I’ve got the NEW DVD and will be posting some screen comparisons versus the Japan blu-ray… a quick look at the Japanese blu, its alright but the picture is a bit soft as well as what looks like some compression artifacts showing in places… At a quick glance though, appears to be a significant step up despite not being the best HD transfer
After comparing the two, it looks amazing compared to the NEW DVD. Some great shots as I was scanning through, I forgot how spagghy this one was for some reason. I don’t have the Koch or WE discs though, so I don’t know how it compares and if it may be an upscale from the Koch or something.
I’ll try and find some screens from the Koch disc for comparison, unless anyone who has it wants to upload some matching shots. Times for the shots are approximately: 3m21s, 9m21s, 38m08s, 1hr18m40s (times are from NEW, I didn’t take note of the blu times)
Japan blu:
1hr 40m
NEW dvd:
1hr 36m
(difference in run time appears to just be the PAL speed up of 4%)
Hmmmm bad news amigos (or good news that you don’t need to bother with the blu), not faring so well against Koch’s DVD (found some screens on the web)
Film grain seems to be either scrubbed quite a bit, or perhaps this is just an upscale resulting in loss of detail present in the Koch. The colors also seem worse than the Koch:
Japan Blu top
Koch DVD bottom
Literally anything is better than the NEW DVD. I used to own that muddy shitty mess of a disc.
yep, but what’s interesting is the Koch dvd seems to be much better than the Japan blu… unless you like your pictured filtered to hell. I can provide additional screen comparison of the Koch vs Japan if anyone wants them
I would have started out with a Koch vs Blu comparison, but I’ve been putting up with the NEW dvd all these years unaware of the Koch release as I had to take an extended break from this stuff after dedicating too much of my time to it… guess I better be careful now 
The Blu probably could have looked quite good. Now it looks quite quite bad to me. Probably a combination of filtering and poor encoding. The only somewhat okay screenshot is the one where Gemma is pointing the rifle at the other guy but even that is not acceptable to me.
The master is probably good enough. Some people involved with this Blu are just incompetent and/or don’t care. Which feels like a quite common problem with Blu (and DVD) releases.
Obviously it’s much better than the NEW DVD.
I’ve suspected this to be this case with most of these Japanese blu releases… there’s just too many of them for them to be quality
Although I’m not sure where their master came from - it appears to be a different print then than the Koch source, not just filtered. The credit sequence is totally different with different background images and it runs about 30 secs longer.
The only Japanese Blu I have is Johnny Yuma, which looks pretty good. I don’t think I’ll be buying California since I already have the Koch DVD.
I think the Koch DVD is miles better.
I’d be interested if it’s not too much trouble.
Yeah, I’m sticking with the Koch DVD. Thanks for the screenies.
Just out of curiosity, can anyone with the Wild East disc say if the credits match the Koch or this Japan blu? I assume that the WE disc matches the Koch print
Much obliged 
Sorry For the late response… Going off of memory I think it matches the Koch DVD, but I’ll double check tonight/tomorrow.
Here’s a ‘California’ location pic from 2014
This is where Gemma and Harmstorf have their big fight at the end of the film - The two actors (not stuntmen) hurl themselves from the old farm building, which had a mocked up plaster wall - and roll down this very steep bolder littered hillside.
I will just say that climbing down to this spot, very cautiously, was a challenge even for me, and harder getting back up. In Almeria there are no soft spots to land if you’re doing even the most basic stunt … put your hands down to save yourself in a mock fight and the small sharp stones and veg will tear you up. I gained a lot more respect for the people working on these scenes, which one tends to take for granted just watching a film.
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Interesting @aldo… I’ll be sure to take note of this next time I watch, along with stunts in other spags… not really something I ever think about
I watched California again shortly after posting and really liked it. I guess maybe the better print helped, because I didn’t remember thinking much of it and never felt like a 2nd watch, but it was really great this time
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I enjoyed it also … a bit melancholy, but a well made flick … plus I enjoy spotting the locations.
This place was also used for the prison sequence at the beginning of ‘Long Days of Vengeance’ 
I like melancholy stuff so this aspect works for me. Like the melancholy theme song which almost sounds like a happy song but is a little off
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