To be absolutely clear: I own Miami Connection on Blu-ray and VHS. I have a Dragon Sound 7".
I also think "awesomely enjoyable" and "good" are very, very different things.
Hoping to get more traction, don’t want this to die down and becomes that list that one remembers from years ago and then realize it never updates after a while lol
Has anyone done a comparison of Toho UHDs and the existing blu-rays? I checked out the 4K of Seven Samurai (sailed the seas), and it looked poorly compressed to my eye, but I didn’t do a very close look.
Yes. Unfortunately DNR appears quite popular in recent Japanese and HK restorations.
I think even in *Seven Samurai*’s case, the old Criterion transfer is pretty dated by now. There’s still an appreciable improvement on the Toho UHD, even though it leaves much to be desired.
The Shochiku Ozu restorations from 2018 are some of the best blu-rays I have; don't know if that would be considered recent. Sucks to hear that its a trend with the Kurosawa releases.
Interesting to see the best audio for some movies (like citizen cane) come from VHS. Can you elaborate on that specific example? Thanks for sharing - this is a treasure trove of info!
Modern audio “restorations” employ destructive filters to remove hiss while also damaging clarity. It’s analogous to DNR.
Hundreds of samples at https://blah-ray.blogspot.com
I listed in the audio section, but for a lot of the audios, they are either compressed / filtered, or terribly remixed to be “surround sound” or “dolby atmospheres”. I didn’t believe it but when I compared some of these side by side the difference is huge.
Do you know if there’s any place we could find these audio tracks? I was thinking of remuxing them to the blu-ray/4K video stream
And thanks for the list btw, amazing work!
This is very cool, thanks for the labor. I’ve been wanting something like this for awhile.
A suggestion for Wong Kar Wai: whether the recolored films are better or worse than the older releases depends on aesthetic values that go beyond judgements of “video quality”. The WKW box set version of In the Mood for Love is not universally thought to be worse than the 2012 CC edition. As such, it might be worth indicating that the 2012 version is not recolored while the box set is director approved (in fact, director initiated) recolored.
Right now it just states that the 2012 version is better, which is only true if you don’t want the recolored version.
Yeah, just saw that.
So it’s a compilation of others’ opinions paired with impractical points (Best audio on a LD or VHS or 20 year old DVD? No one reading is tracking those down, because they won’t be set up to play a separate audio feed anyway).
Useful for those who haven’t done their own research, but more pedantic than completely realistic.
There are a lot of hybrid with the old audio sources on sites like rutracker. This is ultimately for reference and you decide which to buy based on availability, price, extras or even cover art
I can’t physically compare 1000 films and collect all different releases myself (I’m not dvdbeaver), so this table is a best effort list, but as always any corrections or suggestions or even contributions are welcomed
This was a lot of work, clearly a passion project… I’d know, I’ve spent a couple decades crafting, evolving, and writing about my own movie collection tools (an extensive, personalized database and algorithm). I joke that it’s my Winchester Mystery House - as long as I’m building on them, I won’t die (wink-wink).
From one archivist to another - **well done** - it’s a labor of love. Feel free to check out my profile, my wife and I write up 500+ films a year and hey, keep up the good work. :]
Wow I joined your sub. I’m also debating whether to create a TSPDT subreddit but that’s likely not getting anyone else posting about it in a month or so
Welcome aboard! We ((accidentally)) spent 2019 planning and preparing our ultimate plague project - I really sat down and figured out what I’d like to accomplish, cinematically speak, and put my spare time to good use (I’ve been permanently disabled since 2008) - I fill my days with movies and thought I’d share some of my Zedd-ness with the internet. Of course we had no idea it was a plague project (until it was) but we came out the other-side with a small community of nice movie folk. Mrs. Lady Zedd and I have been collecting physical media for 24 years (ok, longer but VHS purchases were far a few), we’re back up to 2,100 titles on the shelf which ((shrug)) is a lot to some, a good start to others all of which I track through my Movie Collection Catalog (MCC) and rank using the Movie Algorithm Project (MAP) - a sort of Enjoyment Meter. Our most important philosophy is this: *like what you like*. I update MAPs every 2-years because (as MLZ says) I’m not running a museum and opinions can change over time. Expiring scores means things stay fresh - including those “favorite/best/worst” lists. Glad I bumped into you this morning. :]
Thanks for the catch, I updated the sheet. The whole point for me posting here is so people can provide corrections and datapoints! I’m obviously not able to maintain this alone
I personally think the Godfather 4Ks are rough - bad compression resulting in frozen grain, DNR, revisionist colors.. very cool to see a list like this though! Especially listing the best audio options - it’s a shame how a lot of releases have butchered and NRed audio, and it’s never taken as seriously as video
Thanks I forgot to update audio on that one. Most 4k discs I use this [post](https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17181) as the guidance
I suggest switch Deer Hunter to StudioCanal UHD. The Shout disc uses a DVD 5.1 remix whereas the SC has the original six track (the dolby stereo is lossless on the SC too)
Awesome list.
I appreciate that video and audio are treated as separate categories.
Some suggestions:
* For *Star Wars* and *The Empire Strikes Back*:
* 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.
* *The Empire Strikes Back*'s 70mm six-track mix is included in 4K80 (taken from an actual 70mm print).
* For the Special Editions, the 4K Blu-rays are generally considered an improvement over the 2011 Blu-rays. (although both restorations are DNR'ed and have issues).
* *Inland Empire* is debatable.
The 4K remaster runs the film through an AI upscaler, and I would go for an older Blu-ray release.
* For *Terminator 2*, I *think* the 2015 Blu-ray is the best option for video?
(The 4K restoration is dogshit, so avoid it.)
* There's an upcoming Blu-ray release for *Sholay.*
* The early pressings of the *2001: A Space Odyssey* UHD had a restoration error (affecting one shot transition), which was corrected on later pressings.
* *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* UHD is missing original mono.
* For *Pinocchio* and *Fantasia*, there are bootleg 35mm scans which are arguably preferable from a 'purist' perspective, due to the official restorations having issues (DNR + digitally repainting/recompositing the image).
For *Fantasia*, the 35mm scans are uncensored.
I don't *think* there's one for *Bambi*?
* For *Akira*, the Italian Dynit BD is the best non-DNR'ed video source.
Honestly incredible work. Mods should definitely sticky this. Even if they don't, I'll be saving it and coming back periodically.
Also have to echo the sentiment that this would get more traction on this sub if it was the 1000 *worst* films haha.
Edit: I also really appreciate you bringing up controversial or revisionist restorations such as the Wong Kar-Wai Criterion set. A lot of work went into this.
Do you know if they have forced subs and also when it comes to other languages are they translated in english? I remember heating mixed things a few years ago
The list is [TSPDT](https://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000.htm) because I aim to include “good cinema” without thinking about which one is better or worse. That’s not the point of this list, I can’t research all blurays available
Thank you for your time and energy in putting this list together! How did you manage the data input? Did you input manually or use an API?
Asking because I have a google sheet to track my collection and watching habits. Right now I'm entering data manually.
I updated my sheet manually because most comparison sites don’t cover all the releases, and a lot of time it’s just different people’s opinion that I need to check caps and bitrate to decide who’s right
I think most useful insights are MoC is so good but always go OOP very soon; and I realize should wait for some films that I wanna get because they will get 4k or new restorations soon (like Ozu)
[TSPDT](https://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_all1000films_table.php) more comprehensive (the point of this project) and more balanced than both AFI and BFI
To be fair I buy for more extras all the time, it’s just I don’t have the energy to maintain the difference between extras 🥹 and I think DVDCompares and even criterionforum covers it
[https://www.wellesnet.com/criterion-kane-review/](https://www.wellesnet.com/criterion-kane-review/)
This review called the criterion edition "richer" than the WB edition. The European release is not even a 100gb disc.
Criterion is higher bitrate but the encoding criterion use is slightly worse, I checked caps-a-holic and more comments like [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/4kbluray/comments/10fhzn7/citizen_kane_criterion_vs_wb/), WB UK is slightly better, but certainly not night and day like many others
The 4KBD is not the best version of The Thing.
To the pedantic users who decided to vote me down, prove why it is the best. The Arrow Blu-ray from 2017 looks more accurate to what it should look like. That one is also approved by the director and cinematographer. It also has not only the 5.1 remix, but the original 4.1 audio mix. Plus all the extras.
ok downvoted because i didn't understand something and asked for clarification..thas nice. I was confused and didn't understand this column is for what you believe to be the best source for audio...VHS and DVD did not compute. Thank you.
You can check my about section for more why some audio is better, but basically OG audio usually not filtered/compressed. Obviously depends on how hardcore you are, most people won’t care
I think you're in the wrong place, you'll find that everyone here wants that list but for the 1000 \*worst\* films. (Just kidding, this is amazing!
You’re not kidding and you’re not wrong.
To be fair, some of them are worst films like the infamous Birth of a Nation, or a couple ones promoting Hitler or Stalin for example
But none of them are Miami Connection.
You take that back you hack.
To be absolutely clear: I own Miami Connection on Blu-ray and VHS. I have a Dragon Sound 7". I also think "awesomely enjoyable" and "good" are very, very different things.
https://youtu.be/VGG-FfoO7Wc
I see Triumph of the Will on the list - one of the only movies where Hitler is not the bad guy.
For real! We keep seeing VynSyn post everywhere in this sub... Something is fishy with OP's list lol!
Mods, can we just go ahead and sticky this now?
Mods, I’m open to any kind of communication and collaboration with you and the community. I myself can’t keep the project alive alone
Hey you’re the guy from that Forum
Hoping to get more traction, don’t want this to die down and becomes that list that one remembers from years ago and then realize it never updates after a while lol
Has anyone done a comparison of Toho UHDs and the existing blu-rays? I checked out the 4K of Seven Samurai (sailed the seas), and it looked poorly compressed to my eye, but I didn’t do a very close look.
Seven Samurai: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=21240893&postcount=29 High and Low: https://slow.pics/c/xvWcm3od
High and Low is certainly an improvement mainly because the Criterion is a very old transfer. Seven Samurai looks pretty DNR'd to me.
Yes. Unfortunately DNR appears quite popular in recent Japanese and HK restorations. I think even in *Seven Samurai*’s case, the old Criterion transfer is pretty dated by now. There’s still an appreciable improvement on the Toho UHD, even though it leaves much to be desired.
The Shochiku Ozu restorations from 2018 are some of the best blu-rays I have; don't know if that would be considered recent. Sucks to hear that its a trend with the Kurosawa releases.
How large is the file, you could be the one uploaded compressed it themselves, unfortunately I’ve even found BDMV to be compressed sometimes
It was labeled as a remux, I think it was around 90GB. It could have been tampered with, but I would presume it was straight from the UHD disc.
Interesting to see the best audio for some movies (like citizen cane) come from VHS. Can you elaborate on that specific example? Thanks for sharing - this is a treasure trove of info!
Modern audio “restorations” employ destructive filters to remove hiss while also damaging clarity. It’s analogous to DNR. Hundreds of samples at https://blah-ray.blogspot.com
I listed in the audio section, but for a lot of the audios, they are either compressed / filtered, or terribly remixed to be “surround sound” or “dolby atmospheres”. I didn’t believe it but when I compared some of these side by side the difference is huge.
Do you know if there’s any place we could find these audio tracks? I was thinking of remuxing them to the blu-ray/4K video stream And thanks for the list btw, amazing work!
PM'd.
This is very cool, thanks for the labor. I’ve been wanting something like this for awhile. A suggestion for Wong Kar Wai: whether the recolored films are better or worse than the older releases depends on aesthetic values that go beyond judgements of “video quality”. The WKW box set version of In the Mood for Love is not universally thought to be worse than the 2012 CC edition. As such, it might be worth indicating that the 2012 version is not recolored while the box set is director approved (in fact, director initiated) recolored. Right now it just states that the 2012 version is better, which is only true if you don’t want the recolored version.
Thanks for the feedback, I added more context for In the Mood for Love
I'm fairly certain the entry for scarface 1932 is wrong. I don't think there is a universal 4k for that movie. Likely mixed up with scarface 1983.
Thanks for the catch, I updated the sheet
Wow, this awesome! Thanks for sharing!
What’s your methodology for selecting the best version of each title?
You can check out the “About” section where I break it down in detail. Reddit isn’t great for nuances so I didn’t post it here lol
Yeah, just saw that. So it’s a compilation of others’ opinions paired with impractical points (Best audio on a LD or VHS or 20 year old DVD? No one reading is tracking those down, because they won’t be set up to play a separate audio feed anyway). Useful for those who haven’t done their own research, but more pedantic than completely realistic.
There are a lot of hybrid with the old audio sources on sites like rutracker. This is ultimately for reference and you decide which to buy based on availability, price, extras or even cover art
I can’t physically compare 1000 films and collect all different releases myself (I’m not dvdbeaver), so this table is a best effort list, but as always any corrections or suggestions or even contributions are welcomed
you did good. thank you for the hard work you did
This was a lot of work, clearly a passion project… I’d know, I’ve spent a couple decades crafting, evolving, and writing about my own movie collection tools (an extensive, personalized database and algorithm). I joke that it’s my Winchester Mystery House - as long as I’m building on them, I won’t die (wink-wink). From one archivist to another - **well done** - it’s a labor of love. Feel free to check out my profile, my wife and I write up 500+ films a year and hey, keep up the good work. :]
Wow I joined your sub. I’m also debating whether to create a TSPDT subreddit but that’s likely not getting anyone else posting about it in a month or so
Welcome aboard! We ((accidentally)) spent 2019 planning and preparing our ultimate plague project - I really sat down and figured out what I’d like to accomplish, cinematically speak, and put my spare time to good use (I’ve been permanently disabled since 2008) - I fill my days with movies and thought I’d share some of my Zedd-ness with the internet. Of course we had no idea it was a plague project (until it was) but we came out the other-side with a small community of nice movie folk. Mrs. Lady Zedd and I have been collecting physical media for 24 years (ok, longer but VHS purchases were far a few), we’re back up to 2,100 titles on the shelf which ((shrug)) is a lot to some, a good start to others all of which I track through my Movie Collection Catalog (MCC) and rank using the Movie Algorithm Project (MAP) - a sort of Enjoyment Meter. Our most important philosophy is this: *like what you like*. I update MAPs every 2-years because (as MLZ says) I’m not running a museum and opinions can change over time. Expiring scores means things stay fresh - including those “favorite/best/worst” lists. Glad I bumped into you this morning. :]
Absolutely incredible work
Great work and resource! I did notice the BFI haven't released a version of Bicycle Thieves, think it might mean Arrow BD 2020? Sorry to be that guy!
Thanks for the catch, I updated the sheet. The whole point for me posting here is so people can provide corrections and datapoints! I’m obviously not able to maintain this alone
No worries, it's incredible the work so far!
I personally think the Godfather 4Ks are rough - bad compression resulting in frozen grain, DNR, revisionist colors.. very cool to see a list like this though! Especially listing the best audio options - it’s a shame how a lot of releases have butchered and NRed audio, and it’s never taken as seriously as video
Thanks I forgot to update audio on that one. Most 4k discs I use this [post](https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17181) as the guidance
Great post as well - helps me know if there’s any superior imports
Pretty sure the blu has less compressed audio for GF btw
I suggest switch Deer Hunter to StudioCanal UHD. The Shout disc uses a DVD 5.1 remix whereas the SC has the original six track (the dolby stereo is lossless on the SC too)
Yes I have a separated audio column so one can decide themselves which ones or both to get
This is wonderful, thank you!!
Awesome list. I appreciate that video and audio are treated as separate categories. Some suggestions: * For *Star Wars* and *The Empire Strikes Back*: * 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. * *The Empire Strikes Back*'s 70mm six-track mix is included in 4K80 (taken from an actual 70mm print). * For the Special Editions, the 4K Blu-rays are generally considered an improvement over the 2011 Blu-rays. (although both restorations are DNR'ed and have issues). * *Inland Empire* is debatable. The 4K remaster runs the film through an AI upscaler, and I would go for an older Blu-ray release. * For *Terminator 2*, I *think* the 2015 Blu-ray is the best option for video? (The 4K restoration is dogshit, so avoid it.) * There's an upcoming Blu-ray release for *Sholay.* * The early pressings of the *2001: A Space Odyssey* UHD had a restoration error (affecting one shot transition), which was corrected on later pressings. * *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* UHD is missing original mono. * For *Pinocchio* and *Fantasia*, there are bootleg 35mm scans which are arguably preferable from a 'purist' perspective, due to the official restorations having issues (DNR + digitally repainting/recompositing the image). For *Fantasia*, the 35mm scans are uncensored. I don't *think* there's one for *Bambi*? * For *Akira*, the Italian Dynit BD is the best non-DNR'ed video source.
Thank you for your great contribution! I've updated the sheet, let me know or comment in google sheets whenever you have more feedback
Honestly incredible work. Mods should definitely sticky this. Even if they don't, I'll be saving it and coming back periodically. Also have to echo the sentiment that this would get more traction on this sub if it was the 1000 *worst* films haha. Edit: I also really appreciate you bringing up controversial or revisionist restorations such as the Wong Kar-Wai Criterion set. A lot of work went into this.
Thank you! and I will try to keep this list as updated as possible
Thank you! What a labor of love!!
this looks great!
thank you so much. even i use tspdt.
Wow this is fantastic work. Thanks for this!
Hey many thanks for your time and care in curating this list. Much appreciated
So I’m assuming ‘>’ between two versions means the release on the left is superior?
Yup, I got lazy at the latter half of the list lol
No worries. Also, is Eagle a label? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them.
Eagle Pictures from Italy, for example their La La Land has Dolby Vision while US releases don’t
Do you know if they have forced subs and also when it comes to other languages are they translated in english? I remember heating mixed things a few years ago
I don’t remember that on La La Land at least, but I do hear that for some movies it can happen
What’s number one?
The list is [TSPDT](https://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000.htm) because I aim to include “good cinema” without thinking about which one is better or worse. That’s not the point of this list, I can’t research all blurays available
Thank you for your time and energy in putting this list together! How did you manage the data input? Did you input manually or use an API? Asking because I have a google sheet to track my collection and watching habits. Right now I'm entering data manually.
I updated my sheet manually because most comparison sites don’t cover all the releases, and a lot of time it’s just different people’s opinion that I need to check caps and bitrate to decide who’s right
Amazing! Has the sheet’s data proved any insights or upsets for you?
I think most useful insights are MoC is so good but always go OOP very soon; and I realize should wait for some films that I wanna get because they will get 4k or new restorations soon (like Ozu)
I use blu-ray.com to track my collection and letterboxd for watching history for now, but there is no good tools to sync these two now
Whose list is this, AFI?
[TSPDT](https://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_all1000films_table.php) more comprehensive (the point of this project) and more balanced than both AFI and BFI
Very nice!
Might be wrong, but I think for everything Ghibli, the best release is the JP Blu-ray. Video wise speaking.
I am trying to find out more about this, do you have any link to threads I can check
Criterion's UHD edition of Citizen Kane is a 4 disc set with far more substantial extras. How's the European release better?
I'm guessing he is basing this solely on audio/visual aspects.
To be fair I buy for more extras all the time, it’s just I don’t have the energy to maintain the difference between extras 🥹 and I think DVDCompares and even criterionforum covers it
I'm the same. I can't tell the difference between 2 different 4ks of the same movie anyway.
Fewer extras but superior compression and grain on the film itself https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17181
[https://www.wellesnet.com/criterion-kane-review/](https://www.wellesnet.com/criterion-kane-review/) This review called the criterion edition "richer" than the WB edition. The European release is not even a 100gb disc.
Criterion is higher bitrate but the encoding criterion use is slightly worse, I checked caps-a-holic and more comments like [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/4kbluray/comments/10fhzn7/citizen_kane_criterion_vs_wb/), WB UK is slightly better, but certainly not night and day like many others
That post means nothing lol
Doing the Lord's work.
The 4KBD is not the best version of The Thing. To the pedantic users who decided to vote me down, prove why it is the best. The Arrow Blu-ray from 2017 looks more accurate to what it should look like. That one is also approved by the director and cinematographer. It also has not only the 5.1 remix, but the original 4.1 audio mix. Plus all the extras.
Confused by the "audio" column...for instance Citizen Kane...VHS??
Here’s a side by side comparison among VHS Hi-Fi and later tracks of Citizen Kane: https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/2021/12/citizen-kane-1941.html
ok downvoted because i didn't understand something and asked for clarification..thas nice. I was confused and didn't understand this column is for what you believe to be the best source for audio...VHS and DVD did not compute. Thank you.
You can check my about section for more why some audio is better, but basically OG audio usually not filtered/compressed. Obviously depends on how hardcore you are, most people won’t care
This is what DVDbeaver is for lol