4K Blu-ray

For the most part, the mono track available on the BD and UHD is fine, but there's an 8 minutes long segment which sounds terrible with artificially expanded frequency range causing very audible artifacting. The 5.1 remix doesn't have that issue. Sample

BFI 4K Blu-ray has excellent master and grade, no DNR and tasteful HDR

The unrestored track on BFI's earlier release appears to be an almost entirely unmanipulated transfer of the original mix. It suffers from a distracting low-frequency hum. The 4K restoration comes with a restored track, which appears to be the same transfer, but which appears to be cleaned up with a moderate amount of noise reduction and some EQ, nicely opening up the high-end, and which is likely to be preferable to most listeners. All earlier releases sound poor.

Perspecta isn't a discrete surround format, instead only relying on manipulating volume and panning of the mono track across L/C/R channels, based on embedded control tones. As such, even the Perspecta track is technically just the mono mix, though the omission of the proper mono on BFI's 4K is still unfortunate.

Indicator Blu-ray has better presented extras plus additional unique extras.

> Capelight/Kino Lorber which has heavy noise reduction and opening snare hit is missing, Capelight is slightly better encoded than Kino Lorber

But still a bit overly noise-managed.

1984 CBS/Fox Hi-Fi VHS maybe better?

Tartan DVD probably better?

> 2021 Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray. Carlotta has bad compression and elevated gamma levels, while Criterion shows more shadow details. See caps1 and caps2

Criterion actually handed the flawed MK2 master over to Prasad Corporation for "additional restoration" instead of working on it in-house.

Criterion 4K Blu-ray is another SDR grade inside an HDR container, with average brightness on HDR BL of 83 nits and 100-nit static DV. See fkid post

2012 Blu-ray is of similar fidelity but adds extra foley sounds. 2003 PAL DVD is a stereoized remix.

The 4K Blu-ray 5.0 is the original mix, but more muffled than LaserDisc and even the previous Blu-ray's gentle remix. The Atmos mix is revisionist.

The 50th Anniversary box set has some exclusive extras.

1991 LaserDisc is Dolby Stereo matrix encoded from the original six track master and this was later upgraded to a 5.1 Dolby Digital version prepared for the first DVD. The 5.1 version may have had some slight tweaking in the process. This was reused for the DVD CE boxset and then the 5.1 on Blu-ray seems like a slight upgrade of the DVD track. (The first pressing from the UCE boxset had audio defects rampant on the Blu-ray. These were corrected for standalone pressings.) All 5.1s sound roughly the same as the LaserDisc 2.0 in terms of the mix, but the LaserDisc PCM mastering seems like the only one that is direct without any major processing.

Indicator Blu-ray has better presented extras plus additional unique extras.

(preference)

> StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The HDR grading has messed up highlights, so some may prefer the 2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray

Criterion's subtitles seem to be better than StudioCanal's which omits too much IMO.

Criterion and Coin de Mire are both based on the same new 4K restoration. They have close quality, but Criterion has thiner and less blocky grain, with better retention in dark areas. It was therefore preferred.

Criterion and Coin de Mire are both based on the same new transfer which is superior to the old master. But, again, the audio of Criterion has much higher dynamic range than that of Coin de Mire and was preferred.

Criterion 4K Blu-ray (caps)

Criterion is a very nice uptick in detail and resolution. The color grade is very similar, but leans more neutral, reducing the greenish/blueish hues seen on the MoC disc.

The JP DVD track is unfiltered and sounds much more natural and detailed, but suffers from a strong CRT whine and an intermittent low-end hum. The track used on all later restorations is a bit muffled and has overemphasized bass.

Criterion applied additional EQ and roll-off to the restored track, but the audible difference is minimal.

Criterion has a different translation to MoC, but both are solid and trade blows, see comparison.

> Kino Lorber > Capelight Germany

(transfer of the 1989 MGM LaserDisc, without problems plaguing Kino Lorber's release)

Arrow UHD is an update of the original 4K scan done for their BD. It is also visually far superior to the Kino version and adds Dolby Vision HDR. The Arrow UHD uses a new LD mono capture and has none of the issues or processing found in the Kino UHD which also used an LD mono capture and somehow mucked it up. Short of a brand new scan, the Arrow UHD is as good as it possibly can be.