimension, both at ear-level and height, and dynamics. The Immersive Sound elements consists of envelops flying in the house, thunder storm sonics, brick movement, brief impactful sound effects, the sound of a steam engine train, ambience extension, ghostly voices, hall reverberation at Hogwarts, birds, ducks and owls outside, whiz sounds of broomsticks and balls, a giants growl, wood shattering sounds. crowd sounds at the outdoor arena and a student announcer's voice, a score ding, a flying Centaur, flying insects, sword sounds, flying debris, students cheering and the orchestral score. Except for the music, Immersive Sound elements are object-based and quiet brief. And while some carry some SPL weight, for the most part the perception is subliminal. Much in the way of soundscape dimension has been ignored by the sound designers. (Gary Reber)