Miami Connection (1987) 4K UHD coming from Vinegar Syndrome

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Originally Posted by AceTrilby

I spent a few minutes tonight skimming through to get an initial impression (and listen to Dragon Sound - repeatedly), as I know in the world of boutique Blu-rays, timing is often a factor!

Please note I don't have a professionally calibrated TV or home theatre or anything fancy like that - just an OLED and settings I like. I have also never owned or seen the Drafthouse release of Miami Connection, despite my best efforts to obtain it, so my analysis here is based on the screenshots on this website and footage from Alamo Drafthouse's YouTube channel. I'm aware there were some issues with mixed source material for AD's release but I won't be able to comment fully on the difference.

First of all, the film looks great to me - definition is probably about on par with a very good standard blu-ray release of a better known film of the era (some shots are soft, some sharp as a tack), with lots of natural grain. Definitely not a 2/5 this time around.

There's a fair amount of flecks on the footage itself, but nothing too egregious. In the Drafthouse trailer there's a shot of Dragon Sound performing (at around 0:37) with some pretty noticeable black flecks - those are vastly reduced in the VinSyn version (but then, maybe they never made it to AD's release).

One thing I can say for sure is the colour timing has been vastly improved by the new transfer and HDR - the screenshot of Maurice Smith's infamous crying scene from the Drafthouse release is very blue, but in the VinSyn version the skin tones and background look far more natural.

Overall my first impressions are very good - I'm intending on watching the whole thing tomorrow, so if I have anything else to add I'll do so then.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the review, sounds like a major upgrade to thw old Drafthouse bd which was culled from a 35mm release print.

Does the VS edition open with a Manson International logo like the Drafthouse transfer did?

What is the alternate cut like PQ wise?