'The Terminator' (James Cameron 1984) Blu-Ray

[Pecker]

I watched this film last night - the first I've seen from start to finish on my PS3 (it was going to be Casino Royale, but the situation dictated otherwise).

In some ways it's a little disappointing that I didn't see a big-budget blockbuster to christen the console, but to be hinest I'm now glad it wasn't, as the disc showed up what can be done with high def, even with low-rent material.

Ultimately, a lot of the film didn't look particularly wonderful - no surprise given its bargain basement origins. But often enough we see great PQ and, importantly, even on my 720p projector, there's no SDE/line/pixel structure evident. Irrespective of the limitations of the film on celuloid, the disc/player/projector add no unwanted extra nasties.

The soundtrack was pretty good, with quite aggressive use of the rears, though nothing too 'obvious' and forced. Nice one!

I'm looking forward to spending a little more time calibrating my projector for the PS3 (currently only calibrated for my Tosh and Denon), and setting aside an evening for something really special in the PQ department like Kingdom of Heaven.

All-in-all The Terminator looks and sounds as good as you could ever have hoped to see it in the home. Can't say fairer than that.

Steve W

[stuartbrown21]

Hi there

Almost replaced my 2001/2 special edition DVD a year or two back with the ultimate edition just to get DTS sound, glad I didn't now, and am wondering whether to get this.

The thing that struck me last time I watched the DVD is that there was a disappointing amount of print damage, so was hoping anybody who's seen the Blu-Ray could give their views on its quality i.e.

How sharp is the transfer?
Any obvious compression artefacts etc?
Does it look like they've cleaned the master up at all, or is there still abundant print damage?
Your views on the PCM soundtrack?

What I'm wondering is whether this is likely to be the best it will ever look, or is it one them titles that you imagine will come out again in a few years looking tons better?

Cheers!!

[Naqv]

I would also like the above questions answeed please, as I would like to buy The Terminator and Terminator 2 on Blue-Ray. I don't care for "extras", apart from commentary.

[Pecker]

I think this review reflects what I found:

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/terminator.html

Steve W

[T800]

Originally Posted by stuartbrown21

Hi there

Almost replaced my 2001/2 special edition DVD a year or two back with the ultimate edition just to get DTS sound, glad I didn't now, and am wondering whether to get this.

The thing that struck me last time I watched the DVD is that there was a disappointing amount of print damage, so was hoping anybody who's seen the Blu-Ray could give their views on its quality i.e.

How sharp is the transfer?
Any obvious compression artefacts etc?
Does it look like they've cleaned the master up at all, or is there still abundant print damage?
Your views on the PCM soundtrack?

What I'm wondering is whether this is likely to be the best it will ever look, or is it one them titles that you imagine will come out again in a few years looking tons better?

Cheers!!

'The Terminator' went through a huge clean up in 2000/2001 including creating the 5.1 track with new effects. I can't see it getting a lot more anytime soon but I hope I'm wrong.
The only way I see this looking any better anytime soon is if it gets a re-relase on Blu-ray but I don't see it being a night and day difference.

[Pecker]

I didn't watch it on a standard display, I watched it on a projector.

If I'd stuck the SD DVD in I'd have seen a lot of pixel/line structure - the BD looked more like film.

Steve W

[Geoff_D]

The 5.1 mix is an unholy bastardisation. I love The Terminator, but when I eventually go Blu I won't buy this on general principal. Thank the maker the US DVD has the mono mix.

[T800]

Originally Posted by Geoff_D

The 5.1 mix is an unholy bastardisation. I love The Terminator, but when I eventually go Blu I won't buy this on general principal. Thank the maker the US DVD has the mono mix.

I disagree, it's a little bit gimmicky but I like it.
It's James Cameron approved and in someways more realistic, the original mix tends to use the same gunfire noises for nearly all the guns and seems to have timing issues.
The 5.1 mix was done by Gary Rydstrom who did T2 and countless other amazing sounding films.