The Abyss 4K UHD (1989)

[Tok]

Originally Posted by raybestos

The point is: there's nothing to "change"

This was a film released 35 years ago. This is a piece of art. It should be preserved as it was originally presented. There's absolutely no valid reason to meddle with it or change anything. That's disfacement of the original work. Especially when extremely high quality versions of the OCN exist and are well-preserved.

Film isn't like color-by-numbers. Change this, change that whenever it suits the fancy of arrogant and entitled directors. The "changing" is very offensive.

Once in the can, the art work is completed. People other than the director worked on these films. "Changing" them merely for the sake of change disrespects many, many people who worked on the original projects.

No one is disagreeing that these are far from perfect. But on the other side of the coin is the 4K or higher level scans combined with 4K Blu reveals a level of detail that maybe some feel it wasn’t meant to be seen. When prints were made for exhibition it was already at least one or two generations from the original so detail and some grain were lost.

4K Blu maybe too good in showing elements that filmmakers were trying to hide or that they didn’t need to worry about because tech at time hid the unwanted stuff in the original source elements.

Again not a fan of these new discs but they are improvement over the low resolution laserdiscs and DVDs.

[Tok]

Originally Posted by RobertR

I already pointed out that he's called BDs and UHDs the best a film has ever looked, praising them greatly, so your claim has no basis.

😂 just a matter of personal opinion. Why don’t you start a 90min diatribe why I’m incorrect?

[bludarkknight]

Originally Posted by RobertR

This.



The Cameron Video Abyss: Aliens, The Abyss and True Lies on 4K UHD - YouTube

crusader is never wrong he is 100%

[VMeran]

I watched The Abyss for the very first time last night, and I absolutely loved it (watched the Special Edition, for anyone wondering).

Honestly, I thought the UHD looked fantastic, almost like the film was shot yesterday — save for very brief instances where the DNR or the AI made some shots look overly smooth.

I'm very happy to have gotten this.

[mpls1981]

Originally Posted by raybestos

Why is this such a popular view? I sincerely don't get it. You're giving him and others carte blanche to change things and are enabling him. Why do you not see it as some sort of "graffiti" or anachonistic changing of art that doesn't need to be meddled with?

Would you folks be just as happy if the Mona Lisa was defaced and "modernized" with AI?

Cameron is the artist. He's changing his own art in your example. Not someone else coming along and changing it without his approval. Also, he's been vocal for decades about his dislike of grain so at this point it shouldn't come to a shock that he would remove most, if not all, the grain from his own films given the opportunity to do so.
He's the artist fixing his art in a manner consistent with what he envisioned it looking like when he first made it. Perhaps he just released his artwork before he was finished with it and you prefer the unfinished version.

IMO I don't give a single fck about grain. If it's there, it's there. If it's not, it's not and the only thing that matters is that the image look good with or without the grain present. On the audio side, I don't care about the original audio either. I'm not going to switch to a lesser audio choice over Atmos because that's how it was played in theaters decades before Atmos existed. If people really want the original, then they shouldn't even be buying movies in 4K as HDR and Dolby Vision didn't exist until recently and are applied to almost every 4K release. These are still revisions after all.

[geomon]

Originally Posted by Tok

Who are you referring to? I just list my equipment setup in my signature so there’s a reference to my Blu-ray and 4K experience. I try to keep equipment discussion in the appropriate areas.

It was just a general observation. That's all.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by mpls1981

If people really want the original, then they shouldn't even be buying movies in 4K as HDR and Dolby Vision didn't exist until recently and are applied to almost every 4K release. These are still revisions after all.

That old chestnut, "If you don't like the new aspect ratio... watch the DVDs... it was only in SD when it aired..."

Yes, there are some who would happily give up discs and watch prints in their own home theaters and avoid all this malarkey.

But for those who can't, maybe they'd like as close as accurate to the original as possible, it takes no effort to include the original audio.

Film to video has always been a transition, this format offers the opportunity to provide the most accurate representation of film. As well as an opportunity to do other things...

[starmike]

I'm not watching a 1h+ video about topics we've been reading about in here for years. I have better things to do.

[mpls1981]

Originally Posted by chip75

That old chestnut, "If you don't like the new aspect ratio... watch the DVDs... it was only in SD when it aired..."

Yes, there are some who would happily give up discs and watch prints in their own home theaters and avoid all this malarkey.

But for those who can't, maybe they'd like as close as accurate to the original as possible, it takes no effort to include the original audio.

Film to video has always been a transition, this format offers the opportunity to provide the most accurate representation of film. As well as an opportunity to do other things...

And they have every right to want that. It doesn't mean they get it or get to wish the director dead so some one else could "restore" them correctly - which has occurred on these threads already - simply because a movie of all things doesn't look or sound how you want it to. Nor should it be all that shocking that people also don't share that same opinion when it comes to that.

These threads filled hundreds of pages combined with people complaining about the quality and as soon as they were released, it turned out they were nearly impossible to find a copy of and everyone was panicking. Either they are so awful no one is going to watch them or these threads are just echo chambers that don't share the opinion of the majority of viewers/buyers.

[Telemachus]

Whole lotta Youtube shilling in these JC threads, I feel like people are trying to launch channels over this disc drama lmao

[SwedishChef]

Let’s not forget that we watch a movie to be entertained or to glean a life lesson that makes us a better person for having experienced it. For those artists out there, look for camera angles and transitions, color palettes and blocking, what works for film and what doesn’t. Learn. If an artist determines what revisions are best for his work, try to understand why and learn from it. How many times did Van Gogh paint “Vase with 12 Sunflowers” until he was satisfied? Why did he do so? Idiosyncrasies and quirks are part of human nature, especially to the artist mind. Learn from it and be a better person for it.

[HenryHill]

So are The Abyss and True Lies OOP just a week after release? Nobody has them in stock.

[Tok]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Whole lotta Youtube shilling in these JC threads, I feel like people are trying to launch channels over this disc drama lmao

Hate to tell you but most aren’t going to over analyze the video like the purists here. Look do they have some problems? Yes. Is it so bad to completely write off these $25 titles? No. Now if these were $50 Arrow titles I’d be more upset but these were low cost catalog titles.

[Tok]

Originally Posted by HenryHill

So are The Abyss and True Lies OOP just a week after release? Nobody has it in stock.

Relax… underestimated demand and fewer replicators mean more bumps in the road getting titles. Disney knows there’s money on the table. More are coming.

[bludarkknight]

crusader is 100% spot on , in crusader i trust his reviews
AI abusess by the director ain't going to win me over with his junk AI 4k feast and lousy cheap fake atmos upmix that is designed for those cheap soundbars , it has no dynamic range , lol , hail laserdisc that leaves 4k atmos in the dust

crusader

The Cameron Video Abyss: Aliens, The Abyss and True Lies on 4K UHD - YouTube

[Telemachus]

Originally Posted by Tok

Hate to tell

No you don't

[Tok]

Originally Posted by bludarkknight

crusader is 100% spot on , in crusader i trust his reviews
AI abusess by the director ain't going to win me over with his junk AI 4k feast and lousy cheap fake atmos upmix that is designed for those cheap soundbars , it has no dynamic range , lol , hail laserdisc that leaves 4k atmos in the dust

crusader
The Cameron Video Abyss: Aliens, The Abyss and True Lies on 4K UHD - YouTube

Content for sadomaschists… took him over an hour to say what could be done in 5 minutes… but I forgot he was a projectionist meaning he could thread a projector and change lenses. I guess he’s a genuine certified expert on film… at least in his world.

Oh wait… he just released another video saying the Bruce Lee Arrow set was the best release of 2023… I mean it did sweep his awards ceremony last week so it must be that good.

[Tok]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

No you don't

Well maybe I don’t. Enjoy your 480 laserdisc on your Faroudja line doubler, aka state of the art video tech circa 1992.

[James Luckard]

Sorry if I missed it, but:

Do we have comparison caps for this title? Or even just caps?

The Aliens UHD thread has a link with an astounding 138 comparison caps.

The True Lies UHD thread has a bunch in various posts.

But I don't think I've seen any in this thread, unless I missed them.

[Bubbles-11]

Originally Posted by bludarkknight

The Cameron Video Abyss: Aliens, The Abyss and True Lies on 4K UHD - YouTube

Wow what a wordy thumbnail