ADDITION: Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - February 2015': Firstly, don't be deterred by the 1080i (interlaced) transfer - it is surely a reflection of source (shot entirely with mid-level analog Hi-8 camcorders) as well as the visible 'trailing' in some of the captures. I couldn't see anything similar in-motion on my system. It seems competently absorbed by the higher resolution. This is described as a "New high-definition digital restoration, created through a collaboration between the Academy Film Archive, the Sundance Film Institute, and the UCLA Film & Television Archive". Anomalies like 'Chroma' are far more an issue on the SD. Almost 3-hours worth of film is a lot for a DVD to handle, hence the low-ish bitrate of the 2005 disc. The dual-layered Blu-ray, obviously can support the film much better and you can notice a crisper image and richer, deeper colors (notable reds) on the Blu-ray. What I am thankful for is that the less-polished realism of the documentary is still present on the new HD rendering.

The audio gets a bump from the old DVD - we get a DTS-HD Master in 4.0 channel Surround at a healthy 2956 kbps. There is some range and especially depth exported by the track. The score is credited to Ben Sidran with pieces entitled Hoop Dreams, Low Post and the Dream Theme. It sounds both impressive but not out of place with the video. Excellent. There are optional English subtitles on the region 'A'-locked Blu-ray disc.

Criterion add some new supplements from their original DVD, but also keep the audio commentaries: one with filmmakers Steve James, Frederick Marx, and Peter Gilbert , and one with the film’s subjects, Arthur Agee and William Gates (Arthur's left channel, William's right) - both recorded in January 2005 in Chicago. Life After “Hoop Dreams,” a new, 40-minute, documentary that catches up with the principals. From 2004 to 2005, the makers of Hoop Dreams, in collaboration with the Criterion Collection, filmed with Arthur Agee, William Gates, and their families to document what had been happening in their lives since the film's première in 1994. This documentary presents that footage for the first time, along with interviews with the filmmakers conducted in 2014. There are also 20-minutes of additional scenes that either didn't make the final cut of Hoop Dreams or are alternate edits of scenes in the film. They are presented in order in which the events occurred in the lives of Agee and Gates. We get the same 15-minute collection of excerpts from Siskel & Ebert tracking the acclaim for Hoop Dreams attempted to galvanize support for Hoop Dreams. They begin praising the unknown documentary on its way to the Sundance Film Festival, then recommend it to the Academy Awards review committee, and finally applaud it as the best film of the 1990s. Also included are the same Music Video and trailers from the SD package. Criterion have one of their liner notes booklets - this with essays by author John Edgar Wideman and filmmaker and critic Robert Greene.