HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

I was one of the early complainers about Face/Off, and I don't think the Skynet T2 is even in the same league. It has substantially more detail, especially in faces.

I looked again at the specific scene that Joe identified. I'm not sure what he's seeing (and I'm not disputing that he's seeing it, though I'm not), but there's too much visible detail in Dr. Silberman's face for it to be a DNR issue.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Yes and Yes too.





Crawdaddy

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Nervous Nellie reporting in. I couldn't resist the $14.99 pricepoint on this at Best Buy this week, so...

I dropped it into by Panasonic BD-10 last night and held my breath.

Get this. Not only did I not have any options presented (or need to cancel a search for the internet) but after my machine scrambled for a bit to read the BD and figure things out, I was presented with the following screen:

Skynet has detected a profile 1.x Blu-ray player at this location that is not connected to the internet, and will run with full menu animation. (For optimal performance and full access to content, please utilize a profile 2.0 player.)

That made me laugh. Skynet makes such intelligent machines and all.

But...using a timer...the amount of time to get from closing the drawer to the menu animation was 4:15. Then, after selecting which version of the film I wanted to watch, it was another several minutes before I ever got to the opening credits. While part of that was all the various splash screens for Lionsgate, Studio Canal, DTS HD-MA (cool audio) and the classic T2 THX screen (and whatever else), there was also a rather lengthy amount of black screen that followed before the actual movie started to play. That had me nervous. I didn't have the timer running...but it was at least another two minutes (if not three).

On the one hand it loaded and played. OTOH, it all seems a bit excessive, doesn't it?

I wish I could comment on people's concerns about the transfer, but my limited gear prevent me from jumping in to that discussion. Everything looked fine on my 28" HD CRT set.

Audio sounded good. Not quite up to the standards of a 2009 rock 'em, sock 'em soundtrack...but respectably fun given the age of the film. Front-heavy, maybe. But my surrounds were still keeping things active. Everything was crystal clear.

But I only had time for spot-checks as I was in the mood to jump around to some favorite action sequences.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

After investing all that time loading it, I think I would have felt obligated to watch the whole film!

I used to use the laserdisc as a demo disc back in the laserdisc days. Can't see demoing this disc.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

not one person can answer this?

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Maybe nobody wanted to wade thru another 5 minutes of menu navigations to get to the trailers.

Like some, I too broke down and fell for the Best Buy $15 price, but I didn't have time to pick it up in person. Still waiting for the order to be delivered -- should probably be waiting for me at home today.

Guess I should also whip out my stopwatch to see how slow it takes my PS3 to load it. My PS3 usually loads quickly enough, but some BDJ-heavy titles do take noticeably longer than others.

_Man_

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

The trailer for the SE is 2.35, others are 1.78

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

thanks scott

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

My video of the Skull playing a half dozen of its sound clips and lighting up the eyes is now posted at:
http://www.navesink.net/public_html/...09-T2Unbox.mov

Smaller vimeo version now live!
Terminator2 BluRay EndoSkull Unboxed! on Vimeo

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

On my PS3 it took one minute to load, which included downloading whatever from the Internet. With the download already installed, disc load took about 40 seconds.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Hope you guys don't mind me asking, I posted a question about The Terminator Blu Ray disc in The Terminator review thread in the Archive section, but I see no replies for the past few weeks.

So if I may, how does that older blu ray disc fair compared to this new T2 Skynet edition? Or maybe I should ask, how does it hold up, period? Should I keep waiting, I don't have any Terminator films on BD yet? Maybe till when T4 comes out on BD?

Thanks!

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

I can't believe the problems i'm having playing this disc on my Sony. I can't even get past the damn Studio Canel advert. I've tried every version of the movie & it gets stuck just after Studio Canel logo.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

I feel for you. The Studio Canal logo has got to be the most heinous studio logo ever.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Firmware prob now fixed.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

I usually try not to put too much stock in screen caps, however in this case the caps of the 1st release seem to jibe with what I noticed with another early Lionsgate release- Total Recall - and that was noticeable compression artifacting. There is a comparison thread over on AVS that has full res caps of the two Lionsgate releases along with the Studio-Canal HD DVD. The caps show a marked improvement in the new edition vs the earlier one.
I only own the HD DVD which I am highly content with. If I didn't, and hadn't vowed never to do another dip on this title, I would consider the typical low cost of the new Sky Net version a no-brainer.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Thanks for the reply Paul. I think my question wasn't clearly written. I was asking members who might own the MGM first and only release on Blu Ray, as far I know, of The Terminator. The first Terminator film from 1984 and how that disc stacks up to the newer BD release of the Skynet edition of T2. Thanks!

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Nelson,

I do think the Skynet release is an improvement over the original version. It has superior color, contrast, and blacks. The image also has pretty good clarity and much better compression. The original release had a lot of compression artifacts and video noise. I also think Skynet is just a bit less sharpened, although there is still some EE likely baked into the original transfer. For $14.99, I'm satisfied with the Skynet version. I sort of like having all three versions of the film and the DTS-MA track is outstanding. I do think we'll get a brand new transfer of this film one day, but my guess it will be several years as we've heard how how busy Cameron is these days.

As far as the original MGM Terminator release compared to Skynet: obviously, they have different looks as they were made in different eras with different film, budget, etc., etc. Terminator probably looks more film-like as film grain is heavier and the image looks analog; Skynet looks a bit more "shiny" or glossy for lack of better words. Both films are softer, but it's obvious Skynet is a bit more polished.

Note: I've never compared either version to the original UK release.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Dave-

Thanks. These films are pretty well priced at Amazon. I have the various Laserdisc sets of T2 with all the supplements. So the Skynet set seems a pretty good deal!

The MGM version of The Terminator in BD, from your description sounds like it's as good as it got for a transfer made in 2006.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Ok so I've been sitting here for several minutes waiting for the movie to play (maybe 10 so far?) after the Studio Canal logo, still nothing.

So this disc will NOT play UNLESS I hook my Sony BD player to the internet and "update" it? First, this is such total BULLSHIT to have to deal with. I just wanna watch the damn movie. Second, if what I've read before from other places is correct, there is the possibility that something could go wrong and my player will get screwed up in the updating process, true?

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

If its a Sony. You need to download the upgrade from Sony's website then copy to a cd then load cd into your player. It will update the blu-ray player from 1.0 to 2.0

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

It's possible but only in the same sense that you may get hit by a bus if you cross the street. I would definitely not do it doing a storm because if the power goes out, the player is probably dead.

Like Norm said, you can burn the update to a disc (rather than hooking it up to the internet) and I think most companies will send you a CD with the firmware update if you call and request it.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Unfortunately, firmware updates are a reality with BD players. Fortunately, though, Michael, they are relatively easy and safe to perform on Sony players. You can either (1) connect your player to the Internet, (2) download and burn a CD from Sony's website, or (3) call Sony and have them mail you a CD (at their expense).

I have performed three firmware updates on my Sony BDP-S350 without any issues. The first one was by downloading and burning a CD, and the last two were directly via the Internet. The player even retained any settings I had changed in the system menus instead of reverting to the defaults.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Well with much nervousness, I went ahead and hooked up BDP-S350 to the internet (had to acquire the IP addy) and downloaded the update. The firmware was 009 previously and now it's 019 so yes, it downloaded and installed fine. Popped the Skynet disc in and it played the movie immediately.

*PHEW*

Still, a pain in the arse.

PS It *seems* my player settings remain the same as well.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Livin' life on the edge!

Actually, Michael, I've been scared to death every time I've done a firmware upgrade on my Panasonic player. Even though each one has gone fine, I've read a lot of horror stories.

And a pain in the arse, indeed. But be grateful your model is still getting upgrades. There hasn't been an upgrade to the BD-10 now for nearly a year. I think Panasonic has given up on that model.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

I don't normally get too worked over stuff like that but the first time that I did it, I was nearly biting my finger nails.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

I never had a problem doing the updates for the panasonic player.

Jacob

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

This is why you all should have bought PS3s!

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Lord knows nobody uses it for, ya know, games or anything

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Because a PS3 never needs a firmware update?

My Sony BDP-S350 has played every BD I've thrown at it, fits perfectly in my equipment rack, integrates well with my Harmony universal remote (without any additional adapter do-dads), runs quietly, is easy to upgrade the firmware when necessary, and cost a lot less than a PS3. Many of us have no need or desire for a gaming system.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition

Damn right! Same goes for my Panasonic BD55, making the endless "the PS3 is the greatest machine in the history of the world" hype just hot air.