The Abyss Special Edition (1 Viewer)

[Daman]

Im not totally sure if this is the right thread to post this in, if its not can the admin please move it accordingly. I bought the Abyss special edition a few days back at thanksgiving from CC at a deal. The Dvd is widscreen and Thx mastered. Theres a strange thing with the disc, while on the outside it states its DD 5.1 when i play the disc im getting only 2 channel Dolby surround signal, even in the sound options theres a english dolby surround and a french dolby surround option. This is present both the the theatrical cut and the special directions edition menu's. Am I missing out somewhere or is the disc itself faulty? If so then how can these guys write DD5.1 on the cover. If someone has the same version of the disc please let me know.
Daman

 

[Adam Barratt]

Am I correct in assuming this the single disc edition? It appears that the single-disc version contains only Dolby Surround audio (complaints from others), despite the packaging saying it's 5.1. The two-disc Special Edition definitely has a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, however.

Adam

 

[Keith Paynter]

The English/French Dolby Surround was originally issued in Canada by Fox, although some 5.1 English versions were shipped initially (And I luckily picked one up...both were in a large grey book-fold double disc keepcase, like many Fox double disc sets). Both versions can still be found on the shelves here. I believe the current 2-disc re-issue is the 5.1 version, whereas the "budget" single disc was English/French.

 

[Jeff Bamberger]

I would take it back and get the two disc version.

"Under Pressure", the ~60 min documentary on the making of the film is worth the price of the disc all by itself.

 

[Joel C]

Is the new Abyss SE anamorphic?

 

[Ray H]

Nope. It's the same discs in new packaging.

 

[Mark Maltais]

I had this problem when I first bought the special edition disc a few years ago. There was a stupid French language version of one (and I can say stupid because I am french) and in order to put the french in THEY TOOK OUT THE DD 5.1!!! A big WTF occurred when I got home and spent an hour trying to figure out what the fuck was wrong with my receiver as I could only get 2.0 out of it. Then I read the fine print on the DVD case...

DOH!!!!

Went back to Wal-mart and BITCHED my head off to get a replacement disc, and thank god they had the normal versions with DD. I'll tell you though now when I buy a disc I read EVERY WORD printed on the back to make sure I don't get fucked like that again!!

As you can see this still pisses me off to this day!

 

[Arnie G]

I've heard of some crappy stunts before but this one is the crappiest

 

[CraigF]

Now I'm really pissed! I didn't know the "Canadian" version of The Abyss SE (nice case/booklet BTW) could even be had with DD 5.1...mine is the "original" SS version. My case says it's anamorphic, and it's not of course. I wish I had known better at the time re the importance of anamorphic, I would have returned this abortion of a release of a IMO great movie. I'd take anamorphic over 5.1 if I had to choose, but I got the short end of the stick on both accounts. I suppose it's pointless to ask when the anamorphic version is coming out...anyway, this is one movie I'll double dip for in HD.

 

[Daman]

Damn.. thanks for confirming the doubts guys..It is the one disc SE.Ill take the disc back to CC and see if they would exchange it, i though did get a great deal on it- just 5 bucks at thanksgiving sale.. but damn.. cant these guys be sued or something for writing the wrong specs on the cover?? This is really lame..

 

[Paul.S]

Delete. Misunderstood/misread a previous post. -p

 

[TheBat]

the menus for the abyss are enhanced for widescreen, but not the movie itself.

JACOB

 

[JeremySt]

In a somewhat related story... I was recently noticing that The Abyss was going to be oh HBO HD. Unfortunatly... it turned out to be total crap. It looked like they were playing a pan and scan VHS tape. Seriously. It was that bad.

 

[Keith Paynter]

"Language!...and don't pick your nose!"

 

[peter m. wilson]

Hi,
By chance did any of you Canucks pick up your "Special Edition of Abyss" as a 2 movie special pricing package at BestBuy.

Thats how I got mine in Toronto and it was a blessing in disguise because (can't even remember it's name) the second movie was a real "STinker", so when I discovered, (I think it was 4.0 Dolby Surround) it wasn't 5.1, it gave me chance to return 2 open movies which normaly would be a no no.

Hopefully this is a new "Special Edition" and their following the same idea that they did with "Top Gun" and put it in DTS 6.1 Discrete.

Peter m.

 

[SteveCallas]

Hmmm, this thread made me double check, but I own the single disc version and it is definitely DD 5.1 - quite good too. More than 1 release of the single disc edition?

 

[Craig Beam]

I'm shocked that Fox hasn't revisited this title yet... The friggin' X-files movie can get a second edition with anamorphic enhancement and DTS, but not THE ABYSS? The mind reels. In all fairness, it's one of the better non-anamorphic transfers (along with PLANET OF THE APES, which has been redone, and TITANIC, which we know is coming next year), but it doesn't merit three different releases of the same damned disc. C'mon Fox!

 

[John Lloyd]

Unfortunately HBO likes to show standard definition material on their HD channel. Even worse, they have a corporate policy to remove black bars on all "new" movies that they show. It makes it very difficult to know what you will get if you try to record something. You have to watch the program to be sure it is what you expect.

 

[peter m. wilson]

Hi John,
If your supplier is like mine Rogers Cable, we have all the major Networks east and west coast HD feeds but not all the programs are HD.

Even PBS a supposedly 24hr a day HD Network will announce at the beginning of a show that its available in HD or if not HD at least Wide Screen (we know that true HD is always wide screen.

The thing that would bother me, (which I've already caught) is my cable network sending me a PPV HD movie in 480P dvd rez. I had the movie on DVD and through my vid scaler showed a bettewr rez than I was recieving. So I called the cable company and although they didn't admit anything instantly gave me a credit.

Peter m.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Not Fox's fault; they're waiting for Cameron's approval on an anamorphic transfer.