The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Jaws 3 has been marred by using AI to do some of the upscaling work: more here.
There comes a moment where there’s simply no point. If you’re not going to do the basics with something, then it’s better not to bother at all.
I’m one of the niche audience for Jaws 3-D, and I was one of those looking forward to the film’s debut on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format. Universal, to its credit, has prepared new 4K transfers of both Jaws 3-D and Jaws: The Revenge for the physical media format, putting time in to get new versions of the films out there. Brilliant.
Or, in this case, not brilliant.
The first copies of Jaws 3-D – or Jaws 3, given that 3D isn’t included – have been landing on people’s doormats, and there’s some horror about what they’re finding. Horror that’s nothing to do with the shark.
It appears, from screenshots doing the rounds of 4K enthusiasts, that Universal has used AI technology to do some of the upscaling work on Jaws 3. We saw this on high profile James Cameron-directed titles, so perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise. But still, there’s one hell of a quality control issue here, given the state of what AI has done to the film.
Here’s a still from Jaws 3’s new 4K disc that’s doing the rounds…
It’s not alone either. Take a look at this Reddit discussion here, with further screenshots from the release.
It begs the question: why? Appreciating these are still images in the midst of a film with thousands of frames, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray is still supposed to be a premium format. A half-baked AI upgrade job feels really quite unfair.
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