The Abyss 4K UHD (1989)

[cherrybomb]

Originally Posted by MEB

Has anyone actually purchased the 4K Special Edition of The Abyss from Amazon and watched it? (Perhaps I missed a message about that experience.) If so, how did it look? Was the SE footage consistent in quality with the rest of the 4K footage?

Mark

I have, it's in HDR10+ as well. at first, they had the special edition in 4K SDR, but it has since updated. I thought the quality of the entire thing looked consistent!

[mpls1981]

Originally Posted by LexInHD

I read it here, in a linked review that I read earlier today and I just verified that the SE is on PV (purchase only) in 4K, while it's currently only 1080P everywhere else. Apparently, Disney is gonna poop out another UHD-BD release of The Abyss, like the Avatar SE release that included the extended cut of the film. Most likely, they are waiting for Cameron's next Avatar release to float that one out on the market.

You read a digital review.

Unfortunately, for this 4K digital release (at least at the time of this writing), only the theatrical cut is being offered in 4K HDR on most PVOD platforms, with the Special Edition being relegated as a special feature in HD.

Now if everyone could just stop spreading all the other rumors turned "fact" that would be great for these releases.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by MEB

I don't know, the technical specs in the press release read as follows:

4K Blu-ray Theatrical Version & Special Edition

It seems there's some "wiggle room" on whether the SE is also in 4K. Or maybe not.

Mark

I don't see any wiggle room there.

[sojrner]

Originally Posted by KcMsterpce

Aww, well, actually I was just making a reference to the poison wine goblet scene from "The Princess Bride".

Yes, that is exactly the reference I was, ahem, referring to. I got the joke and felt it needed more attention, as it was well done.

[Croweyes1121]

Originally Posted by darkanek

I think the overall consensus on new Cameron releases is that The Abyss is acceptable transfer, not ideal as still have DNR applied and probably sharpening too but it's the best this movie ever looked on home release and they didn't go full overboard mode with digital sharpening.
Titanic is also acceptable but some report that it's too artificially sharp and lost it film like quality (compared to old Blu-Ray which has this softer film-look). So, Titanic looks like movie shoot today and not in the 90s, people who are not bothered with digital sharpening and grain removal are enjoying Titanic on UHD disc.
Aliens got treated quite badly. Unfortunately, from screenshot comparison with old blu-ray looks like they did go full grain removal mode and heavy AI sharpening and AI artifacts added on top of that. At least there is respectable old blu-ray that looks like this movie should look.
True Lies is another bad one. Not only it got this heavy AI sharpening thing but at same time lot of faces looks artificial and waxy, waxier that in Aliens 4k I guess.

I'm for sure buying The Abyss and later on Titanic, but Aliens and True Lies will most likely skip. Or will check later if there is any improvement on 4k disc itself but I'm not optimistic for that as AI thing is messing too much with original look of these movies

Now having actually watched all of the transfers, I think this is a pretty fair assessment. My ranking would be:

1. The Abyss (by a pretty wide margin). Having seen the film on pretty much every format (VHS, laserdisc, DVD, HDTV rips, and making SEHD myself, I can recommend this one pretty much without reservation. I’m not saying it’s flawless. Contrary to some on this board, I believe there can be an opinion on a transfer that is neither “best thing ever” or “worst thing ever”, so when I say I’m pleased with what I see here, that doesn’t mean I’m accepting any old crap sandwich (see 3 and 4). And yes, I personally would have preferred more grain had remained here, but it’s just so darned gorgeous compared to what we’ve ever had that I just can’t stay mad at it. I won’t spend any more time combating the hyperbolic screams of “the whole thing is teal!”, because that’s just simply not the case. But I digress. The audio issues introduced on the branching DVD ALL being addressed and fixed is just icing on the cake. I’m more than happy with this one overall.
2. Titanic. It’s definitely had more heavy-handed processing done to it, but its relatively punchy color palette and intricate backgrounds make it enough of a detailed visual feast that I think the processing sort of takes a back seat to the overall experience.
3. Aliens. Eh…this is where things get pretty objectionable for me. There’s just nothing about this thing that looks…normal anymore. It looks pretty, I suppose. But oh that smoothness! Grr, it’s just…it’s so uncanny valley that I can’t ignore it. Even clothing looks like freakin’ plastic. Some might dig the hyper-clean look here, but I don’t. It doesn’t suit the material at all. I’ll be sticking with my Blu-ray personally.
4. True Lies. Oof. This just…it’s truly awful. No exaggeration to say that the HDTV rips are 10x better. Total hatchet job. Wax city. Avoid at all costs.

[Jbabler]

Originally Posted by bilbofett

they literally show the crew underwater watching all the news channels and seeing that military escalation is happening all over the world, troops are lining up for war between Russia and the U.S. They made it crystal clear an escalation to war is underway.
Of course the aliens are not a MacGuffin or a Deus Ex Machina at all; the aliens are threatening to destroy the Earth and "start it all over from scratch again" but spare the planet because if one husband and wife fighting can reconcile then there's still hope for humanity. Its a 1:1 direct correlation.

Really? I guess I missed those parts.

[mng]

Originally Posted by Braktastic

I watched this today. On the whole, I found it to be a bit too smooth for my tastes, but it is watchable. I'd say this film presentation is just a hair above what I would consider to be "too processed" for my personal tastes. I'd buy the disc if I were a bigger fan of the film.

Abyss fans you dodge a bullet here albeit barely.

I purchased Abyss on iTunes (US). Noticed there is both the regular and SE editions. SE edition audio is Stereo; Standard Edition is Atmos. Anyone else notice this.

[Croweyes1121]

Pretty crazy and sad how the SE was so dated for so long and now isn’t anymore…

[Trekkie313]

For all the fancy AI and Lowry processing used...why could they not fix some of the wave footage and the aerial shot of the alien city when it surfaced?

[thesaxmaniac]

From the press release:

4K Blu-ray Theatrical Version & Special Edition: English Dolby Atmos, English 2.0 DTS-HDMA, English 2.0 Dolby Digital Descriptive Audio, French 5.1 DTS-HDHR, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital

Pretty clear that the SE is on the 4K disc with Atmos

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by thesaxmaniac

From the press release:

4K Blu-ray Theatrical Version & Special Edition: English Dolby Atmos, English 2.0 DTS-HDMA, English 2.0 Dolby Digital Descriptive Audio, French 5.1 DTS-HDHR, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital

Pretty clear that the SE is on the 4K disc with Atmos

If the English 2.0 DTS-HDMA is a downmix the disc is worthless to me.

[By_His_Strypes]

Originally Posted by Trekkie313

For all the fancy AI and Lowry processing used...why could they not fix some of the wave footage and the aerial shot of the alien city when it surfaced?

That was the 1 scene that I was referring to that didn't look so hot. It must have been something to do w/ the quality/shape the SE stuff was in maybe.

[Raoul]

Originally Posted by Krynoid-Man

This is obviously pure speculation on my part, but I think it possibly has something to do with the film's censorship issues over here. Disney might still be preparing a BBFC approved version of the 4K master.

If that rat scene is really what's holding it back then that's the most dumbest thing ever. I swear that scene was shown in the TV versions of the film I've seen over the years too.

I don't understand why its not up for order in the UK as of yet. Its quite frustrating. It better not be cut when it finally is.

[Phantasia]

So those grabs posted on pg 80 to show that not the whole movie is teal are actually all teal. There is a blanket teal tint applied to the whole movie. Yes there are some real blues but all of them have a tinge of teal because of the tint. I removed the teal for all of the grabs but not able to download them all without paying for a program so just screen grabbed a few from my screen. Top are grabs by croweyes below are mine with the teal removed.

[ImBlu_DaBaDee]

After spending a day on these threads, when I close my eyes at night, all I can still see are the words “blanket teal”

[Harryhausen AF]

Blanket teal is how I'd describe this after watching the whole thing. It might not bother some but it is there and is on Aliens and True Lies too.

[yetanotherone]

AI giveth and AI taketh away.

[Harryhausen AF]

Those are more like how the transfer looks. Like True Lies the people cherrypicking caps that don't look as smeary or as tealed as the rest of the film are not helping matters.

[BigDmo531]

Dude do you just spend every waking minute commenting on these Cameron 4K threads? Like we get it you hate them, there's no positives, you won't buy them. Do you really need to endlessly complain on every one of these threads still?

[Trekkie313]

"I hate what Cameron has done to these other movies, so I must make up exaggerations about the best one!"