Yellow Earth (1984)
黄土地
Drama, Music, History • 1h 29m
Director: Chen Kaige
Cast: Xue Bai, Wang Xueqi, Tuo Tan, Quiang Liu
Best video format
Overview
A communist soldier is sent to a remote region of China in order to collect folk songs. Staying with a peasant family (a widower with two small children), he discovers a community whose way of life is completely alien to him, but he gradually wins their trust…
Director: Chen Kaige
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
2026 Arrow 4K Blu-ray (part of a trilogy box set)
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray has the original mono
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray > Disk Kino/WCL China import
review: Disk Kino
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
France Coin Germany mire Cinema 4K Blu-ray
(not English friendly)
Arrow Blu-ray is the less manipulated track, but according to cbc: "I find it sounds a bit shrill at times, and the 4K Blu-ray is not bad at all, it does lose some high freq detail but I would probably prefer it for watching"
Director: Yojiro Takita
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
The 4K Blu-ray has slightly neutered dynamics
4K Blu-ray is from a 4K restoration, better detail, compresison is passable, grading is a bit of a mixed bag (might have been a regrade from SDR)
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: Ron Shelton
Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray disappointing, nice new master, but poor encode, grain completely crippled in some scenes, artifacts abound, etc, makes Kino Lorber look like FiM.
Director: Sian Heder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Has full and forced English subtitles
Apple TV 4K Blu-ray with Atmos
(Eagle Pictures is 5.1)
Director: Celine Song
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
UK StudioCanal Blu-ray is the better release. Plaion Italy 4K Blu-ray has macroblocking and chroma noise issues, and the US Lionsgate Blu-ray has elevated gamma levels and macroblocking https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=22310555&postcount=31
Director: Dennis Hopper
BFI Blu-ray renders grain structure better than Severin 4K Blu-ray’s disappointing encode, although Severin does feature an HDR grading with Dolby Vision. Furthermore, Severin’s soundtrack is worse due to the noise reduction applied.
Severin 4K Blu-ray has very good extras that are more relevant to the film
Kino Lorber Blu-ray or Germany Blu-ray but no comparison available
Germany Blu-ray doesn’t have good encoding, with visible blocking and banding etc.
Germany Blu-ray lacks English subtitles. Kino Lorber Blu-ray has English subtitles but is OOP
Kino Lorber Blu-ray retains both the French and German dialogue in their native languages.
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