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Shōichi Hirose

Shōichi Hirose

7 films on Best Blurays5 in 4K2 in HD

Shōichi Hirose photo

Shōichi Hirose was a Japanese actor. Sometimes credited as Solomon Hirose, he is probably best known for playing Godzilla's archenemy King Ghidorah and for being the actor inside the King Kong suit in King Kong vs. Godzilla, along with several tough guy roles.

Biography from TMDB

Small role · Director: Nobuhiko Obayashi

Best English-Friendly:

Eureka! Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Eureka Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Eureka Blu-ray > Criterion Blu-ray (slightly)

Best Audio:

2001 Toho DVD/2010 Eureka DVD

Audio Notes:

2001 Toho DVD/2010 Eureka DVD see Blah-ray but the difference is not too big

Small role · Director: Akira Kurosawa

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Intact grain compared to Toho/BFI UHDs' DNR'd master

Audio Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray is good, derived from the 1995 Criterion LaserDisc (which would be minimally better due to its lack of filtering) see blah-ray

Small role · Director: Akira Kurosawa

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2015 Star Media Blu-ray/2019 BFI Player WEB-DL

Small role · Director: Akira Kurosawa

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

BFI 4K Blu-ray has excellent master and grade, no DNR and tasteful HDR

Best Audio:

Restored original mono mix: Toho Japan 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored original mono: 2014 BFI Blu-ray

BFI 4K Blu-ray has OG Perspecta (in 5.1 container) and a stereo downmix of it; no original mono.

Additional Info:

The unrestored track on BFI's earlier release appears to be an almost entirely unmanipulated transfer of the original mix. It suffers from a distracting low-frequency hum. The 4K restoration comes with a restored track, which appears to be the same transfer, but which appears to be cleaned up with a moderate amount of noise reduction and some EQ, nicely opening up the high-end, and which is likely to be preferable to most listeners. All earlier releases sound poor.

Perspecta isn't a discrete surround format, instead only relying on manipulating volume and panning of the mono track across L/C/R channels, based on embedded control tones. As such, even the Perspecta track is technically just the mono mix, though the omission of the proper mono on BFI's 4K is still unfortunate.

Small role · Director: Akira Kurosawa

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Audio:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Audio Notes:

(second audio track, not included in the menu)

Best Video:

Japan 4K Blu-ray

Small role · Director: Akira Kurosawa

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray or BFI 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

No clear winner, Criterion SDR 4K Blu-ray has better defined grain and is cleaned-up more thoroughly. But looks grayer and flatter in daytime scenes. BFI 4K Blu-ray's HDR/DV is better in contrast but the grading can be debatable.

Best Audio:

BFI Streaming

Additional Info:

The subtitles of Criterion  and BFI are translated differently. See BR forum.

Small role · Director: Akira Kurosawa

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

BFI UK Blu-ray

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