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The Terminator (1984) 4K Filmized Remaster

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Hello there.

Here is my attempt to get a definitive edition of the first Terminator movie by using the best of each world and merging them all into a single release. What does that even mean ?

Now that the official ultra hd bluray is released and confirmed to use AI, I went back to the original remastered bluray and decided to give it my own 4K Filmized remaster treatment.

Using the original MGM DVD as reference, I color graded the remastered bluray image close to the original color timing. Most of the new yellow/teal tint that was applied at the time is now gone but the color palette is not perfectly matching the original color grading. That’s why I’m not calling it a neutral color grading. But still, this new color grading has been upscaled to 4K (without Topaz or any AI tools) and a light 4K film stock grain has been applied to match source with its new size.

Original US Mono Mix and International Dual Mono Mix (including different sound effects) have been sourced from laserdiscs and synced. Dolby Atmos Mix from the UHD is synced as well. French audio tracks in Mono and DTS-HDMA 5.1 have also been synced (thanks to the QTZ team that did the whole audio sync work for their encoding of the 4K image in light format)

Here are screenshots to give you an idea.

Original DVD (scaled to 4K)

Remastered Bluray (scaled to 4K)

4K UHD (tonemapped to SDR)

4K Filmized Remaster

Original DVD (scaled to 4K)

Remastered Bluray (scaled to 4K)

4K UHD (tonemapped to SDR)

4K Filmized Remaster

Original DVD (scaled to 4K)

Remastered Bluray (scaled to 4K)

4K UHD (tonemapped to SDR)

4K Filmized Remaster

Original DVD (scaled to 4K)

Remastered Bluray (scaled to 4K)

4K UHD (tonemapped to SDR)

4K Filmized Remaster

Original DVD (scaled to 4K)

Remastered Bluray (scaled to 4K)

4K UHD (tonemapped to SDR)

4K Filmized Remaster

Original DVD (scaled to 4K)

Remastered Bluray (scaled to 4K)

4K UHD (tonemapped to SDR)

4K Filmized Remaster

Close-up of the Remastered Bluray (scaled to 4K)

Close-up of the 4K UHD or should I say Waxy Schwarzy ? (tonemapped to SDR)

Close-up of the 4K Filmized Remaster

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Nice but I’d want a version without the Dolby Atmos and only the mono/dual mono mixes. Is there something wrong regarding the mono track from the UHD?

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Amazing how the 4K disc manages to have less fine detail than the Blu-ray—and this is considered one of the better Cameron 4K discs.

I appreciate fan projects that use AI (tastefully) to squeeze the most out of an SD or HD source while remaining faithful to the original film, especially with the excellent results your projects have demonstrated, but selling a decade-old, AI-upscaled 2K master as 4K is fraud.

All these Cameron films are big-budget blockbusters and certainly justify new 4K masters. I know he’d still tinker with them because he wants all his movies to look like Avatar, but at least he’d be starting with a high-quality source.

Forum Administrator

MTFBWY…A

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This is a cool project, and I like your results so far, MJ. If you’re okay with it, I might consider using this regrade as the video stream for my Theatrical Experience project (currently in progress). KK650 has been my default while considering all options, and Stamper has provided a second option, but I’d love to hear any thoughts you have!

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 (Edited)

Jay said:

Amazing how the 4K disc manages to have less fine detail than the Blu-ray—and this is considered one of the better Cameron 4K discs.

I appreciate fan projects that use AI (tastefully) to squeeze the most out of an SD or HD source while remaining faithful to the original film, especially with the excellent results your projects have demonstrated, but selling a decade-old, AI-upscaled 2K master as 4K is fraud.

All these Cameron films are big-budget blockbusters and certainly justify new 4K masters. I know he’d still tinker with them because he wants all his movies to look like Avatar, but at least he’d be starting with a high-quality source.

Agreed.
Be nice if there were a newer 4K 35mm film scan available. Too reluctant to get the 4K UHD because of the very lazy AI upscale, really wished it were a flat out 4K film scan and restoration. But, hey, it has the original mono as lossless!
Have been refusing to buy the 4K for T2: Judgment Day since it looks atrocious, hesitant on getting ALIENS, THE ABYSS, and TRUE LIES.

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Hello Hello, Could I have Titanic and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy? I like these movies so much. Thank you!!!

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Fantastic work, looks like one of the best effort I have seen, striking the correct balance in terms of details, grain, keeping a cinematic look, and natural color grading; without the rampant color revisionism I see everywhere. For instance, it seems like 90% of all UHD releases is converting blue into teal now…
Would love to have a link as well.

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Outstanding work! You walked a very fine line there - getting the detail to rise up without exposing too many flaws (like the makeup hiding arnies eyebrows).
The Shot with Lance Henrikson is a bit too clear IMHO - the lines of his faces and wrinkles are a bit too sharp for my liking, even in the HD Bluray.

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Hello, I own this masterpiece in VHS, DVD and Blu-ray, but I’m very impressed by your work. Can you send a link by Pm?

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Honestly, I find The Terminator’s 4K UHD release to be pretty silly since they upscaled the pre-existing scan with AI and called it a day when THE ORIGINAL FILM MASTERS STILL EXIST!

By the way, how did you upscale it to 4K without AI?

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Can you send this to Google Drive? If you do, send me a link.