Terms of Endearment (1983)
Drama, Comedy • 2h 12m
Director: James L. Brooks
Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Jeff Daniels, John Lithgow, Lisa Hart Carroll, Betty King, Huckleberry Fox, Troy Bishop, Shane Serwin, Megan Morris, Tara Yeakey, Norman Bennett, Jennifer Josey, Kate Charleson, Tom Wees, Paul Menzel, F. William Parker, Amanda Watkins, Buddy Gilbert, David Wohl, Shelley K. Nielsen, Bette Croissant, Charles Beall, Lelise Folse, Sharisse Baker-Bernard, Judy Dickerson, Devon O'Brien, Dana Vance, Alexandra O'Karma, Nancy Mette, Holly Holmberg Brooks, Lear Levin, Albert Brooks, Lanier Whilden, Helen Stauffer, Barbara Balik, Michelle Watkins, John C. Conger, Sandra Newkirk, Elaine McGown, Mary Kay Place
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago
UHD tiers
Overview
Aurora, a finicky woman, is in search of true love while her daughter faces marital issues. Together, they help each other deal with problems and find reasons to live a joyful life.
Director: Sian Heder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Apple TV 4K Blu-ray with Atmos
(Eagle Pictures is 5.1)
Director: Miloš Forman
Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray
Extended: Warner Bros Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray: Huge improvement in colors and detail. The restoration was done by the Academy instead of WB MPI which explains that there’s no grain management or issues with colors. They also accessed the original credit optical and scanned that one instead of recreating them digitally
Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray, according to Saentz, the 5.0 is a recreation of the original and subsequently 70mm mix from original elements.
Director: John Schlesinger
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Included Imprint Blu-Ray also has markedly better image compression than the Criterion Blu-Ray, though do note the Imprint has some adjusted color grading within roughly the first five minutes of the film
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=16775595&postcount=450
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24237074&postcount=73
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for Dec 2026 release
US Lionsgate Blu-ray looks very different from either Italy Eagle Pictures or Germany Kinowelt Blu-ray: https://caps-a-holic.com/c_list.php?c=502 but other than color grading looks better
Director: Robert Wise
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Disney 4K Blu-ray, see caps https://slow.pics/c/hE3HUCdj
Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.
All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Directors: Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · in70mm.com (opens in a new tab)
Capelight's 5.1 is sourced from the original 6-track. The fidelity is comparable to the 4.0 from the 4-track available on previous BDs.
An alternate 5.1 mix was created for the 1999 MGM DVD / LaserDisc, It boasts better high end detail throughout, but the trade off is reduced bass.
See additional info for more detail.
West Side Story was produced as a 70mm Todd-AO presentation, with an accompanying 6-track audio mix in the following channel configuration: see diagram. 35mm presentations used a 4-track or a mono mixdown instead.
The original 6-track elements were thought to have been lost until they were recovered and restored in 2010. In 1981, for the film's 20th anniversary, a new 6-track mix was created by upmixing the available 4-track elements.
Capelight's release is sourced from original 6-track elements uncovered in 2010, but unfortunately it's not as detailed as it should be, owing to unnecessary noise reduction. It's by no means bad, but it could be better. As the Lc/Rc channels are mixed into into L/C/R, it's also essentially no different to a 4-track fold-down. This isn't exactly an issue as left/right center channels mix down to L/C/R very well, but a better way of handling this would be to use Atmos objects to position those channels where they should be, as Disney did on The Sound of Music.
The 4-track mix was included in a discrete form on MGM's previous BD, it trades blows with Capelight's 6-track-derived 5.1.
Interestingly, the 1999 MGM LaserDisc/DVD release includes a different 5.1 mix, which sounds a bit more detailed than the two other tracks. It's sound signature is on the brighter side, with a slight emphasis on the treble instead of bass like other releases. Although that accounts for some of the perceived detail, even after matching EQ there are spots where Capelight loses out. It's a slight upmix, with split surrounds and LFE. Whether it was derived from 4-track or 6-track elements is not clear, though it matters little, as the end result would have been very similar in either case. There are no booklet notes stating the source used, but it sounds very similar to the matrixed 1992 LD, which was attributed to the 6-track. Still, given that the original elements were thought to have been lost, I would assume that this refers to the 1981 mix.
Previous LaserDisc releases are similar to the discrete 1999 track. All LD releases are missing the intermission music and a brief whistling sequence.
The 7.1 upmix on MGM's Blu-ray offers little of value.
Director: John G. Avildsen
Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)
Original Mono: Ultimate Knockout Collection/Knockout Collection replacement disc
> Knockout collection original.
The Mono mix on the initial release of the Knockout Collection is a fold-down of the 5.1, the replacement disc and the ultimate knockout version fixed the error.
The Steelbook and UK standard edition is the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection.
Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray (LSP encode) or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?
Director: James L. Brooks
Director: James L. Brooks
Sony Columbia Classics Vol 3 4K Blu-ray
Director: Tony Scott
The 70mm 6-track mix has a higher bitrate on the Paramount 1998 DVD, but is more limited than on the THX LaserDisc The Paramount 1998 DVD also has open matte versions in fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 instead of the theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1, but the 2.00:1 widescreen presentation is non-anamorphic. The THX LaserDisc is available in both fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 variants.
Director: Terrence Malick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Lovely underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion but encode is sadly low-pass filtered by Pixelogic, and even then, the encode is still less than ideal. Still easily obliterates any prior disc release, but certainly wouldn't hurt to have a UK or German label take a crack at this same master.
Director: Peter Faiman
Australia Cut: Australia Fox DVD
International Cut: Paramount Blu-ray
Encore Cut: Germany Winkler Film 4K Blu-ray, censored but good encoding
Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)
US Paramount 4K Blu-ray, is the International US Cut and not the Encore Cut
Australia Cut: Laserdisc
The film exists in three versions:
- the original Australian cut (~104 minutes at 24fps/~100 minutes at 25fps);
- the American/international version (~98 minutes at 24fps/~94 minutes at 25fps) trimming some exposition in the Outback first half of the film and some shorter extensions of a few seconds in the New York section, altering some of the dialogue – including censoring a "fuck" to "screw" – but featuring one additional dialogue extension not in the Australian version (a comparison of the two cuts can be found at Movie Censorship);
- the Australian Encore Cut (~95 minutes at 24fps/~91 minutes at 25fps) which uses the international version source so it already has those alterations but also removes approximately three minutes consisting of parts of two scenes featuring Mick grabbing the crotch of a cross-dressing prostitute and a later sequence when he does the same thing at a party to a woman with a deep voice (a comparison of the international version and the Encore Cut can be found at Movie Censorship).
3D version: Paramount 3D Blu-ray
Paramount 4K Blu-ray on October 26 2026
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Paramount 4K Blu-ray. See caps
HDR/grading: nice, but some blown out
Encoding: inconsistent, smeared motion
DNR: inconsistent, frozen
Old Paramount Blu-ray is arguably a solid alternative choice
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.
The 5.1 remix on the 4K Blu-ray is an appalling remix done by going wild with artificially generated stems from Park Road Post who were given the surviving mono to separate. The experience is jarring and fidelity to original mix in terms of level balance, directionality and impact is nonexistent. Not only does this sound painfully weird, but the Paramount mixers then did whatever they wanted in terms of LFE, sound pans and effect changes.
The original mono mix was not restored and still needs it badly. The 4K master is filled with frozen grain examples coming and going plus some HDR issues in addition to the usual Paramount problems. It is simultaneously better and worse than the Blu-ray master.
Director: Robert Altman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for Dec 2026 release
Director: Richard Linklater
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Original AR: Paramount 4K Blu-ray
IMAX AR: Paramount 3D Blu-ray
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