Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: T2 Judgment Day - Skynet Edition (1 Viewer)

[Johnny Angell]

I just tried out the Skynet edition on my Sony BDPS550 and the movie does play, but sheesh, it takes a long time to load. BTW, I had upgraded to the current firmware about 2 months ago. Not sure if there's a later one or not.

 

[Vincent_P]

One thing folks seem to have forgotten is that the 2003 1080P transfer of TERMINATOR 2 that has been the basis for all of these various HD releases was an anamorphic HD transfer. As per the liner notes on the "Extreme Edition" DVD (which was sourced from this same original master tape), the actual High-Definition transfer was not letterboxed, but rather the 2.35:1 image was "stretched" anamorphically to fill the entire 1080 X 1920 pixel real-estate. All of the consumer HD versions have been letterboxed High-Def, which means that the "anamorphic" master tape had to be "unsqueezed" and downconverted to a letterbox image. This downconversion may itself account for some of the variances in image quality between the various HD releases that we've seen.

Vincent

 

[EnricoE]

could someone please tell me the aspect ratios of the theatrical trailers on this br or maybe even post some screenshots?

thanks

 

[Mike Frezon]

My money is on Cyberdyne Systems having something to do with it.

 

[Jrf2]

I only own the 2003 Extreme Edition, but I think I'm going to take a pass on this until Cameron can approve and supervise a definitive (haha) 1080p transfer that faithfully reproduces the Super35 source. If it's for the 20th Anniversary, then that's only two years away and I can happily wait. And while I admire Lionsgate taking advantage of Blu-Ray's capability, I'd prefer that the previous featurettes be available in a more complete, straightforward manner. Accessing them sounds like an unnecessary hassle.

 

[Steven Simon]

Kevin,
Thanks for the review... 3 of 5 on movie?????????

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Even if you decide to return the disc, Joe, I would still advise performing the firmware update. It's quite simple to do -- I've done three, one via a burned CD image, and the last two via the Internet.

Your player is not outdated. The only thing the new model that replaced it this spring added was the on-board memory to eliminate the need to add a USB memory stick. Sony is still issuing updates for the player. I have not tried this new T2 disc on my player, though, since I'm not planning on buying it. My SD-DVD Extreme Edition will suffice until the next iteration of T2 comes out on BD.

 

[Robert George]

But, the screenshots clearly show....

Nevermind.

 

[Robert George]

Cynicism doesn't have much use in a discussion like this, other than an excuse to denigrate others. I happen to have a little bit of knowledge of what may have precipitated Bill's taking a second, closer look at this disc. It absolutely was not Lionsgate, at least, it wasn't Lionsgate that started the conversation. Perhaps Bill talked to Lionsgate to get more detail on the process of mastering this new disc before posting his most recent piece on his site, but it was not Lionsgate nor anyone directly associated with producing this disc that initially spoke to Bill. I won't say anything beyond this due to personal confidences, and I probably shouldn't have said this much, but I don't like to see people getting a bad rap when they don't deserve it.

It is a very hard thing to admit a misjudgement, even harder in an environment like what surrounds these forums. Bill's latest article has and will cause him more grief and insults than anyone should have to put up with, and I'm sure he expected that when he decided to post his second thoughts on the T2 disc. It was a very professional thing he did. Kudos to him.

 

[Paul Arnette]

That wasn't my intention; I've actually been a big supporter of Bill's and The Digital Bits since I began purchasing DVDs and throughout the format war. Additionally, I made it a point in this very thread to give them kudos for exploring the issue deeper when their comments of early yesterday or the day before, I cannot remember which, clearly flew in the face of what I and many others were seeing when comparing the Skynet release to the Geneon.

I will admit, I have become more leery of the 'bits lately because of their close association with blu-ray.com a site which is too close to the studios for their own good in my opinion, but you're right in that's my own 'hang up'.

 

[TheBat]

the bdlive is now working on the t2 skynet edition.. it worked on both my ps3 and panasonic 60. however now when I bitstream DTS MA I am only getting 5.1 instead of 7.1 like I was getting the first day that I got it. not sure whats up with that. its when I am using the panasonic 60

Jacob

 

[Jeff Robertson]

I also own the Sony BDP-S550 (latest firmware) and had trouble with the BD-Live content. It kept insisting that my network connection was not available. I gave up on it and focused on the movie instead. The new VC-1 encode and DTS-HD MA audio upgrade make it totally worth it for the price I paid (had existing credit at the store) even if the master is the same. There is a noticeable improvement in picture quality, though not dramatic. No signs of DNR.

The only sad thing is this should have been how the FIRST release on Blu-Ray appeared. I will now throw the original BD into the donation pile.

 

[Josh Pounds]

I for one am 100 percent happy with this release and would like to thank Van Ling and everyone else responsible for this blu-ray release. I think that twenty dollars is a fine price to pay for such a marvelous presentation of a movie I love. Thanks!

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Well, Scott, I've decided to hold off on returning the BD for now and I've contacted Sony, and they should be sending me the firmware update in 7-10 days. Apparently I don't even have to worry about the memory stick unless I wish to be active with the internet (which I have no intention of doing).

 

[David Coleman]

I'm sorry, but if this disc isn't DNR'd, I don't know what the heck happened with the transfer! I was shocked to see how smooth/soft looking this film is. While the colors seem accurate, there is no fine detail.

Audio was improved but it's not going to sound like a modern soundtrack.

 

[Robert George]

The transfer, as in, film-to-tape transfer, is actually relatively old. It was done originally for one of the DVD special editions. The mastering that was done for this latest Blu-ray has not be artificially sharpened. Previous versions have been. What has been done is quite a lot of dirt and scratch removal along with some "tweaking" of color and, it appears, contrast and black level.

I consider this new Blu-ray the best this film has ever looked on video, overall.

 

[David_B_K]

Joe, you can update your firmware by downloading the firmware, burning it to a CD and inserting it into your player. The instructions for the Sony BDP-S550 can be found HERE. They give instructions for checking your current firmware version first.

Of course, if you feel uneasy about doing it, you should wait for that disc. I do not have a Sony player, but I have updated the firmware for a couple of HD DVD players and a couple of Blu-ray players. The process is nearly always the same, and I have never connected my Blu-ray to the internet.

 

[troy evans]

.......and you can also use a flash drive if your Blu-ray player has inputs for it. Download from the site onto the drive then plug drive into player and start the firmware update. Easy as that.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Unfortunately, the Sony BDP-S350 does not support this option. The only choices for updating the firmware are a CD and network connection.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Very true. I just updated to version 019 last night.