4K Blu-ray

1985 MCA LaserDisc

The Jokers 4K Blu-ray

(Jokers 4K Blu-ray has forced France subs)

The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has raised black levels/gamma issue, good when fixed

1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc

1991 Columbia VHS (slightly)

(Indicator 4K Blu-ray, based on review)

Universal Dracula Complete Legacy boxset 4K Blu-ray or Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray no comparison available

Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray see nic review

Restored: Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored: Czech PAL DVD

Preferences will vary, the restored track sounds good, but not necessarily faithful to the original elements.

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray/Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray (shared encode); slight improvement over the 2015 StudioCanal Blu-ray

StudioCanal/LG UHDs

StudioCanal/LG UHDs port the 1999 Criterion DVD, considered the best source

StudioCanal has a remastered Blu-ray, Lionsgate only a 4K Blu-ray

2006 R1 Criterion DVD

Criterion 4K Blu-ray, caps

As with other Kurosawa 4K's, Criterion has a less processed master than Toho and BFI.

Criterion NTSC DVD

Criterion NTSC DVD overall. The 4K restoration's track is denoised and sounds muffled, but has a few of moments where it edges out in detail

Audio analysis between the Criterion 4K Blu-ray, BFI Blu-ray and Toho 4K Blu-ray

Criterion 4K Blu-ray Chris's review

2008 Universal DVD mono

The mono on the Criterion is severely filtered resulting in it sounding incredibly muffled. It is nearly as filtered as the 2003 original Universal DVD which had extreme filtering and sounds horribly thin. The 2008 DVD remaster and original Laserdisc analog mastering are mostly left alone. The original LD master is from a worn element but otherwise sounds very natural. The 2008 DVD is the highest quality version we have without the heavy filtering and the defects of the LD master. It isn't perfect but easily the best of the main four sources by a dramatic margin. 

The existing 4K SDR restoration looks excellent, but the Criterion extras are limited and disappointing. The classic Stewart interview commentary from the LD is ported over but given a new mastering. Compared to past releases it has been very slightly noise reduced.

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Paramount 4K Blu-ray. See caps
HDR/grading: nice, but some blown out
Encoding: inconsistent, smeared motion
DNR: inconsistent, frozen
Old Paramount Blu-ray is arguably a solid alternative choice

Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono

Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.

The 5.1 remix on the 4K Blu-ray is an appalling remix done by going wild with artificially generated stems from Park Road Post who were given the surviving mono to separate. The experience is jarring and fidelity to original mix in terms of level balance, directionality and impact is nonexistent. Not only does this sound painfully weird, but the Paramount mixers then did whatever they wanted in terms of LFE, sound pans and effect changes.
The original mono mix was not restored and still needs it badly. The 4K master is filled with frozen grain examples coming and going plus some HDR issues in addition to the usual Paramount problems. It is simultaneously better and worse than the Blu-ray master.

1995 Disney CAV LaserDisc

Universal 4K Blu-ray, excellent master and grade

Imprint AU 4K is world UHD debut and encoded by FiM. Part of the The Cinema Of Powell & Pressburger - Collection Two set.

New restoration looks stunning: caps

1995 Disney Archive Collection LaserDisc for OG mono track

Eureka Blu-ray

> StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Older DVD or LaserDisc probably even better

All blu-ray releases so far is from the 2010 scan.

1991 MGM LaserDisc

Both Kino Lorber and Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray have poor encode. See nicolas review on Eureka Blu-ray. It seems the 4K restoration on that disc and the Olive Films Signature US release served as the basis for the HDR master Kino Lorber commissioned. There are the same traces of grain management in the opticals and the small number of shots from a lower quality source that were spliced in between the Original Camera Negative footage. The SDR grayscale looks great though and after having compared everything, I would’ve preferred a 4K SDR release. The Eureka Blu-ray release wasn’t encoded by FiM and it shows. For those with the Blu-ray and an appreciation for optimal encoding, consider an upgrade.

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray: It seems that Kino Lorber commissioned the HDR/DV grade and some additional cosmetic work on the master. They used to mention "… brand new master by studio X" on their back covers when they were supplied with ready-made materials. This isn’t the case here but maybe someone’s in the know and things are different. The HDR grade is darker than the SDR one and flattened the grayscale quite significantly. I mentioned this in the Sabrina and Sunset Boulevard thread as well but I’m not really a fan of these grades and doubt that they’re enhancing the grayscales to make them appear more film-like. I’ve seen worse and it’s not the end of the world when the film is viewed in a dark environment but don’t expect anything as luminous and sparkly as The Big Heat. Kino Lorber’s encoding can be seen here via ko8ebryant’s caps.

Eureka 4K Blu-ray (BD-100): Same 4K master and same HDR grade as on the Kino Lorber 4K but now expertly encoded. Thanks to no compression anomalies standing in the way, we can now scrutinize the master much better. In comparison with the SDR master, I noticed that there are opticals that got hit with further noise reduction and sometimes egregiously so, such as in the scene with Grace Kelly at the train station at roughly 18 minutes into the film. Parts of that scene were sourced from a lower-quality source. In the HDR master, grain was practically erased altogether whereas in the 4K SDR master on the Eureka Blu-ray, grain is visible in the same shot despite the iffy encoding.

I’d still recommend the Eureka 4K Blu-ray as the Original Camera Negative shots and scenes are frequently gorgeous, beautifully detailed and at most only minimally tampered with. The imperfect HDR grade bugs me but I’ll still use Eureka’s 4K Blu-ray for my future viewings due to the FiM encode.

Eureka 4K UHD image is frequently stunning and far better than the Kino UHD using the same master. (no surprise) However there is frozen grain throughout baked into the Paramount master, some shots are soft due to management (some are inherently soft) and the HDR is questionable in areas. In some areas the old Eureka BD using the same scan in SDR is preferable. As usual, the issues are Paramount's doing and the only way to escape them would be starting from scratch.

1992 Republic LaserDisc

Kino and Eureka UHDs have a mix of new and legacy extras. To have every supplement you will need both UHDs and the original Criterion Laserdisc for the exclusive commentary.