LaserDisc
Type: Format
Page 7 of 13
Films where LaserDisc is in a pick or an upcoming release.
Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Original mono: Warner Bros LaserDisc
Stereo & 5.1 remixes: Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Original mono mix was never released after VHS/LD. Warner's DVD and Blu-ray had a 3.0 remix in a 5.1 container. Criterion has new stereo and 5.1 remixes. Stereo is director's current preference.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23879243&postcount=51
Director: Sam Raimi
Sony 4K Blu-ray steelbook
Unaltered version: 2007 Ultimate Edition DVD? Or 35mm scan
Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)
Sony 4K Blu-ray steelbook
Sony 4K Blu-ray steelbook, correct audio pitch and more bonus features
Confirmed to be a port of Sony's international 4K, encode different to Lionsgate's. Audio in the correct pitch and a cross-selection of archive extras where the Lionsgate had only one audio commentary. High Def reviewer thought the 2.0 was a mixdown of the 5.1 track.
Unaltered version: 2007 Ultimate Edition DVD? Or 35mm scan
LaserDisc
LaserDisc has the original Mono
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray audio is in the wrong pitch while the Sony release is in the right pitch
All releases after 2010 have digital alterations to some scenes. https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=999332
Director: John Milius
1991 MCA LaserDisc
1991 MCA LaserDisc vs Arrow 4K Blu-ray, the Arrow is noise gated.
1988 MCA LaserDisc
Slightly better than
Universal 4K Blu-ray with the DTS 2.0
Director: Ridley Scott
Final Cut: WB 4K Blu-ray (Caveat: No Dolby Vision from Streaming)
Workprint: WB 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Set for a better AVC encode
1982 Theatrical Mix: Embassy Video releases, HD-DVD for the 70mm 6-track mix
International Cut Dolby Stereo: Criterion Collection LaserDisc, HD-DVD for the 70mm 6-track mix
1992 Director's Cut Dolby Stereo: WB CAV LaserDisc 2.0 PCM-best fidelity of any mix, HD-DVD for the 70mm 6-track mix
Workprint: WB 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Set DTS-HD MA 5.1
2007 Final Cut remix: Blu-ray Dolby TrueHD 5.1
WB 4K Blu-ray only has Final Cut and contains a bad Atmos remix with new sound effects. Original Final Cut mix was removed.
Director: Steven Lisberger
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Disney 4K Blu-ray see caps
35mm Dolby Stereo mix: 1995 Disney LaserDisc
7.1 Atmos remix: 2025 Disney 4K Blu-ray
The 5.1 is a more faithful remix than the later Atmos track.
Directors: Frank Oz & Jim Henson
LaserDisc
Shout! Factory's 2.0 is a downmix of the 5.1
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
(box set and standalone are identical)
OG: "4K83" or "OTD83" on the high seas
Special Edition: "4K97_VI" or "D+97_VI" on the high seas
2027 Original Trilogy restoration/50th anniversary rerelease clips leaked plus release confirmed
OG: LaserDisc audio is the best option for the Dolby Stereo mixes (and usually included in fan restorations). There are 16mm/TV rips of the mono mixes.
Special Edition: Cinema DTS or 1997 LaserDisc for the Special Edition.
Director: Joel Coen
Director's Cut: Disappointing UK StudioCanal/US Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: LaserDisc or 2001 UK Universal DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21782879#post21782879 - comparison. StudioCanal is a massive improvement to the Criterion but still flawed in some areas (chroma noise)
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
251 min cut (Extended): Fox Blu-ray. Eagle Pictures has forced Italian subs in some parts
229 min cut (Theatrical): WB Blu-ray
139 min cut (US theatrical): VHS
Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray, caps
The 4K includes both theatrical and extended cuts. It's overall a solid upgrade over previous discs, but some will strongly dislike the color grading.
There are some issues with encoding and grain management.
Nic's review:
Some definitely messed with it as there’s grain management going on that resulted in magnetic, squishy grain movement. Both cuts (4K discs) are affected and it doesn’t look like an encoding issue to me as the bitrates don’t drop down to single digits á la Paramount or StudioCanal. During opticals, the lowest I’ve noted on the Extended 4K was around 30 MB/s vs. ~5 MB/s more for the theatrical cut.
Darker scenes are mostly (but not always) better but when it gets brighter, particularly in exteriors or scenes like the Jennifer Connelly dance scene at minute 38, I can’t unsee the digital tinkering as it does some damage texturally.
I compared it with the Eagle Pictures and Warner Bros Fox Blu-ray of the extended cut and they all look fine without grain management like that. Eagle Pictures’s Blu-ray is an older one if anyone’s curious and credited to another authoring house than 64Biz, which did the 4K.
Other than that, except for some encoding-related chroma noise that peeks through in the DV layer, Eagle Pictures did everything right. They corrected the framing to 1.85, kept the original English titles, the English restoration note, subtitles, HDR/DV is gentle and respectful of the source black levels are better than on the Warner Bros/Fox Blu-ray. Without that grain management, this would’ve been the all-timer release we all longed for.
229 min cut: Warner Bros LaserDisc
251 min cut: Fox Blu-ray (24-bit, Eagle Pictures is 16-bit, not audible)
229 min cut: Warner Bros LaserDisc (missing 2 minutes, but original mono mix was never released on DVD/Blu-ray)
Extended edition adds scenes cut from the theatrical, but from a much lower quality source. It's intended to approximate the original cut, but to what extent that is true is debatable.
US theatrical cut is infamously bad, was panned at release and never re-released on home video.
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Paramount 4K Blu-ray heavily revisionist. Purist option: 35mm scan, Blu-ray, DVD or LaserDisc.
The Paramount 4K master is HEAVILY revisionist in that all of the effects and opticals were redone and tweaked with errors and issues. There has been grain management (moments of stagnating grain and haloing) and the encoding isn't great hence the typical Paramount noise in the image. (especially skies) The HDR is a bit bright in the highlights. The Blu-ray is showing its age but does not have any of these digital alterations. It is from the scan done by Laser Pacific and is the highest quality unaltered master we have. The DVD was done by Lowry Digital and had much scrubbing and processing of grain in addition to edge enhancement. The letterbox LaserDisc was the first widescreen release and is very good for its time.
The 4K Blu-ray audio is seemingly an Atmos remix of the 5.1 found on the Blu-ray which itself is very similar to the DVD 5.1. All are presumably based on the 70mm Dolby six track mix. The Atmos is more processed and moves the sound around more so it is inferior to the older 5.1 iterations. On release Temple of Doom had 70mm, 35mm Dolby Stereo and mono mixes. The mono was for 16mm and other outlets and is presumably close to if not a mixdown of the stereo. It is seemingly the last Lucasfilm title that had a mono mix made. The Dolby Stereo is one of the most aggressive matrix mixes ever made and is still a blast to this day on the letterbox LaserDisc release. It is more aggressive than any of the 5.1 discrete versions which is either due to studios taming the audio later or the 35mm mix being handled a bit differently to the 70mm mix. In terms of releases today, the LaserDisc still sounds better than DVD, Blu-ray or 4K Blu-ray because of this factor.
DFIC extensive review: https://youtu.be/evsrJOTIjdA?si=wtdWGxZBfhPYTIeW
Director: Ivan Reitman
2022 Sony Ultimate Collection 4K Blu-ray
Only 2022 'Ultimate Collection' has dolby vision. 2022 ‘Ultimate Collection’ also has a higher average bitrate.
1989 Criterion LaserDisc
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