Lawrence of Arabia which had been scanned in at 8K resolution (to ensure the highest capture of detail from the film’s large-format 65mm negative) and then taken down to 4K for the workflow, was even more revealing. A close-up of Peter O’Toole’s face jumped off the screen compared with the earlier 2K master, thanks to the more detailed texture of his skin and the sharper reproduction of the layer of dust partially coating his face. A longer shot from Lawrence that was also taken in the desert showed a series of fine concentric lines near the top of the frame in a pattern reminiscent of a fingerprint. These, (Grover) Crisp explained, are cracks in the film emulsion caused by its melting in the desert heart and then healing over. The Lines have always been there in the negative and result in an unusual rippling artifact when viewing the movie, but until now there hasn’t been a way to fix it. We’ve never been able to see this kind of detail before – it’s always been kind of submerged, he says, but now with this 8K scan it’s more obvious, Sony commissioned a third party to develop software to minimize or eliminate this distracting artifact for the restored version, which is due out on blu-ray and in theaters later this year

- Home Theater (February 2012 Vol. 19 No. 2) “Hollywood the 4K Way” by Rob Sabin