Very nice project for the cult film of the 90s, YES. Awesomely quotable and featuring a very cool soundtrack, hence despite the “cheese”, it’s still one of my favourites in terms of computer-related movies.

Recently, I already saw an ongoing discussion about the new Blu-ray release and the odd decision to include Stereo only:

https://www.shoutfactory.com/film/film-crime/hackers-20th-anniversary-edition1

Whereas the distributor claims that 2.0 would be the original mix and all others inaccurate upmixes, this is a contradiction to the fact that a few lucky people apparently got their hands on the DTS discs, allegedly containing superb 5.1 audio.

Besides that, interestingly, some obscure WEB-DL release (ahem) contains a 5.1 mix as well, which - for me - sounds way better than the Stereo-track provided by the official Blu-ray, which is why I synced it to the BD-video which worked pretty flawless. I’m not sure what it was derived from or if it has been artificially upmixed, but if so, they did a damn good job.

There were some theories about the surround channels simply delayed a bit to create the impression of surround sound, but in this case, I highly doubt it, as it’s simply too good for that.

In terms of Hackers on LaserDisc, for the sake of comparison, I even took the effort to import the Japanese version. The great as usual nice cover left aside, it turned out to be a disappointment. While the audio is decent (but comparable to the 2.0 mix from the Blu-ray), it unfortunately even contains a short crackling noise in the scene where they are sitting in front of Acid Burn’s “super-duper” laptop (with a PCI bus, not to forget 😉). Since it occurs on both tracks, analog and PCM, I assume it’s a mastering error. Sadly, not everyone gives movies such a careful treatment like we do. 😦