Is it me or does the 'TERMINATOR 2' BD look no different than the UE DVD? (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

I picked up T2 this weekend on BD and was excited to get it home however when I began watching it I noticed that it looked virtually no better or worse the the UE DVD does.

At presant I own 24 BD titles (just getting started) and all of them have of course been a vast improvment over their DVD counterparts which I also own but i'll be darned if I could see an improvment with T2, I even compared it to the DVD which made my suspicions even more apparent.

Anyone else notice this or am I being picky? If there is in fact no difference what happened with this title? Maybe a remastering is in order and a new BD issued later?

 

[Jim_K]

No you're spot on......... which is why last year I imported the French HD DVD which contains the DC and the PQ is worlds better than the BD.

We're talking T2 here so it's only a matter of time before this gets released over and over and over again on BD.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

They'll be a Studio Canal release before too long. I'd wait for that one.

 

[Kris Z.]

Worlds better? The encode has a marginal increase in sharpness/detail, but it's still from the same master. I'm waiting for a completely new transfer before wasting my money again.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

According to Peter Bracke's review of the disc, the video upgrade from the Xtreme Edition DVD to the BD wasn't tremendous -- but it was mostly due to the decision to shoot the film on Super 35. (I own the UE and there was EE galor in that transfer. All of that was cleared up with the release of the "Xtreme Edition" which was released the week that T3 had its theatrical debut. All in all, T2 has had three DVD releases: It was the first RSDL DVD ever released; and the UE and XE versions both included the theatrical and special edition versions of the movie.)

Here's an excerpt from Bracke's review of the BD:

Here's a link to his full review:
Blu-ray Review: Terminator 2: Judgment Day | High-Def Digest

Personally, I'm waiting for the Special Edition version of the movie to show up on BD. I would assume that that version would also include most -- if not all -- of the extras of both the UE and XE.

 

[Michael Reuben]

The most important fact about the review is that it's over 2 years old. A lot has advanced since then, both technically and in our expectations.

M.

 

[Matt Hough]

The first BD I ever watched on my system was THE SEARCHERS whose picture quality blew me away.

T2 was the second, and I was underwhelmed to say the least. To this day, I steer friends who want to see what BD looks like away from TERMINATOR 2 and toward sharper, more dimensional transfers.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Michael,

This was the part of Bracke's review which I was trying to call attention to:


IMO, his previous discussion of Super 35 in the paragraphs leading up to that statement simultaneously explain why the grain is (appropriately) there and why the disc may not look as good as the DVD as a result.

In any event this is *not* the disc that the fans want, so it probably doesn't matter ...

 

[Michael Reuben]

The problem, Joseph, is that Bracke's statement could apply to many films, regardless of their photographic format. And indeed, in his more recent reviews, Bracke has become one of the most grain-o-phobic of reviewers, the kind whose comments may well have inspired the kind of overly DNR'd transfers against which Robert Harris (and others) have recently mounted a concerted campaign.

IOW, the visibility of grain in the BD of T2 has nothing to do with it being a Super35 film, and everything to do with the fact the Blu-ray has enough resolution to show detail that standard definition DVD could not. There is plenty of grain to be shown in films shot with anamorphic (Panavision, Cinemascope, etc.) lenses, or even with spherical lenses, and a properly mastered Blu-ray disc will show that.

Again, I think the most salient fact is the date of Bracke's review. There was almost nothing against which to measure the quality of the T2 BD at that time. Besides, we all know there's a new version coming at some point, and my guess is it'll be around the time the new Christian Bale movie is released.

M.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I'm just glad to know that my eyes aren't playing tricks on me lol. Is it fair to say to say that this BD edition of T2 was pretty much a rush job?

I was also fairly certain, like a couple of you have said, that there will definitely be more editions coming, I was just disappointed that this one didn't live up to what I was expecting for BD, it's the first time I was let down by any BD disc thus far.

 

[Dave H]

I'm willing to bet Lionsgate will re-release T2 next year as T4 will be coming out. I could see a new encode, lossless audio (or at least a DTS-HD track), and extended cut.

While I can imagine improvements being made on the compressioning side of things, I'm not sure T2 will look A LOT better unless a major resoration occurs. At least the current BD doesn't look DNR'd and film grain is visible. However, I also see some compression artifacting in some scenes. As mentioned, this was one of the very first BDs released on a BD-25 and MPEG-2, so some improvements should be visible.

I definitely do see improvements over the SD DVD UE, however, I agree the difference is not as dramatic as many releases. (I'm viewing on an ISF'd 60" SXRD A3000 and Panasonic BD30 at 1080p/24.)

 

[Dave H]

Someone posted some good screenshot comparisons on AVS a long time back and the differences between the discs seemed quite small indeed.

 

[Paul Arnette]

Yes. In fact, I distinctly remember the difference being so slight, in my opinion, that I decided to not purchase the HD DVD and wait instead for the inevitable re-release when Terminator Salvation hits the theaters or BD.

 

[Jari K]

This is my understanding also (meaning BD vs HD DVD). And I also don´t believe that the Blu-ray version is "no better or worse" compared to any SD DVD.. Blu-ray is still 1080p.

But yes, we need a new SE of this film (in Blu-ray) for sure. Improved transfer and all the extras.

 

[Jeff Robertson]

I had pretty much the same reaction when I first played the disc, too. I honestly didn't see much improvement from my UE DVD upscaled to 1080i. It is certainly not good BD demo material. I do not agree with the assertion that it has something to do with the Super35 film process, however, since the Gattaca BD looks much better.

 

[Vincent_P]

Indeed, some of the most highly-rated High-Definition releases on the market- the PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN films, Peter Jackson's KING KONG, SUPER FUZZ- have been filmed in the Super-35 process. To equate filming in Super-35 with lousy high-def video is way off the mark.

Vincent

 

[Jim_K]

Yep the PQ Directors Cut version on disc 2 of the HD DVD is "worlds better" when compared to the BD theatrical cut which honestly isn't hard thing to accomplish. That is when watching it in full motion on my display, I'm of course not basing this on [ahem]....screengrabs [chuckle].

Never bothered with watching the theatrical cut on the HD DVD.

Can the PQ on the HD DVD DC be improved? of course.

Should someone wait for the eventual BD double dip? yep, especially if that person prefers the DC.

 

[Geoff_D]

The UE looks very outdated now. It's lacking in detail and has very visible edge halos. The UE and the Blu-ray are night and day to me, although the 'Extreme' DVD runs the Blu pretty close because they're from the same master.

I've also owned the French and German HD DVD editions, and without a doubt the French version just wins out. It's slightly sharper and encoded that little bit better, with less noise than the Blu-ray. It's also the only version with lossless audio at this point in time.

As mentioned above, Lionsgate will surely deliver a better Blu edition to cash in on T4, but I can live with the current Blu version until then.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

However, T2 is an early Super35 film, and nearly all of the films you've mentioned used digital intermediates and of course were filmed on newer film stocks with tighter grain structures.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

What about the sound?

I wanted the 'import' HD DVD as well (DTS too boot!), butt 40+ bucks for a dead format disc & when we all know we'll see this again & again, yr after yr!

I picked up T2 on Blu this month; haven't done any comparisons yet.
Like 15 bucks used, so no BIGGIE!