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Plaion

Plaion

54 films on Best Blurays

Based in GermanyFounded 2003plaionpictures.com ↗

Plaion Pictures is the German film arm of Austria's Plaion (Embracer Group), based in Planegg near Munich and known as Koch Films or Koch Media until the August 2022 rebrand. Its German-market catalogue leans on licensed Hollywood and European classics, westerns, gialli and cult titles, often issued as numbered Mediabooks with booklets and extras, alongside 4K UHD and Steelbook editions.

Also known as: Koch Media

Aliases: koch, plaion, koch media, plaion pictures

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Director: John Landis

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray

Director: Adrian Lyne

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Better compression than other 4K Blu-rays

Director: David Lynch

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Theatrical: Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray?

TV Cut: Australia Imprint Blu-ray included in their 4K Blu-ray set?

Spicediver Cut: Germany Plaion Blu-ray included in their Ultimate Edition release

Best Video:

Theatrical: Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Australian Imprint 4K Blu-ray?

TV Cut: Australia Imprint Blu-ray included in their 4K Blu-ray set?

Spicediver Cut: Germany Plaion Blu-ray included in their Ultimate Edition release

Best Audio:

Universal 1998 DVD has the original 70mm 6-track mix in Dolby Digital 5.1

Dolby Stereo: Arrow 4K Blu-ray (5.1 mix is an inferior remix)

Additional Info:

OOP Arrow LE has a bonus disc

Director: David Lynch

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

 Criterion 4K Blu-ray or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray

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

Upcoming Release:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray in December

Video Notes:

Subtle difference in encoding to the Criterion in encoding, trading blows in different shots, with Plaion taking a slight edge with less highlight blocking

Best Audio:

1993 MGM LaserDisc/2000 Region 1 MGM DVD

Audio Notes:

Criterion's 2.0 sounds muffled due to noise reduction and EQ.
Plaion's 2.0 lacks bass and has a very bright EQ, more resembling the 5.1 remix. Plaion’s 2.0 doesn't have any filtering unlike the Criterion, see https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23831289&postcount=110

Director: Dario Argento

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray

Directors: Colin Chilvers & Will Vinton & Jerry Kramer & Jim Blashfield

Best English-Friendly & Video:

OG Version: 1989 US Image Entertainment LaserDisc

2005 Edited Version - Re-Edited and Censored: UK Warner Bros Blu-ray

2005 Edited Version - Uncensored: UK Warner Bros DVD

Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Germany Plaion Blu-ray with uncensored cut and 4:3 version

English-Friendly Notes:

Film Whisperer's restoration is better

Additional Info:

Censorship changes for Blu-ray: https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=224122

Director: David Cronenberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Plaion/Plaion Blu-ray

Director: Sean S. Cunningham

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray

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

Upcoming Release:

UK StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray 

Plaion fixed Kino’s errors. Excellent release but it’s only for the blue tier as there’s not as much fine detail in the master as we’ve come to expect from high quality 4K transfers. Either Kino / Studiocanal didn’t use the negative or the scan wasn’t the best. - impressions.

Kino Lorber is a solid master but with picture and audio errors

Director: Ivan Reitman

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Plaion German 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

> US Kino Lorber see comparison and caps

Kino Lorber has an exceedingly poor encode, only slightly improved by the DV layer.

Best Audio:

Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Universal US Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos remix: Plaion DE 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Universal's BD uses the same transfer as the old LaserDisc and sounds a bit better than Plaion's, which has worse dynamics.

Plaion's Atmos remix is tastefully done and preserves the original mix's characteristics, the 5.1 track on Kino's release is overly aggressive and unbalanced.

Director: Wong Kar-Wai

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

2022 Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

2021 Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Sydney Pollack

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount/Plaion Italy 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Paramount US. Overall good, superior compression to the US disc

Best Audio:

1994 Japan LaserDisc [PILF-1836]

Director: Peter Hyams

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

StudioCanal Germany (Plaion) 4K

Video Notes:

StudioCanal Germany 4K is better than Shout! Factory. Plaion are StudioCanal’s distributor in Germany and one of their representatives revealed in a Germany forum that StudioCanal hired LSP to do the encode.

Audio Notes:

StudioCanal Germany 4K got a proper 5.1 mix instead of the Shout! Factory upmix

Director: Kevin Reynolds

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Ulysses Cut: Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Ulysses Cut: Arrow Blu-ray included in 4K Blu-ray

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Best English-Friendly:

Germany Plaion Ultrabit 20th Anni. Blu-ray

Additional Info:

UK Blu-ray is censored

Director: Dario Argento

Best English-Friendly & Audio:

Plaion GER 4K Blu-ray

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

Best Video:

Plaion GER 4K Blu-ray caps

Additional Info:

German release from Plaion has better grading and encode than the US Vinegar Syndrome releases.

Both UHDs come with Italian and English audio, as well as English subtitles.

Director: Peter Weir

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount/Plaion Italy 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Paramount US. Overall good, superior compression to the US disc

Director: Park Chan-wook

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: dvdcompare.net (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Stereo mix: Tartan DVD
5.1 mix: France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray
Atmos: Japan Amuse Soft Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Comparison between different extras: https://dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=56142

Director: Cameron Crowe

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Superior Imports
Video Notes:

> Paramount US. Overall good, superior compression to the US disc

Directors: Alan Mak Siu-Fai & Andrew Lau Wai-Keung

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion US Blu-ray or Umbrella Australia 4K Blu-ray

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

Best Video:

Maybe Umbrella Australia 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode), Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray, or Pony Canyon Japan 4K Blu-ray. All other existing 4K Blu-rays have terrible compression: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=21423337&postcount=173

The master is heavily DNR'd.

Best Audio:

Original 5.1 from Jokers France 4K Blu-ray or Criterion US Blu-ray or older Blu-rays

Directors: Alan Mak Siu-Fai & Andrew Lau Wai-Keung

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion US Blu-ray or Umbrella Australia 4K Blu-ray

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

Best Video:

Maybe Umbrella Australia 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode), Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray, or Pony Canyon Japan 4K Blu-ray. All other existing 4K Blu-rays have terrible compression: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=21423337&postcount=173

The master is heavily DNR'd.

Best Audio:

Original 5.1 from Jokers France 4K Blu-ray or Criterion US Blu-ray or older Blu-rays

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