Link (1986)

[kong73]

Love me some Jerry Goldsmith

Originally Posted by Rocklandsboy

And re-issued again by La-La Land. Terrific score! Now if only somebody would find the complete music master tapes!

[Rocklandsboy]

So I just had a similar response from Kino;

The restoration of the audio and video was done by Studio Canal. Original audio was most likely mono. We received the master from Studio Canal and released it on Blu-ray.

"Most likely" mono? Really?

[EvilJames]

Never mind that there's a Dolby Stereo logo in the end credits

[GOMEZFAN69]

It's good to know that Kino does their homework.

[TheOneWithThePrize]

I can wait. Olive's "Stone Cold" was effed up in the same manner and the UK release was the same, finally Germany came through.

I really doubt this is on StudioCanal, I'd bet someone on Kino's payroll effed up and they don't want to own up to it.

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by EvilJames

Never mind that there's a Dolby Stereo logo in the end credits

Yeah. Or that every DVD of this movie was in stereo too.

[8traxrule]

That’s simply inexcusable, and has already happened on too many other titles. Kino has put out some great releases but whoever’s responsible for these should be fired- and they should all be re-done properly also.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by TheOneWithThePrize

I really doubt this is on StudioCanal, I'd bet someone on Kino's payroll effed up and they don't want to own up to it.

It's not a bet I'd take: both labels have a history of avoidable mistakes - SC may have improved but their early Hammer Blus and Don't Look Now were botched, they can get carried away with brightness boosting and a few restorations have questionable grading while others, like Ice Cold in Alex or The Man Who Fell to Earth look worse than their original Blus. That said, sound isn't usually SC's Achilles heel but Kino has released stereo titles in mono as far back as Meteor, one of their first Studio Classics.

[Rocklandsboy]

Kino has come back and argued that their release is 2.0 Mono - but that presumably just means that the same audio is coming out of both speakers?!

[TheOneWithThePrize]

You're never going to get through to them, once Kino has dug their heels in they simply won't budge.

[Member-222782]

Part of the problem is that Kino has essentially become a clearinghouse for physical media where everybody, meaning studios, dumps their properties onto and have given Kino full control on what gets QC'd and what doesn't, who gets extra attention when doing restorations and who gets "whatever's lying around", etc. Not saying this to disparage Kino, just that they've probably taken on more work than they can handle without adding the necessary staffing. QC across all the boutiques is already severely lacking and I don't see it getting better because it cuts into their bottom lines. Problem is, with people getting increasingly frustrated with bad discs, replacement programs are going to cost them even more, and not just in financial terms but in trustworthiness and reputation. In Kino's case, since they don't do replacement programs, it'll cost them customer's trust. One on hand, it's great that we're getting so many lesser titles released on Blu-ray, OTOH we're getting more and more quality control problems that aren't being addressed.

[Rocklandsboy]

What's especially frustrating in this case is that the picture has been mastered in 4K and apparently looks fabulous, there are some very nifty extras - including the cut footage - it was marketed rightly as a special edition. It was so close to being the definitive release, short of a UHD 4K release, of this movie.

[DukeTogo84]

So much complaining going on here. Movie looks and sounds good despite it being mono. That's all that matters to me.

[kong73]

Watched it last night and it was like seeing it for the first time! All ive ever watched was my old DVD but yesterday was like i took off some dirty glasses I’d been wearing for a long time but now i could see clearly 😍😍 sound was good as well.

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

So much complaining going on here. Movie looks and sounds good despite it being mono. That's all that matters to me.

[TheOneWithThePrize]

Sound is half the movie, now it's not even that...

[Rocklandsboy]

Home Theater Forum weighs in on this!

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/doe...-stereo-sound/

[Bumblefeet]

Originally Posted by Rocklandsboy

Home Theater Forum weighs in on this!

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/doe...-stereo-sound/

And from the above the one statement that matters:

I think Kino Lorber needs to find out what format (sound) the film was made and make sure they have the correct elements before pressing the Blu Ray. ... They need to research, if available, a previous release (DVD) of a film they are remastering to make sure the studio provides them with the proper track.

This the same as what happened with Twilight Time's NOTLD, in which case they were also provided with a new transfer by the studio, but neglected to research previous releases and mayhem ensued.

Now there is actually a very simple solution for this and it kinda follows the spirit of this site 'blu-ray.com' that actually has reviews for titles...

Don't buy it.

Seriously. If your gear is region free wait for the next region to release it properly. Don't reward labels or studios' shitty releases by actually paying for them.

Too often I see people excited their favorite movies are coming to blu-ray, they'll order them and import them and then they are either disappointed by the lack of quality or they give them a 'free pass' because it's their favorite movie and they simply have to own it on blu-ray.

Don't reward mediocrity.

Given Link received a new 4K transfer, surely other countries will release said transfer with even better specs considering this 'mono' fail from Kino.

[Rocklandsboy]

I shared that link with Kino via their Facebook chat. Their reply just 5 minutes ago:

"People need to get lives".

Just astonishing.

[BNex99]

Originally Posted by Rocklandsboy

I shared that link with Kino via their Facebook chat. Their reply just 5 minutes ago:

"People need to get lives".

Just astonishing.

That's what makes Kino especially frustrating.

Mistakes happen, and sometimes the smaller labels simply aren't able to fix them for genuine financial reasons, but Kino is just so arrogant and condescending when asked about it.

Even with all of Shout's issues, they at least tend to be more polite when they can't correct something.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Shame about the mono fold down, considering the PQ and compression is quite stellar for KL's standards compare to their larger titles such as the Dollars trilogy with all it's warts. I'm sure the 2.0 DD stereo track from the Anchor Bay DVD will sync with a bit of work, least it's not green/piss tinted with blocky compression and juddery extras.