216 The Rules of the Game

[tenia]

so basically, if one has the old Criterion BD, purchasing the BFI BD (with a ton of new/exclusive extras) will suffice as an "upgrade" without needing to get the CC? since the BFI is sourced from the new restoration

That's what I had : I bought the Criterion BD when it was released, and have received the BFI disc to review it. To me, the BFI BD does offer an improvement upon the Criterion one, and I'd argue it's likely a SDR UHD won't offer much upon this. I seem to recall the BFI ruled against doing a UHD because they felt it wouldn't be technically justified, and I tend to think it's indeed very likely the case here.

[MichaelB]

Yes, I believe that is indeed the case; when the BFI receives a 4K master, they assess whether a UHD release is credibly going to offer a really obvious improvement or something that broadly looks similar to a BD, but which costs much more per unit to manufacture so even a tiny improvement isn't going to be worth it (either for the label or the consumer). And in this case all the evidence suggests that it was the right decision.

They made a similar decision about a couple of François Truffaut films, as I recall - in fact, this was when Ben Stoddart first confirmed that this was actual BFI policy.

[kniselyb]

Is the Criterion UHD worth getting if you own the older criterion bluray? Is the Criterion UHD using the same source as the BFI bluray?

[Finch]

It would appear to be a good upgrade over the old CC BD but not appreciably better than the new BFI BD. I think it's the same source. The BFI didn't think the advances of a 4k over their BD weren't significant enough to justify the costs in this market. Me, personally, I'm probably going to get either the BFI BD or the CC 4k because I seem to recall that the French import's extras did not have English subs (MA, can you confirm?) I'll have to check and decide which disc has the more appealing sounding bonus material.

[ryannichols7]

I went for the BFI BD as I own the existing CC BD with the excellent cover already, which covers me on the extras front with Criterion. the BFI have a ton of differing features on their disc (which I admittedly haven't gone through yet) that made it a pretty easy choice, even though it has equally bad cover art!

[M-A]

It would appear to be a good upgrade over the old CC BD but not appreciably better than the new BFI BD. I think it's the same source. The BFI didn't think the advances of a 4k over their BD weren't significant enough to justify the costs in this market. Me, personally, I'm probably going to get either the BFI BD or the CC 4k because I seem to recall that the French import's extras did not have English subs (MA, can you confirm?) I'll have to check and decide which disc has the more appealing sounding bonus material.

The French 4K only has one extra and yeah, no subs.

[Finch]

thanks MA!