Video Quality
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with a 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. Unlike Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which was shot on film, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was digitally captured, but like its predecessor it, too, was finished at a 2K DI. While the upticks in general detail and fine detail levels are once again noticeable if subtle in this new 4K UHD presentation, many along the same lines as those seen in Rise of the Planet of the Apes 4K, I personally found the CGI generally a bit more convincing in this upgrade than I did with Rise. While again on the subtle side, HDR has added some really interesting new nuance to the kind of drab and dreary tones that often reside in the green and gray areas of the spectrum, and provides at least a bit more pop with regard to some of the evocative blues that are on display. HDR may also have helped delineate some of the blacks in the film, especially when some of the apes with darker fur are in front of similarly shadowy backgrounds. Occasional CGI elements, like explosions or fire like gunshots, can have a slightly cartoony ambience, though these moments are typically quite brief.
Credit: blu-ray.com
Audio Quality
The 4K UHD disc features the same DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track assessed in my Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Blu-ray review, one which I gave top marks to then and which I mirror in this review. That said, as I also mentioned in the Rise of the Planet of the Apes 4K Blu-ray review, some consumers may be disappointed by the fact that Fox didn't upgrade the audio to either Dolby Atmos or DTS:X for this release.
4K Bluray details
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: Upscaled 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
German: DTS 5.1
Italian: DTS 5.1
Subtitles
English SDH, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Mandarin (Simplified), Norwegian, Swedish
Discs
4K Ultra HD
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD-66, 1 BD-50)
Playback
4K Blu-ray: Region free
2K Blu-ray: Region A (B,C untested)