The new editions of 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' on Blu-ray (the Skynet Edition and the Complete Collector's Set), which street May 19, push the envelope of the high-def format. The producer of these releases, authoring veteran Van Ling, discussed some of the challenges of putting together the new Blu-ray version of this science-fiction modern classic.
Very diverse topics are covered in the interview Van Ling has given to Home Media Magazine, from the reason behind a new edition, why the first edition didn't include all of this content, how the "Skynet interface" of the Blu-ray operates, the use of DVDs rather than BDs in the Collector's Edition, or Van Ling's favorite special features.
The first 'Terminator 2' Blu-ray edition was released in June 2006. In Van Ling's words, that was "at the dawn of the BD format and as a result was limited to the capabilities of the nascent format at the time, which is to say it pretty much could only play the movie." At the time, Van Ling had designed a disc "to include seamless branching of multiple versions of the film, detailed menus, 80 chapters, etc." but was told to "back off" by the format creators, for fear of compatibility and stability issues. However, he states that "now we are at the point where we can actually do some of the things I originally planned for the disc, and with the new Terminator movie coming out, it seemed like the right time."
The transfer has received dditional dirt cleanup, funded by Lionsgate and Studio Canal, without "messing with the color or doing any of the, in my opinion, dubious digital filtering that sometimes gets applied."
With the Skynet interface, Van Ling wanted "to embrace the idea of how much network connectivity plays a role in both our daily use of the Internet and in the idea behind Skynet. Even as you are watching the disc, the disc is watching you."
Some extras come on DVD rather than BD because they were "created in standard-definition video, and since the sources were all SD — some of the behind-the-scenes material was even VHS — there was no point in trying to upscale them all to HD and waste the space on an extra Blu-ray disc when it made perfect sense to just include them on a standard-def DVD."
In the producer's opinion, the real benefit of Blu-ray "is that you can do much more than just store a high-def version of the movie." He admits that's the most important function of the disc and that "a great audio/visual presentation should be a given", but he thinks the format can be used for so much more, especially with BD Live.
Van Ling's favorite feature is the Interactive mode, "smply because we really tried to give people many avenues in which to explore the film. But it sure was tough to program!"
because,a lot of people want a video game look thinking thats hd.there grain haters.
they don't relize to much dnr you lose detail.
i hate dnr, ee digital filtering,etc. a blu-ray disc holds 50gb,there no reason to apply all this stuff.
to me if you want video game look stick with dvd.
I have the Extreme DVD edition of T2 when it came out in 2003. It has 16 minutes of
additional scenes not shown in theatres and digitally copied from a 1080p, 24sf hi def digital
telecine transfer. It has tons of extra features including a hi res transfer of the original
version playable on your PC, etc. I know it is still in 480p quality when it comes to movie
output from our DVD/BD players (unless you have upconversion equipment like having an
HDMI, etc. which I don't, I only use component cables as I have an older HDTV that does not
have an HDMI port). I'm debating to myself if I should double dip on this movie just for the
sake of having it in BD/hi def format. I don't want to keep two versions of the movie because
once I started having a BD copy of it, the other one just sits on the shelf taking a perfectly
waste of space. I have over a thousand DVD/BD/HDDVD movie collections and I am picky with
the ones that I would like to double dip, one of them is this. Yeah I know it's T2 and I know it
will definitely look better in sound and picture. I'm still not THAT convinced yet. I will probably
rent it first to check and see it and then decide if I'm going to get it or not. Plus, I'm not really
into all the extra features. I probably check a couple here and there but I have better things
to do to go thru and spend more hours checking all the extra goodies that I will not even
remember what they after a few days. How many people here do remember all the BD Live
features, exclusive BD extras, etc.? All I really care about is the quality content of the movie in
hi def.
I don't know, I'm just not really sold to this whole idea yet.
"The first 'Terminator 2' Blu-ray edition was released in June 2006. In Van Ling's words, that was "at the dawn of the BD format and as a result was limited to the capabilities of the nascent format at the time, which is to say it pretty much could only play the movie." At the time, Van Ling had designed a disc "to include seamless branching of multiple versions of the film, detailed menus, 80 chapters, etc." but was told to "back off" by the format creators, for fear of compatibility and stability issues. However, he states that "now we are at the point where we can actually do some of the things I originally planned for the disc,..."
There is a lot of complaining about re-releases of BD titles (I include myself in the ranks) and having to buy them again. For some titles though, this is the best explanation I've heard for why some titles are being re-released. It makes sense. There are still no excuses, however, for new releases not to be packed with extras and the best audio/video transfers (i.e. Lord of the Rings Extended versions) the first time around, other than greed.
I'm glad to read this. I've been thinking for a while now that it is about time that studios begin putting out correction releases of some of the early titles and titles that turned out to be problematic or less than stellar. I also am one to complain about double dipping, but just like in the maturing days of DVD when studios began realizing that anamorphic widescreen was a good thing and that they could squeeze a lot more quality on a DVD, I don't consider a rerelease that actually fixes something to be a double dip. I would rather get rereleases that fix overscrubbed video, lack of lossless audio, problems caused by a release designed to fit on a single layer HD DVD, and so on than a 'No Country For Old Men', '300', or 'I Am Legend' uber edition containing stuff that should have been on the first release anyway, unless of course there was a legitimate reason the content was unavailable or unworkable on Blu-ray with the state of the format at the time of release.
I knew they were going to re-release T2 on BD, this early on. I just knew it. I waited for this version with Master Audio, therefore, DAY 1 purchase for me.
