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"The Abyss" in 4K
- Thread starter DmitryB
- Start date
Accourding to High Def Digest, The Abyss was supposed to be released on July 4th, 2023, on 4K Ultra SD Laserdisc with 14 disc widescreen letterbox box set!
Link => The Abyss 4K Ultra SD Laserdisc box set
Transfer: NEW 4K Restoration and Dolby Vision HDR grading presented in 420i SDR NTSC For maximum picture quality
Each disc side offers approximately 10 minutes of the film.
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Widescreen Letterbox replicating the 2.35:1 theatrical experience
Audio Format: NEW Dolby Atmos audio mix presented in AC3 Dolby Digital Stereo
Bonus Features: Four Discs of New and Archival Bonus Features Including:
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 2.35:1 Widescreen Letterbox
Audio: English AC3 Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English
SRP: $229.99
Note: Check the publishing date on the highdefdigest link!
Link => The Abyss 4K Ultra SD Laserdisc box set
Transfer: NEW 4K Restoration and Dolby Vision HDR grading presented in 420i SDR NTSC For maximum picture quality
Each disc side offers approximately 10 minutes of the film.
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Widescreen Letterbox replicating the 2.35:1 theatrical experience
Audio Format: NEW Dolby Atmos audio mix presented in AC3 Dolby Digital Stereo
Bonus Features: Four Discs of New and Archival Bonus Features Including:
- NEW Audio Commentary featuring James Cameron
- NEW Audio Commentary featuring hypnotized members of the cast to minimize traumatic memories of the production.
- NEW 2023 Feature Length Retrospective Documentary “Diving into The Abyss”
- NEW 2023 Featurette Return to Deep Core
- NEW Recently Discovered Deleted Scenes
- Archival bonus features include
- Text Commentary
- Storyboard comparison
- Behind-the-scenes footage
- Special Effects Reel
- And Much More
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 2.35:1 Widescreen Letterbox
Audio: English AC3 Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English
SRP: $229.99
Note: Check the publishing date on the highdefdigest link!
That's wild! Laserdiscs are like LPs now! I guess since they decided to do a theatrical run, they postponed the home video release?
Check the date on the highdefdigest link
LPs are much more simple to replicate compared to Laserdiscs. There have been a few attempts to release new batches of Laserdiscs in the past decade or so but none were successful. All plants recycled their Laserdisc duplicators to make room for their DVD duplicators in the early 2000s. There isn’t a single Laserdisc printer/duplicator left in existence. Pioneer Japan recycled all of their Laserdisc spare parts inventory a few years ago. All of their engineers from that era either retired or passed away. Laserdiscs are analog. There are no pits and lands like in the CD/DVD/BD but linear waveforms similar to FM waves. Modern disc burners/readers are incompatible with this form. I am afraid the entire equipment, knowledge and know how is gone now.
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Ha! Well, that joke turned out to be a little bit true!Check the date on the highdefdigest link
I think they made the Laserdisc reference because the only DVD release of The Abyss in 2000 used the same master made for the Laserdisc release in 1993. All of the extras were ported from the Laserdiscs release too. This was the very first THX certified home video master, state of the art for its time but outdated by 2000’s standards. The image was letterboxed into 4:3 frame whereas all DVDs were anamorphically enhanced into 16:9 by this time. There was some mild to heavy use of (early generation) digital video noise reduction which caused some smearing.
This Laserdiscs was re-released in 1996, this time with SuperNTSC encoding which improved colors and most importantly with the addition of Dolby Stereo AC-3 (Dolby Digital 5.1) soundtracks which was derived from the 70mm 6 track sound mix. 70mm 6 track is a bit different than the 5.1 surround we know. It has 5 full range front channels (Left, Left-Center, Center, Right-Center, Right) and a single full range mono surround channel. I hope they keep this soundtrack on the upcoming 4K UHD release.
Another interesting note: The Abyss was shot on Super35 and the open matte version exists on this Laserdisc release. I actually really like this version as it feels like IMAX experience with the much taller presentation. I hope they include this version in the upcoming release too but I doubt it.
Super35 Director Supervised Pan & Scan Version
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thrillcat
Well-known member
Far from "all DVDs" at that point. So far, in fact, that DVDs that were anamorphic encodes had a special notification on the packaging as "Enhanced for Widescreen TVs" to point out the fact.
Before 16x9 was the primary format of television sales, many DVDs were still encoded as letterbox 4x3, and nobody noticed. It wasn't until users finally bought 16x9 TVs and started complaining about having black bars all the way around the picture that anamorphic encoding became standard.
As someone in the video production field, I was dumbfounded by the number of people I'd meet who didn't realize they shouldn't be working in a 4x3 sequence if they shot and were delivering a 16x9 program. Many edit suites still had professional-grade 4x3 monitors installed up into the late '00s. It looked right on their monitor, so they didn't know why they needed to change anything.
You are right. Perhaps I was too optimistic in my sentence but majority of the blockbuster films were either released or re-released later in anamorphic widescreen in the 2000s. True Lies and The Abyss never got a re-release in the US or EU with anamorphic widescreen enhancements. There was an anamorphic widescreen DVD release in Hong Kong (OOP now) for The Abyss but it is really difficult to find. True Lies was released in 2003 on D-theater D-VHS format in 16:9 widescreen in 1080i (28.2mbps constant bitrate) with DTS 5.1 (1.5mbps constant bitrate). There is a Spanish Blu-ray release from 2020 coming from the same D-theater D-VHS master. (Yup, there was a digital VHS tape format in 2003 and it could do 1080i60).
They released only 4 films in the US in anamorphic widescreen on Laserdisc. There were a few more in Japan and a coupe in Europe in PAL+. All released between the years 1994 and 1997.
Anamorphic Widescreen Laserdisc releases: (in Japan, they called them “Squeezed” format).
US releases : The Fugitive, Grumpy Old Men, Free Willy, Unforgiven.
Japan releases: Basic Instinct, Cliffhanger, Cutthroat Island, Terminator 2, Terminator 2 (THX re-release), Stargate, Showgirls
German releases: Schlafes Bruder, Schlafes Bruder (DTS re-release), Mikrokosmos
The Abyss was released in 70mm Six-Track Dolby Stereo Format 42 which is 4.1
3 front channels, mono surround LFE (Baby Boom) is encoded on the two extra tracks but also mono.
Ah yes, I forgot about the Baby Boom soundtracks.
It is interesting Cameron didn't use split surrounds by this time. He also experimented with Cinema Digital Sound 5.1 during Terminator 2. There is one Laserdisc and one DVD release with the CDS 5.1 mix in Dolby Digital 5.1 container.
CDS 5.1 mix
KDeering
Well-known member
Digital release date for The Abyss, True Lies, Aliens and Avatar special edition with extra cuts of the film is December 12th. Discs for all will come out in March. Will be interesting to see if K does the extra cuts for Avatar, Abyss and Aliens since disc will have them.
IT’S OFFICIAL: Disney & Lightstorm announce The Abyss, True Lies, Aliens & MORE for 4K Ultra HD!
IT’S OFFICIAL: Disney & Lightstorm announce The Abyss, True Lies, Aliens & MORE for 4K Ultra HD!
So that leaves the first "Terminator" as the last film not yet in 4K? (And I know people have complained about "Judgment Day" being a poor 4K transfer.)IT’S OFFICIAL: Disney & Lightstorm announce The Abyss, True Lies, Aliens & MORE for 4K Ultra HD!
IT’S OFFICIAL: Disney & Lightstorm announce The Abyss, True Lies, Aliens & MORE for 4K Ultra HD!thedigitalbits.com
mariyoshikong
Well-known member
Avatar is now only available for rent and Way of Water is Pre-order. Looks like we may be getting updates for these two soon.
IT’S OFFICIAL: DISNEY & LIGHTSTORM ANNOUNCE THE ABYSS, TRUE LIES, ALIENS & MORE FOR 4K ULTRA HD!
Release date schedule is as follows:
On Dec. 5, 2023, available for the first time ever on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray and at digital retailers including Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango/Vudu:
Release date schedule is as follows:
On Dec. 5, 2023, available for the first time ever on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray and at digital retailers including Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango/Vudu:
- Titanic 25th Anniversary Collector’s Edition
- Aliens Collector’s Edition
- The Abyss Collector’s Edition
- True Lies Collector’s Edition
- Avatar Collector’s Edition
- Avatar: The Way of Water Collector’s Edition
- Avatar 4K Collector’s Edition
- Avatar 3D Blu-ray
- Avatar 4K Limited Edition Steelbook (available only at Best Buy)
- Avatar: The Way of Water 4K Collector’s Edition
- Aliens 4K Collector’s Edition
- The Abyss 4K Collector’s Edition
- True Lies 4K Collector’s Edition
