Which distributor is the best when it comes to 4K?

[Nick Ray]

The majors get deductions for not always including theatrical audio for catalogs, so personally I'd go with Arrow. I'm just a soundbar poor, so the Atmos remixes don't do anything for me.

[Marv Inc.]

Sony.

There 4K restorations are masterful and they go the extra mile of including previously unseen deleted scenes and re-scanning them in HD.

Warner should really take note when they do the Exorcist and give us all the deleted material in 16:9 and HD.

[Gretiem]

Sony

[Panson]

1. 20th Century Fox, Paramount; 2. Universal, Warner Bros.; 3. Lionsgate, Sony; 4. KL, HBO.

[WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW]

Sony tends to do a good job. I just wished they owned the FOX/MGM and WB catalogs. Heck, I kinda wish they owned all the catalogs.

[Noremac Mij]

People like Sony for the same reasons why TV’s sell better when the store display models have the “Retail Mode” engaged. If you want the absolute most processed, vivid, sharpened look, buy Sony. Simple as that. I don’t think there’s any one studio or label dominating the market right now with the best releases. Good releases are slowly trickling out from everywhere. And majority of releases are meh.

[elgee]

Sony by far. They're really making sure to put out 4K catalogue titles, but also doing hard work making the movies look the very best they've ever been.

[WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW]

Originally Posted by Noremac Mij

People like Sony for the same reasons why TV’s sell better when the store display models have the “Retail Mode” engaged. If you want the absolute most processed, vivid, sharpened look, buy Sony. Simple as that. I don’t think there’s any one studio or label dominating the market right now with the best releases. Good releases are slowly trickling out from everywhere. And majority of releases are meh.

The Sony releases actually often look more natural (although sometimes the max brightness needs to be tamed a bit). They don't do a lot of fake looking store demo mode HDR and colors.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Noremac Mij

People like Sony for the same reasons why TV’s sell better when the store display models have the “Retail Mode” engaged. If you want the absolute most processed, vivid, sharpened look, buy Sony. Simple as that. I don’t think there’s any one studio or label dominating the market right now with the best releases. Good releases are slowly trickling out from everywhere. And majority of releases are meh.

[NeilZ]

I think allthe big distributors have done a pretty great job but funnily enough Sony did have two upgrades that later got surpassed by Studio Canal releases (albeit by a feather) in Fifth Element and Leon. Studio Canal sometimes has compression issues and they messed up Terminator 2 but otherwise I like them a lot too. Paramount has been fantastic of late I have to say (with one or two exceptions).

[nick4Knight]

Originally Posted by WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW

Heck, I kinda wish they owned all the catalogs.

Agreed. No one of them is the best. There was a time Sony, Uni and Warners had a flawless run... but most have their blips now and then due to rushed releases, overload and diminishing departments. There isn't enough standards all apply to their processes and minimum requirements for specs. I wish Sony brought back their dedicated mastered in 4K arm, backed by all the majors w/ equal funding invested and profit share for all the scanning, grading and release duties by this division.

[Show spoiler]The Sony of now is much more reserved so we wouldn't get the anomalies in the first two years. That were prepared way before the format anyway.

DV on every disc. Atmos on every disc. Previous format lossless audio on every disc. Original audio (not downmixed) on every disc. All standard.

Re-release some of their olds in the newer protocol. Remaster JP 1, III, BB and some botched discs earlier in format. Incorrect mastering values from folks like Lionsgate at times etc.

Sell all under Sony home video and studios can license out to boutiques for extra slice profit shares but the core disc still Sony generated and gotta meet the mark. All the boutiques would do is author bonus disc(s) and packaging.

I guess the majors could also do special editions on the side, too, for more profit percentage of those releases.

/wish fulfillment: the post

[unberechenbar]

Originally Posted by nick4Knight

The Sony of now is much more reserved so we wouldn't get the anomalies in the first two years. That were prepared way before the format anyway.

What do you mean by anomalies? Like native 4K movies shot on film like Salt and Hancock? Seems like Sony doesn't do that anymore.