US

> Turbine Germany 4K Blu-ray

Turbine Germany 4K Blu-ray has a few exclusive extras

> Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray (caps)

Although the provenance of Paramount's 5.1 track is not confirmed, the fidelity is outstanding and speaks for itself.
The 7.1 track on the Capelight/old Lionsgate release is just an upmix with nothing gained over the 5.1.
The original stereo mix is only present on older DVDs and LaserDiscs; all Blu-ray 2.0 tracks are downmixes.

Paramount 4K Blu-ray has no extras, Capelight 4K Blu-ray has most of the extras, Olive Films Blu-ray has a exclusive commentary

US Criterion Blu-ray : See caps. Criterion and 88 Films share a regraded and brighter master; Carlotta didn't follow the regrade and its image is very dark.

Mono spectrograms

> Germany Plaion Blu-ray, better encoding: caps

Arrow US/Britain Blu-ray has dupe-y sounding music from optical elements. The VHS has much better-sounding audio from the original magnetic sources.

2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray
Comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/6JWnlfit

US GKIDS Blu-ray has more bonuses than the US Disney Blu-ray

Touchstone Home Video US LaserDisc [940 CS] has the original stereo

Japan 4K Blu-ray beats the other 4Ks and includes English subtitles

All 4K releases are upscales of the same master with a substantial amount of DNR.

Due to budgetary constraints, the original theatrical mix was mono. It was replaced with Dolby Surround for all subsequent releases and was never re-released.

LaserDisc is the best souning version of the original home video mix, as all later releases attentuate bass significantly and lower dynamic range. Comparison

The Japanese audio was remixed in 5.1 twice, first time in 2001 for the DVD release, and second time in 2009 for the BD release ("Hypersonic" remix). While the 2001 remix remains mostly faithful to the 1988 mix, the 2009 Hypersonic remix is highly revisionistic. However, its fidelity is outstanding, and despite many changes made, it's a worthwhile alternative experience for fans of the film. The 4K release includes the Hypersonic mix, but with a tonne of unnecessary noise reduction and unbalanced levels.

Comparison between mixes, list of changes between mixes

Film Whisperer's restoration is better

Censorship changes for Blu-ray: https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=224122

> US MVD

UK StudioCanal has more extras

MGM 5.1 remix noticeably reduces elements of original mix

2012 US Disney Blu-ray has dubtitles. US GKIDS Blu-ray has bonuses that are absent on the US Disney Blu-ray

• The BBC 4K collection and Shout! Factory 4K collection all use the same source, and are all unfortunately using AI upscaling and DNR'ed They are worse than the blurays and the 2023 US Shout! Factory collections are even prone to disc-rot.

• 2009 Lionsgate US (also prone to disc-rot) or UK 2 Entertain OOP Blu-ray will be the way to go.

• The 4K collection's Blu-ray seems to be a reprint of previous releases.