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James Cameron on True Lies 4K complaints: ‘move out of mom’s basement’ and ‘ Get a life, people, seriously.’

ManaByte

Gold Member

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.
william-shatner-get-a-life.gif
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
It’s a function of how much people love the films and how many years we’ve been kept waiting, completely unnecessarily, for modern transfers.

Everyone waited ages for them to be done properly under Cameron’s direct supervision and then they were botched.
 

violence

Gold Member
His movies heavily influenced video games. So we can assume they’re well liked by AV nerds as well. They’re going to point out if you do something lazy like a 2K upscale for Aliens.
 
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Lambogenie

Member
Looks watchable to me. Overly smooth and different colour but eh, need to see more. But I can see if it's diehard fans then there would be complaints.
 

Puscifer

Member
It’s a function of how much people love the films and how many years we’ve been kept waiting, completely unnecessarily, for modern transfers.

Everyone waited ages for them to be done properly under Cameron’s direct supervision and then they were botched.
The fact there's a 4K scan you can pirate of Terminator 2 that some dude scanned of a reshowing is better than the actual Blu-ray and 4K release because he didn't screw with things says a lot about Cameron. Saying this just puts a bad taste in my mouth...
 
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Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
I will fucking stay in mummies basement however long as i please thank you very fucking much
 

KrakenIPA

Member
Couldn't he just greenlight this backend project, employ a few qualified film-a-holics (and their bosses), and make a half a million dollars and make his fans happy?
 

KrakenIPA

Member
Reading Cameron's comments I was initially "yeah, people will moan about anything they can". But I didn't realise the transfer involved getting Pixar to render every scene.
I'm watching Micheal Mann's and QT's films. Even on streaming those late 80s and early 90s films just have that color pop that hits you in the face.
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
I'm watching Micheal Mann's and QT's films. Even on streaming those late 80s and early 90s films just have that color pop that hits you in the face.

I think things like that I'm not going to be overly concerned about because I haven't had my TV calibrated, etc. I'm not that into this sort of thing, if the colour looks wrong it probably won't bother me. I watched the upscaled Frasier recently and it didn't bother me.

BUT the idea that a film release, which let's face it is a premium product now, can look so instantly wrong is crazy. Cameron ought to take a step back, admit the problem and do it properly.
 
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Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Just pretend you're working on the crew making The Abyss. Its like you're practically there, getting the authentic Cameron experience. Amazing.
 

Putonahappyface

Gold Member
To be fair The Abyss looks and sounds amazing. Aliens can be hit and miss, but Trues lies is a soft waxy DNR abomination which I'll pass on. I can't wait to see what he does to the new Terminator and Terminator 2 Judgment Day transfers.

vnY5ih8.gif


Maybe Jimbo should sit down with Steven Spielberg, because that man probably made the best if not one of the best 4k restorations on Jaws.


 
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jason10mm

Gold Member
I now expect the worst about the upcoming Terminator 1 4K Blu-Ray.

Here is a good video about the recent remasters:

Man, that video is pretty convincing. But I also wonder how much of that stuff I'd actually appreciate just watching the movie.

I have friends that leave their tvs in that awful frame smoothing mode that makes everything look like a soap opera. But it "looks" sharper so they like it.
 

Neff

Member
I love the guy but he's being a dick by dismissing people's issues. People want these films at their best, not because they're excessively autistic and demanding (well some probably are), but because they love them. These new versions really don't look good.

It's not a problem exclusive to True Lies and Aliens though. Plenty of old movies get shafted with modern colour timing and look awful.
 

AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
Why don't they just take out the film grain and transfer straight from the negative. I think keeping it simple is best.
 

Stitch

Gold Member
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.
yeah great job you moron


The Waxminator
4u5D3Ux.jpeg
 
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RaduN

Member
AI upscaling caught in the act. It's so easy to spot.
It's just a median de-noise filter + a bit of extra sharpness/structure. I used to do this post processing combo back in the 00s when i was working in video editing.
Not everything is "omg teh AI".
 

RaduN

Member
Why don't they just take out the film grain and transfer straight from the negative. I think keeping it simple is best.
I haven't read the full article, but isn't this exactly what they're doing?
This obsession with removing film noise is precisely the reason everything looks so oily and fake(-ish).

That film iso noise should not be considered a fault in image quality. It can not be dealt with properly anyway, not yet at least. The pixels always end up visibly dilated when tring to remove it in post.
 
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