The ultimate version of Terminator 2 is on HD DVD!

[Ruined]

Terminator 2 is now on HD DVD!

The French 2-disc HD DVD set (Theatrical + Extended Edition) is currently available from amazon.fr and xploitedcinema.com if you want it NOW.

A slightly more English-friendly UK single disc Extended Edition-only HD DVD will be available for preorder within a month or so from http://amazon.co.uk

Note that only the Extended Edition disc from the French version is English-friendly, as the theatrical version has forced French subtitles when selecting the English soundtrack (you can resize them and move them into the LBX bar however). The Extended edition does not have forced subtitles and in fact the entire menu is in English, it was clearly the same disc that will be in the UK version released later.

The UK version will be identical to disc 2 of the French version - Extended cut, English audio, no forced subs, region free, 1080p24 w/ lossless DTS-HD Master Audio. English Audio tracks have been compared to the R1 DVD release and the audio is perfect, no speedup.

I am waiting for the region-free UK version since I want the English cover art and the Extended Cut is better anyway IMO. Plus, the theatrical disc of the French version is pretty worthless to me with the forced subs (even if tiny). I'll of course post when the AMAZON.CO.UK preorder for T2: Extended Edition is available

Here is a review of the HD DVD, noting that it is markedly superior to the Blu-Ray release!

Okay, here's my comments on the new Studio Canal HD DVD edition of Terminator 2...

The background is this. Lionsgate has US distribution for this film. T2 was a fairly early Blu-ray release for them. Lionsgate's BD is a BD25 with MPEG-2 encoding. For whatever reason, Lionsgate has elected to release only the 137 min. theatrical version of the film in the US. Studio Canal, a French company, was one of the co-production companies of the film, and holds international distribution rights.

Studio Canal also supports the HD DVD format. For the French HD DVD release, Studio Canal has released T2 as a 2-disc set using the VC-1 codec. Disc 1 is the theatrical version of the film intended solely for the French market which means the disc has been authored with French subtitles that cannot be turned off if English language audio is selected. That's Studio Canal's policy for France-only releases. The second disc is the 152 min. "Director's Cut" version of the film that was previously released on the "Ultimate Edition" DVD in the US. Note this is not the 156 min. "extended" version also available on the "Ultimate Edition" DVD which has the tacked on Coda ending with an aged Sarah Connor in a park with a voiceover. This is what I consider the best version of the film as it includes several scenes and extensions of scenes that I find enhances the story yet it leaves off the "Coda" ending which becomes illogical with the release of Terminator 3.

It is this Director's Cut disc that is of interest so me, and I expect, quite a few other fans of the film. While the theatrical version has the "forced" subtitles, the Director's Cut disc will be released by Studio Canal in the UK. Because of this, there are no forced subtitles, and indeed, the default playback of the disc is English audio (the only track available) with no subtitles. This disc also contains what is to my eye, the finest video presentation of this film to date.

Having been a fan of this film since its original theatrical run in 1991, I have seen what I believe to be every video release except VHS. This of course includes the several laserdisc and DVD incarnations. I even had the D-Theater hi-def digital VHS edition of this film. It is this background that I base my observations of this new HD DVD edition on. Compared to all that came before, this new HD DVD edition is clearly the finest presentation of Terminator 2 to date (no pun intended).

The most immediate comparison is to Lionsgate's Blu-ray edition, as well as the theatrical version included in the HD DVD set. beginning with the theatrical edition, it appears that the HD DVD and Blu-ray came from the same master, a master that looks to have ben "pushed" to increase the visible contrast. This leads to blown out whites and some crushing of detail in blacks, as well as what some would describe as "edge enhancement". Colors are a bit overstaurated compared to the Director's Cut disc.

Although both these discs appear to be sourced from the same master, the MPEG-2 and VC-1 encodes show some fairly noticeable differences. The MPEG encode on Blu-ray is visibly softer with a bit less fine detail. There is also visible blocking where film grain is present. The VC-1 encode is both smoother and sharper with greater detail and less artifacting associated with the film grain. Even so, the master that was struck for the Director's Cut is quite obviously superior to the master used for the theatrical version.

The transfer for the Director's Cut has a more natural appearance with greater detail in both very dark and very bright areas and a more even color balance. The image is also a bit sharper than even the VC-1 encode of the theatrical version. This encoding also preserves the grain structure of the film element without overt compression artifacts.

With the somewhat limited time I have had to compare these discs I cannot comment on a comparison of audio tracks except to say I found the DTS-HD audio track on the Director's Cut version to convey all the impact and subtlety that I remember from any other version with, perhaps, a bit more authority in the lower octave and a bit more smoothness in the upper frequencies. Certainly nothing lacking in the sound department.

Rarely do the planets line up perfectly in the universe, but for fans of the Director's Cut version of Terminator 2, it seems we have a gift in the form of this French HD DVD release. Combine what I consider the best version of the film with a HD DVD authored without hindrances of any sort, and mastered and encoded as the finest visual quality this film has seen since release day 16 years ago, and you get a true treat for the film enthusiast. Although it feels more like an accident that everything worked out as it has for this disc, it is a very happy accident indeed.

 

[Capeta]

Sweet, it's on my "to buy" list.

 

[Capeta]

"BD Exclusive" titles that is/will be on HD DVD.

Fantastic Four
Hannibal
Apocalypto
Underworld
Underwold: Evolution
Silent Hill
Alone in the Dark
Brothers Grimm
Ghost Rider
Bridge to Terabithia
Curse of the Golden Flower
Saw - Trilogy
Pan's Labyrinth
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
The Jackal
Resident Evil
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
The Reaping
Mr & Mrs Smith.
The Island
Reign of Fire

2001: A Space Odyssey (France) - [??/12/2007]
An American Haunting (Spain) - [11/07/2007]
Apocalypto (Poland) - [31/07/2007]
Arthur and the Invisibles (Arthur y los Minimoys) (Spain) - [27/06/2007]
Babel (France-UK) - [25/06/2007-NYA]
Band of Brothers (5 Disc) (Japan) - [27/07/2007]
Blade Runner (France) - [??/09/2007]
Bridge To Terebethia (Spain-France) - [27/06/2007-??/12/2007]
Brotherhood Of The Wolf (UK) - [30/09/2007]
Brothers Grimm (Germany) - [03/09/2007]
Clockwork Orange, A (France) - [??/12/2007]
Crash (Spain) - [Postponed]
Dead Pool, The (France) - [??/10/2007]
Dirty Harry (France) - [??/10/2007]
Enforcer, The (France) - [??/10/2007]
Eyes Wide Shut (France) - [??/12/2007]
Fantastic Four (Germany) - [NYA]
Gangs of New York (Spain) - [Postponed]
Ghost Rider (France) - [??/09/2007]
Good, The Bad & The Ugly, The (Spain) - [Postponed]
Harry Potter & The Philosophers (Sorcerers) Stone (France) - [23/11/2007]
Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets (France) - [23/11/2007]
Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkaban (France) - [23/11/2007]
Hannibal (France) - [01/08/2007]
Hannibal Rising (France) - [01/08/2007]
Hot Fuzz (UK) - [06/08/2007]
Island, The (Germany-France-UK-Spain) - [22/06/2007-27/06/2007-30/07/2007-Postponed]
K-19: The Widowmaker (Spain) - [Postponed]
L.A Confidential (France) - [??/09/2007]
Magnum Force (France) - [??/10/2007]
Mr. Beans Holiday (Australia) - [15/08/2007]
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (France) - [NYA]
Mulholland Drive (UK) - [30/09/2007]
Oceans 11 (1960) (France) - [??/12/2007]
Oceans 11 (2001) (France) - [??/12/2007]
Oceans 12 (France) - [??/12/2007]
Oliver Twist (2005) (Spain) - [27/06/2007]
Pan's Labyrinth (Le Labyrinthe de Pan) (France) - [04/07/2007]
Patlabor the Movie (Japan) - [27/07/2007]
Patlabor the Movie 2 (Japan) - [24/08/2007]
Poltergeist (France) - [??/09/2007]
Ran (UK) - [Postponed]

Reaping, The (France) - [24/10/2007]
English Audio: Yes English TrueHD 5.1, DD+ 5.1
Subtitles: English Available

Resident Evil (Germany) - [27/09/2007]
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Germany) - [27/09/2007]
Saw I (Spain) - [Postponed]
Saw II (Spain) - [Postponed]
Saw Trilogy (Germany) - [??/??/2008]
Serpico (Germany) - [22/06/2007]
Shaun Of The Dead (UK) - [06/08/2007]
Shining, The (France) - [??/12/2007]
Silent Hill (Germany) - [31/08/2007]
Sudden Impact - [??/10/2007]
Three days of the Condor (Die 3 Tage des Condor) (Germany) - [22/06/2007]
Tomb Raider II: Cradle Of Life (Germany) - [03/09/2007]
Top Gun (UK) - [03/09/2007]
Truands (France) - [06/08/2007]
Underworld:Extended Edition (Germany) - [31/08/2007]
We Were Soldiers (Germany) - [NYA]
Wings of Honneamise (Japan) - [NYA]
Wizard Of Oz, The (France) - [??/12/2007]
Zodiac (France) - [??/09/2007]

 

[Blazkowicz]

wow, you can still come across forced subtitles on HD DVD? I thought the new formats were a bit smarter. I prefer watching T2 in english with no subtitles. the french dubbing totally ruins the film for me especially sarah connor's awesome acting. I'd badly want that UK version if I had a HD-DVD player with the DRM-compliant hardware to go with it.


I'd be happy to get a "branchy" file that does both versions in DRM free format, 720p, fitting on a DVD, not H264 so my CPU can reliably decode it. not necessarily with "ZOMG HD DTL SSDD True Dolby" as long as it sounds good.
if the movie studios don't want to sell me something like this, fuck it. they can pry my PC with media player classic and VGA monitor from my dead, cold rigidified hands.

 

[Blazkowicz]

The most immediate comparison is to Lionsgate's Blu-ray edition, as well as the theatrical version included in the HD DVD set. beginning with the theatrical edition, it appears that the HD DVD and Blu-ray came from the same master, a master that looks to have ben "pushed" to increase the visible contrast. This leads to blown out whites and some crushing of detail in blacks, as well as what some would describe as "edge enhancement". Colors are a bit overstaurated compared to the Director's Cut disc.

lol. what if the master gets contrast and edge "enhancement", then your vid card or player applies same "enhancement", followed by again more enhancing in your HDTV's post-processing?
and what is the added value of black crush in a movie with night scenes?

 

[Ruined]

BTW, I got my UK version of T2 HD DVD Director's Cut from sendit.com recently and it is great - excellent A/V quality, no forced subs, fantastic! Good service from sendit.com, too.

 

[Kaotik]

"BD Exclusive" titles that is/will be on HD DVD.

Got a link for that?

 

[Fox5]

Got a link for that?

Seriously, I saw at least a few sony pictures titles on there...

 

[AlphaWolf]

Seriously, I saw at least a few sony pictures titles on there...

Sony may not have distribution rights in all territories. Not that I can confirm or deny anything on the list.