Warner Archive

772 films on Best BluraysBest video release: 8 in 4K596 in HD168 in SD1 more for audio only6 more announced

Best 4K release by tier:

Excellent
4
Solid
2

Based in United StatesFounded 2009warnerbros.com (opens in a new tab)

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

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment launched this catalogue imprint in 2009 as a manufactured-on-demand DVD-R line, adding pressed Blu-rays in 2012. It mines the Warner, pre-1986 MGM and RKO libraries for classic and cult titles, many of them debuting on disc. HD masters generally come from the studio's own Motion Picture Imaging restoration facility.

596 of 772 films match · Page 30 of 30

By format

List

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

The Seventh Cross (1944)

Director: Fred Zinnemann

Best English-Friendly:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Best Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration

Presenting Lily Mars (1943)

Director: Norman Taurog

Best English-Friendly:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Best Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration

Random Harvest (1942)

Director: Mervyn LeRoy

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951)

Director: Raoul Walsh

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from original technicolor negatives

Bonnie Scotland (1935)

Director: James W. Horne

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from nitrate protection elements

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)

Directors: William Dieterle & Max Reinhardt

Best English-Friendly:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Best Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration

The Bad Seed (1956)

Director: Mervyn LeRoy

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Sources: mega.nz (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Warner Bros 2011 Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

The older track sounds significantly more natural. The WAC BD uses a new mastering which sounds much worse. A lot of the dialogue sounds off, sort of echoey, garbled or even artifacted. Its overzealous click removal also erased some sounds. Its only positive is a new EQ that brings out the bass more making some of the score more effective.

It seems that the new mastering likely uses AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering, resulting in extended peaks despite losing real high end detail (most pronounced on sample 3).

Samples (WAC is mislabeled as UHD)

Additional Info:

Commentary is mono on the Blu-rays and panned stereo on NTSC DVD (different channels for each speaker).