1982 20th Century Fox LaserDisc: Unmanipulated, but dupey. Clearly sourced from inferior materials.
1982 Japanese Warner LaserDisc: Broadly similar to (but I think for the most part less detailed than) the 1982 US LD. More hiss, too much bass.
1984 CBS/Fox Hi-Fi VHS: Cleaner than the 1982 US LD and mostly similar sounding, but surprisingly a little more muffled too.
1988 Japanese Warner LaserDisc [NJEL-99209]: Like the 1982 Japanese Warner LD but sped up about 9% (so pitched ~1.5 semitones too high).
1988 MGM LaserDisc [ML101402] - Connery Classics: An appreciable upgrade, evidently having been sourced from better materials. It's a very natural sounding track, with clear dialogue and some persistent moderate hiss. It's still a bit dupey, though.
1991 Criterion LaserDisc [CC1266L]: Sourced from even better materials than the 1988 Connery Classics LD. The opening credits sound much better, as do most other scenes with music. But it also sounds more doctored with hiss reduction, so many scenes (especially those with dialogue) manage to sound more muffled than the 1988 LD. The left channel of the analogue track (the channel without the commentary) uses the same mastering, except the first minute of the opening credits music sounds much more rolled off.
1992 MGM LaserDisc [ML102713] - Connery Collection: The benchmark - excellent sound, and certainly the best sounding track among the first three Bond films. I believe this is the same underlying transfer as the Criterion LD but without any hiss reduction. The difference is really quite astronomical. The left channel of the analogue track uses the same mastering.
1993 MGM LaserDisc [ML102728]: Identical to the Connery Collection box set LD.
1993 Japanese MGM LaserDisc [NJEL-52728]: Similar but not identical to ML102713/ML102728. Any differences, if they exist, are extremely minor; I can't hear any.
1995 MGM Hi-Fi VHS: A similar amount of noise reduction as the Criterion LD.
1998 MGM LaserDisc [ML105407] - THX: Like the 1995 VHS.
1998 R1 MGM DVD - THX: Like the 1995 VHS.
2000 R1 MGM DVD - Special Edition: Identical to the THX DVD.
2006 R1 MGM DVD - Ultimate Edition: Some additional filtering atop the ~1995 mastering, but it sounds basically the same.
2008 MGM Blu-ray: I'll reiterate that the 5.1 on the blu-ray (and the Ultimate Edition DVD) isn't a discrete mix; it was created from the mono track and therefore sounds garbled and phasey. It does, however, have marginally less hiss reduction applied to it than the blu-ray's mono track does -- but only during a handful of musical sequences (where this music has been added from another, higher quality source); the majority of the film (all dialogue, most sound effects, etc.) sounds just as murky as the mono track. The level of noise reduction on the mono is comical (the most of any edition), and its bass is way overemphasised.
Update (6/1/2022): Added the following: 1982 Japanese LD, 1984 VHS, two 1988 LDs, 1993 Japanese LD, 1995 VHS, 1998 LD, 1998 DVD
Would be interested to hear how the MGM 1992 LD compares to the Criterion LD. I can provide the latter in AC3 if you need it.
ReplyDeleteEven the old mgm 90s dvd of the man with the golden gun sounds better than the blurays
ReplyDeleteThe difference between the two sounds like we left the room closed the door and went outside to listen. Comical indeed, but more likely inept.
ReplyDelete