1986 CIC Video LaserDisc [SF068-1135]: Extremely dupey and undetailed.
1988 Turner VHS (Hi-Fi): Dupey and undetailed, but slightly less so than the CIC Video LD.
1992 Turner VHS (Hi-Fi): Clear and very detailed - everything sounds vibrant and exciting, in a way I've never experienced the film before. There's plenty of distortion in louder moments that has been shorn off from every later release (along with a good chunk of high-frequency detail). As expected, the linear track has less dynamic range, less high-frequency information, and more tape hiss.
1992 Criterion LaserDisc [CC1259L]: Quite bad; everything above 8 kHz has been attenuated.
1992 Image Entertainment LaserDisc [ID8363TU]: The secondary (analogue) track on this LD is solid. It has more high-end detail than the DVDs and the blu-rays, but it still sounds rolled off and dull next to the VHS. The primary digital track (not pictured below) is described on the packaging as "enhanced" and sounds poor.
1996 Turner VHS (Hi-Fi): Like the 1992 Turner VHS, but the sealed copy that was captured and shared with me has many dropouts throughout the film that aren't present on the 1992 tape.
2001 Warner VHS (Hi-Fi): Like the later Warner DVDs.
2002 R1 Warner DVD: More high-end detail than the Criterion LD, but less than the Image LD's analogue track.
2003 R2 Warner DVD: Like the R1 DVD but with more dynamic range compression.
2011 Warner Blu-ray: Basically the same as the R1 DVD - just some additional filtering between 6-7 kHz.
2012 Universal Blu-ray (UK): The same mastering as the SE DVD, and possibly a lossy transcode.
2013 Resen Blu-ray: The same mastering as the SE DVD, and possibly a lossy transcode.
2016 IVC Blu-ray: Like the Warner blu-ray but with IVC's signature additional limiting.
2021 Criterion UHD Blu-ray: A new mastering that sounds better than the Warner blu-ray and DVDs, with less aggressively neutered high frequencies and no scene-specific filtering. But it's still more muffled than the Image LD analogue track, and a lot more muffled than the Turner VHS Hi-Fi track.
2021 Warner UHD Blu-ray: Like the Criterion UHD.
2/26/2022: Added the 1988 Turner VHS, the 1996 Turner VHS, the 2001 Warner VHS, and the 2022 Warner UHD
3/3/2022: Added the 1986 CIC Video LaserDisc
3/31/2022: Replaced the 1992 Turner VHS tape's images with new ones from a capture of a sealed tape
5/23/2022: Added the Universal and IVC blu-rays
It's a mind numbing commentary that a 30 year old VHS track beats out modern digital technology for the widest audio spectrum.
ReplyDeleteThey should take the old classical audio CD stance of no compromise to the original intent of the recording.
Davey
Is the vhs hifi how they normally sound when studios like criterion get their hands on them? Shame they can't just include a second track without noise reduction
ReplyDeleteCurious now what the pre-50th anniversary Criterion LDs sounded like. The CAV pressings are a bit pricey, but there was a CLV edition in 1987 that's easier to come by and probably sounds the same.
ReplyDeleteBest case scenario is that its mastering (or lack thereof) sounds similar, yes. Ultimately, purchasing even the Criterion CLV wouldn't be worth it since analogue LD even at its best will be inferior to Hi-Fi VHS.
DeleteThis Turner tape that was captured and sent to me is apparently quite worn, but it doesn't sound that way at all!
I've got a rip of the 1987 Criterion LD and the audio sounds just as good as the Turner VHS to my ears.
Delete