List of International BDs with Better PQ, AQ, and/or More Extras

[Sky_Captain]

I didn't do a comparison with the French release before I sold it, unfortunately. I must say that I didn't have an issue with the French transfer, French titles aside. It's still a very strong disc, IMO and if the JP release hadn't dropped so dramatically in price, I'd have been happy to hold onto it. Both French and JP discs, (to my eyes), are a marked improvement over Universal's rather soft looking VC-1 transfer, that's for sure.

There's something lacking from the majority of their VC-1 titles and thankfully, a few of them are available from different distributors elsewhere.

Drag Me to Hell and The Rundown spring to mind.

[whitestang06]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

I didn't do a comparison with the French release before I sold it, unfortunately. I must say that I didn't have an issue with the French transfer, French titles aside. It's still a very strong disc, IMO and if the JP release hadn't dropped so dramatically in price, I'd have been happy to hold onto it. Both French and JP discs, (to my eyes), are a marked improvement over Universal's rather soft looking VC-1 transfer, that's for sure.

There's something lacking from the majority of their early VC-1 titles and thankfully, a few of them are available from different distributors elsewhere.

The US one is definitely softer, and a little darker. I think the extra darkness may have been used to help hide artifacting.

However, a lot of French discs are a little bit brighter. Silent Hill and It Follows come to mind.

[wesslan]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

It's the French text that puts me off, (I had the French HD DVD back in the day). Another reason I was glad to replace the French Doomsday disc with the JP release.

Doomsday is a pretty new movie so it should "maybe" been mastered in 24-bit. Do you think the JP 16-bit AQ is a step below US 24-bit if you own both?

[Torrente]

Originally Posted by wesslan

Those Underworld movies haunts me

Really love 1-2 and 4. Have US for them all. The JP disc of first have better PQ but only theatrical cut and I read in other places the FR discs of 1-2 is better (AVC) but only french onscreen text but also seen later proof that wasn't the case(if I remember correct?) and there weren't any diffrence on PQ/AQ from US to FR on 1-2 but 2 should be big since US have low bitrate mpeg2 vs higher AVC on FR.

Torrente: do you own the FR discs and care to pitch in?

My main concern with the french Underworld discs is that they're manufactured by a pressing plant which has a track record for failure.
The first release is plagued by the same "disease" a lot of french discs suffered from. And I bet the others could be hit too, as all came from the same pressing plant.

Thankfully a very little amount of discs from M6 aren't manufactured there.
The first pressings of Doomsday, Ghost Rider, 30 Days of Night, Ennemi Intime and a very few others aren't, for example. All the re-releases of those titles come from the same "bad" pressing plant 'though.
It's just a roulette game with several french companies. You might be fine but you could also very well be hit in the long run.

So my advice would be: stay away from those discs! All the more if JP discs are easy to get and not that expensive anymore

[wesslan]

Did someone mention they bought JP Gamer because it was better somehow? Interested to know the difference. Saw it was cheap and on place 5 on sellinglist at cdjapan at the moment.

[Sky_Captain]

Originally Posted by wesslan

Doomsday is a pretty new movie so it should "maybe" been mastered in 24-bit. Do you think the JP 16-bit AQ is a step below US 24-bit if you own both?

Sorry, I don't really care about audio beyond it not sounding like shit and the dialogue being clear. Hence the 2.1 setup.

I can't even tell if a phone is ringing behind me, or in front of me in work lol

[Torrente]

Originally Posted by wesslan

Did someone mention they bought JP Gamer because it was better somehow? Interested to know the difference. Saw it was cheap and on place 5 on sellinglist at cdjapan at the moment.

Someone posted a scan of the disc yesterday.
On the paper, it seems robust.
Now for all the reasons I mentioned in answer to his post, I'm glad this JP disc option exists as I will finally be able to get this film on BD.
I had problems with the Belgium disc, the UK disc and my french disc also.

[wesslan]

Originally Posted by Torrente

Someone posted a scan of the disc yesterday.
On the paper, it seems robust.
Now for all the reasons I mentioned in answer to his post, I'm glad this JP disc option exists as I will finally be able to get this film on BD.
I had problems with the Belgium disc, the UK disc and my french disc also.

Yeah I saw now. Looks like much healthier bitrate on JP Gamer over US. Although you lose the awesome 7.1 24-bit audio that many loves, as usual

[whitestang06]

Originally Posted by wesslan

Doomsday is a pretty new movie so it should "maybe" been mastered in 24-bit. Do you think the JP 16-bit AQ is a step below US 24-bit if you own both?

The French one is also 16-bit and it sounds the same as the US 24-bit one.

Although you lose the awesome 7.1 24-bit audio that many loves, as usual

Coming from Lionsgate, it is probably a 5.1 up-mix.

Did someone mention they bought JP Gamer because it was better somehow?

I bought it on a gamble. I figured it had to have a healthier bit-rate than the Lionsgate disc, coming from Sony. Had no idea that it would be THAT much healthier. It's been a long time since I've seen the US disc, but this one certainly does not disappoint. You seem to have to switch off the Japanese subs, may just be my player.

[wesslan]

Nice. Want to gamle on some JP discs also I think might be better, Sixth Sense and Reign of Fire but they are never on sale Also Saw 5 is a possibility since US have very low bitrate and 1-4 was better.

Specially JP Sony discs often seem special when they don't have the universal rights.

Anyone know if the JP Scanners Restored Edition [Blu-ray] is the same as DE Subkultur? Really cheap now and the german disc is kind of expensive.

[Sky_Captain]

Originally Posted by whitestang06

The French one is also 16-bit and it sounds the same as the US 24-bit one.



Coming from Lionsgate, it is probably a 5.1 up-mix.



I bought it on a gamble. I figured it had to have a healthier bit-rate than the Lionsgate disc, coming from Sony. Had no idea that it would be THAT much healthier. It's been a long time since I've seen the US disc, but this one certainly does not disappoint. You seem to have to switch off the Japanese subs, may just be my player.

What extras are on the JP disc, if you don't mind me asking?

[wesslan]

Speaking of Underworld, just saw this....both cuts and 3BDs

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Under...lu-ray/137473/

[wesslan]

Now I'm thinking about what the ultimate PQ version is for Cloud:

Cloud Atlas
US - AVC 2.40:1 21978 kbps, DTS-HD MA 5.1 3911 kbps 24-bit, English subs (Region free)
NO/SE/FI/DK - AVC 2.40:1 27870 kbps, DTS-HD MA 5.1 3943 kbps 24-bit, no English subs (Region free)
BR - AVC 2.40:1 30517 kbps, DTS-HD MA 5.1 1969 kbps 16-bit (Region free)
DE - AVC 2.40:1 22956 kbps, DTS-HD MA 5.1 2061 kbps 16-bit, no English subs (Region free)
HK - AVC 1.78:1 open matte (IMAX) 22.00 Mbps, DTS-HD MA 7.1 16-bit (matrixed), English subs (Region A) Worse PQ

Found these:

DE brighter and better compression?
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison.php?id=18940

IT vs EU (CEE)
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison.php?id=22913

IT vs DE
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison.php?id=22914

IT vs US
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison.php?id=25058

US vs RU
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison.php?id=50081

OAR vs open matte (HK)
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comp...3227/picture:7

Sadly the nordic vs other comparisons I found didn't work and those would be very interesting to see.

[Torrente]

Originally Posted by wesslan

OAR vs open matte (HK)
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comp...3227/picture:7

I know I'm the only one, but I need this one just for the sake of seing this strange new framing.
Thanks for the link!


Also, I like the IT disc better (than the others in terms of grain preservation, contrast, brightness, color grading, tint etc), even if the compression seems better on the DE disc.

[Sky_Captain]

The EE on the German disc was a no-no for me. Plus various onscreen titles and CGI displays were in German.

[wesslan]

Update

Saw V
US - AVC 21000 kbps 1.78:1, DTS-HD MA 7.1 5050 kbps 24-bit, English subs (Region A locked)
UK - AVC 1.85:1, DTS-HD MA 7.1, English subs (Region B locked)
DE - VC-1 23978 kbps, DTS-HD MA 5.1 2016 kbps 16-bit, no English subs
JP - AVC 30,59 Mbps 1.85:1, Dolby TrueHD 7.1 24-bit, English subs
FR - VC-1 23934 kbps 1.85:1, DTS-HD MA 6.1 2504 kbps 16-bit
SE - VC-1 1.78:1, DTS-HD HR 5.1, no English subs

[Cevolution]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

Just buy it. That's all you need to know.

My Japanese titles:

[Show spoiler]

Out of curiosity, why The Book of Eli and Street Kings mate? There isn't a lot of info that I can find about those two Japanese releases.

Originally Posted by wesslan

Also Saw 5 is a possibility since US have very low bitrate and 1-4 was better.

I just ordered the Japanese Saw 5, as well as 6.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by wesslan

Update

Saw V
US - AVC 21000 kbps 1.78:1, DTS-HD MA 7.1 5050 kbps 24-bit, English subs (Region A locked)
UK - AVC 1.85:1, DTS-HD MA 7.1, English subs (Region B locked)
DE - VC-1 23978 kbps, DTS-HD MA 5.1 2016 kbps 16-bit, no English subs
JP - AVC 30,59 Mbps 1.85:1, Dolby TrueHD 7.1 24-bit, English subs
FR - VC-1 23934 kbps 1.85:1, DTS-HD MA 6.1 2504 kbps 16-bit
SE - VC-1 1.78:1, DTS-HD HR 5.1, no English subs

Done, but I didn't see a reason to add the Nordic disc.

[Sky_Captain]

Originally Posted by Cevolution

Out of curiosity, why The Book of Eli and Street Kings mate? There isn't a lot of info that I can find about those two Japanese releases.

I posted specs for the JP Book of Eli disc back in April, but it was never added:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=1256

The only benefit to it, is that it's a hair sharper than the UK release and instead of having a rubbish PiP track encoding eating disc space, the same content appears as simple featurettes. I wouldn't run out to buy it. Same goes for Street Kings. I just thought it had cool artwork and was cheaper than the US release at the time.

[whitestang06]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

What extras are on the JP disc, if you don't mind me asking?

I barely looked, but I do remember a long behind the scenes feature. I'll have to look, later, to see what else there is. The whole BD50 is filled up and the main feature takes up about half the disc, if that tells you anything.

Ok, here's what is on the disc.

Two Inside the Game features one 26:24 & the other 02:12:04 (scene by scene commentaries, etc)

A few other behind the scenes features as well.

There's also a trailer for the movie.

All in 1080p with English audio.

I can't really tell the names of most of the stuff, as I don't read Japanese. There is no English menu, but the Japanese one is easy enough to navigate, if you're familiar with basic blu-ray layout.