If and when I get into bluray, I will wait for a dual layer redux hopefully with pcm5.1 sound. Still glad to see the video is improving in the new titles.
Well, this is the fourth release of this film on a dvd format that I have in my collection, but I haven't done any comparisons to those previous releases. However, this afternoon, I was impressed by the audio presentation of the audio track I listen to. The disc has two audio options besides the commentary track. The one I watched the disc with was the 5.1 DD surround, but there is a DTS track too that I briefly sampled.
I think the reviewer must be visually impaired...? I have the disc and I've had 2 Samsung players this week and neither of 'em will play the disc correctly. For me, it's been stuttering judder, lost frames. The disc almost looks good but then somebody walking accross the screen appears to hop ahead.... It's subtle but must have happened 200 times during the film. BTW, I'm having the same issue with all the Lionsgate titles.
Discounting the judder, the disc stille doesn't look quite as good as the D-Theater tape. It looks very similar and very likely came from the same print. However, the tape has slightly more vivid colour.
I advise that nobody buy T2 till it's shown there is a player that will play it correctly. Neither of the Samsungs I've had can render it properly.
Maybe half the discs are bad? Maybe half the players are bad? Somethin' not quite kosher is going on with Lionsgate titles and the Samsung player. Reports of judder with Lionsgate tiles are widespread.
I watched about 90 minutes of the T2 BD last night, and was mostly impressed. Quite a few scenes, including the canal motorcycle jump, look terrific. I did see the picture break up into motion artifacts for a very few seconds during Sarah's escape from the mental institution, but it has a pretty nice transfer overall.
It now appears that T2's judder problem may only manifest itself when one chooses DTS sound. After somebody on AVS figured this out, a quick little test seemed to back it up. I'm gonna watch it again, with Dolby.
I know this doesn't make sense if Blu-Ray's "54mbps peak" is actually true, but it sounds to me like the DTS + video is going over the allowable peak bitrate resulting in stuttering (a la Devil's Advocate 1st DVD pressing on Pioneer players). Could Blu-Ray actually have a lower peak bitrate than originally claimed?
Guys, I watched T2 with Dolby last night and the judder was gone. It stille doesn't look quite as good as the D-Theater tape. It's close though. D-Theater has a considerably higher bit-rate using the same mpeg2. I, again, put the tape in too and compared some scenes.
I watched all the Lionsgate titles employing DTS for audio the first time around. I'll call Samsung again and supply them with this info....
To me, despite the audio problem, T2 showed me some hope for Blu-way. I was plenty bummed out over the Sony titles from the first week....