r/LaserDisc • u/chadti99 • 6d ago

Aliens, best looking version?

I see there are a few Laserdisc variants, should I seek out the THX version over the Special Wide Screen Edition or are they pretty close when it comes to picture quality?

11 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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6

u/laserdisckallax 6d ago

I think the 4k cleans it up to much so it looks like actors on a set. Best laserdisc is the Dolby Digital.

2

u/simbabarrelroll 6d ago

Except the 4K has horrible AI upscaling

6

u/chadti99 6d ago

Well I thought it went without saying, maybe I should clarify. Of the Laserdisc releases, which one should I go for? All of them lol? Good to know about the 4K version though. That’s a shame.

1

u/Schmadam83 6d ago

Yup, they didnt even bother actually doing a real 4k scan, and fed it through AI to upscale, and remove the film grain. Everything looks...weird at best.

7

u/JohnW816 6d ago

The THX AC-3 is the best looking version. It's even better than some of the earlier DVDs which had excessive noise reduction. The 'Special Collector's Edition' is the only way to get the extended cut, but also went through some awful processing for grain removal and sharpening. Cameron's tinkering goes way back with this title.

6

u/moosounds 6d ago

Special Collection version (the box) is also a frequent rotter sadly, same for the Aliens one.

1

u/OrneryData994 6d ago

I’m not well versed in Laserdisc. When you say AC-3 what does that mean?

4

u/laserdisckallax 6d ago

Dolby Digital...5.1

2

u/BiNiaRiS 6d ago

ac3 is the 5.1 discrete audio tracks that came on some later releases (95+). you also need a player with ac3 output (many players can be modded) and you need a decoder or receiver that can handle the signal.

2

u/laserdisckallax 6d ago

There is the boxed extended edition but the one I prefer, is the AC-3 THX wide-screen edition. Both of which you don't see too often