Proposal: The James Cameron Project

[PDB]

Definitely like that colour change PDB. The grain helps as well as the 4K web-dl is so de-grained (watched some of it the other day).

Some of the faces look a bit soft but I guess theres only so much you can do to correct the mess Cameron's made. Would you look to use the older HDTV and combine it with the SE shots from the web-dl for a final project?

Thanks. There is still work that needs to be done. The AI hasn't been applied equally to every shot. So some shots like that shot of Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio on the ship's bridge is softer to begin with but I made it even softer through edge blurring. Somewhat humorously, I would have to sharpen up those shots then soften them back down to make it more consistent with the heavy AI shots.

I don't think I would mix the HDTV just for this. That would be for a future project. Maybe a full 35mm regrade if that ever happens. This is kind of a one off to duplicate that single DCP projection. I enjoyed that presentation with it's cold blues but I don't think it was entirely accurate to a 35mm print. I'm pretty sure the original 35mm prints had a lot green in them just not the blanket look of the Webs. I also know the ending on the 35mm was bathed in yellow, which was muted on DCP.

Regardless, its something I can work on right now as other projects I'm working all seem to be failing at the moment.

Glad I didn't delete the CrowEyes1121 SEHD of The Abyss when I heard the official disc was coming.

Not a bad way to go all things considered. It was good work on his part. I also suspect the HDTV is, not entirely, but is largely the most color accurate of all the available choices.

[SwatDB]

Glad I didn't delete the CrowEyes1121 SEHD of The Abyss when I heard the official disc was coming.

Yeah, except that the Theatrical take of Lindsey's "Virgil Brigman Back on the Air" is used, rather than the SE one [due to his personal dislike of the SE take] besides his sound mix a combo between the TC and SE. 

Ergo, I call it a Fan-Edit.

BTW, what sources of audio did "Croweyes" use for his presentation?

With that being said, the PCM 2.0 (1993 LD), DD 2.0 (2000 DVD) and the mixes are identical and have no errors like the DD 5.1 [2000 DVD SE Mix/Pre-2023 Master] (which I think suits best for the TC as a whole).

For my personal choices in terms of non-tinkered free audio presentations:

1989 Theatical Version [A] (5-min credits) [140 min]:

Dolby Atmos/DTS-HD MA 5.1 (2024 4K UHD/BD)
Hi-Fi Stereo Mix (First Pressing 1990 VHS)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSZd13-8d0s

1989 Theatical Version [B] (10-min credits) [145 min]:

DD 5.1 (2000 DVD)
Hi-Fi Stereo Mix/PCM 2.0 (Second Pressing 1990 VHS */LDs)

1993 Special Edition (different 10-min credits) [171 min]:

Dolby Atmos/DTS-HD MA 5.1 (2024 4K UHD/BD)
PCM 2.0 (1993 LD)

* My copy has Version [B] 10-min credits instead of 5-min

Case closed.

[Bigrob]

the audio source for his project was my region 6 DVD of The Abyss Special Edition with the DTS-ES 6.1 audio mix

he is still on these forums so he might be able to elaborate a bit more of how he worked on it.

[alexp2000]

6 weeks until the ‘UHD’s’ come out, I wonder if any will be better than the streaming versions (Titanic wasn’t imo).

What’s your latest thoughts on these projects PDB or are you waiting until these come out to see?

[Stamper]

It's very clear what we streamed is what we will get.
IMHO, JC is totally out of the loop now.

If you bought the Avatar discs, and Titanic discs, the host on every new bonus is Jon Landau.

James Cameron is just a brand that is run now by others, with maybe 60% input from the real guy (who doesn't care).

Avatar 2, which is written by a bunch of fans, and is a JC greatest hits from past films (including flying fishes) says it all.

[PDB]

6 weeks until the ‘UHD’s’ come out, I wonder if any will be better than the streaming versions (Titanic wasn’t imo).

What’s your latest thoughts on these projects PDB or are you waiting until these come out to see?

That's a good question.

As for the UHD BDs, I agree with Stamper. They are almost assured to be the same crap. I still find it bizarre that someone as methodical and mercurial as Cameron would put out the majority of his life's work in the form of crappy AI upscales of old 1080p masters. He seems almost prideful of how these UHD masters look. (But then again there was the infamous Aliens' LD incident). It all just looks lazy.

My one hope for the UHDs is that the 1080p BD of Abyss is just the existing 1080p master without an AI tampering. If that were the case, it would be amazing and very useful but I have my doubts.

As for what I'm doing, I'm not sure. I spent a lot of time on T2 and the old BD since there was little chance of a new UHD with a new transfer. Here is a rough look at the colors/upscaling I did which is not dissimilar to previous pics I posted:




I was going to switch to regrading the 4K for T2 but now I'm unsure I want to do that in light of these UHDs.

My current, maybe hairbrained idea, is to use the old masters for all of these projects.

For True Lies I can't use the new master, it is awful. Much like T2, way too much DNR, way too much sharpening. So for that I'm locked into to using the old HDTV master. Easy choice on that one. Luckily, although old, there is still details in that old master to mine.



For Aliens, LucasGodzilla did a great project with the current BD that I feel no need to duplicate but I do have the old HDTV master (and the older WOWOW HDTV). But it need a LOT of work. Including fixing MPEG2 compression, many broadcast dropouts and lots of dirt. I did an earlier unreleased project were I fixed the first two so that part shouldn't be too difficult. It's the dirt that's an issue.



T2's new master has, in general, better resolution but has all the known faults. The old one still has many faults, like inconsistent EE, but I think would yield a more "film-like" end point. I got pretty far on that project but might have to start over. The master is generally clean but does have spots/dirt occasionally in the picture. Not as bad as Aliens but there. I thought to remove those spots after regrading but before render and developed a list. Problem was I got to more then 500 spots to remove and thought it best to start over and clean the 1080p as the first stage.

Abyss; I have the old OM SE HDTV master and the newer TC one. As I said before, I would like to see what the BD looks like first. I think Abyss got the least raked over the coals in the AI processing so might be able to use the 4K BD. I plan at least to take a swipe at creating a DCP regrade from Web in this post:

https://fanrestore.com/thread-4865-post-...l#pid89034

Just so I can preserve that look. I had something done with that before Christmas but filed it away since I wanted to tweak some colors.

T1 not sure. There was talk that the remastered BD is manipulated in the same way as the Aliens BD. Some maybe polish up the old MPEG2?

Titanic I need to get a copy of the old HDTV. I misplaced my copy. I rather start with a non-digitally manipulated version if possible.

I don't like the Avatars and I suspect they don't need much color work anyway.

So that what I'm think just off the top of my head. Just brainstorming here. I'm more then willing to hear any other opinions or insight.

I didn't put out many projects in the second half of 2023 because i was trying to figure out better ways to upscale (applying layers on layers, separating chroma and luma) and teaching myself grading and encoding in HDR. Things I hoped to apply to this project. I might have some test projects releasing soon using what I learned.

[Stamper]

Here's a thought on T2: since all the Blu-ray discs up to the 2015 are the same master, would blending them all produce better detail?
Maybe just blending the luma? And using the 2015 chroma?
Same with True Lies old master?

[PDB]

Here's a thought on T2: since all the Blu-ray discs up to the 2015 are the same master, would blending them all produce better detail?
Maybe just blending the luma? And using the 2015 chroma?
Same with True Lies old master?

That would be a great solution for T2…if I could do it. I tried random’s overlay get them to align properly and it never worked for me. Even trying his code for aligning the old master over the new master failed for me. I assume pilot error on that. If anyone can figure it out I’d love to hear about it.

[Stamper]

Same here. I think, as the 4K versions also have several misframings, that a complete blend could be cool!
However, I think it's only possible when using one transfer.

[Doctor M]

Interesting update on the audio mix for the Abyss: https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-tw...12524-1530