Proposal: The James Cameron Project

[alexpeden2000]

Another vote for the remastered Blu, I don't think there's been much tampering although I can believe what Stamper said about the TV screens

[kiyoakiwah]

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=1564&d...=0&l=0&a=0

I know the old one has compression issues via MPEG-2 and is softer but the newer BD is most likely has been "tampered" with (as the UHD probably will be also). I can fix the MPEG-2 issues but being a different scan, it will likely never be as sharp (or maybe as detailed) as an upscale of the AVC BD would be.

looking at it, doesn't the UK BD use the same scan as the US one? the difference in quality is pretty marginal and the biggest changes are the framing/colour grading

it's easiest to see in the fifthteenth screenshot for me, i don't think a new scan would look this bad

   

[PDB]

Also Cameron responded in the Hollywood Reporter to the criticism of the recent UHDs. He gave a very…Cameron answer.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies...72175/amp/

So you’ve also had recently the 4K transfers of Aliens and True Lies that came out. It did get blowback in the fan community, some feeling that the image quality wasn’t as high as they wanted it to be. You obviously have a very high standard. So I’m wondering what you thought?

When people start reviewing your grain structure, they need to move out of mom’s basement and meet somebody. Right? I’m serious. I mean, are you fucking kidding me? I’ve got a great team that does the transfers. I do all the color and density work. I look at every shot, every frame, and then the final transfer is done by a guy who has been with me [for years]. All the Avatar films are done that way. Everything is done that way. Get a life, people, seriously.

At least we know for sure it was all him.

[Bigrob]

Lowering expectations for this new Terminator 4K transfer

[alleycat]

Lowering expectations for this new Terminator 4K transfer

https://www.joblo.com/we-saw-the-termina...thCGNc9qeg

[zoidberg]

I think that interview may have hit a nerve

[stwd4nder2]

If I may suggest, use the remaster for most of the footage. However, make a comparison on any shot where there is a TV, or screen, in the shot. I think that on the remasters, the tube like look of the TV screens was doctored using power windows, to look LCD monitor style. I noticed this on all JC remasters. There's something funny going on those screens.

Are there any comparison shots for the TV screens? I don't have both transfers on hand, and seems like such a weird thing to tweak I'm curious what you're seeing.

[Hitcher]

Proposal: rename this 'The Anti-James Cameron Project'.

[SwatDB]

...and then the final transfer is done by a guy who has been with me [for years]. 

"A Guy" that Cameron is referring to should be the Remastering Colorist, "Tashi Trieu" and not "Skip Kimball" [the former guy who sent the Abyss Instagram image from March 2019], correct?

[PDB]

Proposal: rename this 'The Anti-James Cameron Project'.

There is truth in that. And with that note, I'm trying to get back into this project.

I spent a long time on T2 but not sure I want to keep that work. For the other movies; I was waiting till these remasters came out and we know how that went. So given the state of the remaster and the fact I've done previous project for it, I'd thought I'd start over with TL. Next, would be T1 since that is also next on the remaster list and I'd like to compare my work to the final product. The fact both are just theatrical cuts and I have a bunch of audio for both doesn't hurt either.

TL is using the old master used on the DVHS/HDTV. I was recommended a Web-DL and in comparing it to other Webs, HDTVs, Spanish bootleg, etc; it does seem to have the best "grain structure" and least amount of lost details (DNR or compression). I've been combining different levels of SR upscaling trying to enhance details up to 4K without DNR or grain removal. That has also including upscaling the video from 8bit to 10bit and regrade in a P3 colorspace so I can max the colors spectrum on the regrade. And as has become normal for me, I'm grading both the luma and chroma separately and then combining them together. That so I can try to balance a contrast-y film look without losing too many details.

I’m graded TL using examples from 3 print sources. The attempt is to get the most common colors. I was kind of surprised it did skew closer to the Hulu/D+ file then I first thought. Having said that the Hulu is missing a lot of blue, has way too green in night exteriors, a little too orange in the interiors and way too bright overall. Here is a test example of the first 8-ish mins I have been working on:




I had an idea to matte over certain frame parts of the Hulu/remaster on to the old DVHS master to fix the blow out but I have to see if my skills are up to that.

The end result probably is going to be in two forms. One in 2160p/SDR and the other in 2160p/HDR. The overall results should look better then the original Web but will never match a properly scanned and graded remaster.

Terminator will be the same process using the AVC master as recommended by members in previous posts. Thanks guys.

And ideas or feedback are appreciated.