ADDITION Alliance (Canada) Blu-ray - September 2009: I'd like to be brief but there are a few details that must be mentioned. Firstly this is an interlaced transfer (1080i) from Alliance. It, hence, exhibits 'combing' or 'trailing'. It's the same 1.66 aspect ratio as the Miramax CE DVD and looks to be the same transfer excepting it is now in HD. Meaning it has the same slight speckle and dirt imperfections. If I was forced to guess I'd say that Alliance took the Miramax transfer and bumped it to HD - it even starts with a Miramax logo.

Image: It seems lighter, detail may be marginally improved but really it is the increased resolution working - i.e. the larger it is displayed the more this will be evident. Black levels aren't as pronounced as on the CE DVD but everything else looks superior. The 'combing' is imperceptible in motion but it still indicates that this is not the best transfer possible. This Blu-ray is single-layered and the feature takes up a puny 13.8 Gig but the video bitrate is more than double the 2002 DVD although could also improve. My opinion is it certainly looks better than the DVD - at times, much better. Grain is overshadowed by noise - especially in monochromatic black backgrounds. Obviously, the visuals could still advance much further in this format. This dashed my expectations but I've been in the woods before with Alliance - it's hit or miss - mostly miss - so I wasn't that surprised.

Okay - let's get to the important part - the audio. I'll admit this is the feature that I have the least confidence in reviewing. I don't really have any quantitative way of comparing. It's up to my crusty ears. I'll say this though - it sounds tremendous. We've been given a DTS-HD Master 5.1 at a healthy 3818 kbps. This is the best I have EVER heard these classic Beatle songs. I threw-in with my old CD - no comparison whatsoever. I know the re-mastered Beatles CDs are coming out soon (in both a Mono and Stereo Boxsets), but I'd be surprised if they sound as good as this lossless Blu-ray audio. It was exporting audio closer to SACD in my opinion. If I Fell, Can't Buy Me Love and And I Love Her particularly sounded exceptional but it was hard not to notice the buoyancy on all the songs although demonstrative separation is limited. This alone may be worth the purchase of the Blu-ray for some. I intend to take it to a friend's house for a second opinion. I'll report back here. As it stands I was blown away although I admit I am no serious audiophile. There are no subtitle options and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.

NOTE: Warning the default audio is a standard 5.1 at 448 Kbps (???) - you'll have to change it to the DTS-HD!

The Blu-ray includes most of the supplements from the CE package including  the 36-minute "Things They Said Today ..." and dozen shorter featurettes. We miss out on a few other less consequential bits and pieces and none of the Blu-ray extras are in HD - although there is some benefit to having them all on the same disc as the feature.

This package is far from ideal and we can only give a recommendation for the audio which turned out to be a wonderful surprise. I've played it all day for the songs but let's hope it surfaces by another 1080 production house soon.

Gary W. Tooze

***

ON THE DVDs:

Aspect Ratio Per IMDB;
1.37 : 1 (negative ratio)
1.75 : 1 (intended ratio)
MPI 1.33:1 vs. BV 1.66:1

The MPI being an Open Matte print offers more information in the frame (top and bottom), while BV offer a little more on the left and much more on the right side.

BV extras are almost too much, with interviews of everyone and anyone who is not a Beatle! The menus for BV are beautifully animated. MPI's menus are static, but the limited extras are only available on MPI. Subtitles on MPI are summarized but not on the songs. Subtitles on BV are spot on and even provided on the performance of songs.

End of the day, keep your old MPI and get the new one by Miramax.

For a quaint supplemental disc, get "The Making of A Hard Day's Night" hosted by Phil Collins, a short made for TV doc. sold by MPI but OOP.

 - Enrique B Chamorro

A HARD DAY’S NIGHT – The MPI version is, save the MPI trailers, the same materials used for the transfer and supplement section from the 12” Criterion double LaserDisc set.  MPI did the DVD when Criterion was still not involved with the format.  In both cases, the film print is from the 1981 re-issue with the always-awful Dolby A-type analog stereo surround remix by producer Walter Shenson, which was bad on the Criterion version, and even worse in the recycled (and further compressed) Dolby Digital 2.0 from MPI.  The film was restored a few years ago and Miramax issued it theatrically in Dolby Digital only, then Apple Records rejected a 5.1 mix that may or may not have been used theatrically, with the Miramax DVD of course does not have anything above Pro Logic surrounds (and no center channel?).  They only kick in during the music numbers, making for a great disparity between those moments and the rest of the film.  Note the good black and white quality from the Miramax version versus the greenish MPI recycle.  The 1.66 was the way to go to get better picture quality versus doing a full screen image, already seen on the MPI version, albeit greenish.  The new print, along with the still-to-be-issued-on-DVD HELP! (1965, EastmanColor) were restored frame-by-frame for preservation purposes at the time.  With 6.1 configurations we now have and that the music from HELP! (both The Beatles songs and George Martin’s instrumental score) were recorded in the more authentic stereo of the time, so the choices made when that DVD arrives will be something to see and hear.

Nicholas Sheffo from FulvueDrive-In.com