The Abyss 4K UHD (1989)

[3D4ever]

Originally Posted by Gaffer

Over in the U.K Wow-HD thread a number of people (myself included) seemed to have had our credit cards charged (and not just as a pending transaction but actually completed) and yet received no despatch email, nor a tracking number attached to their order history. One member reported having items turn up on their doorstep (not The Abyss necessarily) but other releases from last week and they never got a despatch email and the items have no tracking number attached to the order. So it seems like Wow-HD is having some issue with notifying when items have shipped - they are just being despatched with no notice and no way to track.

I heard back from WOWHD. My copy was shipped on the 12th, and they gave me the tracking number, which was not available in my online account. I got zero notifications from them, so weird.

[Tonyo36]

@jess1581 @rubystone356 and you replied twice so how about you go away huh? Dont like facts? I said what i said i didnt care for replys but crybabies like you get triggered so i must be right, Cry some more. So its trolling because i stated all facts? Enjoy ur trash 4k btw

[bebbsie23]

Originally Posted by rubystone356

you trolling or not a real fan. some people saw the screening of the abyss and thought it was fine with minor issues.. the others two films are a different story.

Jacob

Jacob, god love ya, this was a bit unfair. I totally agree The Abyss (and Titanic) look great, incredible even. T2, Aliens, True Lies are garbage (just my opinion, don't roast me for the hyperbole). But this little hobby/passion of ours is not a one size fits all situation. No matter which way you slice it, no matter how good The Abyss and Titanic look, they still have a certain artificiality. For some people that will be enough to ruin the experience for them. It may affect them on a subconscious level that cannot be quantified or overlooked. That doesn't make them a troll or any less of a fan. It just makes them human.

[bebbsie23]

Originally Posted by Tonyo36

@jess1581 @rubystone356 and you replied twice so how about you go away huh? Dont like facts? I said what i said i didnt care for replys but crybabies like you get triggered so i must be right, Cry some more. So its trolling because i stated all facts? Enjoy ur trash 4k btw

I don't recall seeing any facts in your posts. Just angry man ranting at absolutely nothing. Thanks for adding so much to the convo

[Tonyo36]

Originally Posted by jess1581

So, you made your PSA three times now. Are you gonna go away in personal satisfaction as the rest of us continue to not care? That'd be swell.

Originally Posted by bebbsie23

I don't recall seeing any facts in your posts. Just angry man ranting at absolutely nothing. Thanks for adding so much to the convo

Ok pal sure i wrote about nothing, denial is a funny thing

[raybestos]

OK, then release the damn films in two versions: the AI-modified 2024 'digital' 20 mbps smoothed edition, and the purists-pandering 1988 film-grain intact theatrical-color timing friendly look, non-AI meddled with, 80+ mbps edition.

I'm sure THAT would satisfy everyone. Why can't it be done? We've billions of dollars of expensive mastering equipment, but one man in dotage (Mr. Cameron) gets the final say, of course. It's his version / vision!

[Gaffer]

Originally Posted by 3D4ever

I heard back from WOWHD. My copy was shipped on the 12th, and they gave me the tracking number, which was not available in my online account. I got zero notifications from them, so weird.

Thanks for the update. Might send WowHD a message then - if mine has shipped as it appears it has - would like to at least get a tracking number.

[bebbsie23]

Originally Posted by raybestos

OK, then release the damn films in two versions: the AI-modified 2024 'digital' 20 mbps smoothed edition, and the purists 1988 film-grain intact, non-AI meddled with, 80+ mbps.

I'm sure THAT would satisfy everyone!

It would definitely satisfy me I have no idea why JC, JL are so resistant to this idea. Star Wars, T2, The Abyss, Aliens are all cash cows waiting to be milked.

[KcMsterpce]

Originally Posted by Tonyo36

... denial is a funny thing

It's not just a river in Egypt, either!

[lvri]

Originally Posted by raybestos

OK, then release the damn films in two versions: the AI-modified 2024 'digital' 20 mbps smoothed edition, and the purists-pandering 1988 film-grain intact theatrical-color timing friendly look, non-AI meddled with, 80+ mbps edition.

I'm sure THAT would satisfy everyone. Why can't it be done? We've billions of dollars of expensive mastering equipment, but one man in dotage (Mr. Cameron) gets the final say, of course. It's his version / vision!

So, I imagine that you don't buy BR or UHD of movies with multicanal if the movie was in mono or stereo ?
You refuse Dolby Vision and/or HDR ?

And at the end, did you really remember how was the movie in theater ? The 35mm was perfectly clean, first use ? You really see what Cameron wanted at this time ?

[3D4ever]

Originally Posted by Gaffer

Thanks for the update. Might send WowHD a message then - if mine has shipped as it appears it has - would like to at least get a tracking number.

They replied about 36 hours after I contacted them, FYI.

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by wright96d

I assumed you were right, but upon comparing the 2.0 mix on the 4K to the LD 2.0 mix, they seem to be the exact same mix (minus some noise reduction and heavy brickwall limiting). The 5.1 mix on the Blu-ray is even 4.1. With duplicated mono surrounds.

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Do you mean The Abuse here? Interesting if so. I'm guessing, then, that for something which was natively multichannel eg Avatar he needed to create the 2.0 from scratch, but for something like The Abuse it would have a perfickly suitable 2.0 mix already. It'd be AWESOME if the 2.0 on Aliens was the OG too. Thanks!

Good news that The Abyss 4K has its original stereo mix.

I'll pick it up once the stock issue has ben resolved.

The AI buggery appears to be of minimal intrusion on this title.

But I'm sticking with my BD of Aliens (which also seems to have OG audio) and D Theater True Lies (which doesn't).

[LordoftheRings]

Originally Posted by DaylightsEnd

Interesting...a query, begging an opinion over opinion. This almost needs some sort of obscure meme involving Dr. Spock and a rhubarb plant.

Wise axe.

[Jutty]

Originally Posted by tninos

I’m having the same issue with my abyss 4K Blu-ray as well as aliens 4K Blu-ray. As was mentioned, mine freezes up in the exact same spot on abyss at about 58 minutes. Alien started freezing up right after The scene where Ripley rescues the soldiers a little after an hour into the movie. I have a Panasonic UB 820 and I own about 100 4K movies and Blu-ray and none of my discs skip. I’ve wiped down the discs with a microfiber cloth and I don’t see any scratches, but it still skips. Is anyone else having the same issue? I’m wondering if it’s a manufacturing issue if enough people report the same problem. This is very frustrating!

Curiously, where did you buy the discs from ?
(picked mine both up from walmart.com )

[Croweyes1121]

Finally got a delivery estimate on my Diabolik order (which had been sitting on “label created” since Thursday. Looks like I’ll be getting this on Monday. Ah well. So close. A few more days aren’t gonna kill me at this point, I suppose.

[LordoftheRings]

I don't remember when I bought The Abyss on VHS and then on DVD (2-disc set) Special Edition (THX).

The DVDs are inside a grey plastic case.
It must have been more than twenty years ago, perhaps twenty-four.

So it was with great satisfaction to watch the 4K Blu after waiting a quarter century. And the image is immaculate; what a refreshing breath after all that time.
And, after Oppenheimer on 4K and its seven Oscars, it rings real present.

Cameron is not number one for no reason, and he's Canadian too, like Villeneuve.

Titanic 4K, The Abyss 4K ... that's the way to go.
Next, Aliens ...
_____

The Abyss 4K Blu

Wait no more, it's here finally and it's worth it, very.
Picture is miles ahead of the DVD, and the Atmos sound is fine...nothing to shake the foundations but the dialog is clear and intelligible. Hey, this ain't a Nolan's flick.

You'll be surprised by the picture quality, happy surprised. Count on your own eyes.
But it's more than the picture; it's the higher presence that revisiting this film has on the brain, its impact of the times we live in, today's real world.
And that, makes it high caliber all the way.

Wait no more, it's finally here and it reveals itself under a new light more defined than ever before; and not from your eyes only but deeper inside your body's cage.
I'm not talking subs here, but pulling the haul of your vibes in tandem with the tumultuous times of our lives.
The Abyss ... see it in 4K and you'll know what I mean for yourselves.
I could go deeper in all the detailed moments here and there; the things that a 1989 flick now on 4K makes it more observable and what makes sense and less, but it's for the viewers to experience ... I already have and glad I did.

Film itself as of today: 79
Picture 4K Vision: 89
Sound Atmos: 81
Bonus Features: Too many movies not enough time

[Croweyes1121]

Originally Posted by bilbofett

The video resolution on a DVD would've looked better.

Well you’re in luck, because there just so happens to be a DVD available of The Abyss! lol

Man, some of you are seriously WAY too in the weeds on these things if you’re making arguments like this. Look, this release has its pros and cons, and no one is denying that at all, but dang, folks…do you ever just sit back at a normal viewing distance, forget about how this or that was done or which company botched the cleanup or how “filmic” it is or whatever…and just enjoy the effing movie???

And if your ability to do that is now tied so strongly to all of the above that you can’t enjoy having THE ABYSS looking like this (yes, warts and all) after all these years, then seriously…take a small step back.

Our 1980’s selves (for those of us around back then) would slobber all over releases like this and display technologies that we now enjoy that even reveal this stuff to begin with. But in 2024, it’s a low res disaster. We are SUCH spoiled brats, the lot of us.

Now I’ll leave so everyone to mischaracterize this post with hyperbolic statements like “what, we can’t criticize now?!?!?!”, “that’s what this forum is for!!!”, and “are we supposed to just take any old crap the studio gives us??”, etc., etc., etc.

Carry on, it’s time for me to just get my copy and enjoy it.

[Fleece]

Ordered mine off Amazon on 30th Jan.
Shipped on Monday 11th Mar.
I'm in the UK so should have it mid next week

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by JohnCarpenterFan

Perhaps I'm missing something but has it actually been confirmed that all three remasters are from 2K upscales?

I believe for The Abyss that it was stated it was from a 4K scan of the negative. We've seen a number of remastered Blu-ray releases from 4K or higher OCN scans be finished in 2K, only for an eventual 4K release to go back to the same scan and redo the work for a 4K finish.

I've not seen these remasters yet as I was waiting for the disc releases to watch them and they've yet to be dispatched, but from what I hear more legitimate detail is visible on Aliens that's just not there on the Blu-ray and it's not just because of sharpening.

Why are so many sure they're just 2K upscales? Are there restoration/remastering credits where Lowry or Prime Focus Technologies are credited for making their own unique Lowry Processed work available to be further altered and upscaled by someone else?

If you compare Aliens old to new you can see they're the exact same master underneath, not just for pixel-perfect geometry and framing but also the negative density dirt and scratches that were left in. The famed Lowry process missed quite a few hits of dirt throughout in 2010 and the exact same hits are in the exact same places on the "4K" transfer (albeit enhanced by the AI so now they stand out more!). Quite a coincidence, I'm sure you'll agree. One of the bods who used to work at Lowry said that Aliens was 2K, as was True Lies and Abyss when they did them: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-gomez-40520a39

So, yeah. The PR machine may be spinning these as "recent 4K scans" but they are certainly not recent and may not all be 4K. Maybe Gomez had his wires crossed, maybe Lowry had a thing of working on 2K proxies and then applied it to to the final output in 4K (which is perhaps why he makes the distinction of Titanic being the first "end to end" Lowry restoration on "4K uncompressed images"), but as with LOTR and the claimed 4K rebuild the actual evidence to the contrary is hiding in plain sight.

The outlier is The Abyss, the dirt and scratches are in different places on the previous Lowry theatrical transfer and the 4K, I'm thinking that they may have needed to transfer the SE footage anew so just redid the whole thing in 4K (especially as it was going out in theaters, even if just for one night, which wasn't done for Aliens or True Lies IIRC) and that's why it looks so much betterer than Aliens does w/ref to not looking like a totally AI-guesstimated transfer of the movie. Ditto Titanic, we know for a fact that they used the Lowry 4K master so the AI had much less guesswork going on.

[SpazeBlue]

Originally Posted by wright96d

Anyone else notice the "Source material resolution" for all three films is locked for editing? Guess too many people have been trying to change it (correctly) to Upscaled.

Same thing happened with LOTR. They finally let it be updated at some point, but the Hobbits still need to be fixed.

Originally Posted by JohnCarpenterFan

Perhaps I'm missing something but has it actually been confirmed that all three remasters are from 2K upscales?

I believe for The Abyss that it was stated it was from a 4K scan of the negative. We've seen a number of remastered Blu-ray releases from 4K or higher OCN scans be finished in 2K, only for an eventual 4K release to go back to the same scan and redo the work for a 4K finish.

I've not seen these remasters yet as I was waiting for the disc releases to watch them and they've yet to be dispatched, but from what I hear more legitimate detail is visible on Aliens that's just not there on the Blu-ray and it's not just because of sharpening.

With The Abyss it seems like native 4K, (just filtered,) but it's hard to tell. Mainly since the sources we've had haven't been great. With Aliens, we already did get a pretty good to release, and when compared, it does really look like it's a very poorly filtered upscale, and none of the "new details" actually seem to be real, just generated from the AI.

Edit: Looks like I was beat, lol