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DVD

DVD

1046 films on Best Blurays

Type: Format

Page 46 of 53

Films where DVD is in a pick or an upcoming release.

Director: Krzysztof Kieślowski

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

2023 Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

2006 Criterion US DVD

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Best English-Friendly:

MGM DVD

Director: James Cameron

4K · Worse Than BD
Best Video:

2015 Lionsgate Blu-ray 

Sources: fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · originaltrilogy.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:
  • 2015 Lionsgate Blu-ray (but it's missing the extra scenes in the Ultimate Edition)

  • 2017 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray and subsequent 4K Blu-rays are notorius for being heavily denoised and smoothened. Alternatively, 35mm scans for the theatrical cut is also available.

  • For the Ultimate Edition with the T-1000 searching John's room and the happy future ending, the 2009 Skynet Blu-ray, which is the older pre-2017 transfer, but has DNR.

Best Audio:
  • Original Kodak/ORC CDS mix:  Japan Pioneer DVD in DTS/ac3 5.1

  • Original Dolby Stereo SR: USA Widescreen LaserDisc and others.

Audio Notes:

Differences of mixes on various releases: see thread and more info here.

Additional Info:

2017 Blu-ray (which has the DNRed transfer), the 2009 Skynet Edition Blu-ray, and the 2000 Ultimate Edition DVD have exclusive extras. The 2003 Extreme Edition DVD has some exclusive easter eggs.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

4K · Solid
Best Video:

UK ICON 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

UK ICON 4K Blu-ray (caps)

UK 4K Blu-ray has a slightly better encode than US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray and Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

5.1 mix is flawed on Shout! Factory/ICON, a phasey upmix instead of the proper discrete surround. The UHD 2.0 tracks are downmixes of that track.
2008 Fox Blu-ray sounds great, very close to the original 70mm mix, only with split surround.
2001 DVD has the original mix as 4.1 and matrixed 2.0.

Imprint 4K has a 4.0 track. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has a different 5.1, unclear if it's the same as Fox BD.

Director: Jacques Rivette

Best Video:

Cohen Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4k resto, good bitrate but teal, no info on Potemkine France

Best Audio:

2004 New Yorker DVD

Director: Terry Gilliam

4K · Excellent

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

R1 DVD

Audio Notes:

R1 DVD for original Dolby Stereo with better dynamics

Director: Franc Roddam

Best Video:

US Cut with Chaz Jankel score: Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

UK Cut with Hans Zimmer score: Germany or UK DVD?

Best Audio:

US Cut with Chaz Jankel Score: Lionsgate DVD

Director: Michael Apted

Best Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: 2003 Sony/Columbia NTSC DVD 2.0
5.1 remix: 2024 Sony Blu-ray

Additional Info:

The 5.1 track on the UHD is a remix originally included on the 2024 Blu-ray, but missing the LFE track. The UHD 2.0 track is a downmix of the faulty 5.1, severely lacking bass.

The digital track on the earlier LaserDisc is most likely the same as DVD, minus the lossy compression.

Director: Tim Burton

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

WB 4K Blu-ray but has MAJOR Color Timing issues. All cold blues are rendered teal. WB Blu-ray despite issues is a purist visual option in this regard.

Best Audio:

Dolby Stereo SR: WB LaserDisc PCM

Dolby Digital 5.1: 1997 DVD

2005 5.1 new transfer: WB DVD in Dolby and DTS, 2008 Blu-ray in TrueHD

Additional Info:

First ever Dolby Digital 5.1 wide release film. 4K Blu-ray has new Atmos remix which replaces original sound effects and prioritizes music and bombast. A terrible audio experience to be avoided. 1997 WB DVD has open matte version on flipper disc. VHS also is open matte.

Director: Jonathan Kaplan

4K · Solid
Best Audio:

Fox 2002 NTSC DVD

Audio Notes:

Fox 2002 NTSC DVD includes the original mix as discrete LCRS 4.0, later reelases only include a matrixed version an an inferior 5.1 upmix.

The matrixed stereo version on Shout! Factory's 4K Blu-ray sounds good.

Director: Baz Luhrmann

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

UK Visions Home Video 4K Blu-ray

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

Best Video:

UK Visions Home Video 4K Blu-ray caps & impressions

Best Audio:

The Visions Home Video 4K Blu-ray 5.1 is worse than the previous 5.1, and original stereo is only on LaserDisc or some PAL DVDs (and sounds much better)

Director: Víctor Erice

Video format: No Home Media

Best Video & Audio:

Trigon Film DVD

Sources: bampfa.org (opens in a new tab)

Additional Info:

New 4k restoration but no release yet https://bampfa.org/event/quince-tree-sun

Director: Andrew Davis

4K · Excellent
Best Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray  see caps

Geoff D impressions 

It's weird. Brightly lit scenes have zero grain. They look plenty detailed and not at all waxy and lifeless, but there's no grain. Darker scenes have a fine layer of it as befits the general rule of thumb with film. Either they shot this on the 50-speed EXR stock of the day - virtually grainless in the right conditions - or it's been expertly 'grain managed'. I say 'expertly' becuz there's no trailing artefacts, no sticky grain that I can see, it's some of the best such treatment I've ever seen. And IF it has been I can only think the edict came down from the director himself.

Best Audio:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray omitted the original 5.1 track for a 2.0 and Atmos.
US DVD has the DD5.1
For Stereo track: Warner Home Video JPN LaserDisc [NJWL-12420]

Director: Steve Barron

4K · Disappointing

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

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor encode: Dolby Vision caps

Best Audio:

DVD or LaserDisc for original mix

Audio Notes:

Thanks to the magic of Dolby Stereo encoding the 2.0 mix actually has much better surround activity compared to the 5.1 mix, which feels flat and lifeless. The surround mix is also missing elements (eg @ 0:04:58 the zapping sound doesn't extend to the surrounds on the 5.1 track, same with the flickering sound @ 0:21:46, etc)

Director: Andrew Davis

4K · Excellent
Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

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

Best Audio:

(by this comparison)
Original Dolby Stereo: Warner Bros LaserDisc 2.0 vs Warner Bros DVD?

The  (2006 or 2013?) Warner Bros Blu-ray 5.1 is similar but higher in LFE.
The atmos/5.1 on the 4K Blu-ray are a new different mix by the director.

Director: Manoel de Oliveira

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Unreleased restoration or DVD

Sources: filmlinc.org (opens in a new tab)

Director: Krzysztof Kieślowski

4K · Excellent
Best Video:

2023 Criterion 4K Blu-ray (meh compression) / Curzon 4K Blu-ray (visible chroma noise)

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Miramax DVD?

TV series

Best Video:

OOP Shout! Factory Complete Series DVD boxset

Video Notes:

US NCircle DVD set has compression issues

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