Hi all,

Wanted to ask a couple of questions about this movie.

I bought this double disc off e-bay and i think it's a copy. I have never gotten a copy of a movie before cause i usally ask, if it's used, but this one said it was new, i checked there feedback so didn't look like any problem.

So when i got it, it was sealed, the case is silver, the cover looks authentic, upc code is 024543000082.

When i open it the discs it had no art work, i have seen that before, but i figured THIS movie should have had the art work.

When i played it, it's a 2:35 WS, the picture and sound are there, but the black bars seem to much. I checked Star Wars PM and the bars are like 3-4 times difference.

Sorry for the Blah Blah Blah, I'm just sitting here having my coffee.

So what do you think? Did i get a copy?
And do bars vary that much on a 2:35 movies?

Thanks

The Abyss is non-anamorphic so you'll need to set your tv to zoom and not full(16:9).

Hi Chris, I have the same 2 disk set right here with me...Both disks in my set have artwork. I do believe I bought this set when it came out so it is possible the early versions of this set had artwork and the later ones did not. I have the same UPC you list. Does your disks have any words on it at all?

Hi Wildo,

No, nothing. There are some #s on the Disc but that's it.

Would i be able to tell anything from the case anything?

You can find your anwser in one of the 5 previos thread of The Abyss:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=488951
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=468743
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=452178
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=423994
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=393536

A 2.35:1 movie (not 2:35) is a 2.35:1 movie. They should all look the same, assuming you have your DVD player set up correctly, which I don't think you do.

If I were a betting man, I'd say you have a standard 4:3 TV and you have your DVD player set to output to a widescreen TV, thus stretching the picture on DVDs that are enhanced for widescreen TVs. "The Abyss" is not enhanced, so it isn't being stretched.

Thanks for the links.

Funny, I tried search first, but didn't get those.

So, my only question left is, do some DVDs have art work and do some, like mine, have NO art work?

Often, the first pressing of a disc has the art, later pressings do not.

Sorry Mr Salty,you lost that bet. That's why i don't bet either.

Here is my system.
http://www.martinloganowners.com/~td...read.php?t=406

My 2-disc Abyss was purchased at Borders right before it went out of print. The discs have artwork, different on each disc. The black bars are the correct size for a 2.35:1 movie on an non-enhanced disc. The UPC is the same as yours. The discs came in a double keepcase (the 3-part kind where the front and back each open separately) made of silver-grey plastic. There's a booklet that describes the changes in the restored movie chapter-by-chapter.

You might just take a tape measure to the screen and see if the width-to-height ratio being displayed is really 2.35:1, if you're concerned. I can't think of an explanation that would account for vertically *shrinking* the image, creating wider black bars. What does the image itself look like?

If the non-enhanced letterbox disc had been copied, and the "enhanced" flag set to "on" by the bootlegger, then you'd see the same size bars at top and bottom, and a stretched picture.

As you know, a non-enhanced widescreen movie should appear on your 16:9 set with black bars on all four sides (the ones top and bottom are part of the video on the disc). Some TV's have settings to automatically zoom such a picture. Some TVs also have settings that automatically zoom anything with black bars.

R

You dont have a copy. Star Wars PM is anamorphic and the Abyss is not hence the thicker black bars. No offense, but for someone who has the equipment you have should know this.
Why not take apicture of the DVD itself and post just to make sure?

What gets me is that he hasn't noticed that the picture is horribly stretched.

Why should the black bars be thicker?

On a 16:9 display, a letterboxed non-anamorphic movie will show up with black bars on all four sides (because it's really just an ordinary 4:3 image, one that includes bars at the top and bottom of the frame as part of the image).

If the TV is set to automagically stretch 4:3 images, the image will indeed be stretched horizontally, but the vertical size of the black bars won't change. If there's an auto-zoom function active, they would get smaller, not bigger.

Unless he's using zoom on everything, even anamorphic discs like Phantom Menace, which would make the black bars smaller than they should be (while cropping the sides of the image).

R

You're not thinking of it properly. It's true that "the vertical size of the black bars won't change", but remember that you've got a 2.35:1 letterboxed image inside a 4:3 frame pillarboxed inside a 16:9 TV screen. That non-anamorphic picture is shrunken down to postage-stamp size. It's got huge bars on all 4 sides. Then you take that and stretch it sideways to fill the width of the screen.

right ... if he has his tv set in 4:3 mode then hell have bars on all four sides...if it's in full mode (which most users of 16:9) have their tv set to, then a non anamorphic 2:35:1 dvd will be stretched with thick bars on top and bottom).

Looks like Fox is dipping into this title again on June 5th. Appears it will just be a new lenticular cover. Doubt there will be an anamorphic transfer because, well, you already know.

http://www.navarre.com/prodhome.aspx?ItemNumber=2217591

Also looks like they are lenticular-izing and re-dipping into their other usual titles. Predator, ID4, I Robot, etc.

Lame. No 16x9 ever for this title? How hard could it have been after all these years?

Not in Region 1, no. There are anamorphic editions in PAL territories, though.

Who has the best edition of this? I recently became multi-region capable.

Also, once PAL is converted to NTSC by the DVD player, is PAL speedup still present?

I believe the Australian R4 edition, but I haven't really been keeping up.

Yes, speedup never goes away.

My brother in law is the same way. He's got a kick ass home theatre but doesn't know jack about it. I should have charged him for setting it up and tweeking it.

pics are up

I own the region 4 edition of the abyss.. its not enhanced for widescreen.

Jacob

Well, for a film that's had so many different versions released (with just different packaging or not), you would think that somebody would think it's a good idea to update this with a nice looking anamorphic transfer. Some of these studios really just don't know a good opportunity when it's sitting right on their lap... and sitting there for so long at that.

Cameron is doing a movie or two again it seems, perhaps when it's close to having them out in the theaters, we'll see a re-release of The Abyss.... along with most likely the release of 'Terminator 2: The We're So Confident We'll Make Money Anyhow We're Not Even Going To Name This Edition-Edition'.

You know what, I may have gotten it confused with True Lies.