Info Wanted: T2 Best Transfer for Home Media

I heard The bad things About The 4k Transfer.

Whats The Best Transfer out there?

I don’t own it but many have recommended the 2015 Blu-ray.

https://www.amazon.com/Terminator-Judgment-Day-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B00UFMKSDW/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?crid=2AX2GAXM1RG43&keywords=terminator+2&qid=1642427254&sprefix=terminator+2%2Caps%2C82&sr=8-9

If you’re willing to go for an SD release, the 1997 Snapcase DVD of T2 has the original CDS 5.1 mix encoded as Dolby Digital 5.1, and sounds better than any of the Blu-Rays.

None are good.

Legally it’s essentially a choice between the 2015 Blu and the 4K. Don’t worry about anything else as they are all garbage.

There is a release on myspleen that takes the 4K version, adjusts some stuff and patches it up with elements from the 2015 blu. It’s actually pretty good. That’s basically the best version that exists for public consumption. It even offers multiple audio options.

Here is the write up:

The mission here is to hopefully provide the best possible viewing and listening experience of T2 that we can get, using the latest 2017 StudioCanal “remastered” transfer as the main source.

First, a big thank you and credit to sanjuro_61 for his release of this film that we used as a basis to work from, found here: https://forum.fanres.com/thread-2885.html

Further alterations from his release as follows:

v1.1

VIDEO

• Reinstated a single frame that was accidentally left out, rendering the audio out of sync by 42ms 18 minutes into the film in v1.0

AUDIO

• Encoded the Japanese CDS Mix 2003 into DTS-HD MA

v1.0

VIDEO

• Painstaking regrading of the film, not just scene to scene but in some cases shot to shot or even single frames where necessary in order to restore the film to something closer to previous releases (This took a lonnng time!)

• Restored bendy knife in bar scene

• Restored stuntman’s head in the slo-mo bike jump scene

• Replaced shots throughout film where lost detail could not be recovered from the 2017 transfer by using the 2015 Lionsgate transfer instead, with additional regrading to match the rest of the film

– We decided to use the 2015 transfer for the first shot of the T800 crushing the skull with the pink lasers overhead, as removing the ridiculous amount of blue was not possible with the 2017 transfer

– The lava at the end of the film has been turned to yellow with too much detail lost in the process, so the 2015 transfer was favoured in some shots

• Cropped a shot in the car after the Sarah Connor asylum breakout due to presence of border of projected backdrop being visible in 2017 transfer

AUDIO (THEATRICAL)

• DTS-HD MA 5.1 (StudioCanal 2017)
• DTS-HD MA 5.1 (Lionsgate 2015)
• DTS-HD MA “6.1” (Skynet 2009)
• Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (Japanese Premium Edition 2008)
• DTS-HD MA 5.1 (French CDS Mix “Remaster” 2008)
• DTS 5.1 (Japanese CDS Mix 2003) [Thanks to Chewtobacca for his resync of this]

So, I’m not completely happy with the sync up of the 2008 CDS “Remaster” audio, but it’s as good as I can get it really and is still very watchable. If anyone else wants to have a crack, go nuts.

I have the Lionsgate 2015 audio as the default selected track.

SCREENSHOTS

https://imgur.com/a/X23ZpTY

RUNTIME

2:17:18

And the SE as well

The mission here is to hopefully provide the best possible viewing and listening experience of T2 that we can get, using the latest 2017 StudioCanal “remastered” transfer as the main source.

First, a big thank you and credit to sanjuro_61 for his release of this film that we used as a basis to work from, found here: https://forum.fanres.com/thread-2885.html

Further alterations from his release as follows:

VIDEO

• Painstaking regrading of the film, not just scene to scene but in some cases shot to shot or even single frames where necessary in order to restore the film to something closer to previous releases (This took a lonnng time!)

• Restored bendy knife in bar scene

• Restored stuntman’s head in the slo-mo bike jump scene

• Replaced shots throughout film where lost detail could not be recovered from the 2017 transfer by using the 2015 Lionsgate transfer instead, with additional regrading to match the rest of the film

– We decided to use the 2015 transfer for the first shot of the T800 crushing the skull with the pink lasers overhead, as removing the ridiculous amount of blue was not possible with the 2017 transfer

– The lava at the end of the film has been turned to yellow with too much detail lost in the process, so the 2015 transfer was favoured in some shots

• Cropped a shot in the car after the Sarah Connor asylum breakout due to presence of border of projected backdrop being visible in 2017 transfer

• Inserting and regrading of Special Edition scenes to match the rest of the film

AUDIO

• DTS-HD MA 7.1 (Ultimate Lionsgate Hybrid 2020)
• DTS-HD MA 7.1 (Ultimate Premium CDS Lionsgate Hybrid 2020)
• DTS-HD MA 5.1 (Premium CDS Lionsgate Hybrid 2020)
• DTS-HD MA 5.1 (Lionsgate 2015)
• DTS-HD MA “6.1” (Skynet 2009)
• DTS-HD HR 7.1 (German Ultimate Edition 2008) [Thanks to Kurtos for sending me this rarity - only present on a German HD-DVD from 2008 for some reason!]
• Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (Japanese Premium Edition 2008)

They botched the timing of the Special Edition scenes with the StudioCanal 2017 audio, so I didn’t include it.

The top three tracks for SE, I put together myself. I found that the volume of the German Ultimate Edition 7.1 was set too high, “brickwalling” it more so than other remixes, so I took the side surrounds from the German Ultimate Edition 7.1 and lowered them accordingly to match the Lionsgate L, R, C, LFE and rear surround channels, which are identical more or less to the German Ultimate Edition anyway, but with a higher bitrate and less brickwalled. So if you want a remixed 7.1 experience, the first track is probably the way to go.

The third track is the Japanese theatrical CDS Mix, with Lionsgate SE scenes spliced in for L, R, C and LFE. I took the rear channels from the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Premium Edition for SE scenes, as their volume levels matched more closely to the CDS Mix without any need for editing. Other than the volume being lower, they’re identical to the Lionsgate. This is as close as it gets to watching the film with original audio, if you’re interested in SE.

The second track is the CDS Mix L, R, C and LFE channels. with Lionsgate SE scenes spliced in for L, R, C and LFE, combined with the side surrounds from the German Ultimate Edition, with volume adjusted accordingly to match the CDS. Most people would consider this blasphemous, but if you want that original mix with 7.1, use this Tongue

I have the Lionsgate 2015 audio as the default selected track.

SCREENSHOTS

https://imgur.com/a/X23ZpTY

RUNTIME

2:33:26

The best is the 2015 bluray: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Terminator-2-Judgment-Day-Blu-ray/127046/ . It’s not a good disc, especially for 2022 standards, as the master is extremely old (used for the dvd), but it’s 20,000 leagues better than the waxy-figurine mess 4K “restorations”. Don’t listen to anyone telling you it’s better than the 2015 disc because it ain’t. DNR sucks.

CloakedDragon97 said:

For me, the 2009 Blu-ray is what I consider to be the best. It has minimized edge enhancement, less DNR and more natural color grading.

The 2015 bluray uses that master but has slightly more grain.