Avatar (2009)
Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction • 2h 41m
Overview
In the 22nd century, a paraplegic Marine is dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission, but becomes torn between following orders and protecting an alien civilization.
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Wes Studi, Laz Alonso, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Sean Anthony Moran, Jason Whyte, Scott Lawrence, Kelly Kilgour, James Patrick Pitt, Sean Patrick Murphy, Peter Dillon, Kevin Dorman, Kelson Henderson, David Van Horn, Jacob Tomuri, Michael Blain-Rozgay, Jon Curry, Julene Renee, Luke Hawker, Woody Schultz, Peter Mensah, Sonia Yee, Jahnel Curfman, Ilram Choi, Kyla Warren, Lisa Roumain, Debra Wilson, Taylor Kibby, Jodie Landau, Chris Mala, Julie Lamm, Cullen B. Madden, Joseph Brady Madden, Frankie Torres, Austin Wilson, Sara Wilson, Tamica Washington-Miller, Lucy Briant, Nathan Meister, Gerry Blair, Matthew Chamberlain, Paul Yates, Wray Wilson, James Gaylyn, Melvin Leno Clark III, Carvon Futrell, Brandon Jelkes, Micah Moch, Haniyyah Tahirah, Christopher Nolen, Christa Oliver, April Marie Thomas, Bravita A. Threatt, Alicia Vela-Bailey, Larry Rew, Dina Morrone, Rodney Cook
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in October
Australia Imprint Blu-ray?
Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in October
Australia Imprint Blu-ray?
Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray See caps
DE Nameless 4K Blu-ray is an extremely poor AI upscale. See caps
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray See caps
DE Nameless 4K Blu-ray is an extremely poor AI upscale. See caps
Director: Joe Alves
2D version: 2016 Universal Blu-ray
3D version: Universal 3D Blu-ray (caveat: 3D Blu-ray has misaligned eyes)
Nick_M's 3D version is better than Universal 3D Blu-ray
2D version: 2016 Universal Blu-ray
3D version: Universal 3D Blu-ray (caveat: 3D Blu-ray has misaligned eyes)
Nick_M's 3D version is better than Universal 3D Blu-ray
Director: Joe Alves
2D version: 2016 Universal Blu-ray
3D version: Universal 3D Blu-ray (caveat: 3D Blu-ray has misaligned eyes)
Nick_M's 3D version is better than Universal 3D Blu-ray
2D version: 2016 Universal Blu-ray
3D version: Universal 3D Blu-ray (caveat: 3D Blu-ray has misaligned eyes)
Nick_M's 3D version is better than Universal 3D Blu-ray
Director: James Cameron
Paramount/Fox Blu-ray
3D Blu-ray for the IMAX/Open Matte version
35mm scan for original theatrical cut
Paramount/Fox Blu-ray
3D Blu-ray for the IMAX/Open Matte version
35mm scan for original theatrical cut
4K Blu-ray is AI upscaled
The 4K Blu-ray bonus disc, the 2012 Blu-ray bonus disc, and the 2005 3 disc DVD have exclusive extras.
Director: James Cameron
Paramount/Fox Blu-ray
3D Blu-ray for the IMAX/Open Matte version
35mm scan for original theatrical cut
Paramount/Fox Blu-ray
3D Blu-ray for the IMAX/Open Matte version
35mm scan for original theatrical cut
4K Blu-ray is AI upscaled
The 4K Blu-ray bonus disc, the 2012 Blu-ray bonus disc, and the 2005 3 disc DVD have exclusive extras.
Director: Jack Sholder
Director: Jack Sholder
Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Criterion Blu-ray> Artificial Eye Blu-ray, Korea Nova Media 4K Blu-ray release is AI upscaled
Criterion Blu-ray> Artificial Eye Blu-ray, Korea Nova Media 4K Blu-ray release is AI upscaled
Director: Alan Shapiro
US Shout! Factory Blu-ray
Avoid the Germany Hanselab 4K Blu-ray, as it's riddled with oversaturated colors, poor encoding, AI upscaling, and DNR. The included Blu-ray is also DNRed.
Director: Alan Shapiro
US Shout! Factory Blu-ray
Avoid the Germany Hanselab 4K Blu-ray, as it's riddled with oversaturated colors, poor encoding, AI upscaling, and DNR. The included Blu-ray is also DNRed.
The new Universal 4K is AI upscaled https://slow.pics/c/5jD2BjKT and sharpened, see discussion on BR https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=377660&page=9
The new Universal 4K is AI upscaled https://slow.pics/c/5jD2BjKT and sharpened, see discussion on BR https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=377660&page=9
Director: Na Hong-jin
2016 Well Go Blu-ray
The 2024 Well Go 4K, as well as Apple TV Streaming is a lazy upscale https://www.reddit.com/user/Menspookie/comments/1no86mt/follow_up_the_wailing_4k_digital_ai_upscaling_on/
2016 Well Go Blu-ray.
Director: Na Hong-jin
2016 Well Go Blu-ray
The 2024 Well Go 4K, as well as Apple TV Streaming is a lazy upscale https://www.reddit.com/user/Menspookie/comments/1no86mt/follow_up_the_wailing_4k_digital_ai_upscaling_on/
2016 Well Go Blu-ray.
2017 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray and subsequent 4K Blu-rays are notorius for being heavily denoised and smoothened. Alternatively, 35mm scans for the theatrical cut is also available.
For the Ultimate Edition with the T-1000 searching John's room and the happy future ending, the 2009 Skynet Blu-ray, which is the older pre-2017 transfer, but has DNR.
2017 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray and subsequent 4K Blu-rays are notorius for being heavily denoised and smoothened. Alternatively, 35mm scans for the theatrical cut is also available.
For the Ultimate Edition with the T-1000 searching John's room and the happy future ending, the 2009 Skynet Blu-ray, which is the older pre-2017 transfer, but has DNR.
Director: James Cameron
Director: James Cameron
Director: James Cameron
Resen 2020 Spain Blu-ray, old WEB-DL (pre 2023/2024 transfer), HDTV rip, or 35mm scan
Resen 2020 Spain Blu-ray, old WEB-DL (pre 2023/2024 transfer), HDTV rip, or 35mm scan better than 4K Blu-ray with terrible "AI" upscale: screenshots
Director: James Cameron
Resen 2020 Spain Blu-ray, old WEB-DL (pre 2023/2024 transfer), HDTV rip, or 35mm scan
Resen 2020 Spain Blu-ray, old WEB-DL (pre 2023/2024 transfer), HDTV rip, or 35mm scan better than 4K Blu-ray with terrible "AI" upscale: screenshots
Director: James Cameron
2013 MGM Blu-ray, or 4K Blu-ray if you MUST have the mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
2013 MGM Blu-ray for non AI transfer, 2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
1991 Image Entertainment LaserDisc for the US mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for the International mono mix
Comparison between the US and International mixes: https://vimeo.com/246332731
The 4K Blu-Ray and the 2001 MGM DVD have exclusive extras.
Director: James Cameron
2013 MGM Blu-ray, or 4K Blu-ray if you MUST have the mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
2013 MGM Blu-ray for non AI transfer, 2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
1991 Image Entertainment LaserDisc for the US mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for the International mono mix
Comparison between the US and International mixes: https://vimeo.com/246332731
The 4K Blu-Ray and the 2001 MGM DVD have exclusive extras.
Director: James Cameron
Disney 4K Blu-ray's artificial smoothening of facial textures making actors look unnatural, grain reduction and other changes to make the film look less like a product of its time
Old WEB-DL or HDTV rip for non AI version
Director: James Cameron
Disney 4K Blu-ray's artificial smoothening of facial textures making actors look unnatural, grain reduction and other changes to make the film look less like a product of its time
Old WEB-DL or HDTV rip for non AI version
Director: James Cameron
Director: James Cameron
Disney Collector's Edition 4K Blu-ray
Disney 4K Blu-ray, Collector's Edition has more extras + Dolby Vision
Disney Collector's Edition 4K Blu-ray
Disney 4K Blu-ray, Collector's Edition has more extras + Dolby Vision
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
UK ICON 4K Blu-ray (caps)
UK 4K Blu-ray has a slightly better encode than US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray and Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray
5.1 mix is flawed on Shout! Factory/ICON, a phasey upmix instead of the proper discrete surround. The UHD 2.0 tracks are downmixes of that track.
2008 Fox Blu-ray sounds great, very close to the original 70mm mix, only with split surround.
2001 DVD has the original mix as 4.1 and matrixed 2.0.
Imprint 4K has a 4.0 track. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has a different 5.1, unclear if it's the same as Fox BD.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
UK ICON 4K Blu-ray (caps)
UK 4K Blu-ray has a slightly better encode than US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray and Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray
5.1 mix is flawed on Shout! Factory/ICON, a phasey upmix instead of the proper discrete surround. The UHD 2.0 tracks are downmixes of that track.
2008 Fox Blu-ray sounds great, very close to the original 70mm mix, only with split surround.
2001 DVD has the original mix as 4.1 and matrixed 2.0.
Imprint 4K has a 4.0 track. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has a different 5.1, unclear if it's the same as Fox BD.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
251 min cut (Extended): Fox Blu-ray. Eagle Pictures has forced Italian subs in some parts
Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray, caps
The 4K includes both theatrical and extended cuts. It's overall a solid upgrade over previous discs, but some will strongly dislike the color grading.
There are some issues with encoding and grain management.
Nic's review:
Some definitely messed with it as there’s grain management going on that resulted in magnetic, squishy grain movement. Both cuts (4K discs) are affected and it doesn’t look like an encoding issue to me as the bitrates don’t drop down to single digits á la Paramount or StudioCanal. During opticals, the lowest I’ve noted on the Extended 4K was around 30 MB/s vs. ~5 MB/s more for the theatrical cut.
Darker scenes are mostly (but not always) better but when it gets brighter, particularly in exteriors or scenes like the Jennifer Connelly dance scene at minute 38, I can’t unsee the digital tinkering as it does some damage texturally.
I compared it with the Eagle Pictures and Warner Bros Fox Blu-ray of the extended cut and they all look fine without grain management like that. Eagle Pictures’s Blu-ray is an older one if anyone’s curious and credited to another authoring house than 64Biz, which did the 4K.
Other than that, except for some encoding-related chroma noise that peeks through in the DV layer, Eagle Pictures did everything right. They corrected the framing to 1.85, kept the original English titles, the English restoration note, subtitles, HDR/DV is gentle and respectful of the source black levels are better than on the Warner Bros/Fox Blu-ray. Without that grain management, this would’ve been the all-timer release we all longed for.
251 min cut: Fox Blu-ray (24-bit, Eagle Pictures is 16-bit, not audible)
229 min cut: Warner Bros LaserDisc (missing 2 minutes, but original mono mix was never released on DVD/Blu-ray)
Extended edition adds scenes cut from the theatrical, but from a much lower quality source. It's intended to approximate the original cut, but to what extent that is true is debatable.
US theatrical cut is infamously bad, was panned at release and never re-released on home video.
251 min cut (Extended): Fox Blu-ray. Eagle Pictures has forced Italian subs in some parts
Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray, caps
The 4K includes both theatrical and extended cuts. It's overall a solid upgrade over previous discs, but some will strongly dislike the color grading.
There are some issues with encoding and grain management.
Nic's review:
Some definitely messed with it as there’s grain management going on that resulted in magnetic, squishy grain movement. Both cuts (4K discs) are affected and it doesn’t look like an encoding issue to me as the bitrates don’t drop down to single digits á la Paramount or StudioCanal. During opticals, the lowest I’ve noted on the Extended 4K was around 30 MB/s vs. ~5 MB/s more for the theatrical cut.
Darker scenes are mostly (but not always) better but when it gets brighter, particularly in exteriors or scenes like the Jennifer Connelly dance scene at minute 38, I can’t unsee the digital tinkering as it does some damage texturally.
I compared it with the Eagle Pictures and Warner Bros Fox Blu-ray of the extended cut and they all look fine without grain management like that. Eagle Pictures’s Blu-ray is an older one if anyone’s curious and credited to another authoring house than 64Biz, which did the 4K.
Other than that, except for some encoding-related chroma noise that peeks through in the DV layer, Eagle Pictures did everything right. They corrected the framing to 1.85, kept the original English titles, the English restoration note, subtitles, HDR/DV is gentle and respectful of the source black levels are better than on the Warner Bros/Fox Blu-ray. Without that grain management, this would’ve been the all-timer release we all longed for.
251 min cut: Fox Blu-ray (24-bit, Eagle Pictures is 16-bit, not audible)
229 min cut: Warner Bros LaserDisc (missing 2 minutes, but original mono mix was never released on DVD/Blu-ray)
Extended edition adds scenes cut from the theatrical, but from a much lower quality source. It's intended to approximate the original cut, but to what extent that is true is debatable.
US theatrical cut is infamously bad, was panned at release and never re-released on home video.
Director: Joel Schumacher
Director: Joel Schumacher
Director: Joel Schumacher
Director: Joel Schumacher
Director: Jonathan Kaplan
US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray or Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray?
US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray or Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray?
Fox 2002 NTSC DVD includes the original mix as discrete LCRS 4.0, later reelases only include a matrixed version an an inferior 5.1 upmix.
The matrixed stereo version on Shout! Factory's 4K Blu-ray sounds good.
Director: Jonathan Kaplan
US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray or Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray?
US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray or Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray?
Fox 2002 NTSC DVD includes the original mix as discrete LCRS 4.0, later reelases only include a matrixed version an an inferior 5.1 upmix.
The matrixed stereo version on Shout! Factory's 4K Blu-ray sounds good.
Directors: Don Bluth & Gary Goldman
Directors: Don Bluth & Gary Goldman
Director: Adrian Lyne
Director: Adrian Lyne
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Original 4-Track Mix: MGM 1990 LaserDisc
General release mono mix: CBS Fox VHS Hi-Fi but time compressed
5.1 remix of 4-track mix: MGM Blu-ray (a lossless version of the remix from the Ultimate Edition DVD)
The 5.1 track on the earlier THX LD/DVD and SE DVDs is not the same as the later remix, and appears to be more faithful the original mix (likely a simple upmix). The UE DVD remix has a lot more surround activity.
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Original 4-Track Mix: MGM 1990 LaserDisc
General release mono mix: CBS Fox VHS Hi-Fi but time compressed
5.1 remix of 4-track mix: MGM Blu-ray (a lossless version of the remix from the Ultimate Edition DVD)
The 5.1 track on the earlier THX LD/DVD and SE DVDs is not the same as the later remix, and appears to be more faithful the original mix (likely a simple upmix). The UE DVD remix has a lot more surround activity.
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