For the most part, when you pick up a 4K Blu-ray, you know you’re getting something that’s high quality. It comes in 4K resolution, it’ll have HDR, oftentimes it has a Dolby Atmos mix, and you might even get a 100 GB triple-layer disc. All of that is great, but there are some additional things you need to be aware of.

I wish it were as simple as getting a 4K disc and getting the best quality, but it’s not. As you might know, Disney releases aren’t always up to snuff, and many 4K Blu-rays have additional problems on top of that. If you value picture quality, you likely know all about digital noise reduction, which is also known by its acronym DNR. This is used to clean up a rough image, but sometimes it goes too far and scrubs a movie of its film grain completely. Sometimes, that’s a look that people prefer, but I’m not one of those people.

DNR is ruining your movies

A common culprit among bad 4K releases

While a lot of the time something looks bad on your TV, it’s your own fault due to having the wrong settings, this is one of those scenarios where there’s nothing you can do. Not even the greatest picture settings in the world can fix the problem of DNR, as it’s baked right into the disc. Sometimes, it’s not a huge deal, but when it’s bad, it’s bad. Terminator 2 is a great example of this, as it looks like all of the grain has been wiped clean away, and a lot of shots come across looking like Vaseline was smudged over the picture. Obviously, that’s not ideal, and thankfully, it’s just an outlier of an example.

The 4K re-release of The Lord of the Rings trilogy is another example where DNR was used, but I don’t think it comes close to reaching the lows of the Terminator 2 release. Then again, there are a lot of people who prefer using the older Blu-ray set for the trilogy, so how far DNR goes does come down to a bit of personal preference. I find that people who like the look of DNR aren’t fans of film grain, as it’s perceived as something being old. That’s not necessarily the case, and when I saw The Odyssey in theaters on 70mm film, I thought the grain and imperfections added to the experience.

I want the home releases to be as close to the director’s intent as possible, and DNR seems to be working in the opposite direction of that. There’s just no way I believe that James Cameron wants Terminator 2 to look like that, but it seems to be a theme in his work. True Lies and Titanic both have DNR, with the former being another example of it going too far, but I think Titanic actually looks solid. Both Aliens and The Abyss look fine to me, and his Avatar films look great in 4K. Nevertheless, when you see a James Cameron release, you know it’s going to be a highly debated release.

Find other options if you don’t like it

It does require some research

On the bright side, you’re usually able to find some type of alternative if you don’t like the overabundance of DNR in your movies. Sadly, it often means that you need to opt for the regular Blu-ray instead of the 4K, but I’m glad the option is there. As I said, many people do prefer the older Blu-ray editions of The Lord of the Rings. That’s a fine option, and it’s not like Blu-ray looks bad at all. The main thing you’ll be missing is HDR, but that’s an easy sacrifice to make if you’re not a fan of DNR.

Unfortunately, DNR is enough of an issue on 4K releases that it’s often worth doing some research when you see an old favorite coming to 4K. In many cases, it’s good news to see something that was stuck on DVD or Blu-ray come to 4K, but not when it includes DNR. Even when there’s no DNR, you could be dealing with some other problems.

Blu-ray.com’s review of Eyes Wide Shut, a Kubrick favorite that finally entered the Criterion collection after years, notes that the colors are all different in the 4K re-release. Whether that matters to you is another thing entirely, but it does show how discs can vary. In some cases, the changed colors can be a good thing. In the Twister 4K, the sky changes color to green, which is different from how the previous Blu-ray looked. This color is more akin to how the sky would look when a tornado actually arrives, and director Jan De Pont says this is the way the movie was always meant to look.