Aliens 4K UHD (1986)

[George.P]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

I dunno, I'm no expert on such things, it would seem odd to create two completely different new masters for a film, one intended for streaming and the other for disc. Both are delivery mechanisms for content, with physical the clear winner, but two different masters? Why?

It's almost as if because it never happened before (or perhaps almost never (just in case)), some people feel that now is the time for it to happen.

[bebbsie23]

Not gonna bother quoting your uninformed drivel either, RBBrittain... who appointed you the arbiter of what can and cannot be discussed in this thread? If you don't like what people are saying... ignore it. I'll be happy to drop you a PM when people start giving feedback on the actual discs to save you the trauma of reading peoples opinions about the only currently available iterations of Janes Cameron's AI experiments.

No one can be 100% sure that the 4k physical edition will use the same master as the 4k streaming. I live in hope that it doesn't! However, there is SIGNIFICANT past precedent in respect of what is released on streaming platforms versus what follows on physical media. Compression aside, the 4k physical releases of Titanic and Avatar "look" the same as the 4k streams. Clearly they are from the same master. The same is true of every other streaming vs physical comparison that I have seen.

Why are you so sure what we get on physical won't share the same master? Give us some examples of 4k streams that use an obviously different master to the 4k physical release!

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by VIDEOgameDROME

You say that but I've seen some hot takes on obviously horrible transfers i.e. T2 saying they'll never look better. You can't trust everyone.

Sure, that's true enough; some have some ridiculous takes in these forums. But "pro" reviews these days are so far off the mark usually that I just can't take them seriously. Nobody wants to ruffle the feathers of those that provide the free discs for review, and often critical issues get overlooked for various reasons.

[punisher]

Originally Posted by MiguelS

Just to be sure, all those AI/waxy aliens photos that 've see some month ago were all fake, right?

apparently so...

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by RBBrittain

You admitted The Exorcist looked better on disc than streaming, even as you tried to use that as an example to justify the hivemind.

No no no, hol on there just a minute cowpoke! Big misrepresentation of what happened there! The bad looking scene in question only looked better on-disc in regards to compression. It's still the same filtered mess from the same master! There was nothing to admit! There is no hivemind at work on this one, unless of course you call pointing out green grass is a hivemind mentality. All I'm seeing here is "shut up and buy product you drones!" which is happening a lot these days and I find it really funny, calls from inside the house etc.

That said, thanks for playing!

[bebbsie23]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

No no no, hol on there just a minute cowpoke! Big misrepresentation of what happened there! The bad looking scene in question only looked better on-disc in regards to compression. It's still the same filtered mess from the same master! There was nothing to admit! There is no hivemind at work on this one, unless of course you call pointing out green grass is a hivemind mentality. All I'm seeing here is "shut up and buy product you drones!" which is happening a lot these days and I find it really funny, calls from inside the house etc.

That said, thanks for playing!

You gotta love the way the gaslighters like to remove all the nuance and context from discussion points to focus only on the words that support their narrative. I can't decide if it's something they do subconsciously or deliberately.

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by bebbsie23

You gotta love the way the gaslighters like to remove all the nuance and context from discussion points to focus only on the words that support their narrative. I can't decide if it's something they do subconsciously or deliberately.

It's deliberate. They're doing it to convince themselves too. They also totally don't do it at all, but if they did, everyone they do it to deserves it!

[Member-222782]

I love 21st century catchphrases like 'narrative'. Some of my favorites also include 'hella', 'love me some' and 'amazeballs'

[Quuhod]

Just noticed the UK 4K release date on Amazon has changed to December 31st, does anyone know if this accurate?

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by Quuhod

Just noticed the UK 4K release date on Amazon has changed to December 31st, does anyone know if this accurate?

That's just a placeholder. April 22nd is the UK release date.

[gj217]

This guy is clearly just an argumentative tool. Some people look toward the streaming version simply because they don’t want to spend money on a subpar disc.

Disney is not going to release two different versions of the film on digital and disc. They will do *one* master and use it for everything. Also, Cameron has made it clear this is how he wants the film.

Honestly, the only reason I ordered it (and True Lies) was because I got them for $12 through Disney Movie Club (and I got extremely lucky… signed up the day before the shutdown was announced). Most of us have no interest in shelling out $30 for a disc that looks like what the *same studio* has already put out on digital storefronts.

I’ve only seen a couple of digital transfers that differ from the disc, and they’ve *never* been studio pictures. The only one that I can think of off the top of my head is Halloween… and that’s because Trancas Int’l released it directly… and they don’t know dick about video mastering. They seem to have taken Lionsgate’s 4K master, done an incredibly poor SDR conversion (tons of black crush and clipped highlights…daytime skies are nuked to a blinding white… it’s quite similar to Paramount’s Friday the 13th 4K) and dropped it on iTunes in 4K SDR and other platforms in HD. The disc versions of that film look infinitely better than the digital, but that’s because they were released by different companies. The discs were released by Lionsgate and Shout! Factory (who make legitimate 4K product all the time), and the digital by the rights holders who appear to know nothing about 4K video mastering.

No way in hell is a Disney-owned movie gonna see a similar situation.

[KMFDMvsEnya]

What is interesting is that the new transfer did receive an update for the digital streams that corrected a few color grading outliers and I think they might have adjusted the gamma slightly for the SDR streams of the TC as well.

Perhaps they had to redo the discs due to the changes and that is resulting in a delayed release for certain territories.

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by gj217

This guy is clearly just an argumentative tool. Some people look toward the streaming version simply because they don’t want to spend money on a subpar disc.

Disney is not going to release two different versions of the film on digital and disc. They will do *one* master and use it for everything. Also, Cameron has made it clear this is how he wants the film.

Honestly, the only reason I ordered it (and True Lies) was because I got them for $12 through Disney Movie Club (and I got extremely lucky… signed up the day before the shutdown was announced). Most of us have no interest in shelling out $30 for a disc that looks like what the *same studio* has already put out on digital storefronts.

I’ve only seen a couple of digital transfers that differ from the disc, and they’ve *never* been studio pictures. The only one that I can think of off the top of my head is Halloween… and that’s because Trancas Int’l released it directly… and they don’t know dick about video mastering. They seem to have taken Lionsgate’s 4K master, done an incredibly poor SDR conversion (tons of black crush and clipped highlights…daytime skies are nuked to a blinding white… it’s quite similar to Paramount’s Friday the 13th 4K) and dropped it on iTunes in 4K SDR and other platforms in HD. The disc versions of that film look infinitely better than the digital, but that’s because they were released by different companies. The discs were released by Lionsgate and Shout! Factory (who make legitimate 4K product all the time), and the digital by the rights holders who appear to know nothing about 4K video mastering.

No way in hell is a Disney-owned movie gonna see a similar situation.

They're forgetting The Exorcist situation looked uniquely like a streaming-prep problem i.e. sloppy HDR conversion (or improperly taken screencaps) and extra DNR. BUT the thing is, the color alone lined-up suspiciously with Friedkin's preference for the scene since the last master. We all knew deep down what was going to happen. The Aliens situation is a visibly unmitigated intentional master disaster; it is The Exorcist problem without any "what-if?" wishful thinking. I could understand calls to wait and see about the former, but calls for the same over Aliens is funny and a waste of thought energy!

In the end it won't matter though! The disc will release and we'll get what's on streaming and goalposts will continue to move and mud will be slung, etc.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Cinema84

I love 21st century catchphrases like 'narrative'. Some of my favorites also include 'hella', 'love me some' and 'amazeballs'

If you threw in "gnarly" and "rad" and maybe some 90's slang, I'd give you an upvote, but "narrative"? It's a pretty old word that means exactly what it means...if people overuse it, they're still a bit on point using it as an alternative for "story".

[stvn1974]

I predict that the Aliens, The Abyss and True Lies 4K UHDs will be the same A.I. waxy messes as the digital versions but with a higher bitrate.

[RBBrittain]

Originally Posted by bebbsie23

You gotta love the way the gaslighters like to remove all the nuance and context from discussion points to focus only on the words that support their narrative. I can't decide if it's something they do subconsciously or deliberately.

Depends on who you think the "gaslighters" are.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by gj217

This guy is clearly just an argumentative tool. Some people look toward the streaming version simply because they don’t want to spend money on a subpar disc.

Disney is not going to release two different versions of the film on digital and disc. They will do *one* master and use it for everything. Also, Cameron has made it clear this is how he wants the film.

Honestly, the only reason I ordered it (and True Lies) was because I got them for $12 through Disney Movie Club (and I got extremely lucky… signed up the day before the shutdown was announced). Most of us have no interest in shelling out $30 for a disc that looks like what the *same studio* has already put out on digital storefronts.

I’ve only seen a couple of digital transfers that differ from the disc, and they’ve *never* been studio pictures. The only one that I can think of off the top of my head is Halloween… and that’s because Trancas Int’l released it directly… and they don’t know dick about video mastering. They seem to have taken Lionsgate’s 4K master, done an incredibly poor SDR conversion (tons of black crush and clipped highlights…daytime skies are nuked to a blinding white… it’s quite similar to Paramount’s Friday the 13th 4K) and dropped it on iTunes in 4K SDR and other platforms in HD. The disc versions of that film look infinitely better than the digital, but that’s because they were released by different companies. The discs were released by Lionsgate and Shout! Factory (who make legitimate 4K product all the time), and the digital by the rights holders who appear to know nothing about 4K video mastering.

No way in hell is a Disney-owned movie gonna see a similar situation.

Friend, Disney makes new masters constantly for new releases, new formats, etc. The Black Cauldron and Sword in the Stone on 4K streaming are not the same as their earlier blu-releases, The Black Cauldron in 4K has a digital fix to a multiplane shot in the first five minutes of the movie. It's such a long list of differing masters, film by film, you'd have to be Raymond Babbit to store it in your mental wheelhouse.

But no, the chances of Disney doing two completely different masters for concurrent streaming and physical release? Slim to none, and Slim just rode out of town. That's not "Disney", though, what major studio would do that? I think Lightstorm and Cameron gave a deliverable, and Disney's distributing what they were given.

Now, just to show I can call balls and strikes on things, I'm a bit ticked by the extended cuts of Aliens and The Abyss being in HD only on Vudu, unless you pay for the upgrade for Aliens: SE to 4K on VUDU. I pre-ordered both on 4k physical for $11.98 from the DMC, up yours, Vudu. I'll redeem the codes and see what happens. Same exact nonsense with the new 4K Collector's Edition of Avatar, the extended version is HD only on Vudu. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

[gj217]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Friend, Disney makes new masters constantly for new releases, new formats, etc. The Black Cauldron and Sword in the Stone on 4K streaming are not the same as their earlier blu-releases, The Black Cauldron in 4K has a digital fix to a multiplane shot in the first five minutes of the movie. It's such a long list of differing masters, film by film, you'd have to be Raymond Babbit to store it in your mental wheelhouse.

But no, the chances of Disney doing two completely different masters for concurrent streaming and physical release? Slim to none, and Slim just rode out of town. That's not "Disney", though, what major studio would do that? I think Lightstorm and Cameron gave a deliverable, and Disney's distributing what they were given.

Now, just to show I can call balls and strikes on things, I'm a bit ticked by the extended cuts of Aliens and The Abyss being in HD only on Vudu, unless you pay for the upgrade for Aliens: SE to 4K on VUDU. I pre-ordered both on 4k physical for $11.98 from the DMC, up yours, Vudu. I'll redeem the codes and see what happens. Same exact nonsense with the new 4K Collector's Edition of Avatar, the extended version is HD only on Vudu. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

The post wasn’t meant to be a knock against Disney, but the point that when a studio (any studio) releases a new remaster, it’s the same master across all formats. A new 4K streaming release will invariably mirror the concurrent disc. The point was that this is the same release. Digital is usually early (granted, not usually quite as early as these got released), but the discs coming out are the physical version of the same 4K release.

The Halloween comparison came because Halloween is not a studio-controlled film. It’s owned by a tiny company who basically only has *that movie,* and a couple of its sequels. They have a small handful of other obscure titles, but they’re not really a studio.

Actual studio distributors have departments (unless they outsource) that specialize in home media mastering… mastering and encoding the content to look good on a screen. Trancas does not. Halloween’s digital release being so bad and the discs being so good is an anomaly… because the digital release was slapped together with no help from an actual distributor. It’s a quick and dirty (and botched) rip of the Lionsgate restoration.

With studio films, like Aliens, studios prepare individual versions optimized to look their best for each specific format, but they all use the same *finished* master source (cases of recycled BDs thrown into 4Ks notwithstanding, of course). Digital versions do often get additional processing to get the “best-looking” image at a low bitrate, but they still retain a semblance of the film grain texture, but with compression artifacts and *some* additional DNR. But Aliens and True Lies don’t have the usual “digital compression” smoothing. Everything looks overly shiny, waxy, *fake*.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

If you threw in "gnarly" and "rad" and maybe some 90's slang, I'd give you an upvote, but "narrative"? It's a pretty old word that means exactly what it means...if people overuse it, they're still a bit on point using it as an alternative for "story".

I guess I meant words or phrases that seem to be widely used more today. Maybe 'narrative' doesn't really fit but it's still being overused. mostly by gatekeepers.

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by Cinema84

I guess I meant words or phrases that seem to be widely used more today. Maybe 'narrative' doesn't really fit but it's still being overused. mostly by gatekeepers.

Gatekeeping is only irritating when Tourists do it. Otherwise I say have at it.