Steve Carruthers

Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray is a remaster from the original VistaVision camera negaitve, FiM encode

The original mono sounds good. The Atmos remix is a mixed bag, music performances are sourced from magnetic stereo recordings and sound great, but mono dialogue/effectshas undergone destructive noise reduction and unnecessary EQ, so the jumps in fidelity are incredibly jarring.

Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber > Capelight Germany

(transfer of the 1989 MGM LaserDisc, without problems plaguing Kino Lorber's release)

Arrow UHD is an update of the original 4K scan done for their BD. It is also visually far superior to the Kino version and adds Dolby Vision HDR. The Arrow UHD uses a new LD mono capture and has none of the issues or processing found in the Kino UHD which also used an LD mono capture and somehow mucked it up. Short of a brand new scan, the Arrow UHD is as good as it possibly can be.

An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.

Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Capelight/Kino Lorber which has heavy noise reduction and opening snare hit is missing, Capelight is slightly better encoded than Kino Lorber

But still a bit overly noise-managed.

1984 CBS/Fox Hi-Fi VHS maybe better?