The Abyss 4K UHD (1989)

[thesaxmaniac]

Originally Posted by WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW

Haven't seen the new Titanic UHD yet. I did see the new theatrical release. The faces did seem oddly oversharpned in some cases. This uncanny look, a hint of uncanny valley effect.

Maybe I was just too thrilled by seeing it in 4k laser for the first time, but the Titanic Dolby Cinema re-release a few years back I thought looked really nice and natural. I have a slight feeling they took that and then did some AI sharpening to that. If so, it's a shame we didn't get the UHD right after that initial DC 4k theatrical release.

Sharpening is probably way less noticeable projected on a cinema screen. A 4K tv at home is already razor sharp so extra sharpening stands out like a sore thumb. It looks really unnatural.

[WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW]

Originally Posted by thesaxmaniac

Sharpening is probably way less noticeable projected on a cinema screen. A 4K tv at home is already razor sharp so extra sharpening stands out like a sore thumb. It looks really unnatural.

Yeah, true, it might look even more extreme (although some of the laser projection gets pretty crisp, but still not quite like pixel backlit TV).

They already looked a little odd at times in the new theatrical re-release (I think that was not the case in the earlier 4k theatrical re-release a few years back though.)

[Kris Deering]

Having all in full 4K disc quality I would rate:

The Abyss
Titanic
Aliens
True Lies

[starmike]

Can anyone confirm that the SE is now on Amazon in 4K?

[lilboyblu]

Spent quite a lot of time flicking through the updated streams (and Blu-rays) of Titanic, Aliens, True Lies, and The Abyss tonight. Not really thrilled with any of these AI rerenderings. Too much artificiality crept into too many places; some shots just looked bizarre. The Abyss 4K is the one I’ll be adding to my permanent collection though, yet even that is only because there aren’t any other on disc HD options.

[Deciazulado]

The Abyss 4K Blu-ray

[DR Herbert West]

After looking at these transfers for a few minutes, I can only think of that line from They Live...


"Don't wear those glasses too long. It's like a knife in your skull."

[Resettito]

Seems like streaming isn't going to be too kind to some of those with texture being destroyed. Didn't feel like sharpening on the Pro Res quality trailer.

[Croweyes1121]

Originally Posted by Resettito

Seems like streaming isn't going to be too kind to some of those with texture being destroyed. Didn't feel like sharpening on the Pro Res quality trailer.

As a quick experiment, I took a frame from the ProRes trailer (1080p) and another from the new 4K steam. I upscaled the frame from the trailer to 2160p, and changed the HDR 4K image to SDR, and…unsurprisingly, the upscaled trailer frame still looked better in the end. So what most people are getting with this streaming 4K is essentially no better than a Blu-ray. My thinking is that streaming is going to be *extremely* unforgiving with these types of transfers (done the JC way, I mean, with such fine / little grain left behind to hide the imperfections). The only person who’s seen what we’re getting on disc is Kris Deering…and his experience is likely quite a bit better than everyone else’s with this film. He’s essentially said as much.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I don't do scores

A bit like Palace?

[bilbofett]

Originally Posted by starmike

Can anyone confirm that the SE is now on Amazon in 4K?

it is

[Resettito]

Originally Posted by Croweyes1121

As a quick experiment, I took a frame from the ProRes trailer (1080p) and another from the new 4K steam. I upscaled the frame from the trailer to 2160p, and changed the HDR 4K image to SDR, and…unsurprisingly, the upscaled trailer frame still looked better in the end. So what most people are getting with this streaming 4K is essentially no better than a Blu-ray. My thinking is that streaming is going to be *extremely* unforgiving with these types of transfers (done the JC way, I mean, with such fine / little grain left behind to hide the imperfections). The only person who’s seen what we’re getting on disc is Kris Deering…and his experience is likely quite a bit better than everyone else’s with this film. He’s essentially said as much.

Adam J. Yeend who's working on authoring the discs right now, said also that there is very fine grain, so as you say, that's something I can easily see streaming, even in 4K, pretty much obliterate leaving you with a very clean image that smacks of DNR. I also could swear I saw someone claiming that they knew someone else who worked on the transfer and commented that there was barely any touch up or something along those lines. Personally though, watching on a 90 inch screen, projected through a JVC RS400, I find Blu Rays, good ones, to be of impeccable quality already (I sit pretty darn close too), though of course, 4K Blu Rays featuring fresh transfers of films shot on film always have a very special quality and the texture is to die for.

[VideoPhonic]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Perhaps, but a few vertical scratches snuck in too. My overall point though is that with all that wonderful technology they couldn't have done one last sweep to remove it?

yeah beats me, something tells me the resto workflow might be somewhat unorthodox when you're in peter jackson territory

[By_His_Strypes]

Do you think James Cameron was probably listening to Smooth Operator by Sade and got carried away w/ the smoothness dial?

[Resettito]

What I think would hold infinitely more weight would be for someone to check out True Lies, The Abyss, Aliens, etc in 4K on Kaleidescape.

[SpazeBlue]

Originally Posted by Resettito

What I think would hold infinitely more weight would be for someone to check out True Lies, The Abyss, Aliens, etc in 4K on Kaleidescape.

Shame no one's done that yet...

[Croweyes1121]

Originally Posted by Resettito

What I think would hold infinitely more weight would be for someone to check out True Lies, The Abyss, Aliens, etc in 4K on Kaleidescape.

Agreed. Kris Deering has done just that. Go back a few pages and check out his thoughts on these titles.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=1215

[sojrner]

I hope that a bunch of us don't buy the streaming versions, think it sucks, and never buy the physical discs. This communicates (unintentionally, I hope) that we are happy with streaming and don't want physical media. Just something to think about.

[Scott in UK]

Originally Posted by sojrner

I hope that a bunch of us don't buy the streaming versions, think it sucks, and never buy the physical discs. This communicates (unintentionally, I hope) that we are happy with streaming and don't want physical media. Just something to think about.

Don't worry, maybe some of the people that have checked out these new versions used torrents.

[bilbofett]

"Park Road" out of NZ is who fumbled the Peter Jackson's The Beatles "Get Back" upscaling that killed all the fine detail and had the DNR cranked up to 100.





I'm fairly certain they also worked on the LOTR UHD's, also killing detail.






Odds are, Cameron has been in NZ alot (he's physically moving there permanently), he's hired out Weta for the Avatar sequels and probably had them work on True Lies and maybe the others. Jamie Lee's hair strands in the UHD version there are AI-drawn (upscaled). And I'm fairly certain those lines on her sweater were never even captured on the original 35mm negative (but not certain).