Proposal: The James Cameron Project

[Stamper]

This capture is from a TV screen, but on the same thread, someone posted caps of his TV showing the VCR and it's the same print.

[Beber]

This capture is from a TV screen, but on the same thread, someone posted caps of his TV showing the VCR and it's the same print.

I'm sure it's from a VHS tape, hence the VCR. But was it recorded out of TV or is it an actual commercial VHS with that white rectangle TV rating in the corner? I've never seen a print of that movie, but I do remember the title looking like that on TV airings for sure. However the rest was in English back in the day, as far as I can remember.

[Stamper]

The captures are from a TV airing, but someone showed images of the commercial tape, which was the same.

[Bilbofett]

this is great, well produced, funny, makes the case expertly https://youtu.be/BxOqWYytypg?si=VrjLPAurYBZMS0xy

[alexp2000]

Seems to be a suggestion from 'Twin Flicks' on Twitter that a new T2 4K should arrive next autumn. No idea how reliable he is but hopefully it's good enough to be the basis of a project..

[dvdmike]

Seems to be a suggestion from 'Twin Flicks' on Twitter that a new T2 4K should arrive next autumn. No idea how reliable he is but hopefully it's good enough to be the basis of a project..

So an even worse version??

[Stamper]

Twin Flicks I think made up some stuff on some videos (like fake emails or something).
Of course, there's the 35th anniversary of the film in 2026, so it doesn't take any insider knowledge to imagine something will happen.
They still need to add the SE footage to the remaster, so they probably will have a redo by then with both cuts and some extra AI special sauce added.

[alleycat]

Honestly I don't think I'll need anything more than Stamper's T1 project and Kreeep's T2 project. Those are my defaults.

[dvdmike]

https://youtu.be/UdZZJrNNzg4?si=YqEf2YmemphrSeCq

[PDB]

Sorry this is a long post. I'm trying to get this project back up and moving again and this post is me sort of brainstorming.

Beside life, part of the reason for the delay, was that I was trying to figure out what transfers/masters to use as a base. Like most, I was hopeful that the UHDs would make this project irrelevant but we know how that turned out. There are advantages to using the old scans like no AI, no fake grain, no artificial sharping, a more film-like look, etc. But the newer scans are just simply better with better tech. They also lack blow-out, no dirt and overall more details regardless of sharpening or AI. So I ultimately decided to split the baby on this one. I have started this project over using the old transfer/masters of the theatrical cuts and if there is a desire, I'll then follow up with the newer transfers with custom grain plates.

I'm thinking something like this:

Old Transfers
T1: MGM MPEG-2 BD
Aliens: TC- combo of 2 HDTV broadcasts/TV and SE- Japanese WOWOW (maybe)
T2: TC- Lionsgate AVC BD/SE- Lionsgate BD (maybe)
TL: cable era AVC HDTV broadcast/Web-DL
Titanic: cable era MPEG-2 HDTV broadcast

New Transfers
T1: MGM AVC BD
Aliens: Fox AVC BD
T2: Studio Canal AVC BD

The Abyss is a little bit on its own island. I spent a lot of time processing the old open matte MPEG-2 HDTV with the goal of slotting it into the "old masters" part. The OM has more then enough information to crop the movie back to the original 2.39. The problem came that I could never figure out how to fix the IVTC errors, as seen here:

https://fanrestore.com/thread-2851-post-...l#pid58876

So the choice comes down using the remastered HDTV and/or the UHD for the SE. The great thing about the HDTV is that color-wise it seems pretty close to theatrically accurate with the examples I have seen. Maybe missing some blue. I'm not sure about the UHD as I haven't a super detailed look at it yet. The UHD matches the HDTV often but just as often does not, witness here:

https://fanrestore.com/thread-4865-post-...l#pid88928

The one good thing about the UHD is that it has the least amount of AI processing which can be cleanup with some edge softening. Beside the UHD, I'm not sure where I would source the SE elements.

So as of right now the goal is to upscale the old transfers to 4k and regrade them to the color examples I have. I debated if I should do a dirt and hair cleanup. All of these transfers have dirt or spots to some degree. I ultimately decided not to do a cleanup as I feared I would never finish this project if I did that. I can use the new transfer for a cleaned-up look later.

For the color sources, I have spent a lot of time trying to track down as much color information as possible. 35mm prints and frames, VHS(es), LDs, vintage telecines and a few modern cams. I spent years trying to find a lot of information beyond the available prints in the wild. Sufficient to say, there is a lot of variations in the "theatrical accurate colors". All these sources match as often as they don't. So, I'm going scene by scene and grading to the image that the most examples agree on. My end result is to make the video as "accurate" as possible but it will never be perfect.

I still need to decide if I want to release projects in SDR/709 or HDR/2020. I'm not so concerned with the HDR part as I am the 2020 part. Since I'm grading in Display P3 there are colors that will be lost in my regrade if I downconvert to 709. So a future thing to figure out.

So here are some pics of the work I have done so far.

T2

T2's TC is from the Lionsgate BD. I have examples for 5 separate prints, two old print telecines, a theatrical VHS and in-theater modern cam. The color is about half done but needs another pass to fix some things like the canal chase. Then I have to look at the SE if people want that.

https://imgur.com/23QsBqI
https://imgur.com/6pLWF6n
https://imgur.com/ETAxh7I

Aliens

Aliens I had to IVTC the HDTVs and about 15% of the color work is done and these pics are early. I have examples from 4 different prints, one telecine and one modern cam someone did for me. The transfer still need many frames fixed or replaced due to MPEG-2 compression. This HDTV is an unique 1.77 which sometimes has less information then the BD but more often has a lot more picture. So much that I had re-frame many shots as they bump against the edge of the 35mm picture. If people want the SE/TV I would have to start a separate project using the WOWOW transfer. The WOWOW seems to be from the same scan as the US HDTV but there are some differences.

https://imgur.com/BUZzJbP
https://imgur.com/3F8TWLN