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Kino Lorber

Kino Lorber

421 films on Best BluraysBest video release: 94 in 4K307 in HD20 in SD7 more for audio only5 more announced

Best 4K release by tier:
Based in United StatesFounded 1976kinolorber.com (opens in a new tab)

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

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.

307 of 421 films match · Page 16 of 16

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

Director: Preston Sturges

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Video Notes:

No information on French Elephant Films Blu-ray

Director: Preston Sturges

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Director: Lewis Milestone

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Sourced from a 4K scan of the 35mm Fine Grain. Even with its unfortunate and noticeable print damage, tears, and other issues, still easily beats any prior disc release, though the Imprint BD (same master as Kino, but inferior encode) included in their Essential Film Noir Collection Vol. 3 set does include more extras. https://youtu.be/-Wrsn6-XJCo

Director: Wong Kar-Wai

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly:

2010 US Kino Lorber or 2012 UK Artificial Eye

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

2017 JP Kadokawa Blu-ray

Video Notes:

2017 JP Kadokawa Blu-ray has the best encoding out of all the older discs.


Kino Lorber and Artificial Eye Blu-ray use the same master, between the two the PQ on Kino's release is slightly better, but the difference is negligible.

The 4K restoration (Criterion, 4K etc) are cropped to 2.35:1, have revisionistic colour grading and other changes.

Caps: old master, old master vs 4K restoration

Wong Kar-Wai on the framing:

With Fallen Angels, I have changed the format to cinemascope, because it was originally what I had intended to release the film in. When we were cutting the film, we accidentally turned the Steenbeck on anamorphic instead of standard. I felt that the film looked much more interesting because it enhanced the distance of the characters on top of the extreme wide angle that we shot on. Back then, it was impossible to shoot a film in standard and release it in anamorphic. With this restoration, we have successfully fulfilled this wish.

Director: Andrei Konchalovsky

4K · Worse Than BD
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: Simon Wincer

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

4K is defective with color space issues and poor encoding, UHD replacement disc is also defective with worse encode. The UHD has visible artifacts from the bad encoding. The HDR is overdone and the Paramount 4K master has grain management.
The new Kino Blu-ray has none of the UHD's problems and is superior to the UHD in every way though it still uses the same Paramount master.

Best Audio:

DVD 5.1 or LaserDisc 5.1 AC3, LD PCM 2.0 for the matrix stereo version. The LD and DVD seem to be the theatrical audio mix untouched with plenty of low end. This low end like a number of 90's Paramount titles was mixed out or tamed on subsequent releases. 

Additional Info:

The Lionsgate BD and Paramount BD share the same lackluster HD master with DNR and image distortion. The Lionsgate is much better encoded but has a 7.1 remix which messed up the original mix design by lessening all the great Foley work in favor of the score. The Paramount BD had a 5.1 lossless version of the original mix but it's a new version where the bass has been tamed so the track has lost its punch. The Kino Lorber UHD and Blu-ray recycle this same lesser 5.1 mastering. The original mix can still be heard on LD and DVD. The 2.0 stereo on the Kino is matrixed but also does not sound as good as the 2.0 matrix audio on DVD or LD.
Kino has a replacement program for the defective UHD to fix the color space issue. The new disc is not marked, has a worse encode AND DOES NOT FIX THE COLOR SPACE! Thus it is a worse defective disc version of the original defective disc.
The Billy Zane interview on the Kino BD has technical issues in the editing and clip quality used.

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray worse than Blu-ray with poor encoding (review)

4 with a weaker 4K

Best 4K release rated Disappointing or Worse Than BD · by Letterboxd rating

Director: Andrei Konchalovsky

4K · Worse Than BD
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: Simon Wincer

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

4K is defective with color space issues and poor encoding, UHD replacement disc is also defective with worse encode. The UHD has visible artifacts from the bad encoding. The HDR is overdone and the Paramount 4K master has grain management.
The new Kino Blu-ray has none of the UHD's problems and is superior to the UHD in every way though it still uses the same Paramount master.

Best Audio:

DVD 5.1 or LaserDisc 5.1 AC3, LD PCM 2.0 for the matrix stereo version. The LD and DVD seem to be the theatrical audio mix untouched with plenty of low end. This low end like a number of 90's Paramount titles was mixed out or tamed on subsequent releases. 

Additional Info:

The Lionsgate BD and Paramount BD share the same lackluster HD master with DNR and image distortion. The Lionsgate is much better encoded but has a 7.1 remix which messed up the original mix design by lessening all the great Foley work in favor of the score. The Paramount BD had a 5.1 lossless version of the original mix but it's a new version where the bass has been tamed so the track has lost its punch. The Kino Lorber UHD and Blu-ray recycle this same lesser 5.1 mastering. The original mix can still be heard on LD and DVD. The 2.0 stereo on the Kino is matrixed but also does not sound as good as the 2.0 matrix audio on DVD or LD.
Kino has a replacement program for the defective UHD to fix the color space issue. The new disc is not marked, has a worse encode AND DOES NOT FIX THE COLOR SPACE! Thus it is a worse defective disc version of the original defective disc.
The Billy Zane interview on the Kino BD has technical issues in the editing and clip quality used.

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray worse than Blu-ray with poor encoding (review)

Director: Wong Kar-Wai

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly:

2010 US Kino Lorber or 2012 UK Artificial Eye

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

2017 JP Kadokawa Blu-ray

Video Notes:

2017 JP Kadokawa Blu-ray has the best encoding out of all the older discs.


Kino Lorber and Artificial Eye Blu-ray use the same master, between the two the PQ on Kino's release is slightly better, but the difference is negligible.

The 4K restoration (Criterion, 4K etc) are cropped to 2.35:1, have revisionistic colour grading and other changes.

Caps: old master, old master vs 4K restoration

Wong Kar-Wai on the framing:

With Fallen Angels, I have changed the format to cinemascope, because it was originally what I had intended to release the film in. When we were cutting the film, we accidentally turned the Steenbeck on anamorphic instead of standard. I felt that the film looked much more interesting because it enhanced the distance of the characters on top of the extreme wide angle that we shot on. Back then, it was impossible to shoot a film in standard and release it in anamorphic. With this restoration, we have successfully fulfilled this wish.

5 for audio only

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

Director: Krzysztof Kieślowski

Best Audio:

Kino Lorber DVD Mono

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Dekalog Blu-ray

Director: Blake Edwards

Best Audio:

Mono: Kino Lorber US Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Mono: Kino Lorber US Blu-ray possibly?

Best English-Friendly:

Eureka UK Blu-ray

Best Video:

Eureka UK

Video Notes:

Eureka UK > Kino Lorber US

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)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2023 Indicator Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Video comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/ryvPN8Uu

Audio comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/KEs7dwRg

TV series

Best Audio:

TV Cuts: WB PL DVD

A Short Film About Killing: 2004 Kino Lorber DVD

Best English-Friendly & Video:

TV Cuts: 2016 Arrow Blu-ray

Extended Cuts of Eps 5 & 6: 2016 Criterion Blu-ray

Director: William A. Wellman

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.

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray suffers from the Quicktime Gamma Bug see caps

3 announced

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

Director: Spike Lee

Upcoming Release:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray upcoming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal Blu-ray

Director: Jean Aurel

Upcoming Release:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

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