Tuesday, 3 October 2023

Yojimbo (1961)

Speaking about the mono tracks on each of these:

2006 Opening DVD: This DVD, released in France, has some hiss reduction in the form of EQ but sounds decent overall.

2007 Criterion DVD: Significantly more hiss reduction than the Opening DVD.

2009 Toho Blu-ray: Terrible sound. Even more hiss reduction than the Criterion DVD and most of the bass is gone too.

2010 Criterion Blu-ray: Like the Criterion DVD but with frequencies between 1-4 kHz recessed. It sounds thick and murky--better than the Toho blu-ray, but bad overall.

2014 BFI Blu-ray: Identical to the Toho blu-ray.

2015 Star Media Blu-ray: No hiss reduction whatsoever. Some distortion is frequently audible, but the amount of detail here is wild.

2019 Amazon BFI Player Download: Like the Star Media blu-ray.

2023 Toho UHD Blu-ray: Decent! Better than both Criterion releases, certainly, but enough noise reduction to sound a lot more muffled and dead than the Star Media track.


Perspecta:
I consider Perspecta a gimmick, so here's a very brief rundown. The 2009 Toho blu-ray's 3.0 track sounds like it was upmixed from the mono. Sounds move between the three channels by the second. It's awful. The Criterion blu-ray's Perspecta track sounds worse than its mono one - way too bassy and even less high-frequency detail. The Toho UHD's Perspecta track has the best fidelity (comparable to its mono). 






10/8/2023: Added the BFI blu-ray

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