Biography from TMDB
Leading role · Director: Andrew Davis
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray see caps
It's weird. Brightly lit scenes have zero grain. They look plenty detailed and not at all waxy and lifeless, but there's no grain. Darker scenes have a fine layer of it as befits the general rule of thumb with film. Either they shot this on the 50-speed EXR stock of the day - virtually grainless in the right conditions - or it's been expertly 'grain managed'. I say 'expertly' becuz there's no trailing artefacts, no sticky grain that I can see, it's some of the best such treatment I've ever seen. And IF it has been I can only think the edict came down from the director himself.
Arrow 4K Blu-ray omitted the original 5.1 track for a 2.0 and Atmos.
US DVD has the DD5.1
For Stereo track: Warner Home Video JPN LaserDisc [NJWL-12420]
Leading role · Director: Richard Donner
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
WB 4K Blu-ray see comparison https://slow.pics/c/e4V4RORi
WB 4K Blu-ray has original stereo and sounds better than US LaserDisc and about the same as earlier Japan LaserDisc.
WB 4K Blu-ray Atmos has worse fidelity than the stereo as expected.
4K Blu-ray is missing featurettes from the old Blu-ray
Supporting role · Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
UK ICON 4K Blu-ray (caps)
UK 4K Blu-ray has a slightly better encode than US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray and Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray
5.1 mix is flawed on Shout! Factory/ICON, a phasey upmix instead of the proper discrete surround. The UHD 2.0 tracks are downmixes of that track.
2008 Fox Blu-ray sounds great, very close to the original 70mm mix, only with split surround.
2001 DVD has the original mix as 4.1 and matrixed 2.0.
Imprint 4K has a 4.0 track. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has a different 5.1, unclear if it's the same as Fox BD.
Supporting role · Director: Michael Cimino
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Capelight 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber caps. Capelight has better encoding than the Kino.
Recommended upgrade for viewers who aren't DV compatible due to Capelight properly encoding the HDR10 base layer instead of Kino, who require a huge DV layer to "fill in" picture information from a more compressed / compromised
Supporting role · Director: Paul W. S. Anderson
Supporting role · Director: David Lynch
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray slightly better
Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has best encoding. France Potemkine and Criterion UHDs slightly worse.
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Small role · Director: Terry Gilliam
Arrow UK or Criterion US 4K Blu-ray (preference)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow UK & Criterion US 4K Blu-ray have different gradings (preference, Arrow 4K Blu-ray is encoded by Fidelity in Motion)
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