Yeah, I agree that this is pretty "harmless", and I can see why filmmakers would want to do it because it does enhance the film in a way that is very respectful of its integrity. But ultimately, the film is what it is, it's such a small change and if its so "inconsequential" to the big picture then why bother in the first place? Sometimes its these little things that are the most damaging to a films historical integrity, because obviously most of the film is fine, that's why it's a great film, if there were flaws all over the place it wouldn't be great in the first place, but its these sort of little things that illustrate the character of the film. Normally, I don't care, but as this is supposed to be "definitive" and not some "special edition" or acknowledged altered version you start down a path where people think this is how the film was and you begin to have the real original be in danger of being lost, at least in a high quality version.

I know historical integrity is not the most important quality to these releases, and the "changes" in grain structure and this one tweak aren't too damaging to the films integrity, but it is a shame that there is a perceived need to do this in the first place. The fact that some people in the linked thread couldn't tell the "blooper" in the first place is telling--its not something you notice unless you re-watch and re-study the film. And when you do that, you notice tons of flaws and goofs, so its sort of a pointless endeavour. I realize this one is the most major of them all though, but it still strikes me as a bit unnecessary, especially considering what Cameron had previous said about his films being what they were. But all told, I suppose it could be worse, I'm not going to harp on Cameron too much for this, because to be honest these two alterations for me are a preferred viewing experience and the original versions have basically been catalogued and available in fairly high quality. It's still all just a little superfluous though.