So, I’ve never seen James Cameron’s The Abyss, and I wanted to, so I just bought it on DVD and was horrified when I found out it was a non anamorphic transfer which looks very similar to the GOUT. The likeness to the GOUT is understandable, considering that after doing some reading, I found out that it too was sourced from a early 90’s LD master. And as with the GOUT, there appears to be no better quality commercially available (and actually, annoyingly, as with the GOUT, the menus are anamorphic). So does anyone know if there is any kind of preservation or version with better, preferably HD, quality? I think I’ve read somewhere that it was broadcast on HDTV, which seems weird though, considering that the commercially available DVD is sourced from LD and it never came out on BD or HD DVD or D-VHS, so where would they get an HD master for it?
Apparently there's a blu-ray release planned for next year, but googling around for this HDTV version, I found some screenshots and they look like very filtered DVD-upscales.
EDIT: Seems the google link didn't come out right for some reason. Go to image size on that google search and set it to "exactly" 1280x576. That'll give you the screenshots.
If you're in a PAL territory, the DVD release was an NTSC-PAL conversion - just adding insult to injury!
I'm a big fan of this film, it having made a big impression on me when I saw it theatrically - the director's cut just made it an even more satisfying experience.
I really hope the BD release turns up before long. It's sad to see this superior Cameron neglected while the more recent bloated efforts get all the attention (do I need to mention titles?) See also: True Lies.
Yeah, I am in PAL region and yeah (again, just like the GOUT) it's a quite obvious NTSC to PAL conversion, there are even some IVCT glitches that I noticed skimming through it.
That HDTV version does look pretty horrible, although it still seems to look better than the DVD (so does DJ's project Blu of course, so it's quite possible that it's sourced from the DVD but it does seem to look better) but I can't find any decent way to DL it.
It appears that an anamorphic version came out in China buit judging by these screenshots, it's just a conversion from the same master, kind of like DJ's V3 but official:
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You know, it would be interesting to see what would come out if using mine and DJ's blu v2 script (or well, a modified version) on the NTSC version of the DVD.
Though if the blu-ray release next year would look good, there's no need of course.
And I agree with Jonno, it's a really good movie! I saw it the first time maybe 7 or 8 years ago, and I didn't know anything about it, other than the fact it was made by James Cameron.
The widescreen version airs on FILM4 regular with alittle intro too.
Ok, I managed to "find" the NTSC version. :)
I threw the blu V2 script on it, and I'll show you some comparisons here.
Pic 1: Just cropping and bicubic resize without filtering. (Same method used to resize pics in photoshop)
Pic 2: Upscaling, sharpening on grain level, motion-adaptive deinterlacing/antialiasing and some more.
So this is basically what we'll be able to do in case next year's blu-ray release would be bad.
Looks great! When can I DL the MKV? ;-)
Ok, now I did a comparison with one of those HDTV screenshots. It actually proved me wrong about it being upscaled, since it obviously has more resolution in it, and is less cropped on the bottom. (Though it's more cropped on the top, left and right sides.) It also has a different color timing.
OK, I guess I'll have to keep trying to find that one then :-)
According to The Digital Bits, an official BD of The Abyss is in the works and may be available next year.
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa202.html#031312
If you're not in a major rush, you may want to just wait for that release.
there is also an offical DVD from Fox / excel Media in china (R6)
anamorphic and dts 6.1 to boot. got my copy here.
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Yeah, it's already been discussed here and it seems that it's a fake anamorphic enhancement of the same old LD transfer.
gathered it's the same LD transfer. at least i don't get resolution loss from zooming in manually on my TV
the dts sounded much better though. shame the 6.1 was matrixed instead of descrete
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I don't think DVD even supports discrete 6.1 but I could be wrong. Anyway, I finally managed to get the HDTV version and it's definitely better than the DVD, although it looks more like a very decent anamorphic DVD in terms of resolution. The Japanese subs aren't much of a problem, because it seems they were partially in the black boarder and were cropped off, so they only appear at the very bottom of the picture from time to time (only when there was a two line subtitle). They also don't bother me much, since to me they're just meaningless scribbles, so I find them much less distracting then I would say Spanish or French or even Czech subtitles. The AR doesn't seem quite right (slight vertical stretch) but that's easily fixed when watching on a computer.
OK, here's a screenshot which shows the resolution increase beautifully (it's not a whole frame, just a cut out):
That's a great improvement indeed.
I don't know why I thought it was a DVD upscale... haha
Can't wait for the blu-ray release. :)
You_Too said:
I don't know why I thought it was a DVD upscale... haha
That's easy, because due to the amount of compression in it, it looks no better than an anamorphic DVD lot of the time (it definitely looks better than the non anamorphic abomination that is the only commercially available version though). I could upload it to uloz.to in the evening, if anyone's intersested - the DL speed is limited to 300kbps but if you use JDownloader, you can still have it in a few hours.
Harmy said:
I don't think DVD even supports discrete 6.1 but I could be wrong.
It does, several DVD's were released with DTS-ES 6.1 discrete audio, Se7en is one that comes to mind. But I really don't see the need for a 6.1 configuration when a 5.1 configuration makes the original six-track mix justice.
Long time since I watched this movie, IMO it's one of his weaker films but it's very ambitious and technically extremely well made, great performances from Biehn and the always great Ed Harris.
The NTSC DVD is supposed to be more detailed than the PAL release, is the HD version the '89 original or the '93 Special Edition?
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It's 2 hours 50 minutes long, so I think it's the SE.
OK, I'm watching it now and it seems like the HDTV broadcast was the 1989 version and whoever made this release spliced in the SE scenes from the DVD (at a cut between scenes, the quality suddenly got lower and the logo from the upper right corner disappeared). Otherwise, the broadcast sourced scenes look like they're from a decent HD telecine but without any major restoration work (it sports a lot of specs and dirt). There isn't much grain to be seen and faces are kind of waxy but I think that's due to the compression rather than DVNR.
Anyway, it's up on uloz.to, if anybody wants it. It shows up on their search engine, so no need to PM me. Just a reminder: you should own the DVD!
I've always enjoyed this movie because of it's ambition and story. The only version I have in my possession is the 1993 Widescreen Extended Version on LD....the discs being made in Japan for the U.S.. It's got the AC-3 Audio. The cool thing about this version...it has the "Making Of" feature on it.
Long Live Laserdisc.... :)
OK, I checked the differences between the theatrical and SE versions and it seems that the broadcast was the SE version after all and the DVD upscale shots were probably used to replace some scenes damaged or missing in the HDTV capture - there are some glitches here and there, the kind you get when you have a bad signal on a digital broadcast, so I can imagine that if some scenes were riddled much more with those, the creator of this encode decided to replace them with the DVD, although the DVD upscales look pretty horrible (though still better than the PAL DVD, so I assume that the NTSC DVD does indeed look better).
As to the movie itself, I found the first half pretty boring but then it picked up. Maybe I'd actually like the theatrical version better, but then I liked the scene where he's aboard the Alien ship at the end and most of that is apparently an SE addition.
OK I have an absolutely DIFFERENT question.
Does anybody here have the 4:3 TV broadcast or VHS ? I remember seeing it on TV many times but never recording it. It has much more information on the top and the bottom of the picture, since it was shown on Super 35
