The Abyss 4K UHD (1989)

[Steedeel]

We haven’t even got a 4K release to complain about in the U.K., count yourselves lucky!

[yetanotherone]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

The notorious pixel peeper in me agrees with you, but after watching it I'm 100% happy with this remaster

That's fine

[By_His_Strypes]

Originally Posted by spiderfan1985

It’s good when you recognize where you’ve made mistakes. I genuinely don’t see why we have to criticize what people like or don’t like. Art is subjective. What works for one won’t work for another. It’s what makes us all unique. And sometimes even when we do all like a thing it can be for many different reasons.

I agree! I feel like while I may be old, I'm never too old to learn from my mistakes. In going forward I plan to make a concerted effort to stick to talking about the things I enjoy.

[KcMsterpce]

Originally Posted by Scott in UK

I'm sure plenty of people would stand their ground in disagreeing with my thought, but it wouldn't surprise me if maybe it's because people's opinion is slightly exaggerated with how much loss of detail occurs with grain removal.

I think as degraining technology improves, the tech - guess we can call it 'AI' - will better be able to discern detail between the flecks and specks of each frame, interpolating and extrapolating the details of the actual image instead of incorrectly smudging fine detail that can't be properly resolved.
If anything, Titanic (maybe The Abyss or Aliens, too, IDK yet haven't watched them) shows that if done right - and with a lighter hand at scrubbing the organic texture of film grain, IMO - there can be a nice balance between both more detail, AND a level of grain retention. Excessively increased sharpness can add more 'pop', and often exhibits the idea of more detail because it's, well sharper.
What I think is important is to realize when the limitations of the 'scrubbing tech' are reached. If used too liberally, it causes odd visual anomalies. This is seen in a lot of the screenshots of weird eyes, blotchy inconsistency of skin textures, and other weirdness that could be mitigated if eagle-eyed approvers of these releases paid more attention to the pitfalls of pressing a button and letting'er rip. If they dialed back their new toys to allow it to retain detail without going into uncanny even if it is at a slight sacrifice to MAXIMUM DETAILLL!!, there would probably be a lot less complaining.
Let older movies look, well, older if need be - but that's my subjective opinion. Add more sharpness, and reduce grain? Sure... but not at the detriment to odd, unnatural visual presentation for the sake of 'modernizing' it. Again, my opinion. Everyone's Mileage May Vary.

[Gizz]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

We haven’t even got a 4K release to complain about in the U.K., count yourselves lucky!

Yeah starting to think that we might not even get it now and that is the one that I am looking forward to.

[By_His_Strypes]

Bill Hunt coined a new term for these so called conversations... He's so right!

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

I gotta disagree with you after watching the theatrical cut - I think it looks great, definitely the best, most natural and filmic out of the four. Can't wait to buy it and watch the special edition from the disc.

The Park Road is credited of course, but whatever they did here (grain management/ maybe some AI work) it's very subtle, non-invasive and, at least to me, basically invisible. Yes, there is some slight smoothness to the faces here and there, but it never struck me as an ugly result of some post-processing or DNR. The same goes for some of the VFX shots, which aren't as sharp as the rest of the movie; nobody tried to artificially make them 4! K! SHARP!

While in case of Aliens actors' faces got a wholly new, yucky texture and wrinkles look like they were painted with permanent marker, here facial details felt very natural to me. The Abyss looks sharp, but not too sharp. There's plenty of details, bet they're never exaggerated and the image is not sterile. It looks like FILM, which I'm very happy about. I'm sure the disc version (I watched 24 gigs stream) will look even better with properly reproduced layer of grain.

The colors are great too and Cameron's subtle use of HDR beautifully expands the contrast, doing justice to the great lighting and production design.

I'll say it one more time: I enjoyed it a lot. It's easily had the lightest touch applied out of all these AI remasters but it's still had that same treatment nonetheless and I can't say it looks much like FILM to me. Those eyeses scare me too!

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by By_His_Strypes

Bill Hunt coined a new term for these so called conversations... He's so right!

Is that what you're doing? Conversing? I thought it was just constant threadcrapping because people dare to have a different opinion to yours?

[By_His_Strypes]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Is that what you're doing? Conversing? I thought it was just constant threadcrapping because people dare to have a different opinion to yours?

ouch! that seemed so out of left field. anyways have a nice day!

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Scott in UK

I'm sure plenty of people would stand their ground in disagreeing with my thought, but it wouldn't surprise me if maybe it's because people's opinion is slightly exaggerated with how much loss of detail occurs with grain removal.

Depends on both the technology used and the taste of the people using it, always has been. But never underestimate just how much added sharpness can exaggerate details to make people think they're seeing more, it's why sharpening and DNR have gone hand in hand for decades; the image is softer with the grain - and more importantly its texture that dithers the image - removed, so they crank the sharpness up to compensate.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by spiderfan1985

And yet people like you do the exact same in the opposite direction when someone comes in posting how much they liked how the film looked, which I sure did, and you think you are above reproach? Shame. Shame. This whole thread is full of whiny crybabies in need of a pacifier, or maybe some Adderall or Valium, and I am done with the whole mess. I watched the SE in UHD with HDR on Amazon tonight and I thought it looked wonderful. A damn sight better than that ancient non-anamorphic DVD for sure. And I do not care how many zoomed in screen grabs you people try to push on us it won't change a damned thing. You don't like it? Then stick with the DVD. Or Laserdisc. Or whatever you have.

Oh please. I don't give a rebuttal every time somebody praises these. If you enjoy them, fine. I think the Abyss isn't bad and Titanic is the best of the lot for sure. Aliens is poor and True Lies is trash.

The fact that you have to resort to insults and attacks and name calling shows how much of a defense you have.

[KMFDMvsEnya]

Originally Posted by By_His_Strypes

Bill Hunt coined a new term for these so called conversations... He's so right!

So confident in the strength of his opinion that he tosses a gendered insult as he hides it behind a grift-wall, rrr, rather a paywall.

Gotta maximize on that 15 seconds of fame he got a few months ago for advocating for physical media.

Since I am not one of his patreon members but have seen some of his screeds on certain matters over there years, I will take some wild guesses:

He first reaffirms his bone fides about being in the physical media reviews arena for twenty some odd years. He still breaks out news, many of which are sourced from uncredited to BR.com forum members.
Emphasizes past insider Hollywood connections but admits those have dwindle in recent years due to layoffs but asserts he still has some.
Talks about the history of why his Rumor Mill bits were off target.

He starts snowing over his base with some technical jargon that sounds compelling.
Then he begins overstating and overemphasizing certain caveats of both screen captures in general but in particular HDR to SDR screen shots in order to wholly invalidate their value as means for objective evaluations and for discussion.
He might throw a bone to retain some "impartiality" but reaffirms that no one can truly gauge any qualities of a transfer from screen captures because we watch them in "motion".

Even though all that we are doing is watching a rapid succession of still images being displayed at certain frame rates.

Next up he will really bang on that the current set of screen captures are from the lower quality Amazon stream which due to the amount of compression cannot be taken at face value.
-Now this has been addressed from the drop by those that have provided screen captures from the Amazon stream but the high compression argument does not account for the all the AI wonkiness that is inherent to these new transfers, in particular Aliens and TL. The higher compression will create certain motion artifacts and reduce finer details but compressions artifacts do not generate AI artifacts.

He praises certain reviewers that happen to agree with him most of the time, not all of the time because we have to retain a patina of impartiality.
Mentions that some well intentioned reviews may not always be up to the task but are popular none the less.

Tells his supporters to disregard all "drama" and "overly critical" commenters.

Then he talks at length about his exclusive reveal of the JC backcatalog being remastered and released.

Once again reaffirms his bone fides as a reviewer and his insider knowledge and then extols how his reviews of the currently accessible streams are well informed and objective but wait for the full discs to make any serious judgements.


All this in spite that those who have Kaleidescape setups have confirmed that the 'Full Movie' encodes exhibit issues due to the AI processing. Specifically in regards to True Lies and Aliens.

Wonder how well I guessed.

[By_His_Strypes]

wow! the assumptions are off the charts. There is nothing like judging someone/something before having read/seen something for yourself. But, such is the life of the forum. Hopefully, we can change that going forward, because it's quite toxic.

[elgee]

Just thought that the new edition won't have the oft-funny text commentary from the DVD. Makes me regret selling it ages ago.

[spider-neil]

Really disappointing that people have been waiting for these transfers for over a decade and when they come out the transfers are half arsed. If you were going to half arse it you may have well released them years ago.

[KMFDMvsEnya]

Originally Posted by By_His_Strypes

wow! the assumptions are off the charts. There is nothing like judging someone/something before having read/seen something for yourself. But, such is the life of the forum. Hopefully, we can change that going forward, because it's quite toxic.

I made it clear that it was simply guesses based on his prior comments with other hotly debated transfers.

Now you are more than welcome to refute my guesses by actually reading his paywalled comments in motion, mmm, sorry I mean read his op-ed and then share it here.

Repost the whole dang thing and see how far off the mark my generalized guesses are.

For one who often invokes 'community toxicity', you spend an awful lot of time making snide and judgemental remarks about those who are trying to provide fair warning to those that also desire high quality releases; along with incessant cries for positive lickspittle praise of things that do no deserve them.

"Positivity Toxicity"

[By_His_Strypes]

Originally Posted by KMFDMvsEnya

I made it clear that it was simply guesses based on his prior comments with other hotly debated transfers.

Now you are more than welcome to refute my guesses by actually reading his paywalled comments in motion, mmm, sorry I mean read his op-ed and then share it here.

Repost the whole dang thing and see how far off the mark my generalized guesses are.

For one who often invokes 'community toxicity', you spend an awful lot of time making snide and judgemental remarks about those who are trying to provide fair warning to those that also desire high quality releases; along with incessant cries for positive lickspittle praise of things that do no deserve them.

"Positivity Toxicity"

cry me a river...

[Phantasia]

Abyss looks better than the other 2 but still looks fake and unnatural. It looks VERY TEAL and we have seen in the past that it does not need to look this teal. There is a blanket tint and the teal is there always just like with T1 there are some bits where it is not noticeable but if you took out the teal and showed it side by side then it would be obvious. Most of the movie is obviously teal now and a regrade would be welcome.

[KMFDMvsEnya]

Originally Posted by By_His_Strypes

cry me a river...

LoL.

Red Dwarf 0504 Quarantine - Kryten Is Tetchy - YouTube

[By_His_Strypes]

Originally Posted by KMFDMvsEnya

LoL.

Red Dwarf 0504 Quarantine - Kryten Is Tetchy - YouTube

lol brilliant show BTW