The Abyss 4K UHD (1989)

[Ben_UK]

So is that 14.5GB as the size of the stream? Isn’t that about 1/6th of the size expected on disc? Disc should be between 70 - 90GB?

[Darrin88]

Just purchased it. Unfortunately the special edition is hdx only. Just the theatrical is 4K. Damn!

[Croweyes1121]

14.8mbps?? Jesus, no wonder. That’s an anemic bitrate for 1080p, let alone 4K. Hell, I even encoded SEHD at 25Mbps, and that’s just BD. There’s literally nothing to be taken from a stream that crushed. I’ll be enjoying this on disc. As I said, it’s been decades, what’s 90 more days?

Also, it’s pretty hysterical that the SE isn’t immediately available today. Obviously that’s the main thing people want. It just had a theatrical screening, and it’s that version that we’ve never truly had in genuine quality. I just find it funny. lol

[Jbabler]

No SE in 4k? Lol.

What a total ploy to get people to buy the digital now and the disc later. Gross.

[Otter0911]

Amazon has the SE in 4K

[Darrin88]

Originally Posted by Otter0911

Amazon has the SE in 4K

But without HDR.

[By_His_Strypes]

Weird AL needs to come up w/ a parody song devoted to color grading.

[Otter0911]

Originally Posted by Darrin88

But without HDR.

True, but it's still better then HDX only at VUDU!

[Croweyes1121]

LOL

If only they’d had some more time to get this rollout right. I mean it’s just all so rushed, ammirite??

[Kris Deering]

I'm downloading on Kaleidescape now. File size for 4K HDR is 75GB. I went to the theatrical screening the other day, so I will see how this compares. Also downloading Aliens (81GB) and True Lies (77GB) so I'll take a look at those as well. I have Aliens in HD already for comparisons (disc and K) but obviously don't have anything to compare Abyss and True Lies with.

[Kris Deering]

Alright. I looked at it on my Kaleidescape (as well as Aliens and True Lies). I can say without a doubt that this is by far the best looking of the 3. I did see the recent theatrical release and this looks similar to better than what I saw with that. It has been a long time since I've seen The Abyss before that (DVD would have been the last time) and while I did see this theatrically when it came out, I don't recall much about it from back then. There isn't much in the way of grain to be seen, but there is still good fine detail and depth to the image. It doesn't look nearly as processed as Aliens and True Lies to me. Fine facial features look more natural than Titanic (thankfully). I only got to watch about 15-20 minutes of it, but without a doubt this is the best of the ones that were released today. I still can't help but wonder what these movies could have looked like if someone else had done the restoration/new transfers (Arrow/Shout/Warner Classics).

[Dr. T]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

I still can't help but wonder what these movies could have looked like if someone else had done the restoration/new transfers (Arrow/Shout/Warner Classics).

James Cameron would still have been involved so they would look like exactly what we got.

[Kris Deering]

Originally Posted by Dr. T

James Cameron would still have been involved so they would look like exactly what we got.

I understand that, I'm just saying it would have been interesting to see if they did it all on their own and had access to the original negatives.

[Croweyes1121]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

Alright. I looked at it on my Kaleidescape (as well as Aliens and True Lies). I can say without a doubt that this is by far the best looking of the 3.

Yeah, I haven't seen any of these at anywhere near full res like you're seeing, but just out of curiosity, I took a peek at the caps in the True Lies forum, and I will say that if The Abyss looked ANYTHING like what I see there, I'd be planning an SEHD v3.0 right TF now. But it doesn't. At least not to me.

[Trekkie313]

Perhaps the amount of darkness in the movie helps the "AI" not be so destructive of facial pores and hair? Most of the True Lie shots look wonky in controlled artificial bright studio lighting opposed to the shadowy blues Cameron likes to use.

Hippies face suffered the most noticeable DNR in theaters and his skin was very pasty compared to the rest of the cast.

[samlop10]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

Alright. I looked at it on my Kaleidescape (as well as Aliens and True Lies). I can say without a doubt that this is by far the best looking of the 3. I did see the recent theatrical release and this looks similar to better than what I saw with that. It has been a long time since I've seen The Abyss before that (DVD would have been the last time) and while I did see this theatrically when it came out, I don't recall much about it from back then. There isn't much in the way of grain to be seen, but there is still good fine detail and depth to the image. It doesn't look nearly as processed as Aliens and True Lies to me. Fine facial features look more natural than Titanic (thankfully). I only got to watch about 15-20 minutes of it, but without a doubt this is the best of the ones that were released today. I still can't help but wonder what these movies could have looked like if someone else had done the restoration/new transfers (Arrow/Shout/Warner Classics).

A very small silver lining seems to be the one that never got a blu-ray release before this is the better looking one. True Lies’ Spanish blu-ray is decent for what it is. Definitely an older master but it reminds me of T2’s older master on blu-ray as well, which was more filmic than the 4K even if definitely not perfect.

[Croweyes1121]

Originally Posted by Trekkie313

[Hippie’s] skin was very pasty compared to the rest of the cast.

I mean I definitely agree with what you’re saying, but to be fair, he just is a pretty pasty guy…lol

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Dr. T

I'm definitely going to miss all the threads speculating when The Abyss was coming out.

I won't.

[Grey2Grey]

After seeing the disgusting amount of grain/noise removal and AI post-processing that Cameron has done to the 4K transfers of Avatar, Titanic, True Lies and Aliens, it is a literal miracle that The Abyss 4K transfer appears to have escaped relatively unscathed. Yet if I had to choose only one of the above movies to have its 4K transfer be done properly, it would be The Abyss.

Sadly, I now must add James Cameron's name to the Shit List of once-great directors that have completely lost their way and who are now dead to me.

[Croweyes1121]

Originally Posted by Grey2Grey

And if I had to choose only one of the above movies to have its transfer be done properly, it would be The Abyss.

This all day. I’m still holding out (a fool’s) hope that the reason the SE hasn’t rolled out yet is that someone is actually addressing the audio issues I told them about. I doubt it, but I can dream.