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

[sidetracked1]

Hi all,

First of all huge thanks especially to Goofnut for this amazing thread, but also to all of you who have taken the time to contribute. As others have joked, it's cost me a lot of money, but getting the best quality version of favorite films has been worth it.

I also appreciate that over almost 400 pages there has been so little sniping or hostility, and that everyone has operated in a spirit of shared knowledge and kind, often funny, open-minded discussion.

One suggestion, having just read through the whole long thread. There are often multiple titles being discussed at once, and often members don't re-state the title they're commenting on. So sometimes you get a comment like 'well, to my eye the German has better color balance', but it could apply to any one of 3 films at that moment. You can usually piece it together, but if people remembered to keep the title of the film in their response (body or headline) it could be useful for those of us following along. Hope it's OK for a newbie to be butting in with opinions.

Last, a question. I noticed that in just added listings that "Koyaanisqatsi" is now listed has the UK having better PQ. But the reviews on blu-ray.com says the UK and US Criterion are virtually identical. I don't remember an actual discussion of the title (a favorite of mine) on the thread. so I wonder if someone could elaborate on the differences so I could decide if that's yet another bunch of $ I need to spend!

Thanks all. I'll try and contribute some titles myself ASAP.

[Tech-UK]

Does anyone have the German and US releases of Inglourious Basterds?

I read somewhere that they differ, either in terms of gamma or brightness, could anyone clarify this?

Thanks.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by sidetracked1

Hi all,

First of all huge thanks especially to Goofnut for this amazing thread, but also to all of you who have taken the time to contribute. As others have joked, it's cost me a lot of money, but getting the best quality version of favorite films has been worth it.

I also appreciate that over almost 400 pages there has been so little sniping or hostility, and that everyone has operated in a spirit of shared knowledge and kind, often funny, open-minded discussion.

One suggestion, having just read through the whole long thread. There are often multiple titles being discussed at once, and often members don't re-state the title they're commenting on. So sometimes you get a comment like 'well, to my eye the German has better color balance', but it could apply to any one of 3 films at that moment. You can usually piece it together, but if people remembered to keep the title of the film in their response (body or headline) it could be useful for those of us following along. Hope it's OK for a newbie to be butting in with opinions.

Last, a question. I noticed that in just added listings that "Koyaanisqatsi" is now listed has the UK having better PQ. But the reviews on blu-ray.com says the UK and US Criterion are virtually identical. I don't remember an actual discussion of the title (a favorite of mine) on the thread. so I wonder if someone could elaborate on the differences so I could decide if that's yet another bunch of $ I need to spend!

Thanks all. I'll try and contribute some titles myself ASAP.

I appreciate the kind words.

Unfortunately, the U.S. disc of Koyaanisqatsi looks worse than the U.K. disc. Have a look for yourself: http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleich...less=1#auswahl

[sidetracked1]

Goofnut, thanks for the reply.

A stupid newby follow-up. I'm having trouble getting two images (one from each disc) at once on caps-a-holic, or even successfully switching between the two discs, and there are no instructions I can find on the site. I can get a non-lossy full screen png, but getting from one to the other is somehow beyond me.

Is there some trick I'm missing? Apologies for the slightly off topic question...

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by sidetracked1

Goofnut, thanks for the reply.

A stupid newby follow-up. I'm having trouble getting two images (one from each disc) at once on caps-a-holic, or even successfully switching between the two discs, and there are no instructions I can find on the site. I can get a non-lossy full screen png, but getting from one to the other is somehow beyond me.

Is there some trick I'm missing? Apologies for the slightly off topic question...

You just click the smaller images to change between the different screen captures.

[GenPion]

Originally Posted by Tech-UK

Does anyone have the German and US releases of Inglourious Basterds?

I read somewhere that they differ, either in terms of gamma or brightness, could anyone clarify this?

Thanks.

I don't and I haven't heard that. I do know the German edition sports a slightly higher bit-rate for the encode and that one scene is longer in the German release version.

[HD Goofnut]

Added Narc, Nightwash, Police Academy 4, 5, and 6, Red Sonja, Returner, Rise: Blood Hunter, The Russia House, and Stray Dog.

[Early Memphis]

Originally Posted by sidetracked1

Goofnut, thanks for the reply.

A stupid newby follow-up. I'm having trouble getting two images (one from each disc) at once on caps-a-holic, or even successfully switching between the two discs, and there are no instructions I can find on the site. I can get a non-lossy full screen png, but getting from one to the other is somehow beyond me.

Is there some trick I'm missing? Apologies for the slightly off topic question...

First off, there are no stupid Q's from newbies - only stupid Q's from "veterans" (like me) who should know better (and I ask plenty of those).

Second : If I understand what you asked : when your cursor is OFF of the picture, you're seeing the Criterion cap, when you hover your pointer ON the picture, you're seeing the Arrow Films cap. And if that's not what you were asking ... see above comment.

[Tech-UK]

Originally Posted by GenPion

I don't and I haven't heard that. I do know the German edition sports a slightly higher bit-rate for the encode and that one scene is longer in the German release version.

The bitrate of the DE release is lower than the US release.

US - 25.67Mbps
DE - 21.47Mbps

It was in a thread on this forum where I saw someone mention that there was a difference in gamma/brightness. But yeah, the DE release does feature a longer scene in the bar, here is that difference:

http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=4237485

Edit.

Found the thread:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=109898

[sidetracked1]

Originally Posted by Early Memphis

First off, there are no stupid Q's - only stupid Q's from "veterans" (like me) who should know better (and I ask plenty of those).

Second : If I understand what you asked : when your cursor is OFF of the picture, you're seeing the Criterion cap, when you hover your pointer ON the picture, you're seeing the Arrow Films cap. And if that's not what you were asking ... see above comment.

Thanks for the reply (and to you too Goofnut). You nailed it, Early Memphis. Somehow I just missed the (now) obvious trick about the cursor off and on the image. Tried every complicated way in the book to get it to change, and missed the fact it was simply switching right in front of me when I was moving my cursor. I guess I'm officially a luddite. Thanks. I now can actually use caps-a-holic, instead of staring at it like it was the monolith and I'm one of the apes in 2001.

[HD Goofnut]

Several titles added.

[HD Goofnut]

Updated A Bronx Tale.

[GenPion]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

I appreciate the kind words.

Unfortunately, the U.S. disc of Koyaanisqatsi looks worse than the U.K. disc. Have a look for yourself: http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleich...less=1#auswahl

It does seem the U.K. one has slightly better compression and a little more fine detail on the film-grain reproduction... but they don't look drastically different from those screenshots. I can see why it's on the list on the one hand, but given that the Criterion set has an extra film and more supplements wouldn't that release be considered technically better for those merits?

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by GenPion

It does seem the U.K. one has slightly better compression and a little more fine detail on the film-grain reproduction... but they don't look drastically different from those screenshots. I can see why it's on the list on the one hand, but given that the Criterion set has an extra film and more supplements wouldn't that release be considered technically better for those merits?

I decided to leave it on the list due to the U.K. disc having better PQ and the option of a LPCM 2.0 track on top of the 5.1.

[sidetracked1]

For what it's worth, I asked the original question and seeing the comparison was enough for me to order the UK disc. (Once I got enough help here to learn how to see it).

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by sidetracked1

For what it's worth, I asked the original question and seeing the comparison was enough for me to order the UK disc. (Once I got enough help here to learn how to see it).

The U.K. disc is noticeably better than the U.S. disc for sure.

[azmodien]

Originally Posted by Bluebolt

The only instance not covered would be the occurrence of more than one American release of a given title, with no foreign release of that title.

If you mean listing titles with superior domestic re-releases, I think it would be a worthwhile addition. It would be nice to have a single resource for finding definitive copies of a particular title (ie. criterion vs regular, remastered vs. non-remastered, poorly handled remasters, etc)

[Early Memphis]

Originally Posted by azmodien

If you mean listing titles with superior domestic re-releases, I think it would be a worthwhile addition. It would be nice to have a single resource for finding definitive copies of a particular title (ie. criterion vs regular, remastered vs. non-remastered, poorly handled remasters, etc)

If you start such a list I'm sure you'll be very popular, but the effort required is enormous (just ask HD ). blu-ray_girl_fan started such a list - kinda, sorta - but unfortunately she was banned.

[azmodien]

Originally Posted by Early Memphis

If you start such a list I'm sure you'll be very popular, but the effort required is enormous (just ask HD ). blu-ray_girl_fan started such a list - kinda, sorta - but unfortunately she was banned.

I understand. This list is very specs-oriented and the data collection is time consuming, though domestic releases should be even easier to obtain. Alternatively there could be a separate, less-scientific thread with a master list of releases to avoid and ones to seek out, based on a general consensus.

[Cevolution]

Originally Posted by Early Memphis

If you start such a list I'm sure you'll be very popular, but the effort required is enormous (just ask HD ). blu-ray_girl_fan started such a list - kinda, sorta - but unfortunately she was banned.

According to a Mod during a public conversation about blu-ray_girl_fan, she was actually a he