Paul says: Not having seen either of the other region discs, I have to say during normal non-critical watching the Region 4 version is a beautiful picture, with deep blacks and excellent colour clarity. I watched the Yubaba segment on my TV a few times with a critical eye and did notice the slight compression, but if you were to watch normally I doubt you'd notice anything. 

The ghosting issue in my opinion is not an issue after all, since it's just an interlacing artifact that doesn't show up during viewing as far as I can see. Perhaps just a mention that it is the product of interlacing would suffice.

In the extras department I'd pick R4, since the features Disney included in R1 (like John Lasseter's intro) I can certainly do without! This is not a Disney film at all except in distribution rights, so I'm glad the Aussie version doesn't bear any Disney stuff personally (including a trailer before the movie if I'm not mistaken!).

The packaging is a no brainer - R4 wins hands down. It really is a beautiful package and suits the movie entirely.

Menus - I'd pick R4 but R1 isn't bad either, just seems a little more generic. R3 is out again.

Overall, I'd pick R4, but only just. You can make a case for either R1 or R4, both are very good transfers and the Yubaba screenshot is not really indicative of the rest of the picture (plus it's a high motion area so you don't really have time to focus on it).

The packaging and extras are just a bit better in R4 in my opinion.

Kevin says:  Image: R1. I would have to disagree with Paul here. The ghosting artifact could be very noticeable on a large progressive display.

Sound: a tie between R3 and R4, since both have DTS. R3 has one more rear channel, but it probably won't make much difference in this film.

Extras: a tie between R3 and R4. R3 has complete storyboarding, while R4 has that very interesting study guide.

Menus: Any would do.

Gary says: I agree with Kevin in that the "ghosting" issue could be more noticeable on larger projection screen and they are other artifact issues usually present with this unfortunate circumstance ('ghosting'). the packaging on the Region 4 is quite impressive, but for me personally, the image quality is always the deciding factor - so we are going with the Region 1.

The Hong Kong-made Region 3 NTSC disc is distributed by a company called IVL.  It is reported to have identical video quality as the Region 2 Japanese-made DVD version.  Both the Hong Kong and the Japanese disc have an apparent reddishness on the video transfer throughout the film, as shown in the screenshots below.  This "red tint" phenomenon has been well-documented in DVD review sites, and is generally considered a major snafu by the Japanese distributors who provided the print for the DVDs.

-Kevin Yip