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Capelight

Capelight

34 films on Best BluraysBest video release: 26 in 4K8 in HD4 more for audio only4 more announced

Best 4K release by tier:
  • Excellent
    14
  • Solid
    6
  • Superior Imports
    1
Based in GermanyFounded 2004capelight.de (opens in a new tab)

Films where Capelight's release is the pick. How picks are made

Steffen Gerlach and Stephan Selms founded this independent distributor near Berlin in 2004. It licenses international genre, arthouse, cult and Hollywood catalogue films for the German-speaking market, often as limited Mediabooks and steelbooks with 4K UHD discs built on new scans or restored masters, some sourced from Arrow, the BFI and Criterion. Selected titles have also been issued in North America and the UK since 2019.

26 of 34 films match · Page 2 of 2

Films where Capelight's release is the pick. How picks are made

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Superior Imports
Best Video:

Capelight/Plaion Media Germany

Video Notes:

> MUBI UK. Good encode and correct colors on the Germany import

Director: John Milius

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Shout! Factory or Germany/UK Capelight 4K Blu-ray?

Director: Michael Mohan

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Decal 4K Blu-ray or Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray?

Director: Roseanne Liang

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray

Directors: Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

4K Streaming

Best Video:

OOP Capelight 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

The Capelight 4K Blu-ray has both German and English audio, defaulting to the former, but only has German subtitles

Director: Jérémie Périn

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Audio:

US GKIDS Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

US GKIDS Blu-ray for both original French audio and English dub

Best Video:

Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray

3 for audio only

The best audio is Capelight's; the video and English-friendly picks are other releases · by Letterboxd rating

Directors: Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski

Best Audio:

Germany Capelight Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Emilie Blichfeldt

Best Audio:

Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Director: Newt Arnold

Best Audio:

Capelight 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · hdnumerique.com (opens in a new tab)

Audio Notes:

(the ESC 4K Blu-ray have no original 2.0 and a different Atmos mix. More about the ESC mix in this review)

Best Video:

France ESC 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Better than Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray.

3 announced

Capelight's release is announced; until it is out, the picks are other releases · by Letterboxd rating

Director: John G. Avildsen

Upcoming Release:

Capelight 4K Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)

Best Audio:

Original Mono: Ultimate Knockout Collection/Knockout Collection replacement disc

Audio Notes:

> Knockout collection original.

The Mono mix on the initial release of the Knockout Collection is a stereo fold-down of the 5.1, it also has a missing piano cue. The replacement disc and the ultimate knockout version fixed the error. 

Additional Info:

The Steelbook and UK standard edition is the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection.

Director: Martin Scorsese

Upcoming Release:

Capelight 4K Blu-ray releasing on 8th October 2026

Sources: capelight.de (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Paramount US, same black crush as the US disc but encoded by FiM and very good new supplements

Additional Info:

Paramount US 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision 

Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray has MEL Dolby Vision

Director: Martin Scorsese

Upcoming Release:

Capelight 4K announced for 2026

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab) · facebook.com (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has slightly better compression than Criterion 4K Blu-ray.

The master in DV looks all but identical to the Criterion’s HDR grade. Detail-wise, FiM’s encode looks like it uncovered a tiny bit of extra high-frequency information that got filtered on the Criterion. See nicolas review

Best Audio:

1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1993 MGM LaserDisc/2002 R2 MGM DVD

Audio Notes:

1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1993 MGM LaserDisc/2002 R2 MGM DVD are the best. See blah-ray https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/2018/01/raging-bull-1980.html

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has better audio than Criterion 4K Blu-ray, from nicolas:

I believe that what’s on Imprint’s 4K is one of the good mixes MGM and Criterion released during the LaserDisc days. Music is powerful and detailed, dialogues have excellent fidelity and ambient sounds have perceptible depth. I compared the "new" 2.0 with the anemic 5.1 as well as the Criterion 4K mix and could clearly hear the improvements.

Know a film where the Capelight release is the one to buy? Suggest it