London independent Eureka Entertainment runs the spine-numbered Masters of Cinema series (since 2004, wholly owned since 2008) alongside Eureka Classics and Montage Pictures. Its catalogue leans on silent and early cinema, classic Hollywood, world cinema and Hong Kong martial arts, usually with booklets and new commentaries. Discs are aimed at the UK market and are generally Region B.
Eureka
37 films on Best BluraysBest video release: 8 in 4K29 in HD10 more for audio only
Best 4K release by tier:
- Excellent3
- Solid2
Based in United Kingdomeurekavideo.co.uk (opens in a new tab)
Films where Eureka's release is the pick. How picks are made
29 of 37 films match
Films where Eureka's release is the pick. How picks are made
29 in HD
Best video release on Blu-ray or HD streaming · by Letterboxd rating
Video Notes:
Eureka Blu-ray has better encode than Flicker Alley Blu-ray. Kino Lorber/BFI are older restoration and are worse.
Director: Fritz Lang
Best Video:
1984 Giorgio Moroder restoration: MoC Blu-ray or Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Video Notes:
2001 Murnau restoration: MoC 2-disc DVD set > Kino Lorber 1-disc Restored Authorized Edition DVD
2010 Murnau complete restoration: MoC Blu-ray > Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
MoC slightly better than Criterion http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-ray_reviews_69/kwaidan_blu-ray.htm
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
Eureka MoC Blu-ray, see caps
MoC is sourced from an earlier scan, but still looks more detailed than the later 4K restoration released by Kadokawa in Japan, which has some black crush and DNR. French Capricci disc is sourced from the same scan as MoC but with much worse encoding and wrong levels.
Best Audio:
1991 Daiei LaserDisc
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:
Eureka Masters of Cinema Blu-ray
Video Notes:
Eureka Blu-ray slightly better than Kino Lorber. Note that the Eureka release has ~6 seconds of cuts due to BBFC rules.
Audio Notes:
Eureka has original mono.
4 for audio only
The best audio is Eureka's; the video and English-friendly picks are other releases · by Letterboxd rating
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Best Audio:
2001 Kino Lorber DVD or 2003 Eureka DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Video Notes:
All very old restoration, but Kino Lorber > Germany Universum > MoC. Kino Lorber Germany Blu-ray has more noise reduction while English version's noise reduction is kept at minimum. MoC has very week encoding and crushed blacks.
Sources:
caps-a-holic on MoC vs Germany
DVDBeaver on Kino Lorber vs MoC
Director: John Ford
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Additional Info:
USA Paramount has the best video transfer with the least amount of artifacts: https://slow.pics/c/sjZ3mqF6
Olive Films Blu-ray and Eureka MoC Blu-ray are sourced from the same restoration and are both very good.
Apart from some mild attenuation, the audio is the same on all releases of the newest restoration and is relatively untampered with: https://slow.pics/c/bWF9EGuM
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