Folks,
Wanna hear what REALLY bad noise reduction on an official blu-ray can sound like?
Here's a sample of the film Rashomon with two audio tracks--one from the Criterion disc and one from the Japanese Kadokawa Pictures disc.
https://mega.co.nz/#!6R9B0IoI!hnaxEnDkYJ...5uaDNonPfA
[Image: SS76T25.jpg] [Image: W88qE1T.jpg]
Kadokawa did the restoration itself, which was certainly done properly (4K scan, audio also treated faithfully, blah.). It appears the master from which Criterion authored their disc (lent to them by Kadokawa) was also used to prepare the Kadokawa blu-ray, as you'd expect. Both have practically identical frame-accurate video.
The audio, though, is a different story. Ambient effects (insects, the rustling of leaves, rain) have been wiped out entirely on the Criterion, and dialogue sounds incredibly muffled and hollow - so much so that at first I thought these were two different mixes. However, traces of the obliterated sounds can still be heard faintly on the Criterion from time to time.
A travesty.
Wanna hear what REALLY bad noise reduction on an official blu-ray can sound like?
Here's a sample of the film Rashomon with two audio tracks--one from the Criterion disc and one from the Japanese Kadokawa Pictures disc.
https://mega.co.nz/#!6R9B0IoI!hnaxEnDkYJ...5uaDNonPfA
[Image: SS76T25.jpg] [Image: W88qE1T.jpg]
Kadokawa did the restoration itself, which was certainly done properly (4K scan, audio also treated faithfully, blah.). It appears the master from which Criterion authored their disc (lent to them by Kadokawa) was also used to prepare the Kadokawa blu-ray, as you'd expect. Both have practically identical frame-accurate video.
The audio, though, is a different story. Ambient effects (insects, the rustling of leaves, rain) have been wiped out entirely on the Criterion, and dialogue sounds incredibly muffled and hollow - so much so that at first I thought these were two different mixes. However, traces of the obliterated sounds can still be heard faintly on the Criterion from time to time.
A travesty.
