I am shopping for Terminator 1 Laserdiscs now to be able to enjoy the original mono sound design of the movie.

If I got it right the best NTSC version of that movie are

Terminator, The (1984) [ID8316HD]
Terminator, The (1984) [ID2940NSB]

is this correct?

if so then they are both quite pricey and i have seen Japanese discs that are bit cheaper.

If so do the Japanese discs have the same master like one the first 2 discs or not?

Is there a Japanese counterpart to the THX release of the movie?

You are pointing towards the 1991 non-THX master and the 1995 THX remaster.



I also wanted to collect Terminator 1 on LD but I picked the Japanese THX 1996 release instead because I liked the design better to be displayed in a frame on the wall.

Terminator, The (1984) [PILF-2292]



Only one US and one Japan release have the THX remaster: https://www.lddb.com/search.php?adv_search=*&adv_reference=&IMDb=0088247&format=ld&thx=yes

Julien

Thanks a lot for the quick reply and the recommendations. I think I will also pick the japanese release. The classic T1 cover design with the Katankana on the right side really looks amazing. I am also looking forward to see the movie again with the classic sound design for the first time since the 90s when I was watching my vhs recording again and again.

I have the Japanese THX disc, it's really nice.
Disc has a good master with a nice picture and audio quality.
A huge disappointment this movie was recorded in mono.
Shooting scenes would have been great in stereo.

Thanks for sharing your impressions @gweilo. You are right that the movie would sound better in Stereo but the Mono Design gave T1 a special flair. I like it more than the modern remix. As a preparation for the revival of my upcoming LD player, I tested my retro tink 5x with some analog footage from my old VHS collection. One of the movies I tested was my old TV recording from T1 I have not watched since the 90s. It was not just a short testing season I ended up watching the whole movie because it sounded so different. I like it and cannot wait to have T1 on LD in wide screen. I really prefer the mono sound design over the updated 5.1 dvd versions.

@all Got another Terminator question. This time about T2. Are the Japanese special editions content-wise similar to the US NTSC releases? The Japanese special edition would be a bit cheaper than the US ones.

US release of T2 in widescream is the longest unrated version so this must be the #1 to pick I think
I have T2 the THX Japanese version, I like this a lot.

BTW
On both dvd and blu-ray did T1 get fake stereo audio or is it mono audio

Thanks for the info about the T2 ld.

Is this the

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) [PILF-2554]

the version you have and like?


About T1. Most modern-day releases of T1 have just the new 5.1 mix in the Pal territory. In Europe, we have never received original audio on digital discs.

You have more ways to get the original audio in Region 1.

The mgm special edition dvd of 2001 has it. And at least according to the package you also have it on the DVD Release of Terminator 1 from 2015.

And Region 3.

Nein, not that one.
This is the one I have.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Special Edition (1991) [PILF-1734]


This is the uncut US version, it differs only 1 minute between my Japanese disc and the US disc.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Special Edition (1991) (Uncut) [82997-2WS]

Although I prefer stereo sound, Terminator 1 has a certain charm over it's dystopic theme it works with mono sound aswell.

The MGM T1 dvd version is the best sounding and best looking release on all modern formats, not including the mentioned proper laserdisc releases. The later dvd/blu-ray/4k releases either had different sound remixes or excessive dnr done on the film. I just watched the 2001 mgm version and enjoyed it immensely, I need to rewatch the pilf-2992 version but from what I’ve read, the mgm dvd is sourced from the laserdisc so they should look and sound pretty identical.

I could be wrong as I’m a fairly newbie in the LD world.

PILF-2922 looks pretty good (rewatched it a few days ago).

Any idea from which master the Japan "Ultimate Edition" 2003 DVD (DD/DTS) was sourced from?



Julien

@psu190 Thanks for the info. I am more interested in the LD releases at the moment but after a proper release of Terminator 1 on DVD, it would also be a great thing. I will add the MGM 2001 edition to my DVD collection soon.

I am still looking for the PILF-2292 ld and will pull the trigger as soon as I find one copy.

So far I could only find an earlier T1 LD.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204960799647

Might be not that bad as well but I am more interested to get a THX pressing to have the best version of the movie on Laserdisc.

That's a unique listing because it has DTS mix. No other The Terminator releases that i've seen has a DTS mix. Very interesting. It also has the Dolby Digital 5.1 which was a brand new remix. The USA releases starting in 2003 received this same Dolby Digital mix. I might pick up that Japanese release just to hear what the DTS sounds like. Cool find! To answer your question, it's a brand new remix so it was not sourced.

I'm surprised PILF-2292 is hard to find. It'll pop up again for sure and they don't go for that much.

I went down a rabbit for the last 2 hours and found this write up. https://www.avforums.com/reviews/termin ... view.1634/

Someone in Japan already did the analysis

=> http://www.ld-dvd-bluray.2-d.jp/smp/hikaku_terminator.html

We find the first LD then THX LD releases with the matching non-anamorphic 1998 first Japan DVD release [CPVD-1001] in Mono English/Japanese.



DVD is then updated to the MGM anamorphic transfer in 2001 with English DD5.1EX, English Mono and Japanese DD5.1EX as [GXBA-15917].



Repackaged as the Ultimate Edition in 2003 where English DTS is added but English mono is removed.



Released again when MGM was purchased by SONY with a few tweaks in 2006 as [TMUC-43877] until MGM quickly canceled the DVD contract with SONY.
Released again by 20th Century FOX (same contents) as [MGBGD-15917] few months later.
Released again by 20th Century FOX (same contents) as a New Ultimate Edition with just a package upgrade as [MGBUB-15917] in 2007.

Then it's all the Blu-Rays from 2006 to 2016.

Julien

And now the 4K AI-remastered release offers Atmos, 7.1, 5.1 and Mono options!

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Terminator-4K-Blu-ray/369248/

Julien

There's always a catch, isn't there?

This is an interesting thread.

I basically started boycotting anything that is using DNR, AI upscaling, etc. I boycott that. It's killing films for me.

I'd rather watch an old DVD/laserdisc or even an old VHS tape.

The Terminator 1 Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and all other upmixes contain new sound effects. This is also what was done with many older Hong Kong films. Shame on these film studios.

Terminator 1 needs to be watched with mono sound. Period.

The Alien 4K disc is fantastic, the Aliens 4K disc isn't with its excessive use of DNR and AI upscaling.

The Full Metal Jacket 4K disc is a very good release. Picture is great and they even included the Dolby Digital mono track from the first US DVD release.

Mono sound is perfectly fine. One of my favourite films of all times, Videodrome, for instance, is mono and sounds amazing. I wouldn't want to watch it with a new Dolby Atmos 11.1 speakers upmix. Same with Scanners which is mono, too.

You got to remember that us the audience as in here on lddb, is not the audience current 4K releases are going for. If you go on r/4k you’ll read how everyone wants Atmos remixes with hdr grading and film grain removed. They only care about how it looks and how it sounds on their new OLED’s and Atmos enabled speakers. Not how the film maker intended it to look or sound.

You make a great statement about Aliens 4K release. It’s one of the few 4K releases that keeps the original remix along with no DNR, it does have hdr which is OK I guess. It’s also rare to see a 4K release with DTS encoding. We just watched the Japanese AC3 release of Alien a few weeks ago and it looked and sounded amazing for being almost a 30YO release.

Everyone also raves about the LOTR 4K releases with new sound remixes and new color. To me, the DVD version is the closest you get to the theatrical release with sound and color. If you say that on r/4k, you’ll be downvoted to oblivion.

Sorry to go off the rails in respect to the original subject. Buy yes, I will only watch T1 on the Hemdale mono or the T1 Japanese THX release.

And that was your first mistake

somehow I doubt they have that same discourse over at the blu-ray.com forums

Reddit is a great website but when it comes to stuff like home theater it’s a travesty. It’s just people wanting to be congratulated for everything non-stop 24/7. Members are aggressively urged to NEVER provide anything but POSITIVE FEEDBACK ONLY. In engineering terms it’s like a PID loop with no P or I. What could go wrong? Questions like, “Why did you buy that?” are considered satanic. “Why not?”, they’ll respond, as if a modern quantifying human being was ideally operating open loop non-stop and never needs an actual reason to do anything…only a reason to *not* do it, right? If you have the credit and time off just do EVERYTHING. You’re never going to get old and die so keep buying more Star Wars crap and slabbed collectibles FOREVER. You should NEVER question yourself.

A lot of really stupid really depressed people need smoke blown up their skirt literally %100 of the time or they will straight up just kill themselves. Do you want to be responsible for that? Obviously not. So just post picture after picture of tech crap you blow your money on. After a while you’ll be so depressed yourself that you’ll understand the policy totally.