
Biography from TMDB
4 in 4K
UHD Blu-ray or 4K streaming
Leading role · Director: Rob Reiner
US Sony 2023 Steelbook 4K Blu-ray
US Sony 2023 Steelbook Edition 4K Blu-ray
US Sony 2023 Steelbook Edition 4K Blu-ray > Sony 2019 Standard Edition 4K Blu-ray
US Sony 2023 Steelbook 4K Blu-ray added Dolby Vision and more extras
Original Mono mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray Sony Blu-ray
The DVD has an isolated score track
In addition to the new Atmos track, both 4K Blu-ray releases have ported over the previous lossless 5.1 remix from the older 1080p Blu-ray in DTS-HD MA 5.1 and also include the original theatrical mono mix in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono
Only the US Steelbook has Dolby Vision
Leading role · Director: Joe Dante
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Supporting role · Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab) · lddb.com (opens in a new tab)
Closest to original: 1993 MCA Laserdisc or other laserdiscs probably
DVD is about the same also. Blu-rays only have upmixes (and the 2.0 track from Kino Lorber is a downmix)
Supporting role · Director: Steven Spielberg
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Paramount 4K Blu-ray heavily revisionist. Purist option: 35mm scan, Blu-ray, DVD or LaserDisc
The Paramount 4K master is HEAVILY revisionist in that all of the effects and opticals were redone and tweaked with errors and issues. There has been grain management (moments of stagnating grain and haloing) and the encoding isn't great hence the typical Paramount noise in the image. (especially skies) The HDR is a bit bright in the highlights. The Blu-ray is showing its age but does not have any of these digital alterations. It is from the scan done by Laser Pacific and is the highest quality unaltered master we have. The DVD was done by Lowry Digital and had much scrubbing and processing of grain in addition to edge enhancement. The letterbox LaserDisc was the first widescreen release and is very good for its time. There was also a rare SVHS release using the letterbox LaserDisc master.
The 4K Blu-ray audio is seemingly an Atmos remix of the 5.1 found on the Blu-ray which itself is very similar to the DVD 5.1. All are presumably based on the 70mm Dolby six track mix. The Atmos is more processed and moves the sound around more so it is inferior to the older 5.1 iterations. On release, Last Crusade had Dolby 70mm with stereo surrounds, Dolby Stereo SR for 35mm and was mixed in a THX sound theater to ensure the ultimate in technical quality in 1989. The DVD was supposedly made from the 70mm mix and the Blu-ray 5.1 seems to bring that into lossless. This is unconfirmed but each seems to be a healthy and accurate version of the original audio. However, the LaserDisc despite only having matrix PCM stereo is punchier and livelier as a listening experience. Despite not being discrete it arguably sounds better than the 5.1 versions. Some who remember seeing each of the original release versions claim to remember the 35mm Dolby DR as sounding better than the 70mm Dolby. This is a case where both sound great and it's up to fans to decide which they prefer. Both are essential for any Indy collection and the LaserDisc is very cheap. The VHS hifi seems to be the same 2.0 matrix with format differences so it can also be compared against the DVD and Blu-ray 5.1 versions.
DFIC extensive review: https://youtu.be/evsrJOTIjdA?si=wtdWGxZBfhPYTIeW
2 in HD
Blu-ray or HD streaming
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