Tags
/
VHS

VHS

48 films on Best Blurays

Type: Format

Page 2 of 3

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

Director: John Ford

4K · Worse Than BD
Best Video:

2022 Paramount Presents Blu-ray disc included in 4K Blu-ray set

Sources: x.com (opens in a new tab) · caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Same master, but less bitrate starved.

Best Audio:

1980s Paramount VHS

Additional Info:

The encode on the BD is preferable to the UHD. Same master, but less bitrate starved: https://x.com/SadHillDevan/status/1530057783885721607?s=20 and see caps

Director: Billy Wilder

Video Notes:

Eureka Blu-ray has worse encoding.

Best Audio:

1985 Key Video Hi-Fi VHS

Director: Guy Hamilton

4K · Solid
Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1988 MGM VHS Hi-Fi, 1988 LaserDisc analog

Additional Info:

Criterion LaserDisc includes an exclusive commentary, which was later banned by EON and caused the release to be recalled.

Director: Terence Young

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray despite frozen grain

Best Audio:

UK mix: 1984 CBS Fox VHS Hifi but missing one scene
International mix: WB 4K Blu-ray though source origin is unknown

1995 MGM stereo remix: 1998 LaserDisc and 2000 DVD fix gunbarrel dropout

Director: Sergio Leone

4K · Excellent
Best Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber, see caps

Best Audio:

1984 Key Video Hi-Fi VHS

Directors: George Harrison & Ringo Starr & Bernard Knowles & John Lennon & Paul McCartney

Best Video:

2012 Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Media VHS Tape

Audio Notes:

Media VHS Tape is the only release to date to include the original mono mix of the film, but it is in very poor quality

Director: John Waters

Best Video:

Cinema Group Home Video VHS

Director: Michael Lindsay-Hogg

Video format: 4K Streaming

Best Video:

Disney+ Streaming

Video Notes:

Cropped from 1.37:1 to 1.85:1 for original theatrical distribution. Opened up back to 1.37:1 for remaster per director’s request 

Best Audio:

Magnetic Video VHS Tape

Director: Don Siegel

4K · Solid
Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

WB 4K Blu-ray despite extreme frozen grain in moments, overzealous HDR brightness in outdoor sequences, color timing shifts in some shots

Best Audio:

Original Mono Mix: 1990's LaserDisc stereo remix folded back to mono, original VHS and Beta Hifi, WB 4K Blu-ray mono

Director: Steven Spielberg

4K · Disappointing
Best Video:

"Director's Cut" (Theatrical cut with minor changes): Universal 4K Blu-ray

Theatrical Cut: VHS

TV Cut: Fan restoration

Best Audio:

1993 MCA LaserDisc (with EQ adjusted)

Director: H.B. Halicki

Best Video:

OOP 2017 US Mill Creek Blu-ray

Video Notes:

It is in MPEG-2, but has a superior restoration that has less errors than the older 2012 Blu-ray.

Best Audio:

1989 US VHS mono

Audio Notes:

The 5.1 remix on the US Blu-ray has poor mixing and heavily revised sound effects.

Director: Tobe Hooper

4K · Excellent

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

(Carlotta 4K Blu-ray has some better shots than Second Sight 4K Blu-ray and is more accurate to the theatrical grade: https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=18250&d2=18597&s1=210919&s2=219265&i=4&l=0&a=1)

Best Audio:

LaserDisc/VHS likely will have less filtered and correct audio. MPI 4K Blu-ray’s mono appears to be correct content-wise.

Directors: Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam

4K · Solid
Best Video:

2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Majority of film (theatrical and extended cuts): 1991 Columbia US VHS (or possibly 1994 Columbia LaserDisc?)

32-second scene (extended cut): 1993 Criterion LaserDisc

Directors: Greg MacGillivray & Jim Freeman

Video format: SD Streaming

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

Best Video:

Director: Lewis Gilbert

Best Video:

MGM Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Original 4-Track Mix: MGM 1990 LaserDisc

General release mono mix: CBS Fox VHS Hi-Fi but time compressed
5.1 remix of 4-track mix: MGM Blu-ray (a lossless version of the remix from the Ultimate Edition DVD)

Audio Notes:

The 5.1 track on the earlier THX LD/DVD and SE DVDs is not the same as the later remix, and appears to be more faithful the original mix (likely a simple upmix). The UE DVD remix has a lot more surround activity.

Director: Ralph Bakshi

Best Video:

2010 Warner Bros Blu-ray

Best Audio:

HBO VHS Tape

Additional Info:

2025 reprint is the exact same master as the 2010 disc

Director: Harold Ramis

Best Audio:

Original theatrical release featured the song "I'm So Excited", which was later replaced with "Little Boy Sweet". The former is included on 1983 VHS/LaserDisc releases, and was at one point available on Amazon and Vudu Streaming streams.

Director: Sergio Leone

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

251 min cut (Extended): Fox Blu-ray

229 min cut (Theatrical): WB Blu-ray

139 min cut (US theatrical): VHS

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

Video Notes:

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.

Best Audio:

251 min cut: Fox Blu-ray

229 min cut: Warner Bros LaserDisc

Audio Notes:

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)

Additional Info:

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.

Director: John G. Avildsen

4K · Excellent
Best Video:

Sony 2022 boxset or 2024 VHS packaging 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Sony 2022 boxset or 2024 VHS packaging has Dolby Vision, 2019 Sony 4K Blu-ray is HDR10 only.

Best Audio:

Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray (any) 

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray 

Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray (any)

Director: Masami Hata

Video format: Only Unofficial Sources

Best Video:

4K restored scan of 16mm theatrical print

Video Notes:

Fansubs are included with the 4K scan

Best Audio:

1986 VAP rental Hi-Fi VHS

Audio Notes:

Audio capture of the Hi-Fi VHS included with the 4K scan

Missing a VHS film? Suggest it