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

[stmhlm]

Do you guys know a great place to find out if a title contains any foreign lines, i.e not English?

I'm scared to purchase certain European releases as/if they've removed the hardcoded subtitles in English.

They're meant to be there by the director...

[Blu-ray monster]

Originally Posted by SpazeBlue

Bitrate isn't everything.

What do you mean? I am confused.

[stmhlm]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray monster

What do you mean? I am confused.

There are quite a few parameters to video encoding, I think you'd be amazed if you were see it, bitrate is just one parameter/outcome of 10's/100's more.

Bitrate doesn't really tell much, merely could you only tell about how efficient the compression was made, but that's about it.
Video is made best once the right parameters are tweaked accordingly, taking the source material in mind.

I'll let others fill in on the rest, I lack too much experience.

[Blu-ray monster]

Originally Posted by stmhlm

There are quite a few parameters to video encoding, I think you'd be amazed if you were see it, bitrate is just one parameter/outcome of 10's/100's more.

Bitrate doesn't really tell much, merely could you only tell about how efficient the compression was made, but that's about it.
Video is made best once the right parameters are tweaked accordingly, taking the source material in mind.

I'll let others fill in on the rest, I lack too much experience.

are the other parameters worse for the Japanese release of only yesterday?

[stmhlm]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray monster

are the other parameters worse for the Japanese release of only yesterday?

I'm not familiar with that title, I'm sorry.
If you're trying to compare 1080p vs 1080p releases, I'd recommend http://www.caps-a-holic.com com for screenshot comparisons.
Note: You cannot judge 4K Ultra HD titles on that webite, they have been converted from HDR to SDR, inaccurately.

Nobody would know what parameters were used, so nobody would be able to tell you that, we're not insiders.
If you have access to screenshots you may look for edge enhancement, digital noise reduction, compression artifacts, macroblocking, colors, etc.

Without, you could only tell if the cut of the movie is stored together with another cut, both being on the same disc, this is usually not optimal, as both cuts would need more compression to fit on one disc, it's generally better to have them split in a 2-disc release to give them the room they need, this is pretty much the only thing you can do if you can't find any other information about it.

Now, Japanese releases are usually of higher video quality, at least from what I've seen, not just taking bitrate into account, I think they demand/prefer higher video quality over the audio, audio is often of lower resolution than the rest of the world, i.e. 16-bit instead of 24-bit, this to save on space and let the video take up more room on the disc.

If you can hear the difference between the 24 and 16, and what your personal preferences aim to get, well, that's another discussion and completely up to you.

And oh, yeah.. AVC video codec is usually better than VC-1, that could help quite often.

[HD Goofnut]

Added Corruption and Jagged Edge.

[Torrente]

Was there an update regarding Sleepy Hollow since it was added to the list?

Sleepy Hollow
US - MPEG-2 1.78:1 21432 kbps, DTS 5.1 1509 kbps, extras, English subs (Region free)
FR - AVC 1.78:1 33065 kbps, DTS-HD MA 5.1 2478 kbps, fewer extras, English subs (Region free)
UK - AVC 1.78:1, DTS-HD MA 2.0 / 5.1, no extras, no English subs (Region B locked)
JP - AVC 1.85:1 1080i/30 34823 kbps, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 1587 kbps 16 bit, extras with forced JP subs, English subs (Region A/B)
DE - AVC 1.78:1 29003 kbps, DTS-HD HR 5.1 2046 kbps 16-bit, no English subs (Region B)

Because I just realized that a "new" disc was released in Japan in 2019 (with a slightly different cover from the previous one) and I wonder if it's a different disc?
If someone bought it or if someone knows, I would love to hear about it.
Thanks for your help.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Torrente

Was there an update regarding Sleepy Hollow since it was added to the list?



Because I just realized that a "new" disc was released in Japan in 2019 (with a slightly different cover from the previous one) and I wonder if it's a different disc?
If someone bought it or if someone knows, I would love to hear about it.
Thanks for your help.

Not to my knowledge. I was hoping that latest release by Paramount was going to offer something new, but no.

[Torrente]

I'm in the same boat here.

The japanese disc being the most pleasant one to my eyes, I sure hope their new release doesn't mimic the old US disc (and that, at least, the new release is the exact same as the old japanese one)!?
I would like to be sure... but I guess I'll have to grab it and check it by myself.

[Mikezilla3k]

Originally Posted by Torrente

Was there an update regarding Sleepy Hollow since it was added to the list?



Because I just realized that a "new" disc was released in Japan in 2019 (with a slightly different cover from the previous one) and I wonder if it's a different disc?
If someone bought it or if someone knows, I would love to hear about it.
Thanks for your help.

Same as before:

Originally Posted by Count Orlok

It's the same. Paramount took back distribution rights worldwide, so the German Constantine Film release was replaced with a new disc since Paramount themselves never had a disc made for the German market. Paramount was lazy with the Japanese release and just repressed it, making it the same exact release as before.

The 20th Anniversary set made for the UK is the same release the US has had since 2006. The original UK BD from Studio Canal had lossless audio and an MPEG-4 encode, but was barebones. It's a slap in the face that they were given special features this time, but were downgraded in terms of quality for the movie itself. They went from MPEG-4 /DTS-MA to MPEG-2/lossy DD/DTS.

[Torrente]

Thanks a lot!!

[HD Goofnut]

Added Eureka.

[HD Goofnut]

Added 23, The Pawnbroker, and Yentl.

[HD Goofnut]

Added The Other and Suddenly, Last Summer.

[Filmmaker]

I’m not sure how to prove it, but the German Blu-ray of BECKY offers dramatically superior compression over the compressed-to-hell-and-never-coming-back-again U.S. BD.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Added Johnny Guitar and Seven-Ups.

The Eureka "Johnny Guitar" is much more clunky compared to the Olive Signature (https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=2&x...8&l=1&i=0&go=1, https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=2&x...0&l=1&i=2&go=1, https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x...5&l=1&i=7&go=1). The Signal One master for "The Seven-Ups" is not particularly good in-motion (fuzzy-looking grain and there's distortion that's noticeable in heads).

[HD Goofnut]

Added Story of Women (no English subs).

[thatguamguy]

Just recently learned that Taika Waititi's "Boy" has a New Zealand blu-ray with a lot more extras than the US Kino disc, including a commentary track.

Not sure about the PQ, I haven't ordered it (yet).

https://www.nzvideos.org/boy.html

[HD Goofnut]

Added The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.

[DawnShadow]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

Not sure about the PQ, I haven't ordered it (yet).

https://www.nzvideos.org/boy.html

Good luck, it's rare as hell.

It's identical to the Australian release also (which is also rare as hell).