Wednesday 16 March 2022

The Godfather (1972)

1981 Paramount LaserDisc [LV 8049]: This sounds so much airier than ever later edition I've compared it to, but the pressing itself has loads of distortion, especially during loud moments. I've heard transfers of two discs and the cleaner one still turns into AM radio-like mush at times. The entirety of the film lacks bass and dynamic range. I'm very curious if the late '80s Paramount Hi-Fi VHS tape (presumably sourced from the same underlying A/D transfer) sounds better.

1989 CIC Video LaserDisc [SF098-1064]: Rolled off relative to the '81 LD, but much cleaner. I have an incomplete capture of it, hence the missing ~90 minutes in the images below.

1990 Paramount LaserDisc [LV 8049-2]: A new audio transfer (probably the same one used for the blu-rays), but easily the most muffled. A lot more bass than the earlier laserdiscs.

2008 Paramount Blu-ray: Much less murky than the 1990 LD, but still a bit dead-sounding, especially during quiet scenes. It sounds okay for mono blu-ray track of a catalogue title (a low bar to clear), but I really think the film could sound a lot clearer.

2022 Paramount UHD Blu-ray: Like the 2008 blu-ray but with some scene-to-scene filtering mainly targeting the faint hum audible in the earlier mastering. Basically the same, though. The 5.1 is significantly murkier than the mono, especially its centre channel.






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