Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 4K Blu-ray 2011 REMUX UHD 2160P

In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort. It all ends here. For more about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 4K and the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 4K Blu-ray release download, see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 4K Blu-ray Review published by Michael Reuben on April 11, 2017 where this Blu-ray release scored 4.0 out of 5.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 4K Blu-ray Review
According to the best available information, Warner's 2160p, HEVC/H.265-encoded UHD presentation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has been sourced from a 2K digital intermediate, which limits the prospect that the format's superior resolution will reveal additional detail. Still, the HDR encoding provides subtle but noticeable improvements over the standard Blu-ray, courtesy of enhanced contrast, black levels and highlights. The palette continues director David Yates's tendency toward darkening and desaturation that can been seen in all four of his Potter films, even though they are the work of three different cinematographers—Slawomir Idziak for The Order of the Phoenix, Bruno Delbonnel for The Half-Blood Prince and Eduardo Serra for The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Part 2.

But, just as in the first installment of Deathly Hallows, not all is darkness. The opening sequence with Harry and his friends at the beachfront "safe house" owned by the Weasley family features bright exteriors and interiors illuminated by light streaming through the windows. "It's beautiful here", says Luna Lovegood, underlining the locale's studied contrast to the rest of the film, which is summed up by the grim opening view of Hogwarts surrounded by Dementors and surveyed by the newly installed Snape from his perch high above. (The shot of Snape from behind demonstrates the UHD's superior delineation of blacks; on the Blu-ray, it's a solid silhouette, but the UHD distinguishes textures of hair and cloak.) The colors, contrast and highlights of these bright early scenes remain largely unchanged with HDR, with the biggest benefits occurring later in the film, especially in the prolonged siege of Hogwarts by Voldemort's forces. For a prime example, consider the extended sequence outside the gates, when Valdemort returns believing that he has triumphed. He is backed by a sea of followers and met by a crowd of students and faculty, and on the UHD, both groups remain composed of numerous distinct individuals, even in the longest shots. On the Blu-ray, by contrast, the single figures blend together as soon as the camera withdraws to a distance, and in the longest shots, they're an undifferentiated blur. (For a particularly good example, compare the overhead aerial shot of Draco returning to the Death Eaters' fold on both formats.)

But the HDR encoding doesn't just benefit shadow and darkness. In Harry's spiritual, dream-like visit to a place resembling King's Cross Station, both he and Dumbledore are more crisply outlined against the pervasive white light and mist. Here, too, the farther they are from the camera's eye, the more pronounced the benefit.

As with the other three Potter films directed by Yates, the brightest colors are reserved for magic, and the colors of Deathly Hallows: Part 2 appear to be largely unchanged from the Blu-ray. Still, a direct comparison reveals small refinements. Look, for example, at the final wand battle between Harry and Valdemort, with its clashing waves of magical spells. On the UHD, they remain a collision between fields of bright red and bright green, but the HDR treatment allows for subtler and more varied shades of these opposing forces, imparting more texture and a more fluid movement. The UHD colorist has happily resisted the temptation to dial up the hues on such obvious choices as Luna Lovegood, who can be spotted in any Hogwarts crowd by the gentle pastels of her wardrobe.

[System calibrated using a Klein K10-A Colorimeter with a custom profile created with a Colorimetry Research CR250 Spectraradiometer, powered by SpectracCal CalMAN 2016 5.7, using the Samsung Reference 2016 UHD HDR Blu-ray test disc authored by Florian Friedrich from AV Top in Munich, Germany. Calibration performed by Kevin Miller of ISFTV.]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 4K Blu-ray Download, Audio Quality 5.0 of 5
Previous releases of The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 contained a 5.1 soundtrack encoded in DTS-HD MA, but the UHD arrives with a DTS:X soundtrack that, on audio systems not yet equipped to decode that format, should play as DTS-HD MA 7.1. The previous mix was a first-rate soundtrack, as noted by Kenneth Brown's review, who called the track "jaw-dropping, window-rattling, sternum-thumping", with effects that "tear through the landscape", an "aggressive assault" by the rear speakers and an "atmospheric soundfield". As with Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Ken's audio score of 5 leaves me no room for increase, but the DTS:X encoding does indeed surpass its predecessor in numerous respects.

The roller coaster ride through the vaults at Gringotts is just as loud but now more refined, with a clear sense of objects and scenery rushing by on either side, as well as overhead. When our heroes are dropped from the car's tracks to the cave bottom below, you can hear Hermione from overhead casting the spell that will break their fall, and her voice sounds like it's approaching the ground from above. The noisemakers used by the goblins to distract the guardian dragon move fluidly and specifically through the listening space, both front and rear, following the progress of the goblins toward the vault, and the protective curse that causes objects in Bellatrix's vault to multiply generates countless specific noises of popping and clattering all around.

When Professor McGonagall summons the huge stone soldiers to protect Hogwarts, they sound as if they're leaping to the ground from above. The cacophony that accompanies the various battles, especially in the climactic sequence that cuts back and forth between Harry's battle with Valdemort and Ron and Hermione's pursuit of the huge snake, is even better defined and specific effects are precisely localized.

It should be noted that "object-based" sound formats are designed to be adaptive, and DTS:X in particular touts its ability to adjust to a wide variety of speaker configurations. Still, the degree to which the new mix produces audible benefits in the home theater will no doubt vary depending on individual sound systems and speaker arrays. For reference, I listened to The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 on a 7.1.2 speaker configuration, consisting of front left, right and center, and two each of side, rear and "height" speakers, plus subwoofer.