TOP 10 STUDIO/BOUTIQUE LABELS OF 2022!

[@oliverclothesoff8604]

Happy Friday the 13th Ken. Feel like taking a dip into Crystal Lake.

[@midlevelmedia]

Not today Oliver! Lol

[@TheOriginalFuzz]

Love this topic Ken!

[@midlevelmedia]

Thanks!

[@scaps2200]

Ken, I was going to leave a long, ranting comment but these were your choices and just your opinions so good job!

[@midlevelmedia]

😂😂😂...Rant away Scaps. I can take it. Lol

[@griffredux9966]

Great list, Ken! I appreciate your insight and the work you put into these types of videos!

[@midlevelmedia]

Thank you griff!

[@MoviesSue]

I'm becoming such a fan of Kino Lorber! Happy to see them at #1! Awesome video!

[@midlevelmedia]

Kino earned it!

[@seanchud]

Holy crap I can’t believe I didn’t know about Back to the Beach being out! Soooo glad I watched this.

[@midlevelmedia]

So fun!

[@nicholascaldwell3396]

Also training day coming at 4K❤

[@midlevelmedia]

Very true

[@richardpoirier2506]

I didn't buy any 4K's from them this past year, but yeah I agree. They should be number 1. I didn't know who they were until I subscribed to your channel at the beginning of last year. Their quality is excellent. I'm sure their 4K's are great.

[@midlevelmedia]

They are the best at this point for me

[@moomcmoosson1992]

I hope Warner will release Ben Hur and Doctor Zhivago on 4K in 2023.

[@midlevelmedia]

Ben Hur probably for sure.

[@nicholassims8112]

I imported that Arrow Robin Hood. It’s a great transfer, & has great packaging.

[@lordrayden3045]

I did as well

[@midlevelmedia]

Looked phenomenal!

[@lordrayden3045]

@@midlevelmedia Amazon.co.uk is the way to go

[@steveyoung9102]

I enjoyed the Scream factory release for all the Halloween movies because of the packaging

[@midlevelmedia]

Great packaging and those releases were great!

[@steveyoung9102]

@@midlevelmedia still haven't watched 6 through 8 but had to get them before I lose the chance on the hard outer case

[@steveyoung9102]

I also threw out the outer box

[@MyFireVideos]

Great choice for #1!

[@dslking]

Vinegar Syndrome makes the best slip covers. Such high quality. I was blown away by the quality of Road House

[@christophermoore5007]

I would love to see Disney put Dolby vision on their 4k discs.

[@TheNotoriousNemo]

I dont even collect disney if i can help it. their 4ks suck

[@christophermoore5007]

@@TheNotoriousNemo but if they put Dolby vision on their 4k discs, they would improve.

[@midlevelmedia]

I would just love Disney to do 4K discs in general at this point.

[@enriquecabada8841]

i know scream factory is everyones favorite punching bag but i bought more of their realeases then anyone else. except for wild things and shawscope vol.2 which i havent got yet waiting for price drop arrow had an off year

[@midlevelmedia]

They keep us hyped for stuff. There's no denying that.

[@vonVile]

It's pronounced "Sigh Naps". ☺️

[@WhirlingMusic]

My favorite of the year is Second Sight. My favorite of all time is Synapse. Criterion was least favorite. They didn't do release anything I like this year.

[@midlevelmedia]

Second Sight is top tier!

[@Johnny82Utah]

You're 10 and 9 are my 1 and 2. Second Sight releasing my no. 1 favorite movie of all-time Drive. With Vinegar Syndrome 3rd releasing one of my favorite 80s films in Road House. I didn't get it until first week of 2023 but ordered it 2022 so I'm counting it. I have scream factory at 4 with the Halloween sets. With Arrow at 5 for Tremors I only started collecting boutique labels since I found this channel about 5 months back but always had Arrow video. No. 1 in studio for me was Warner Bros with Paramount no. 2

[@midlevelmedia]

That Drive Second Sight release was top tier. Glad to hear you're diving into more labels!

[@patricklena9307]

I am hoping that vinegar syndrome is going to put out Amityville 2 the possession this fall. I consider this a better film than the first one. But the first one did have a magnificent transfer by them.

[@screamrad218]

Scream Factory needs to chill out with those prices though!

[@batman.darthmaul]

You should really do a worst/most disappointing releases of 2022 video.

[@midlevelmedia]

I did a version that. Biggest physical media controversies last week.

[@shawnmartin7500]

Agreed - Kino is the best!!! (And they do the best slips, because they don't f**k with the original art!)

[@midlevelmedia]

Very true

[@TheNotoriousNemo]

This video is great, arrow is my #1. This gives people a chance to catch up on missed released movies. I got the witch and babadook second sight and dog soldiers.

[@midlevelmedia]

Nice! Arrow is still Quality!

[@fettmatic4106]

You mean James Brolin, Ken.😉😆

[@midlevelmedia]

Ummmmm. I guess? Lol

[@southendonseaarts]

Second Sight was higher up in my Top Ten it’s up there for me but I’m in UK so perhaps they are cheaper for us to get here. They’re promising 4ks of Martin, Texas Chainsaw and Hitcher in 2023. Some great releases last year Bull, Boiling Point, Tangerine , Drive and The Vvitch among them. Agree Kino is No1 for me I’ve got all their 4ks looking fwd to Death Wish, The Italian Job, and Marathon Man this year. With Scream Factory I can’t order direct so I just import don’t want all that pin and poster stuff so I’m not so negative. Criterion did drop the ball with the 4k of A Hard Days Night in Jan 2022 but I would put them higher up as they delivered some great titles last year I have all their 2022 releases so my perspective here is wider.

[@midlevelmedia]

Very good points. Second Sight is on the rise for me for sure!

[@_wave___]

love the kino pick. they put out some of the best transfers on 4K. their discs have high bit rates and DOLBYVISION grading as well. not to mention all the sales, slipcovers with beautiful classic poster art, and the best selection of films this last year. straight up all-time classics on 4K and they didn't get mentioned enough for it. i know the packaging is very simple and i wish they would put some art on their discs, but i like collecting great films i don't care about the packaging as much. i wish more companies would use bd100 discs like kino does. other companies have discs that suffer from low bit rates quite often.

[@midlevelmedia]

I just couldn't deny them the top spot. They earned it this year.

[@BiggestMikey]

Ima say my MAIN issue with Sony isn't their quality cuz its second-to-none. My problem is Sony seems to be unaware of the word "standalone". Because while their Columbia Classics and various other box sets are nice, I dont like that I cant just buy MANY of these releases individually. Taxi Driver and Lawrence of Arabia for example are both in 4K UHD ONLY if you buy those box sets. Maybe I dont wanna spend $100 for just 1 movie I'm interested. Their curations of these collector sets are commendable but its not really consumer-minded when you're not really offering other purchasing options for their content.

[@moomcmoosson1992]

Yeah, Kino Lorber has been great. The packaging may be just studio standard but their consistent A/V quality (at least with their 4Ks) can't be denied and they're mostly pretty good in the extras department.

[@midlevelmedia]

Exactly

[@andygriffin9935]

I'm watching it now and I bet lionsgate is #1

[@midlevelmedia]

Not quite.

[@michelle_pgh]

You love the Green Mile but didn't buy the Steelbook?

[@midlevelmedia]

It was a good Steelbook, but didn't love it enough to pre-order.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

Paramount seems determined to take the title of worst label in every way possible. Terrible practices, DNR, image manipulation, lack of original audio, terrible encodes and truly shameful catalog releases. I don’t look at a lot of genre releases but I do appreciate the work Vinegar Syndrome does. Kino isn’t a great label most of the time as their releases depend entirely on what the master is. They simply release anything they get their hands on. Their model is quantity over quality. For me Indicator and Warner Archive with Eureka as #3 are so far ahead of the pack in terms of all labels that there really isn’t any competition.

[@andygriffin9935]

Scream factory should be #1 just for releasing so much content with their box sets sure they have some problems not that I've had any but they release so much more than any other. So all you haters move along

[@midlevelmedia]

I still love them, but nowhere near the top spot for me.

[@SumDumGy]

I couldn’t disagree with you more about Paramount. I’ve passed on more titles last year specifically for Paramount and their choices than I did for every studio/boutique combined. If Paramount really cared about the movie watcher and collector, they’d do a far better job at including Blu-ray copies. Beverly Hills Cop included a Blu-ray. Part 2 did not. Scream did not include a Blu-ray. Scream 2 did. Their lack of consistency and how often this occurs is amazing. Star Trek: TMP has a huge problem with the remastered effects. Star Trek VI Blu-ray doesn’t have the Director’s Cut like it’s supposed to.

[@midlevelmedia]

But at least they're constantly upgrading their catelog. Can't get that out of Warner, Universal, or Disney.

[@SumDumGy]

@@midlevelmedia If they won’t upgrade in a way that works for me to spend my money on, those upgrades do me no good at all. I hear so many people talk about how the lack of a Blu-ray copy restricts where in their homes they get to watch their new movies. That’s the choice all you make. My choice is to vote with my wallet against that practice. Im seeing plenty of upgrades from Warner and Universal filing my shelves. As for the Rodent House? I won’t knowingly give them a dime if my money so it doesn’t matter to me what they do. The products of theirs I’m willing to buy, I only buy secondhand. Their theatrical releases, I buy tickets to movies from other studios to watch.

[@andygriffin9935]

Scream factory should be #1 kino lorber is great but scream factory is so much better with their content but whatever

[@Hicks-g1m]

Scream factory Ken? LOL that company better figure out how to better serve their customers even though they have had some good things going they seem to be hitting rock bottom as of late. There is absolutely no Excuse at all why those Child's Play 4ks looked the way they did

[@midlevelmedia]

Offgasing Jeff. Offgasing. That's the excuse. Lol

[@Hicks-g1m]

@@adam3797 That's exactly the Big Deal no one wants to see any kind of shit when they order movies or whatever. That's just being careless on their part.

[@hunterdean4766]

This whole "pronouncing Synapse wrong for over a year" thing has to be a bit you're doing, in which case I give you props for keeping it going for so long. But in the off chance you really don't know how to pronounce it, it's pronounced SIN-APSE. Not SNOPS.

[@midlevelmedia]

Yeah sure. It's a bit.....😂

[@kevindudley9617]

Great list! I would personally put Vinegar Syndrome at 1st place on my list. Between their 4K and standard bluray releases, I think they really set a standard as a whole & continue to excel. I also feel that in terms of quality control, VS also rules supreme with Blue Undergound and Synapse not that far behind.

[@midlevelmedia]

Vinegar Syndrome continues to rise for me. Who knows where they'll be this time next year.

[@holleringsmith3837]

Scream Factory should be WAY higher on this list. They screwed up a lot, but they put out the most stuff. And most of it was ultimately really good.

[@midlevelmedia]

Idk. Kino might have released more 4Ks? Certainly they did more blurays and Boxsets.

[@holleringsmith3837]

Kino sucks. They're extremely overrated.

[@midlevelmedia]

They've done some of the best, most consistent work all year. You can say you don't prefer them, but definitely can't say they suck.