Hulu just added Raiders as a streaming movie on their site. It’s prominently featured on the home page. This is significant because they are showing the Wowow version, NOT the blu-ray. This is the first time I have ever seen or heard of the Wowow version being used for broadcast outside of Japan (it was shown in US movie theaters briefly for the 30th anniversary in 2011). Or anywhere since the blu-ray was released in 2012. Could this mean Paramount is shying away from using the blu-ray transfer? Have they head the outcry against the revisionist blu-ray?
Hard to say, they could have mistakenly sent this transfer. That seems unlikely because it was never used before and the blu-ray has transfer has always been used for broadcast, streaming, clips and live symphony concerts. It seems like it would have to be deliberate to pull this version from the archives. Whatever the case, I’m glad a wide audience will finally have a chance to see a more accurate HD version. And it gives a glimmer of hope that the eventual 4K release might not be the blu-ray version.
The downside is that they have cropped the ends to fit it into a 16x9 frame, and the sound is compressed. And the resolution is not as good as it should be. So we just can’t seem to win. But still better than the messed up orange/teal color and remixed sound IMO.
I saw the Wowow version on two different TV channels here in Canada in the last few weeks. And one of the two was also Pan and scan with the sides removed.
Interesting. I wonder if Paramount has changed the version they provide for broadcast/streaming to the wowow. Raiders was shown over the holidays in the US on the SyFy channel, but I didn’t see it. I wonder if they used the wowow. Amazon is still streaming the blu-ray version.