A very helpful thread for forum newcomers such as myself who have found it difficult to know is what in the sea of all these different cuts, versions, preservation projects.
I will add that while the 4K project versions are the most accurate to the originals currently out there, they all have crushed blacks when compared with the blu-rays or Harmy’s Editions. Correct me if I am wrong on this, but that is what I have seen in all the versions so far. So, just consider that u will be losing quite some detail in the dark areas/scenes in the 4K versions. Still, very nice to watch, I love the grain too.
It is not your imagination. That’s a normal by-product of the optical duplication process – each generation of duplication (negative -> … -> interpositive -> … -> projection print) reduces fine detail, adds grain, and boosts contrast. That’s just how it works. By the time you get to a projection print, there are multiple layers of grain, a substantial loss in detail, and you get clipped whites/blacks. But that’s the “theatrical look” – it’s what film actually looks like projected in a theatre. So if that’s what you want, then 4K77 and 4K83 have you covered. But in these days of Blu-rays and digital projection, people often have a preference for that less-contrasty, more detailed look.
Since the Blu-rays (and thus Despecialized) are based on elements further up the duplication chain, they have more fine detail, less grain (even without taking into account DNR), and less severe contrast/less crushed blacks. You will see some clipped reds in Despecialized that aren’t clipped in 4Kxx, however, because of some of the color boosting on the Blu-rays. That would presumably be taken care of using the 4KSE, which seems to be much better in terms of color.
That said, 4K83 loses surprisingly little due to clipping, and looks much better IMO than 4K77. Honestly my biggest complaint about 4K83 right now is the color – it’s a shame that something based on the Blu-rays has far more theatrically accurate colors than an actual film scan – but DrDre is well on his way to fixing that problem, and then after that it will be a close match indeed.