The Abyss 4K UHD (1989)

[LMFAObros]

Originally Posted by ShellBeacher

Anyone know if this and/or ALIENS are still being shipped with slipcovers anywhere? Haven't picked them up and of course was debating based on some mixed reception of the UHD remasters.

I got a slip cover and I only got it shipped about 3 weeks ago

[rubystone356]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Was it made from unobtanium?

I remember the text commentary (dvd) on the rings. even had info on where to order the ring from.

Jacob

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

I have that!


It has some neat tidbits in it; such as why Virgil's 'marriage ring' was able to hold the watertight, pressure door open and not crush his hand.

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Was it made from unobtanium?

Actually, I think that it was 'Titanium'.

Since BOTH Bud and Lindsey were engineers they gave each other titanium wedding bands.


So . . . whipping out my own copy. From the book . . .

Desperately he reached out, stuck his hand into gap, tried to hold it open. There was no chance. He didn't have the strength.
The door closed on the fingers of his left hand. Something was holding it just wide enough for his fingers. It was his ring. The-harder-than-steel wedding band that Lindsey had given him. The door could bend it a little—he could feel the pressure on his finger—but it couldn't break it or crush it. Nor could he slide out his finger—the ring had bent just enough that it locked over the bone of his knuckle. He couldn't pull free.

Originally Posted by rubystone356

I remember the text commentary (dvd) on the rings. even had info on where to order the ring from.

Jacob

Yep. And perhaps one day it can save your life too.


https://www.tirings.com/products/tit...yss-replica-n5

.

[starmike]

Originally Posted by Krynoid-Man

Found this at a car boot sale for 50p

I had this. Lent it to my dad and never saw it again :P

[Nice Guy Eddie]

I've been away for a while, have they issued corrected discs without the freezing problem?

[ghostof82]

I remember back when The Abyss was coming out, for genre geeks it was pretty damn exciting. I don't think we get so excited about upcoming films anymore. Might be something about them coming out on streaming etc in next to no time. The cinema 'event' is pretty much gone now.

[Chumpster99]

Had a funny thought today, a theory about why Abyss turned out the least badly out Cameron's AI-job restorations:

Perhaps this is the only one whose Park Road finish wasn't done on top of Lowry's work?

It would explain a lot, in theory. Different framing and grading from the HDTV, has less weirdness/artifacts than Titanic (explainable by the crap AI working off an untampered scan vs. on top of Lowry's own guff), true HDR that reveals genuine new highlight details and wider colour gamut from the negative as they're working from the base 4k scan and not an SDR 2k master.

Profiles of former Lowry folks note Titanic was the only one completed in 4k by them. Rest were scanned 4k and completed 2k.

Now why would Abyss be the only one they went back to scans? To restore the SE cut, perhaps. Aliens has both cuts Lowry'd, hence just upscaling. True Lies has no SE, hence upscaling. Titanic is already in 4k, but throw it in the Park Road machine regardless cuz Cameron's weird like that. Abyss, however? SE cut is only in SD thus far and Cameron's not that daft, and while you're going back to the scan you might as well do the whole thing in real 4k (even if it's gonna get slathered up by the AI afterwards)

Could be entirely wrong, but just a curious little line of thought and theorizing I had. Dunno if I'm the first to theorize it either though lol.

[Connoralpha]

Originally Posted by Chumpster99

Had a funny thought today, a theory about why Abyss turned out the least badly out Cameron's AI-job restorations:

Perhaps this is the only one whose Park Road finish wasn't done on top of Lowry's work?

It would explain a lot, in theory. Different framing and grading from the HDTV, has less weirdness/artifacts than Titanic (explainable by the crap AI working off an untampered scan vs. on top of Lowry's own guff), true HDR that reveals genuine new highlight details and wider colour gamut from the negative as they're working from the base 4k scan and not an SDR 2k master.

Profiles of former Lowry folks note Titanic was the only one completed in 4k by them. Rest were scanned 4k and completed 2k.

Now why would Abyss be the only one they went back to scans? To restore the SE cut, perhaps. Aliens has both cuts Lowry'd, hence just upscaling. True Lies has no SE, hence upscaling. Titanic is already in 4k, but throw it in the Park Road machine regardless cuz Cameron's weird like that. Abyss, however? SE cut is only in SD thus far and Cameron's not that daft, and while you're going back to the scan you might as well do the whole thing in real 4k (even if it's gonna get slathered up by the AI afterwards)

Could be entirely wrong, but just a curious little line of thought and theorizing I had. Dunno if I'm the first to theorize it either though lol.

All this makes sense. Plus I think the timing is a factor. The Abyss theatrical cut 4K transfer was completed before the pandemic (hence why it was intermittently popping up in HD on various streaming services years before it was officially announced). Park Road's new tools probably weren't available when they started, hence less meddling along the way.

Funny enough True Lies had a new master done around the same time but Cameron felt it needed another pass. I guess now we know what he meant by that.

[KMFDMvsEnya]

I thought it had been fairly well established that The Abyss was the last title worked on.

A new 4K scan with a full 4K work flow.

It helps that the film's overall cinematography is a bit darker than the other films but the DNR remains visible throughout, the AI tomfoolery also remains a distraction, and that damn luminosity sharpening varies in how annoying it can be.

Titanic is far worse on the sharpening aspect in part because it is a brighter film, especially with the AI stuff mixed in which makes various details that ideally would not be overly accentuated but now laid bare with excruciating enhanced details.

Such as makeup looking really dodgy or wig seams being now absurdly plainly visible, cough Billie Zane.

[ghostof82]

It may not be as perfect as we'd hoped, but it's still great to have a 4K copy of The Abyss on my shelf. Still have a pinch-me moment when I see it's spine on the shelf.

[Chumpster99]

Originally Posted by KMFDMvsEnya

I thought it had been fairly well established that The Abyss was the last title worked on.

A new 4K scan with a full 4K work flow.

It helps that the film's overall cinematography is a bit darker than the other films but the DNR remains visible throughout, the AI tomfoolery also remains a distraction, and that damn luminosity sharpening varies in how annoying it can be.

Titanic is far worse on the sharpening aspect in part because it is a brighter film, especially with the AI stuff mixed in which makes various details that ideally would not be overly accentuated but now laid bare with excruciating enhanced details.

Such as makeup looking really dodgy or wig seams being now absurdly plainly visible, cough Billie Zane.

Yup, many know it's the last title worked on by Park Road, yes, but as far as I saw the general perception/belief most had (including myself) was that it was just an AI pass on top of the Lowry master like the other three.

But looking into it, it seems increasingly likely it's the only one that wasn't. Maybe not a new scan, perhaps just going back to the 4k scan that was used to make Lowry's 2k theatrical cut Abyss remaster, but either way it seems highly probable they did an all-new 4k master of some sort indeed, and then had Park Road do their thing atop a relatively untouched source.

Aliens we know is a bad upscale. True Lies I thought was genuine 4k but going by Lowry's info it seems it might actually be a similar 2k-to-4k. Titanic IS real 4k, Lowry finished it that way, but the Lowry weirdness + Park Road weirdness layered atop one another + the brighter lighting do a terrible number on it compared to how Abyss ended up. I consider it somewhat the same principle as when wacky 2000s DIs with baked-in noise reduction at certain spots get DNR-atop-DNR on their 4ks, it can get quite rough even if you're working from an already-4k master.

Abyss is still visibly DNR'd to heck and has some AI fudgery, but I do sincerely believe what we're looking at has the grace and mercy to not have to be built atop a Lowry master like the other three. It coming off the cleanest and having real fully-utilized HDR makes it all the more likely imo, and I think it's telling that it's the only one of the four that doesn't share identical to nigh-identical framing/colour grade with the earlier Lowry versions.

But that's me rambling a little much about my personal theory.

I'm just glad that it's the least harmed out of all of them, as the SE cut we've only ever had on a terrible DVD before now afaik. If we got an Aliens-level 4k of the SE with no earlier HD version available it'd be incredibly depressing.

[LMFAObros]

Originally Posted by Chumpster99

Yup, many know it's the last title worked on by Park Road, yes, but as far as I saw the general perception/belief most had (including myself) was that it was just an AI pass on top of the Lowry master like the other three.

But looking into it, it seems increasingly likely it's the only one that wasn't. Maybe not a new scan, perhaps just going back to the 4k scan that was used to make Lowry's 2k theatrical cut Abyss remaster, but either way it seems highly probable they did an all-new 4k master of some sort indeed, and then had Park Road do their thing atop a relatively untouched source.

Aliens we know is a bad upscale. True Lies I thought was genuine 4k but going by Lowry's info it seems it might actually be a similar 2k-to-4k. Titanic IS real 4k, Lowry finished it that way, but the Lowry weirdness + Park Road weirdness layered atop one another + the brighter lighting do a terrible number on it compared to how Abyss ended up. I consider it somewhat the same principle as when wacky 2000s DIs with baked-in noise reduction at certain spots get DNR-atop-DNR on their 4ks, it can get quite rough even if you're working from an already-4k master.

Abyss is still visibly DNR'd to heck and has some AI fudgery, but I do sincerely believe what we're looking at has the grace and mercy to not have to be built atop a Lowry master like the other three. It coming off the cleanest and having real fully-utilized HDR makes it all the more likely imo, and I think it's telling that it's the only one of the four that doesn't share identical to nigh-identical framing/colour grade with the earlier Lowry versions.

But that's me rambling a little much about my personal theory.

I'm just glad that it's the least harmed out of all of them, as the SE cut we've only ever had on a terrible DVD before now afaik. If we got an Aliens-level 4k of the SE with no earlier HD version available it'd be incredibly depressing.

I think Titanic and The Abyss faired well, I haven’t seen aliens or true lies yet but am expecting them to be a lot worse

[Chumpster99]

Originally Posted by LMFAObros

I think Titanic and The Abyss faired well, I haven’t seen aliens or true lies yet but am expecting them to be a lot worse

I've seen the new Titanic master in theatres - it's really funky at times and I strictly prefer the BD to it quite strongly, but it at least wasn't on the level of the True Lies / Aliens horror shows, it wasn't enough to ruin my viewing but I'm not going anywhere near it for home viewing when I already have the BD. Abyss seems to be altogether tolerable compared to Titanic if caps are to be believed and especially so next to the other two, even if I dearly wish it got a faithful un-fudged restoration. I intend to nab Abyss one of these days when I can find it for cheapo. Hoping it'll go down as low as Terminator 2's got.

[LMFAObros]

Originally Posted by Chumpster99

I've seen the new Titanic master in theatres - it's really funky at times and I strictly prefer the BD to it quite strongly, but it at least wasn't on the level of the True Lies / Aliens horror shows, it wasn't enough to ruin my viewing but I'm not going anywhere near it for home viewing when I already have the BD. Abyss seems to be altogether tolerable compared to Titanic if caps are to be believed and especially so next to the other two, even if I dearly wish it got a faithful un-fudged restoration. I intend to nab Abyss one of these days when I can find it for cheapo. Hoping it'll go down as low as Terminator 2's got.

The BD holds up very well even against the UHD

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Chumpster99

Had a funny thought today, a theory about why Abyss turned out the least badly out Cameron's AI-job restorations:

Perhaps this is the only one whose Park Road finish wasn't done on top of Lowry's work?

It would explain a lot, in theory. Different framing and grading from the HDTV, has less weirdness/artifacts than Titanic (explainable by the crap AI working off an untampered scan vs. on top of Lowry's own guff), true HDR that reveals genuine new highlight details and wider colour gamut from the negative as they're working from the base 4k scan and not an SDR 2k master.

Profiles of former Lowry folks note Titanic was the only one completed in 4k by them. Rest were scanned 4k and completed 2k.

Now why would Abyss be the only one they went back to scans? To restore the SE cut, perhaps. Aliens has both cuts Lowry'd, hence just upscaling. True Lies has no SE, hence upscaling. Titanic is already in 4k, but throw it in the Park Road machine regardless cuz Cameron's weird like that. Abyss, however? SE cut is only in SD thus far and Cameron's not that daft, and while you're going back to the scan you might as well do the whole thing in real 4k (even if it's gonna get slathered up by the AI afterwards)

Could be entirely wrong, but just a curious little line of thought and theorizing I had. Dunno if I'm the first to theorize it either though lol.

You're not the first, no: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...3#post21993363

[Chumpster99]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

You're not the first, no: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...3#post21993363

Haha, well hat's off to you and consider my theory supplementary to yours. I'd like to think I make a compelling case, at least, in explaining exactly how and why it may have turned out that way.

[Shane Rollins]

For the benefit of both people who haven't heard this by now:

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

Imagine unironically being in Team Cameron.

[KcMsterpce]

Yeah, we already saw this in the other threads you shared it in.
So what?
I don't care. Jesus.

[hanshotfirst1138]

Originally Posted by KcMsterpce

Yeah, we already saw this in the other threads you shared it in.
So what?
I don't care. Jesus.

Well, obviously some people do. That said, Cameron doesn’t owe me the time of day, but that was still a low blow on his part.

[chewbabka]

People are so bad at asking questions. A meandering question about blowback, standards, and the “fan community”—the last being the part that allowed Cameron to latch onto the basement line of attack. Instead, ask a direct question about AI processing and the integrity of film for gadsake.

Reminds me of the guy who confused Katie Kennedy by asking a meandering question about Star Wars “always changing” instead of asking a direct question about the original cuts.