New York distributor formed in 2009 when Kino International merged with Lorber HT Digital. Its home-video catalogue runs from silent films and world cinema (Kino Classics) to Hollywood titles licensed from MGM, Paramount, Universal and others under the Kino Lorber Studio Classics line, including a growing 4K UHD slate. Discs are Region A and many use studio-supplied masters.
Kino Lorber
423 films on Best BluraysBest video release: 96 in 4K307 in HD20 in SD7 more for audio only5 more announced
Best 4K release by tier:
- Excellent13
- Solid29
- Good in DV Only3
- Disappointing26
- Worse Than BD3
Films where Kino Lorber's release is the pick. How picks are made
Films where Kino Lorber's release is the pick. How picks are made
96 in 4K
Best video release on UHD Blu-ray or 4K streaming
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
Director: Orson Welles
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Eureka MoC 4K Blu-ray/Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
MoC 4K Blu-ray and Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are similar
Director: Clint Eastwood
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Best Audio:
Mono: Streaming
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
307 in HD
Best video release on Blu-ray or HD streaming · by Letterboxd rating
Director: Buster Keaton
Best English-Friendly:
Kino Lorber new Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. Blu-ray?
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Best Video:
Lobster Films (Kino Lorber?)
Video Notes:
> Cohen/Eureka https://slow.pics/c/3KWXoMyR The new Kino Lorber's Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. might be using the same restoration as Lobster Films
Director: Robert Altman
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber has new 4k resto, not sure about color grading
Best Audio:
?
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Best English-Friendly:
Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
Best Video:
Kino Lorber
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber > Artificial Eye, see review
Directors: Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid
Best English-Friendly:
Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Best Video:
Kino Lorber Maya Deren Collection
Director: Djibril Diop Mambéty
Director: William Wyler
Best Audio:
Additional Info:
The Kino BD has additional extras but the Laserdisc still has exclusive extras and commentary not included on the Kino release. AVOID the MGM Blu-ray for the stretched aspect ratio error that was only finally corrected for the Kino Lorber reissue after much fan outcry.
Director: Ang Lee
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber Blu-ray has original 1.85 aspect ratio, and better encoding but with a few caveats: some scenes are in a lower quality than the rest of the film see DVDBeaver
Make sure you have the replacement disc with correct location title card
20 in SD
Best video release on DVD, SD streaming, LaserDisc or VHS · by Letterboxd rating
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber Avant-Garde 2: Experimental Cinema 1922 – 1954 Blu-ray or Image Entertainment Treasures from American Film Archives DVD
Director: Erich von Stroheim
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber DVD
Sources: silentera.com (opens in a new tab) · milestonefilms.com (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
Milestone has a new 4K restoration that is expected to release Blu-ray in near future
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber The Invention of the Movies DVD
NFPF official SD Streaming https://www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/screening-room/blacksmithing-scene-1893
Sources: filmpreservation.org (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
Available on:
Kino Lorber The Invention of the Movies DVD
NFPF official SD Streaming https://www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/screening-room/blacksmithing-scene-1893
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Best Video:
Flicker Alley DVD or Kino Lorber DVD
Video Notes:
Flicker Alley DVD or Kino Lorber DVD no comparisons available
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber Edison: The Invention of the Movies DVD or Flicker Alley Landmarks of Early Film DVD
29 with a weaker 4K
Best 4K release rated Disappointing or Worse Than BD · by Letterboxd rating
Director: Billy Wilder
Best Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray disappointing
Additional Info:
Kino UHD has frozen grain and other artifacts from a Paramount master with the usual lackluster Kino encoding.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Best English-Friendly:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Best Video:
StudioCanal EU
Video Notes:
StudioCanal EU has elevated blacks and inaccurate colors, Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor encode.
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or 2018 Olive Films/BFI or 2012 Olive Films/Italy Sinister Films Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
All three are not ideal.
All three are not ideal.
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has frozen grain, sharpening, lots of debris, and handles lesser materials. The supposed non-Superscope version is false advertising. It merely reveals more picture information.
Best Audio:
1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc PCM Mono
Additional Info:
Criterion LaserDisc has exclusive commentary. Olive Films Signature Blu-ray and BFI Blu-ray each have exclusive extras. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has exclusive commentary.
Director: Don Siegel
Best Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray's source is provided by Paramount has had DNR applied which affects the inherently soft looking film pretty strongly for at least a third of the running time
Director: Andrei Konchalovsky
Best English-Friendly & Video:
2021 Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
The Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor encoding and auto cleanup issues
Additional Info:
Twilight Time has an isolated score
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray maybe better than StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray?
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray maybe better than StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray?
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray from nicolas:
The restoration is excellent and looks magnificent in 4K HDR. It’s a tasteful grade that comes across very naturally film-like. Couldn’t be much happier about that aspect of the release.Have to be the bearer of bad news though as the encode is bad. We’re almost back in the early 4K era with those terrible, bit-starved StudioCanal encodes that came out of France and brought us Total Recall, Basic Instinct etc. While they’ve done worse, this definitely isn’t FiM or VDMS. Highlights are terrible and essentially devoid of any detail, mushy grain also creeps into normal shots here and there, particularly walls or clothing. Essentially areas that are slightly larger and have similar colors and textures.
Director: John Hughes
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray see caps-a-holic, has good new master but as usual poorly encoded with macro blocking and chroma noise which is just as horrible. See also cap 4. Their Blu-ray looks much better in the above shot and is more consistently grainy.
Director: Brett Ratner
Best Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has mediocre encode
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Best Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray is disappointing (review)
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Best Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray is encoded in a wrong color space see post "A BT2020->P3 matrix corrects the issue (ignore tonemapping related errors)"
Director: Dennis Dugan
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor encodes: Dolby Vision caps
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)
Best Video:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray is disappointing
7 for audio only
The best audio is Kino Lorber's; the video and English-friendly picks are other releases · by Letterboxd rating
Best Audio:
Arrow 4K Blu-ray for English dub, Kino Lorber 2017 Blu-ray for Italy dub
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Video Notes:
> Kino Lorber, see caps https://slow.pics/c/P4E9uTHR
Director: Rob Cohen
Best Audio:
(The Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray DTS HD5.1 seems to have stronger bass, but it's yet unclear which one has the original 5.1) Also see thread.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Video Notes:
> US Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
comparison between the Turbine and Kino grades. The former is director-supervised.
Additional Info:
The Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray was recalled shortly after inital releases for unknown reasons.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Best Audio:
2021 Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Additional Info:
Video comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/ryvPN8Uu
Audio comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/KEs7dwRg
Best Audio:
Kino Lorber Blu-ray from blah-ray:
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Audio Notes:
Both the Plaion and Arrow audio tracks sound like they received little/any high- or low- frequency attenuation, but the audio on the new Kino Lorber restoration is much more detailed. It's likely that it was transferred from different (superior) analogue elements. It sounds excellent.
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber Blu-ray suffers from the Quicktime Gamma Bug see caps
5 announced
Kino Lorber's release is announced; until it is out, the picks are other releases · by Letterboxd rating
Upcoming Release:
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:
Best Audio:
Live Home Video 1996 remastered letterbox LaserDisc
Additional Info:
The remastered LaserDisc PCM mono sounds the most untouched and natural of any version. In 2006, Universal made a new HD master used on all subsequent DVD and Blu-ray releases. The Universal 2.0 mono mix may be a new transfer, different source or remix made from stems as the music and effects are at different levels throughout the track when compared to older copies featuring the mono mix. Additionally there is extreme noise reduction with dialogue sounding too clean and hiss being almost gone. Comparing with the 1996 LaserDisc mono clearly shows in all of these moments that the original mono was mixed differently and to serve the jokes.
Director: Frank Borzage
Upcoming Release:
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 4K scan from the 35mm B&W nitrate original negative and 35mm B&W composite fine grain
Know a film where the Kino Lorber release is the one to buy? Suggest it