Ben Hur (1959)
Warner Germany RC2
Warner Edition Collector France RC2
Warner US RC1

The two PAL transfers from Warner Bros are identical. Detail resolution and compression quality is better than on their NTSC counterpart. Mastered from the same source material the US transfer shows the same occasional blemishes (white spot on the right, pic#3). But the picture is softer and less detailed (people in pic#1, pic#2 ), shows a bit more compression problems (dune, pic#3) and displays a greenish hue (heston's back in pic#4, background in pic#5). Edge enhancement and color bleeding is present on both transfers (e.g. rider in pic#3). Otherwise there is not much difference between the two presentations: Mostly vibrant (techni)colors, good contrast with solid blacks from a carefully restored high definition master, preserving (for the first time on home video) the original 2,76:1 widescreen aspect ratio.