Johnny Mnemonic (101 Films - Black Label 025)

[StrayButler91]

Originally Posted by Daedolon

Considering the 101 disc is BD-25 and the Japanese looks to be BD-50, I doubt it.

Has that been confirmed by 101 or are you going from the user-submitted specs on this website? Because those specs should not be considered reliable prior to someone actually getting the disc.

In all likelihood, the user who created the database entry for the 101 disc cloned the U.S. disc specs but forgot to change the BD-25 spec.

Pretty much all Black Label discs are BD-50s and I don't see why they'd change that given the content on this disc.

[indiana]

I asked 101 which transfer they will use

[Daedolon]

Originally Posted by Bumblefeet

Surely this is already frontrunner for worst cover art of 2022?

Maybe there's something wrong with me (I already know there is), but I really like it myself. I guess the name typeface could be a bit more legible. I've never been a huge fan of cut-out stills of characters on a random background like the regular disc sleeve art is.

Originally Posted by StrayButler91

Has that been confirmed by 101 or are you going from the user-submitted specs on this website?

Just went by what the site is telling me. Was assuming the data is vetted properly like most serious online databases.

[StrayButler91]

Originally Posted by Daedolon

Just went by what the site is telling me. Was assuming the data is vetted properly like most serious online databases.

Yeah don't trust the specs until someone has the disc in hand, specs are basically temporary in the lead-up. I've changed the specs so the disc size is no longer listed, and the size can be submitted when the disc is out.

[ekimidej]

So I received my 'Limited Edition' JM blu ray today. I watched it a few days ago on Amazon Prime Video just so that I could dive straight in with the commentaries and now, having watched the blu ray, I can say with confidence that this is the only one of the several hundred blu rays in my collection that actually looks worse on disc than streaming on Amazon.

I haven't seen the US or German blu rays, but the screenshots on caps-a-holic for those look noticeably better than this blu ray. In fact, the 'HD' version on this disc is almost on a par with the included SD Japanese cut, which is the only version I will be watching on this God awful disc in future. At least I can accept that it's an upscale and be more at peace with its limitations.

If I had very low expectations for the PQ going in, 101 still managed to disappoint me with compression issues, weird bands of light in dark areas, aliasing and posterisation (many of which were not present on the Amazon stream) all over the transfer. No amount of added 'extras' can make up for how truly dreadful the disc is. Not sure if it's a BD-25 or not, but my guess is probably yes.

[Killer Meteor]

It definetly looks old as far as the transfer goes - very hazy video look to it.

Quite the film - Dolph Lundgren is awesome in it!

[drush9999]

Did anyone expect any better from 101 Films?

[backslashio]

Originally Posted by drush9999

Did anyone expect any better from 101 Films?

Sounds about as reliable as Umbrella Entertainment in Australia

"We got a HD version of this movie!"
Us: "Great, did you actually do anything to it? Was it properly restored? Any audio options?"
"No, we just slapped it on a disc without looking"

Dark Water was probably the worst transfer I've seen on bluray, they bundled it with the DVD and the difference was tiny

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by backslashio

Sounds about as reliable as Umbrella Entertainment in Australia

"We got a HD version of this movie!"
Us: "Great, did you actually do anything to it? Was it properly restored? Any audio options?"
"No, we just slapped it on a disc without looking"

Dark Water was probably the worst transfer I've seen on bluray, they bundled it with the DVD and the difference was tiny

This definetly looks like the Arrow BD of Dark Water.

[backslashio]

The only HD thing on Dark Water was the subtitles

[bigrob]

Checking mine out now. Jesus christ it's like watching a DVD!

[Killer Meteor]

It really does.

[Filmmaker]

How incredibly disappointing. My only other 101 Films release is their new edition of THE SNOWTON MURDERS released a few months ago and that one looked great.

[Killer Meteor]

It's a case of an old master. I haven't seen the long OOP US BD so don't know if that looks worse.

[Bumblefeet]

To be honest, a proper transfer for this would need to be 320 gigabytes in size.

[CelestialAgent]

Was hoping 101 would learn their lesson after The Cooler, The Deep, Truck Turner, but obviously not. Even Howard the Duck (a disc I question why I own) got outmoded by a UHD within 2 years of its release.

If the image quality is going to be so poor, I’d rather see a DVD special edition than the cheek to do a £25 LE in a hard cardboard box. The lack of black and white regrade and its extras was already a mark against it.

Unfortunately streaming looking better than disc is becoming more common - plenty of 4K restorations of films like Red Eye, Commando are available digitally but not on disc, and Mill Creek seems to screw up quite a few times too.

So how does this compare to the Image, Turbine and Sony (JP) releases?

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

So how does this compare to the Image, Turbine and Sony (JP) releases?

Be interested to know as well. I have the Image BD but the newer Turbine release looks like the same transfer on caps-a-holic.

[Vanguard]

Originally Posted by drush9999

Be interested to know as well. I have the Image BD but the newer Turbine release looks like the same transfer on caps-a-holic.

The best HD version remains the Japanese Blu-ray, with the Turbine versions and the US Blu-ray being near identical. (The Turbine Auro-3D version has ever so slightly better compression compared to the Turbine Atmos version and the US Blu-ray. Only visible in screen caps, as I would be impressed if anyone could see it in motion)

Not sure which has the best presentation of the SD Japanese cut, but I would assume all 3 Blu-ray versions are the same exact upscaled master.
The Turbine release does have English subtitles for the Japanese dialogue bits. Unsure on the Japanese Blu-ray though.

[superunknown80]

I have the German Turbine bluray and have just received the 101 bluray. I confirm what another user said above. The German Turbine blu has better colour and better black levels. Detail also looks a little better on the German release. The 101 bluray looks particularly washed out in darker scenes. Also due to the PAL speedup a couple of Japanese characters who already have pretty high pitched voices sound like chipmunks on the 101 bluray. The runtime is the same as the NTCS American release on the German bluray, unlike the shorter runtime on the 101 release due to PAL speedup. Only negative of the German blu is that the opening text crawl is in German only, and a very brief moment where Takeshi speaks Japanese has burnt in German subs and no English translation. But it's a very short moment and the other character speaks English for the majority of that section, so for the most part you can make out what's being said roughly

Regarding the SD extended cut on the German blu. The opening text crawl is in English, and it can be set so there are English subs for the Japanese spoken segment from the theatrical cut. But there are no English subs for.the extended section which is spoken in Japanese

[backslashio]

This movie is begging for a 4K remaster, why must it be so unloved? Can't even buy it digitally on iTunes