Digital Review Aliens Digital UHD Review (2 Viewers)

[Todd Erwin]

Aliens, James Cameron’s adrenaline-rush sequel to Ridley Scott’s haunted house in space original, makes its 4K digital debut. However, only the theatrical cut gets the 4K treatment at this time.



Aliens (1986)



Released: 18 Jul 1986
Rated: R
Runtime: 137 min




Director: James Cameron
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi



Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser
Writer(s): James Cameron (story), David Giler (story), Walter Hill (story), Dan O'Bannon (characters), Ronald Shusett (characters), James Cameron (screenplay)



Plot: The planet from Alien (1979) has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, the rescue team has impressive firepower, but will it be enough?



IMDB rating: 8.4
MetaScore: 87





Disc Information...

Continue reading...

 

[Jeffrey D]

Thanks for the review, Todd. This is my favorite of the three recent Cameron releases. Will buy the UHD disc, when it comes out in March.

 

[Michael Osadciw]

I'm very disappointed with all these Cameron releases. Not new 4K scans from OCNs (some are confirmed 2K scans of the OCN) and then AI-applied processing for depth and detail based on what AI believes to be detail after grain has been stripped away. I can't watch this. It's just too noticable. It feels wrong. Makes me wish Arrow Video got a hold of the OCNs and just did their magic.

 

[Worth]

We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. Put me in the ‘unwatchable’ camp.

 

[Tino]

Great review Todd. I think it looks great too. Not perfect but the best it has ever looked.

 

[Wes Candela]

Continue reading...

Thank you Todd I am a member of the James Cameron has got Digital noise reduction right club


just bought this on Apple today looking forward to viewing and Dolby vision and listening in Dolby Atmos

 

[John Dirk]

Count me in. Cameron can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Wes Candela]

I'm very disappointed with all these Cameron releases. Not new 4K scans from OCNs (some are confirmed 2K scans of the OCN) and then AI-applied processing for depth and detail based on what AI believes to be detail after grain has been stripped away. I can't watch this. It's just too noticable. It feels wrong. Makes me wish Arrow Video got a hold of the OCNs and just did their magic.

Continue reading...

So many people dislike the latest 4K. Cameron releases because of the digital noise reduction.
I watched aliens last night and Dolby vision, and Dolby Atmos
I loved it.
It's clean, details of never seen come across Sterling clean now and the presentation makes it look like a brand new film. I don't understand why people have such an issue.

 

[Tino]

So many people dislike the latest 4K.

I would say some people. A vocal minority. The majority of viewers, like myself, are thrilled with this new 4K transfer. It looks and sounds tremendous

 

[Michael Osadciw]

I would say some people. A vocal minority. The majority of viewers, like myself, are thrilled with this new 4K transfer. It looks and sounds tremendous

It's for this reason that "remastering" music albums is popular on mostly older albums to make them sound louder like dynamically-compressed current mastering practices. During the remastering effort, the wide dynamic range that many albums once had is flattened to sound loud all the time. Most people either don't know or don't take care to notice the audio tricks used to grab attention, so all streaming sites are adding "remastered" editions of older albums without the original mix available. Finding an earlier CD release may be the only way to hear the original mix/master. Remixes like Pink Floyd's Animals is a great example of going back to the multi-tracks and remixing the album on modern playback equipment while maintaining the dynamic range of the original release. The results sound brilliant and is akin to going back the the film's OCN and using the most up-to-date technology to preserve the film for viewing with the understanding that it was captured on film and has a different look than a digital camera.

What's happening with these Cameron releases feels too similar; taking a 2K scan, stripping out the grain and applying AI to fill in perceived detail and creating a 4K scan from that is like that of a remastering effort for music. Tweaks to the available (2K) source to give the impression of new detail is not the same as working on an reconstructing from the ground up. While I'm sure the efforts here were considerable with these Cameron releases, it's a pity to a considerable number of people (not some) who appreciate and value what's being done on restoring other films with fresh 4K or 6K scans of OCNs and preserving the look of the medium it was captured on. If it were only "some people", then the praise we give to Kino Lorber, Arrow Video, and Shout Factory, and all the other emerging boutique labels would go to the wind and those companies would shut down without a customer base to serve.

 

[Robert Saccone]

Thanks for the detailed review. I am impatiently waiting for the UHD.

 

[dpippel]

Well, I decided to rent this from Apple and watched it this morning. I used the latest generation ATV4K with a 250 Mbps internet connection and a 77" LG G3 OLED panel (calibrated to the best of my ability with Spears & Munsil). The 4K streaming version of Aliens certainly does not look like film. Depending on the scene, there's VERY little to zero grain, as has been reported. To my eyes, it looks like it was shot on video for most of its runtime. While not as bad as 4K T2, it definitely shares much of the same DNA.

I'm very interested to see how much the disc release will improve things, if at all. Quite disappointing.

 

[Tino]

It's for this reason that "remastering" music albums is popular on mostly older albums to make them sound louder like dynamically-compressed current mastering practices. During the remastering effort, the wide dynamic range that many albums once had is flattened to sound loud all the time. Most people either don't know or don't take care to notice the audio tricks used to grab attention, so all streaming sites are adding "remastered" editions of older albums without the original mix available. Finding an earlier CD release may be the only way to hear the original mix/master. Remixes like Pink Floyd's Animals is a great example of going back to the original master multi-tracks and remixing the album on modern playback equipment while maintaining the dynamic range of the original release. The results sound brilliant and is akin to going back the the film's OCN and using the most up-to-date technology to preserve the film for viewing with the understanding that it was captured on film and has a different look that a digital camera.

What's happening with these Cameron releases feels too similar; taking a 2K scan, stripping out the grain and applying AI to fill in perceived detail and creating a 4K scan from that is like that of a remastering effort for music. Tweaks to the available (2K) source to give the impression of new detail is not the same as working on a reconstructing from the ground up. While I'm sure the efforts here were considerable with these Cameron releases, it's a pity to a considerable number of people (not some) who appreciate and value what's being done on restoring other films with fresh 4K or 6K scans of OCNs and preserving the look of the medium it was captured on. If it were only "some people", then the praise we give to Kino Lorber, Arrow Video, and Shout Factory, and all the other emerging boutique labels would go to the wind and those companies would shut down without a customer base to serve.

I hear what you’re saying Michael but I disagree with your opinion. I still think it’s some people and certainly not the majority. Sorry you ( and Doug!) were disappointed.

 

[Wes Candela]

I would say some people. A vocal minority. The majority of viewers, like myself, are thrilled with this new 4K transfer. It looks and sounds tremendous

The amount of people of discussed Cameron‘s transfers with, tore them to shreds because there’s not enough Film Grain.

the films now look to “clean”

what?

I think they look beautiful, as you do. I’ve just been noticing the arguments.

I haven’t been noticing the arguments on here mind you at Home Theater Forum

But other forums, I go to other social media sites I visit are tearing them to shreds.

just saying

 

[Wes Candela]

I'm very disappointed with all these Cameron releases. Not new 4K scans from OCNs (some are confirmed 2K scans of the OCN) and then AI-applied processing for depth and detail based on what AI believes to be detail after grain has been stripped away. I can't watch this. It's just too noticable. It feels wrong. Makes me wish Arrow Video got a hold of the OCNs and just did their magic.

I am glad they did not. I love the new transfer.
I'm seeing this movie for the 50th time and I'm noticing things I've never noticed before

It looks so damn clean

Whatever technology, they used is fantastic in my book

 

[Wes Candela]

It's for this reason that "remastering" music albums is popular on mostly older albums to make them sound louder like dynamically-compressed current mastering practices. During the remastering effort, the wide dynamic range that many albums once had is flattened to sound loud all the time. Most people either don't know or don't take care to notice the audio tricks used to grab attention, so all streaming sites are adding "remastered" editions of older albums without the original mix available. Finding an earlier CD release may be the only way to hear the original mix/master. Remixes like Pink Floyd's Animals is a great example of going back to the multi-tracks and remixing the album on modern playback equipment while maintaining the dynamic range of the original release. The results sound brilliant and is akin to going back the the film's OCN and using the most up-to-date technology to preserve the film for viewing with the understanding that it was captured on film and has a different look than a digital camera.

What's happening with these Cameron releases feels too similar; taking a 2K scan, stripping out the grain and applying AI to fill in perceived detail and creating a 4K scan from that is like that of a remastering effort for music. Tweaks to the available (2K) source to give the impression of new detail is not the same as working on an reconstructing from the ground up. While I'm sure the efforts here were considerable with these Cameron releases, it's a pity to a considerable number of people (not some) who appreciate and value what's being done on restoring other films with fresh 4K or 6K scans of OCNs and preserving the look of the medium it was captured on. If it were only "some people", then the praise we give to Kino Lorber, Arrow Video, and Shout Factory, and all the other emerging boutique labels would go to the wind and those companies would shut down without a customer base to serve.

Well…
Yeah, I don't know that I agree with this assessment.

Preserving dynamic range in audio, doing proper remastering like mobile Fidelity sound lab does… There are audio files like myself out there that will not accept brick walled " loudness war " releases of albums.
when I look at the new remasters of the James Cameron movies
What I am seeing is detail, I've never seen before noise that was inherent to the film removed without destroying the image

we can talk about the loudness wars and what the streaming sites are doing to music anytime

but that's not comparable to what James Cameron is doing to his films in 4K in my book

by the way, I'm the audio note, check out Mobile Fidelity sound labs if you don't know about it already.
It's the only place I go for my remasters

They keep the dynamic range intact. Their work is incredible.

 

[Wes Candela]

Well, I decided to rent this from Apple and watched it this morning. I used the latest generation ATV4K with a 250 Mbps internet connection and a 77" LG G3 OLED panel (calibrated to the best of my ability with Spears & Munsil). The 4K streaming version of Aliens certainly does not look like film. Depending on the scene, there's VERY little to zero grain, as has been reported. To my eyes, it looks like it was shot on video for most of its runtime. While not as bad as 4K T2, it definitely shares much of the same DNA.

I'm very interested to see how much the disc release will improve things, if at all. Quite disappointing.

I watched the same version on my Apple TV 4K with one gigabyte up and down Verizon FiOS connection
on a 77 inch Sony OLED television (A80J)
and listen to it in Dolby Atmos

and I was rocked.
The fact that it is clean, and you can still see the sweat and water on peoples faces, the pours the detail on the militaries outfits, the very clear detail of the aliens work to the Substation where the Marines first see the colonists

All the way to the queen

To me, it was a revelation to see at this clear
And at the same time to not lose detail

this must come down to matter of preference at this point.
The film grain has been taken away, and I love it
Because what is left is a bright luminous image

But I can completely understand why purist are getting upset
this is not a straight up scan of the original camera negative

this has been touched up to yield an image that James Cameron find satisfactory.
And in James Cameron, I trust

 

[dpippel]

I'm glad you like it, but to me it looks like 60fps video most of the time, almost as if the motion smoothing setting on my display is turned on (it is disabled). There's also a waxiness to it that comes and goes. It does not look like film. But, as has been mentioned many times, this is what Cameron wanted. I just find that disappointing, especially considering that Aliens is one of my favorite films. I may not even buy the disc release and will just pick up the stream at some point down the road when it's cheap.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm glad you like it, but to me it looks like 60fps video most of the time, almost as if the motion smoothing setting on my display is turned on (it is disabled). There's also a waxiness to it that comes and goes. It does not look like film. But, as has been mentioned many times, this is what Cameron wanted. I just find that disappointing, especially considering that Aliens is one of my favorite films. I may not even buy the disc release and will just pick up the stream at some point down the road when it's cheap.

I watched the movie in its entirety this morning and I thought it looked great on my OLED. I didn't notice any waxiness and I was looking out for it. I can't wait to own the 4K/UHD because then I can see the director's cut in 4K/Dolby Vision.

 

[dpippel]

I watched the movie in its entirety this morning and I thought it looked great on my OLED. I didn't notice any waxiness and I was looking out for it. I can't wait to own the 4K/UHD because then I can see the director's cut in 4K/Dolby Vision.

I find it interesting that there are such diametrically opposed opinions about this title. I wanted to love it, really I did.