Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Adventure, Fantasy • 2h 33m
Director: David Yates
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Jim Broadbent, Michael Gambon, Tom Felton, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Wright, Jessie Cave, Evanna Lynch, Freddie Stroma, Robbie Coltrane, Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis, Julie Walters, David Bradley, Warwick Davis, Gemma Jones, Helen McCrory, Natalia Tena, Mark Williams, Dave Legeno, Elarica Johnson, Geraldine Somerville, Oliver Phelps, James Phelps, Alfred Enoch, Robert Knox, Amber Evans, Ruby Evans, Louis Cordice, Scarlett Hefner, Jamie Waylett, Josh Herdman, Matthew Lewis, William Melling, Anna Shaffer, Devon Murray, Georgina Leonidas, Isabella Laughland, Afshan Azad, Shefali Chowdhury, Amelda Brown, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Jack Pryor, Mark Lockyer, Paul Ritter, Frank Dillane, Joerg Stadler, Caroline Wildi, Ralph Ineson, Suzie Toase, Rod Hunt, Katie Leung, Nathan Clarke, Olivia Jewson, Freddie Rose, Jason Isaacs
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 3 months ago
Overview
Dumbledore tries to prepare Harry for the final battle with Voldemort while Death Eaters wreak havoc in both Muggle and Wizard worlds.
Original 5.1 mix: Warner Bros Blu-ray
DTS X remix: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray
Original 5.1 mix: Warner Bros Blu-ray
DTS X remix: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray
Original 5.1 mix: Warner Bros Blu-ray
DTS X remix: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Criterion 4K Blu-ray (included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the WB release without the filtering)
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Comparison between the Criterion and WB.
5.1: WB 4K Blu-ray, a remix but has higher fidelity
Mono: Criterion 4K Blu-ray (restored for the box set)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray (included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the WB release without the filtering)
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
WB 4K early pressing has errors of a shot, later pressings fixed. Comparison between Criterion and WB.
6-Track 70mm mix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray (restored for the box set), 1997 MGM LaserDisc, 1998 MGM DVD
35mm Mono Mix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Matrixed Stereo Remix: MGM Japan LaserDisc (1985) [G158F5509]
5.1 Remix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Victor Fleming
3D: Warner Bros 3D Blu-ray or Apple Vision Pro
Director: Morton DaCosta
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray Nov 24th
Director: Martin Rosen
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Roman Polanski
Director: Michael B. Jordan
Caveat: No IMAX expanded aspect ratio
Director: James Gunn
Commentary is only on Streaming
More Adventure on Blu-ray
Director: John Boorman
Sources: highdefdiscnews.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
(Arrow 4K Blu-ray's mono seems to be out of sync, suggested by comparisons. Issue is TBC officially)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray is FiM encoded, see caps
Arrow LE will have an exclusive 3rd disc which will not be on the standard edition
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.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
> Germany Wicked Vision Blu-ray > US Flicker Alley Blu-ray see DVDBeaver caps
Director: Simon Wincer
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
4K is defective with color space issues and poor encoding, UHD replacement disc is also defective with worse encode. The UHD has visible artifacts from the bad encoding. The HDR is overdone and the Paramount 4K master has grain management.
The new Kino Blu-ray has none of the UHD's problems and is superior to the UHD in every way though it still uses the same Paramount master.
DVD 5.1 or LaserDisc 5.1 AC3, LD PCM 2.0 for the matrix stereo version. The LD and DVD seem to be the theatrical audio mix untouched with plenty of low end. This low end like a number of 90's Paramount titles was mixed out or tamed on subsequent releases.
The Lionsgate BD and Paramount BD share the same lackluster HD master with DNR and image distortion. The Lionsgate is much better encoded but has a 7.1 remix which messed up the original mix design by lessening all the great Foley work in favor of the score. The Paramount BD had a 5.1 lossless version of the original mix but it's a new version where the bass has been tamed so the track has lost its punch. The Kino Lorber UHD and Blu-ray recycle this same lesser 5.1 mastering. The original mix can still be heard on LD and DVD. The 2.0 stereo on the Kino is matrixed but also does not sound as good as the 2.0 matrix audio on DVD or LD.
Kino has a replacement program for the defective UHD to fix the color space issue. The new disc is not marked, has a worse encode AND DOES NOT FIX THE COLOR SPACE! Thus it is a worse defective disc version of the original defective disc.
The Billy Zane interview on the Kino BD has technical issues in the editing and clip quality used.
Director: Luc Besson
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray vs 2017 Sony 4K Blu-ray (20th annivesary) vs 2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray (Luc Besson Box Set). The first two have totally different texture.
StudioCanal: More natural looking. Better defined grain. The white balance is rather yellow/orange. Some say it is closer to the original theatrical release.
2017 Sony: More vibrant and impactful. The white balance is rather neutral. While color noise and grain can look busy because it had been sharpened and had micro-contrast boosted.
2025 Sony: Supposedly an improved version of the 2017 release? Shows around 20mbps-higher overall video bitrate. caps
2007 Sony Blu-ray or LaserDisc AC3? (TBC) https://fanrestore.com/thread-7303.html
The Atmos on the Sony release is reportedly better than StudioCanal's.
Disc info of the box set discs. This film have recieved multiple encode/versions in different regions over the years. The 2017 Germany4K Blu-ray is encoded differently than the 2017 Sony but not better. Also, the same can be said to 2024 France Gaumont 4K Blu-ray while comparing to the 2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray omits all the extras from previous releases, being barebones.
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray poor compression, otherwise Second Sight has best Blu-ray
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