UK

Original aspect ratio and much better encoding; caps

Both UHDs only have 5.1 and a downmix. Paramount US Blu-ray sounds okay, close to the LaserDisc.

Both the US Arrow 4K Blu-ray and UK Shameless 4K Blu-ray are better than the horrible grade of the France Le Chat Qui Fume which has blacks looking greenish and milky with some yellow push. However, comparing these two, there's significant tradeoffs; Arrow has less black crush and some shots seems to be better graded but it's worse in some shots with a slight magenta grade; the UK Shameless 4K Blu-ray has a better color grading.

UK Shameless 4K Blu-ray and US Arrow 4K Blu-ray have exclusive extras

German Plaion 4K Blu-ray see caps but doesn't have EN subtitles

(some may prefer Synapse's grading, while some prefer Shameless's grading)

UK MoC Blu-ray is better than France Carlotta (see caps) or US Kino Lorber Blu-ray see caps

> Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

4K Blu-ray is denoised

The 2025 SteelBook uses the same transfer as the 2014 Japan Studio Ghibli Blu-ray and 2015 Discotek US Blu-ray but with better white balance.

The DV/HDR grade is tasteful and not overdone. SC has better compression, though not flawless; encoded by FiM, but Criterion also holds up quite well. Both releases claim to be approved by Lynch.

SC has a missing fade that Criterion reinstated.

The film was originally mixed in Dolby Stereo (matrixed LCRS). For the 4K restoration, this mix has been transferred from the original magnetic elements and remastered with Lynch's supervision. Unfortunately, the fidelity suffered in the process, with many sections ending up significantly less detailed due to a noise reduction pass. This track has been altered compared to the original, with reverb added to some dialogue, different ambient sound effects, changed panning, and extended bass.

For the unrestored mix, there are two major options, each with its own merits and flaws. The 2001 Paramount DVD, which I would say is the best well-rounded mastering, and the 1999 Japanese LaserDisc, which has noticeably better clarity and high-end detail, as well as better dynamics, but suffers from occasional distortion and has less bass than the DVD.

The LD also has some ambiance buried too low in the mix, and some dialogue panned more to the centre than the DVD. There are no content changes I was able to find. Unfortunately, I don't know what accounts for those differences.

The other available tracks all have more significant flaws. The Italian and Japanese BDs use the same base mastering as the DVD, but with some patching in a few shots. HD-DVD is sourced from an inferior transfer, the same as the Momentum DVD.

The 5.1 remix, originally introduced on the 2002 DVD, and carried over without changes to the 2009 BD is a light and mostly faithful remix, with fairly minimal LFE and surround use, but still potentially worthwhile as the only discrete track.

However it seems like the Britain Fox Blu-ray is slightly cropped see caps