Video Quality
Like the Blu-ray before it, Man of Steel's HEVC /H.265/2160p UHD was derived from a 2K digital intermediate. The Blu-ray looked great, and so does the UHD. The difference between them is marginal. Warner has continued its customary restraint in the application of HDR encoding, leaving the film's palette largely unchanged. HDR's improved brightness and contrast produce minor enhancements, but they're almost impossible to spot unless you switch back and forth between the two images (a tricky feat, given the HDMI handshake issues that continue to plague Samsung's UHD player). To take one example: In the shot where the Coast Guard vessel bearing Clark Kent/Superman first sights an oil drilling platform burning in the distance, the metallic structure and the flames engulfing it stand out with greater definition. This may be one of the few instances I've yet seen on UHD where HDR's intensification of flame imagery works to the film's advantage (although, in general, Man of Steel's fire effects do not seem to suffer from the animated artificiality observed in the 4K versions of Batman v Superman and Mad Max: Fury Road). Another example of the gains in depth and texture can be seen in the Kansas cornfields surrounding the Kents' farm, where the stalks of corn are slightly greener and more distinct. Least improved (or not at all) are the CG-laden sequences on Krypton and the massive destruction visited on Metropolis in the fight against General Zod.
Credit: blu-ray.com
Audio Quality
Man of Steel's 7.1 soundtrack received a 5.0 rating in its DTS-HD MA presentation, which gives me no room to increase that score for the Dolby Atmos home-theater remix offered on UHD, but I would if I could. As my colleagues previously noted, the film's audio engineers achieved a remarkable balance between bombastic action sequences (notably, the Krypton battle and Zod's attack on Earth) and quieter dramatic moments set in aurally rich environments. The Atmos remix has refined the experience even further, with enhanced localization, immersion and differentiation among multiple competing sound elements. Even in the deafening orgy of destruction that climaxes the film, specific sounds are now more distinctly rendered.
Among the quieter moments that now register more forcefully is the conversation between Clark and Martha Kent after Clark returns from his Arctic adventure; as mother and son converse, they are surrounded by the murmur of the countryside's bird and insect life and the rustling of crops in the wind—and in the Atmos remix, they're really surrounded, to the point where you feel that you can almost reach out and touch the environment. Meanwhile, their dialogue remains clear and intelligible, rising above the farmland's low roar with just enough heft to achieve a perfect balance. (I suspect one could listen to this mix a dozen times and still keep finding new elements.)
Note, that, if your system lacks Atmos capability, you will get a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 "core", which replicates the Blu-ray's soundtrack.
4K Bluray details
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (53.54 Mbps)
Resolution: Upscaled 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
German: Dolby Digital 5.1
Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Czech: Dolby Digital 5.1
Polish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Russian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Turkish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Note: English DD 5.1=descriptive audio, Spanish Latin & Castilian, Japanese is hidden
Subtitles
English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian SDH, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Turkish
Note: Spanish=Latin & Castillian; Japanese is hidden
Discs
4K Ultra HD
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD-100, 1 BD-50)
Digital
Digital copy expired
Digital copy included
Packaging
Slipcover in original pressing
Playback
4K Blu-ray: Region free
2K Blu-ray: Region free