It should still look better than that crappy release in the early days of the format. On top of that, it has DTS-MA and a ton of bonus materials. A definite buy for me.
Likely because having the one rear center come out of two speakers is pointless when it's not split, so one speaker in the 6.1 configuration is suited for that. If it were a 5.1 mix with the surrounds copied to the surround backs of a 7.1, that would be equally pointless and probably a bit overpowering to have four speakers outputting the same sound versus three speakers in front. In that latter scenario, one could simply turn the rears up instead to get the effect rather than using four rear speakers.
2 years isn't that long of a time at all. I already own two editions of T2 on SD-DVD. On top of that, it's probably been a couple if years since I actually sat down and watched the movie all the way through. Hell, I can probably name a dozen titles I've purchased at least 2 years ago and haven't watched yet. So I can probably wait for some 20th anniversary re-release if it means a better transfer and maybe even a port of the extras. If it doesn't, then I can still buy this one.
I believe all T2 HD DVD/BD versions come from the same master which seems to be the biggest problem. There might be a couple of different transfers from this master as there are a couple of different encodes, but all versions look more similar than different.
I have the Studio Canal HD-DVD and it looks pretty good IMHO. I know a new transfer would be an improvement, but if the upcoming Blu-Ray looks as good or better than what I have now I'll be satisfied.
Maybe true. But, I remember people were saying the german HD-DVD blew the U.S. Blu-ray out of the water in terms of PQ at least. There was recent positive buzz when the German HD-DVD was rumored to be getting a Blu-ray release. There has to be something to that, right?
I was thinking the same thing.. I mean sure, the skull looks cool and all that, but I have already the old EE and digital copy won´t do much for me.. So...
Besides, if this is just the "old transfer" re-released.. So...
Sorry, but this feels like another pointless re-release IMO (at this point - perhaps we get more info about the transfer etc). Nice release - sure, but perhaps a bit pointless.
Wake me up in 2011... I'll suffer though w/the "Extreme/Ultimate/BD" in the mean time. Hope the '11 is an 8K scan/all "T2" extras-ever/lossless LPCM/maybe even w/a new version: "Extravaganza"!
I read on another forum that the 2011 new transfer everyone is talking about/hoping for may not be too realistic as Cameron is supposedly backed up with Avatar and a bunch of other projects following that. Hell, if we can't even get decent releases of True Lies and some of his other films I seriously doubt he'll take the time to supervise a completely new transfer of T2 within the next two years.
Not sure if I will bother even though that Endo set looks really sweet. There are only so many times you can watch the same movie and I have bought this on 2 mega expensive LD box sets twice, DVD 3 times & HD-DVD once. Doubt the master will be much if any improvement on the European HD-DVD one as JC does not have any time to approve it so most likely a HD-DVD rehash on BD will no new extras not already available on other formats.
While I'm thinking about it T2 also needs a couple of wire removal shots as the T800 tanker jump is very obvious and distracting especially in HD as is some of the scenes where they ran out of time or budget in the steel mill and the T1000 is a man in a silver tin foil suit!!! That is so noticeable even on DVD so as its only a few shots JC can clean those up as well doubt anyone would complain...
On this very forum, in late January (2009), the DVD producer of the upcoming edition of T2 said "As for the T2 master, it's the same approved master we used on the first Blu-ray release, but with a lot of laborious dirt removal done to it and a much better encode (not MPEG2!)".
Besides, have you watched that preview video of the extras? I'm normally against picture-in-picture stuff but the picture-in-picture extras here actually look really worth watching. I'm sold.
So far it sounds like I will be picking up the 6 disc Endoskull set. And I love that T2 will have a lossless audio track as well. The rerelease of T2 is getting place on my must buy list.
If I didn't think this bust would completely freak my 3 year old out and therefore have my wife forcing me out of bed every time he had a nightmare I would buy it in a heartbeat. But alas I do need to sleep...
I think that was a lot of hype during the height of the format war. I've seen some good screenshot comparisons over at AVS. Again, all T2 versions come from the same master - the AVC encode is very slightly better. Don't get me wrong, I really hope this new release is much better. However, after seeing the comparisons between the MPEG-2 and AVC encodes, it's nothing to get excited about.