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I agree. As long as the original mix is included, it should be a reference title. Generally, I also opt for the original soundtrack, but properly done surround mixes can really open up the sound so I often prefer them in films where there's a lot of music on the soundtrack; musicals, of course, but I would definitely also always watch 2001 in surround. As long as they keep the dialogue in center and don't add fancy panning effects to the dialogue, I'm happy.

Re-creating the sound effects is a huge problem though. Vertigo was a perfect example, but they also advertised it had newly recorded sound effects so people knew what to expect. There have been plenty of awful examples that people had to discover for themselves, like this one and this one.

The German import of Blue Sunshine is a reference disc and massive upgrade from the US Bluray, and it's English-friendly. Caps-a-holic here

Finch wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 4:26 pm The German import of Blue Sunshine is a reference disc and massive upgrade from the US Bluray, and it's English-friendly. Caps-a-holic here

The French LE CHAT QUI FUME scan is purportedly identical, but also has Lieberman's Remote Control (1988) as a bonus film.

Is the French disc English-friendly though?

OP amended re Scream 1996 4k: moved to the top tier as it's a huge upgrade on the original BD.

edit: as per GeoffD, the new Blu-Ray has the new transfer and the difference between that and the UHD comes down to this:

there's more fine detail on the UHD in the highest frequencies (chairs, table) and the ringing is gone from the BD. Still the smallest such difference I've seen in a while, even when comparing a newly minted BD vs the UHD from the same source, but it is there.

I believe this was discussed elsewhere already but am adding Studio Canal's European release of Serpico as a disappointing disc: blacks are elevated and the colors are terrible, thanks to Ritrovata's "one size fits all" approach to color grading.

Akira Japanese UHD added as a solid upgrade/superior import despite the DNR applied to all 4k dsics. It's currently (see below) the only 4k English-friendly for the film disc with the original Japanese 1988 home video audio and the US/UK discs have terrible downconverted tracks. The Japanese limited edition is not English-friendly for the bonus stuff and the standard edition (missing the third disc) is also still expensive to import. The US/UK 4k had to be replaced to add the HDR but still only has the lousy audio options. Madman Australia have promised a direct port of the JPN release and JBHiFi has it down for April 21. For the Blu-Rays, I gather the best disc is the 2009 version with the original audio while the re-release from Funimation has poor encoding.

Finch wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 4:36 pm Akira Japanese UHD added as a solid upgrade/superior import despite the DNR applied to all 4k dsics. It's currently (see below) the only 4k English-friendly for the film disc with the original Japanese 1988 audio and the US/UK discs have terrible downconverted tracks. The Japanese limited edition is not English-friendly for the bonus stuff and the standard edition (missing the third disc) is also still expensive to import. The US/UK 4k had to be replaced to add the HDR but still only has the lousy audio options. Madman Australia have promised a direct port of the JPN release and JBHiFi has it down for April 21. For the Blu-Rays, I gather the best disc is the 2009 version with the original audio while the re-release from Funimation has poor encoding.

Fyi, none of the home video releases of "Akira" have ever had the original theatrical Japanese audio. The 2.0 Japanese track was specifically remixed for home video.

Oh! Thanks for that correction. I'll amend OP and post above. Appreciated!

Solid/Appreciable Upgrade to the most recent BD:

A Hard Day's Night added

PS.: more Criterion QC failures. Replacement for the UHD coming in March

The French UHD for The 400 Blows looks amazing. Probably a huge upgrade over Criterion's BD.

On the other hand, what appears to be an incredible-looking transfer of Stolen Kisses has been ruined by, well, you can probably guess.

JPN import of The Inugami Family added as a reference title but hopefully a Western boutique label ports this over at a more palatable price

Re 400 Blows UHD, that does look promising. The CC BD is severely cropped on the left by comparison.

hearthesilence wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 5:52 am The French UHD for The 400 Blows looks amazing. Probably a huge upgrade over Criterion's BD.

On the other hand, what appears to be an incredible-looking transfer of Stolen Kisses has been ruined by, well, you can probably guess.

Actually, the 2 B&W restorations are heaily hampered by problematic black levels (very problematic in the case of Antoine et Colette), which has sadly become a trademark from Eclair on B&W movies. While there is an obvious improvement in textures, the grading is such that most of the darker areas are getting borderline undecipherable on the newer restorations. It's the case on BD, but seemingly also on UHD. Also, while David M did the BD encodes, he didn't do the UHD ones and they reportedly suffer from blockiness... especially in these very artificially flat areas. They're all the more flat because they've most likely been filtered from their grain, so anything not bright enough to have been left alone has been smoothed on top of the elevated black levels.

On the other hand, Hiventy left the textures alone on the 3 color movies, which are much better looking in this aspect. They're much more saturated and, yes, warmer looking, though don't forget the previous BDs clearly had old-school magenta-pushed video-looking grading. They haven't applied a blanket color-signature either, since the movies retain a color-atmosphere dynamic from scene to scene. It's especially the case on Bed and Board and Love on the Run.

tenia wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 9:18 am Actually, the 2 B&W restorations are heaily hampered by problematic black levels (very problematic in the case of Antoine et Colette), which has sadly become a trademark from Eclair on B&W movies. While there is an obvious improvement in textures, the grading is such that most of the darker areas are getting borderline undecipherable on the newer restorations. It's the case on BD, but seemingly also on UHD. Also, while David M did the BD encodes, he didn't do the UHD ones and they reportedly suffer from blockiness... especially in these very artificially flat areas. They're all the more flat because they've most likely been filtered from their grain, so anything not bright enough to have been left alone has been smoothed on top of the elevated black levels.

Agh, I think you see that in the darker caps and the close-up of Doinel when he stands against the wall and looks straight at the camera. They do look smoother compared to other shots. With the darker shots, I thought that was a problem with translating the HDR grading into screencaps, but that's a huge disappointment if it was something more problematic.

It's the same issue in HDR on BD, and it's something that already happened in the past with Eclair's restorations only released on BD, in particular La guerre est finie and, even more so, Le jour et l'heure. DVD Classik have reviewed the Doinel set on UHD and also reported what looks like, basically, darker areas being DNRed for whatever reason and the issue being particularly blatant because of the elevated black levels generating what is best described as grey-ish lifeless areas. It's not pretty to look at because it looks very artificial and digital looking, and indeed, it looks nothing like any film-based copy I've ever seen of any movie (B&W or not) in my life. It's also something quite specific and clearly down to whatever Eclair did during these restorations, especially since Hiventy didn't go this route at all for their 3 restorations (which are color movies, sure, but also have darker areas that aren't handled at all like Eclair did with their 2 restorations).

Les 400 coups is quite bad, but Antoine et Colette is IMO even worse and, to me, quite a dud since it contains quite a hefty amount of low-lit scenes that heavily suffer from this artificial digital treatment. It's also very heterogeneous, which for such a short movie make these issues even more tiring to support.

It's also quite distinct from most restorations performed by Eclair (except, possibly, some of their infamous Louis Malle movies, which weren't helped in France by their godawful encodes, but were quite smoothed out in their darker areas). I have no idea what happened here but clearly, some people pushed the wrong buttons.

BD reviews (with screencaps) supporting this reasoning : Doinel, Le jour et l'heure, La guerre est finie.

Are there any French UHDs with English subs that are genuinely worth highlighting, tenia? I'm thinking, possibly Bayan Ko from Le Chat qui fume?

I'm merely following this from afar as I'm not equipped myself for UHD. My understanding is that Bayan Ko on UHD is indeed very good looking (the BD already is so).

Thanks! Adding Bayan Ko as a solid upgrade. If you get recommendations from any fellow French reviewers that are UHD capable, let me know!

Bayan Ko does indeed look terrific. Not a stunner by any means but beautifully rendered grain, natural color, etc. I also own the Le chat qui fume UHD of Possession and would rate it as an appreciable/solid upgrade to the Second Sight BD - I can't compare to the US BD.

tenia wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 9:18 am

hearthesilence wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 5:52 am The French UHD for The 400 Blows looks amazing. Probably a huge upgrade over Criterion's BD.

On the other hand, what appears to be an incredible-looking transfer of Stolen Kisses has been ruined by, well, you can probably guess.

Actually, the 2 B&W restorations are heaily hampered by problematic black levels (very problematic in the case of Antoine et Colette), which has sadly become a trademark from Eclair on B&W movies. While there is an obvious improvement in textures, the grading is such that most of the darker areas are getting borderline undecipherable on the newer restorations. It's the case on BD, but seemingly also on UHD. Also, while David M did the BD encodes, he didn't do the UHD ones and they reportedly suffer from blockiness... especially in these very artificially flat areas. They're all the more flat because they've most likely been filtered from their grain, so anything not bright enough to have been left alone has been smoothed on top of the elevated black levels.

On the other hand, Hiventy left the textures alone on the 3 color movies, which are much better looking in this aspect. They're much more saturated and, yes, warmer looking, though don't forget the previous BDs clearly had old-school magenta-pushed video-looking grading. They haven't applied a blanket color-signature either, since the movies retain a color-atmosphere dynamic from scene to scene. It's especially the case on Bed and Board and Love on the Run.

On The 400 Blows, some of the UHD look OK, with finer detail apparent, or at least a more finely rendered appearance of grain. But then there's this:
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&a=0 ... 9&i=12&l=0
The light background on the UHD shows awful encoding/compression artefacts. I can't imagine that it's a problem with the way it was scanned.

Two UK Studio Canal titles added:

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy UHD: solid upgrade

The Servant UHD: reference title if compared to SC's 2013 BD, solid if compared to SC's 2021 BD

Criterion's Piano 4k is a reference disc.

And another reference title: The Toolbox Murders