Stacking up the new Criterion Collection Blu-ray against Hong Kong’s MediaAsia edition (2008)
This article contains several comparisons which contrast the older MediaAsia (Hong Kong) Blu-ray transfer with the new Criterion restoration. The frames aren’t necessarily exact matches, but should give a solid indication of the visual differences.
Criterion’s new edition of The Infernal Affairs Trilogy was released on November 15.
In recent years a lot of “wish-list” Blu-rays have been making their way to home video. For many US collectors, the Infernal Affairs Trilogy has been one of the bigger missing pieces in our collections.
For those who couldn’t wait (guilty), the series has been a popular import, with the Hong Kong edition from MediaAsia and Megastar being the most accessible and obvious choice: region free, English-subtitled, and local to the films’ origin.
Criterion’s new collected set of the entire Infernal Affairs trilogy finally brings them to Blu-ray in a stunning new edition with 4K restorations of all three films. While the first film had a standalone Blu-ray release from Lionsgate, the sequels are making their US high-definition disc debut.
For this edition of Screen Comparisons, we’re comparing the MediaAsia and Criterion versions of the first film. (The sequels will be covered separately in a follow-up).
While the older transfer isn’t terrible, I’m certainly much more impressed with Criterion’s newer version. There are three main differences I noticed in comparing the transfers.
The difference in color timing/correction is probably the most readily apparent change. Sometimes it’s quite different. The film has memorable scenes in both sunlit and darkened environments, and the newer transfer does a much better job all-around…
….even if one might argue that some shots or scenes look a little better or moodier in their older coloration or saturation.
Another thing I noticed is that the HK discs have a ton of compression artifacts and macroblocking. This makes total sense in reviewing the technical aspects of the files, since Criterion’s video files for all three films are more than double (almost triple) the size. There’s a little bit of this kind of crush in the Criterion as well, but it’s not nearly as pronounced.
Note that how well you can spot this will depend a lot on your display, particularly brightness and contrast. I’ve highlighted some examples.
The other thing that I noticed was that Criterion’s scans is noticeably wider on the frame, capturing more of the peripheral image on all four sides.
This remains true despite the fact that Criterion’s utilization of the screen-space is just slightly narrower on the vertical.
A few extra parting shots just for general comparison:
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Except where noted, all 16:9 screen images in this review are direct captures from the disc(s) in question with no editing applied, but may have compression or resizing inherent to file formats and Medium’s image system.
