Spirited Away (2001)
千と千尋の神隠し
Animation, Family, Fantasy • 2h 4m
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takashi Naito, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tatsuya Gashûin, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Yumi Tamai, Yo Oizumi, Koba Hayashi, Tsunehiko Kamijô, Takehiko Ono, Bunta Sugawara, Shigeru Wakita, Shirou Saitou, Michiko Yamamoto, Keiko Tsukamoto, Akio Nakamura, Shinji Tokumaru, Kaori Yamagata, Tsuzuki Kayako, Masahiro Asano, Kazutaka Hayashida, Ikuko Yamamoto, Mina Meguro, Tetsurô Ishibashi, Katsutomo Shîbara, Shinobu Katabuchi, Noriko Kitou, Naoto Kaji, Yoshitaka Sukegawa, Aki Tachikawa, Noriko Yamaya, Katsuhisa Matsuo, Masayuki Kizu, Yôko Ôno, Sachie Azuma, Ken Yasuda, Shigeyuki Totsugi, Mayumi Saco, Sonoko Soeda, Akiko Tomihira, Minako Masuda, Orika Ono, Rina Yamada, Miwa Takachi, Hiromi Takeuchi, Makiko Oku
Best audio release
About the film
A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.
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- Alternative Titles
- The Spiriting Away of Sen and Chihiro
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
WB 4K
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.
Director: Buster Keaton
Kino Lorber new Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. Blu-ray?
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
MoC 4K Blu-ray late 2027
Lobster Films (Kino Lorber?) > Cohen/Eureka https://slow.pics/c/3KWXoMyR The new Kino Lorber's Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. might be using the same restoration as Lobster Films
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
(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.
Director: Michael Cimino
2020 Shout! Factory 4K
2020 Shout! Factory 4K slightly better than StudioCanal in HDR10. Similar in DV
35mm mix: 1991 Universal LaserDisc
70mm mix: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray
35mm mix: 1991 Universal LaserDisc marginally better than StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is downmix.
70mm mix: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is remix.
Director: Orson Welles
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)
WB Europe 4K Blu-ray
WB Europe 4K Blu-ray slightly better encoding than Criterion (caveat: missing Criterion extras)
Theatrical Cut: Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray
Redux Cut: Lionsgate vs Eagle Pictures?
Final Cut: Lionsgate or Eagle Pictures, both are not great (visible chroma noise)
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Theatrical: Germany 4K Blu-ray/US Blu-ray DD 5.1 (1979 mix)
In the Lionsgate US/UK 6-disc set, there are 4 discs of the main feature. For whatever reason, the 4K discs lack the *original track. The Germany 4K Blu-ray release is different on this matter.
UBD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0
UBD: Redux/Theatrical: Atmos
BD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0
BD: Redux/Theatrical: Dtru5.1 (Redux mix?), DD5.1 (?), DD5.1 (Theatrical only), DD2.0 (downmix??)
As a result the Theatrical Cut has 4 tracks, The Redux has 3. Differences are unclear.
BD: Hearts of Darkness
BD: Special Features
Director: George Lucas
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
OG: "4K77" or "D+77" on high seas.
Special Edition: "4K97_IV" or "D+97_IV" on high seas.
2027 Original Trilogy restoration/50th anniversary rerelease clips leaked plus release confirmed
OG: LaserDisc audio is the best option for the Dolby Stereo mixes (and usually included in fan restorations). There are 16mm/TV rips of the mono mixes.
Special Edition: Cinema DTS or 1997 LaserDisc for the Special Edition.
Director: David Lean
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
The 5.1 on Sony 4K Blu-ray is from the 1989 70mm mix. The original is 4-track. not on the disc.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
2026 Japan Studio Ghibli (remastered) Blu-ray
France 4K Blu-ray announced
Remastered Blu-ray only included as a pack-in with the 4K Blu-ray. Includes English subtitles and a dub, which the 4K Blu-ray does not.
Japan Studio Ghibli 4K Blu-ray
UK StudioCanal Blu-ray for the English dub
4K Blu-ray includes the original 5.1 mix in its unaltered form, all other releases after the LaserDisc, as well as the remastered Blu-ray, had its dynamic range lowered.
For the English dub, the UK StudioCanal Blu-ray is the least limited mix.
2014 Japan "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Blu-ray
Japan Studio Ghibli 4K Blu-ray announced for a November 25, 2026 release
Japanese audio: 2014 Japan "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Blu-ray/US GKIDS Blu-ray
English dub (Disney): 1998 US Disney VHS has better sounding vocals despite altered music and sound effects, the US Disney LaserDisc has limited audio, and 2003 DVD is a fake 5.1 upmix
Releases from 2010 onward have the original music and sound effects, but distorted vocals
English dub (Streamline): 1996 Japan remastered LaserDisc, available in Ghibli Ga Ippai Collection boxset
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray or US Disney Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · lddb.com (opens in a new tab)
2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray
2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray
Comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/6JWnlfit
All sources are within margin of error. Comparisons: Japanese, English
Alternate Streamline English dub is available only on 1994 Fox LD.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Studio Ghibli The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki Blu-ray
The Ghibli ga Ippai SPECIAL Short Short 1996-2016 Blu-ray has a different video transfer that has a tealer tint and slightly tighter framing.
2017 US GKIDS Blu-ray has better detail and grain, 2014 Japan Studio Ghibli Blu-ray from the Hayao Miyazaki box set for MGVC with added bit-depth for supported players
2011/2014 Japan Studio Ghibli Blu-ray for original 6.1 audio mix, Cinema DTS for the English dub
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
2014 Japan Hayao Miyazaki boxset Studio Ghibli Blu-ray
Japanese audio: 2014 Japan Hayao Miyazaki boxset Studio Ghibli Blu-ray has 6.1 discrete
English audio: Cinema DTS-ES, 2010 US Disney Blu-ray as an alternative
Directors: David Hand & Ben Sharpsteen & William Cottrell & Larry Morey & Perce Pearce & Wilfred Jackson
Mono track is on the included Blu-ray; 4K Blu-ray missing original mono. LaserDisc probably better
Director: Mike Judge
Video format: 4K Streaming
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
BD LPCM 5.1
The DTS-HD on the UHD has been dynamically compressed, has had its center channel boosted, and surrounds lowered (typical modern nearfield mix for soundbars). Very different from the BD and DVD tracks. The BD LPCM is basically just a lossless version of the DTS and AC3 from the original DVD (the AC3 actually being the superior mix on that particular release).
Video format: 4K Streaming
Director: Michael Bay
Video format: HD Streaming
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
4K possibly teased?
Directors: Bill Roberts & Paul Satterfield & Wilfred Jackson & Ben Sharpsteen & James Algar & T. Hee & Hamilton Luske & Samuel Armstrong & Jim Handley & Norman Ferguson & David Hand & Ford Beebe Jr.
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
1991 CAV LaserDisc includes an approximation of the original Fantasound mix in Dolby Surround using the surviving magnetic mixdown, using Stokowski's original mixing notes as a reference. Original aggressive pans and dynamic range are left in tact.
The 2000 DVD uses this same mix in discrete 5.0, but with some unnecessary dynamic range compression + a redub of all Deems Taylor audio with Corey Burton.
The 7.1 mix on the 2010 Blu-ray sounds poor, having been hit with excessive noise reduction, dynamic range compression, original aggressive pans no longer in tact, and the channel usage no longer resembles Stokowski's original intended sound design.
Director: Chris Columbus
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Disney 4K Blu-ray has encoding issues with bitrates dipping into 40mbps, and Kaleidescape has better encoding than Disney see caps
Old Fox Blu-ray master is stretched and sharpened
Video format: 4K Streaming
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Video format: 4K Streaming
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