Is the original Terminator worth buying on Blu-ray

[Canada]

Picture was not all that good but the PCM 5.1 track is great it is a lot better than the DD 5.1 on the the DVD.

Terminator

Here is my user review

If you havn't seen this film and you an action/sci fi fan, you owe it to yourself to see this movie. Instead of watching Transformer for the 82,997, rent the Terminator and watch a real sci fi classic!

Video 2.5 As was said in the actual review this movie was shot on a very low budget, the film stock they used probably was not all that good or that well preserved. I was disapointed in how the image itself look, there was dust dirt and scratches all over the place. Hopefully they put out another remastered edition with better video and the same audio. The video had nothing to do with a lack of space on the 25 gig disc.

Audio 5: The PCM audio puts you in the middle of the fight for the future. This won't rival Pirates of the Carribean, Casino Royal or Live Free or Die Hard but considering they got the film to sound this good from mono origins it rates a 5 I doubt this could sound any better than it does here

Hopefully James Cameron will do a re-master of Terminator to make it look similar to the Aliens transfer, it probably won't look as good as Aliens because I don't think it was as good a film stock.

[saginawjuggalo]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1179159

Originally Posted by Sehnzeleid @DVDfile

I still feel compelled to point out Sony's BD of The Terminator only features a Dolby and PCM 5.1 track that replaces nearly all of the film's original sound effects to create a "fake" surround mix. Far, far from "reference" IMO. The film was originally mono and should at least retain the option of hearing it as it was intended, especially when the remix completely throws away and disregards the film's sound design.

[Ite]

Without the original sound effects it is worthless.

[Ray_Rogers]

Originally Posted by Ite

Without the original sound effects it is worthless.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. Hopefully there'll be a release where the original theatrical audio will be available fully lossless without added foley effects.
Pass.

[groove93]

I'm also not a big fan of the updated sound effects but I always enjoyed this film. It is a bad looking film compared to the other movies I own on Blu Ray but if you enjoy the film, for 8 bucks @Amazon.com, pick it up.

[Daredevil666]

Originally Posted by Canada

Picture was not all that good but the PCM 5.1 track is great it is a lot better than the DD 5.1 on the the DVD.

Terminator

Here is my user review

If you havn't seen this film and you an action/sci fi fan, you owe it to yourself to see this movie. Instead of watching Transformer for the 82,997, rent the Terminator and watch a real sci fi classic!

Video 2.5 As was said in the actual review this movie was shot on a very low budget, the film stock they used probably was not all that good or that well preserved. I was disapointed in how the image itself look, there was dust dirt and scratches all over the place. Hopefully they put out another remastered edition with better video and the same audio. The video had nothing to do with a lack of space on the 25 gig disc.

Audio 5: The PCM audio puts you in the middle of the fight for the future. This won't rival Pirates of the Carribean, Casino Royal or Live Free or Die Hard but considering they got the film to sound this good from mono origins it rates a 5 I doubt this could sound any better than it does here

Hopefully James Cameron will do a re-master of Terminator to make it look similar to the Aliens transfer, it probably won't look as good as Aliens because I don't think it was as good a film stock.

Actually it will probably look as good as Aliens if not better. Cinematographer was Adam Greenberg, who also shot T2. The master is just looking ugly because it's ancient. Lightstorm is currently working on a new transfert from a 4K scan which should bring this movie up to at least Aliens PQ, if not better.

As for the sound, as others have noted, the remix is atrocious, and need a major fix, in addition to the presence of the original mono track (which will be there, seeing Cameron included the original mix on Aliens Blu too)

[Marcus Wright]

Originally Posted by dvdvision

Actually it will probably look as good as Aliens if not better. Cinematographer was Adam Greenberg, who also shot T2. The master is just looking ugly because it's ancient. Lightstorm is currently working on a new transfert from a 4K scan which should bring this movie up to at least Aliens PQ, if not better.

As for the sound, as others have noted, the remix is atrocious, and need a major fix, in addition to the presence of the original mono track (which will be there, seeing Cameron included the original mix on Aliens Blu too)

I think a good remaster of T2 would be a really good idea too.

[TheAnimeLegend]

I read someone's review on Amazon.com saying that they bought the blu-ray movie for "The Terminator" and found out that they hadn't changed the quality of the picture at all it was still standard definition. Only the main menu was high definition.

[Jompa]

It isn`t true. If you watch the BD, you can tell it`s in HD, not SD.

[OrlandoEastwood]

I thought the PQ was pretty good on it.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by OrlandoEastwood

I thought the PQ was pretty good on it.

Actually the PQ stinks and it's barely better than the MGM DVD. The real improvement is the AQ, but even then many of the sound effects are not original. It needs a new master and a AVC encode...end of story.

[Mahatma]

Originally Posted by Marcus Wright

I think a good remaster of T2 would be a really good idea too.

Absolutely agree.It is the definition of lackluster PQ-wise

[lkmg]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Actually the PQ stinks and it's barely better than the MGM DVD. The real improvement is the AQ, but even then many of the sound effects are not original. It needs a new master and a AVC encode...end of story.

Which is why it is still not in my collection yet.

[OrlandoEastwood]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Actually the PQ stinks and it's barely better than the MGM DVD. The real improvement is the AQ, but even then many of the sound effects are not original. It needs a new master and a AVC encode...end of story.

So, this looks bad to you? For a movie that was shot under $10 million back in the 80's?

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by OrlandoEastwood

So, this looks bad to you? For a movie that was shot under $10 million back in the 80's?

Not bad, just marginal. Asking for a proper master and a updated encode is not FUBAR.

[Kentai]

Originally Posted by OrlandoEastwood

So, this looks bad to you?

Yeah, kinda.

It's just an old master - detail's weak, grain looks clumpy, there's trailing/DVNR artifacts, and the print is absolutely caked in dust and debris. Squeezing it down to a BD25 with MPEG-2 sure didn't help, but it was really the least of our worries. It's not unwatchable or anything, but there's really no excuse for a film of this caliber to look as unimpressive as it does.

If we ever see that restoration they've been working on for ages, I'm sure it'll be a substantial improvement. The BD certainly looks better than the DVD, but not by a whole lot...

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Kentai

Yeah, kinda.

It's just an old master - detail's weak, grain looks clumpy, there's trailing/DVNR artifacts, and the print is absolutely caked in dust and debris. Squeezing it down to a BD25 with MPEG-2 sure didn't help, but it was really the least of our worries. It's not unwatchable or anything, but there's really no excuse for a film of this caliber to look as unimpressive as it does.

If we ever see that restoration they've been working on for ages, I'm sure it'll be a substantial improvement. The BD certainly looks better than the DVD, but not by a whole lot...

Have a look at these. I think this says it all.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1179159

[Liquid_Swords]

They changed the sound? Ugh, why not just leave things as is.

[OrlandoEastwood]

Originally Posted by Liquid_Swords

They changed the sound? Ugh, why not just leave things as is.

The sound was changed years ago. It's on the old MGM DVD that's in a storage bin.

[Allforce]

Originally Posted by Mahatma

Absolutely agree.It is the definition of lackluster PQ-wise

I can't even get this Skynet version of T2 to play on any blu-ray player I've ever tried it on, anyone else experience this problem? It loads forever and then just literally shuts down the entire player.

Pisses me off because it's one of my top 5 favorite films.