[Proposal] The Abyss (1989) BD

[spoRv]

Still to know if the official BD version will be released, and when. And probably it will have a teal&orange grading, just to look "modern"... don't want to waste some time to finish a project when it will be obsolete in few weeks or months, but color grading will be probably messed up, so...

[Stamper]

Plus you have Mad Max 2 to release first

[spoRv]

That's PDB...

[Stamper]

Aw sorry LOL

[spoRv]

Maybe it's time to come back to work on this project...

Available sources:

Code:

Cinemax (TC)

Format                                   : MPEG-2
Bit rate                                 : 12.8 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 38.8 Mb/s
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Stream size                              : 12.5 GiB

AVX HD (EE)

Bit rate                                 : 8 351 kb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 40.0 Mb/s
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Stream size                              : 9.96 GiB

France (EE)

Bit rate                                 : 6 996 kb/s
Frame rate                               : 25.000 FPS
Stream size                              : 7.98 GiB

UK (EE)

Bit rate                                 : 5 763 kb/s
Frame rate                               : 25.000 FPS
Stream size                              : 6.60 GiB

RTS UN HD (EE)

Bit rate                                 : 10.2 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Frame rate                               : 50.000 FPS
Scan type                                : Progressive
(has few French hardsubs in picture, fades in commercial breaks)

All interlaced, AVC encoded, 1920x1080 unless noted.

I've not included the old Japanese one, because it has hardsubs in image.
The Cinemax has the best picture, followed by AXN; then France, UK, RTS. The latter is only 720p, and the previous two are soft and cropped on the sides. I think the only way is to use Cinemax.

Color grading: there are several ones, which is the "right" choice?

From top to bottom: Japanese, DVD (are all the same), AXN, UK (which is the same of French and RTS), Cinemax

Plus the 1.90:1 laserdisc (that *probably* share the same colors with the other laserdisc editions), posted by bigrob: https://imgur.com/gallery/qZt5q

AXN seems to have the same colors of the DVD but with more magenta; Japanese recalls me the Terminator 2 squeezed LD, with its unique color grading not found anywhere else; Cinemax seems the "classic tealized" version, which is probably will be the same that will be used in an eventual BD. So, the logical choice would be between DVD and UK colors; more screenshots are needed of course. Still, do not forget the Laserdisc!

Cut: I'd go with the theatrical, first because the chosen source, second because I'd like to preserve the theatrical version - even if I prefer the extended edition, as for Aliens and T2.

Opinions?

[Bigrob]

Only thing I can recall from the 35mm print of the SE that I viewed was that there were elements of teal present especially in the scenes in the pool. Not as much as the Cinemax transfer obviously but there was no red / pink tint to the image either

[Stamper]

Yes please no pink. They were a byproducts of tape transfers then.

I think there's two preserv that would stand the test of time: Original LD with different format + Japanese grading applied to perhaps the new version?

[spoRv]

LD is 1.90:1 while open matte is 1.78:1, so with more info on top and bottom side, and better resolution - albeit not as good as Cinemax.

As a novelty, the Japanese grading applied to the Cinemax could be interesting. But I'd like to obtain a color grading similar to the one seen in the theaters; the one found on LD, apart magenta, is quite nice; I like also the UK version.

So I tested UK/Cinemax mix to see how it looks like; from top to bottom: UK, mix, Cinemax

(screenshots limited to just first scenes, as the EE and TC are not in sync yet)

Seems the same thing of Aliens: the mix seems the right compromise.

[Stamper]

Yes look good. Perhaps for the LD just the addition of the soundmix would be great.

[TServo2049]

Judging by Bigrob's memory of teal and the evidence that has been accumulating that there was teal in Cameron's other 80s films all along, I'd be interested in how the Cinemax version looks if you take away the blanket green tint over the whole picture, but leave in any teal that remains.