Downton Abbey (2019)
Drama, Romance, History • 2h 2m
Director: Michael Engler
Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Joanne Froggatt, Elizabeth McGovern, Kevin Doyle, Michael Fox, Matthew Goode, Harry Hadden-Paton, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, Penelope Wilton, Stephen Campbell Moore, Geraldine James, Alex Crisp, Douglas Reith, Charlie Watson, David Haig, Susan Lynch, Max Brown, Fifi Hart, Oliver Barker, Zac Barker, Mark Addy, Eva Samms, Karina Samms, Kate Phillips, Harry Livingstone, Alice McCarthy, James Cartwright, Andrew Havill, Philippe Spall, Richenda Carey, Max Hutchinson, Tom Ashley, Simon Jones, Graeme Smiles, Tuppence Middleton, Darren Strange, John Biggins, Perry Fitzpatrick, Daniel Millar, David Lonsdale, Jonathan Cheetham, Sarah Trevelyan, Tony Dawson
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 4 months ago
Overview
The beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England will unleash scandal, romance and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance.
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Both come from a 4K scan of a 35mm film out which was made from the original 2K DI but the Lionsgate release has visible dust and damage marks while the Universal release is cleaned up more thoroughly. Both releases suffer from DNR which seems to have been baked into the DI. The colour grade is basically the same for both releases but the Lionsgate has Dolby Vision whereas the Universal is HDR10 only. The compression on the Lionsgate UHD base layer is apparently fine so the FEL doesn't make much of a difference.
The Lionsgate UHD has Dolby Atmos whereas the Universal UHD has DTS:X. Kick-ass was originally released with a 5.1 track which may be on the Universal Blu-ray.
The Lionsgate UHD is on a BD-100, the Universal UHD is on a BD-66.
The Universal UHD has no extras.
Director: Joel Coen
Director's Cut: Disappointing UK StudioCanal/US Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: LaserDisc or 2001 UK Universal DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21782879#post21782879 - comparison. StudioCanal is a massive improvement to the Criterion but still flawed in some areas (chroma noise)
Director: Leo McCarey
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion Box Set coming on October 20th with FiM encode
DTS:X mix most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD has additional features not found on the 4K Blu-ray
Director: John Carpenter
Sources: blog.sporv.com (opens in a new tab)
1997? Signature Collection LD
Good: 2017 Arrow and 2016 Shout! Factory Blu-ray have the original audio options.
the only track on Universal 4K, which is in DTS:X, has a mixing error of around 6dB too low on side channels, otherwise very similar to other 5.1 mixes.
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: Samuel Fuller
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Criterion Blu-Ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Steve De Jarnatt
2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray
UK Transmission 4K Blu-ray in January 2027
Either the 2015 Kino Lorber Blu-ray or the Arrow Blu-ray
The 2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray is botched.
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Liliana Cavani
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Iain Softley
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Both 88 Films and Germany Capelight are superior to the Shout! Factory in HDR10 but their FEL layer may even things out. Objectively, the Capelight looks best as they avoided the chroma blocking that’s visible in 88’s disc but they in turn included an Atmos mix. I have the Shout! Factory, love how it looks and the 4K transfer is spectacular. https://slow.pics/c/vPmFQSAH
Shout! Factory has the exclusive The Beauty of the Baud and the You Can't Stop Us All featurettes.
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Bruce Robinson
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray has stronger encode than Criterion
Director: Olivier Assayas
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Encoding is clunky on both Arrow and Criterion BDs but Arrow at least included the original stereo mix in addition to the 5.1 remix, while Criterion only included the 5.1 remix.
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