In case anyone here cares:

Recently, a couple of James Cameron's movies, The Abyss and True Lies, have been released on 4K blu-ray. Fans have been waiting years for these movies to be remastered, since the last time these were released on physical media was on DVD, years ago. Personally, I was waiting for The Abyss, as I really enjoyed the movie; I had it on DVD years ago and have been waiting for it to be released on at least blu-ray since I started checking for it in 2010 or so.

I still like to buy movies & TV shows I really like on physical media, so that I don't have to worry about a streaming service removing it, etc.. Also, I have a media server at home (using Plex Media Server) so that I can watch my movies & shows more easily. When I buy a movie/show on disc, I'll rip it on my main PC (using MakeMKV), then transcode it to a smaller file (usually using Handbrake) for my media server. I also make backup copies of both the ripped & transcoded files on external USB hard drives.

It seems there has been some quality issues with the Abyss 4K blu-ray release, as a good number of people have had errors ripping the movies from the 4K disc. There's a thread on forum.makemkv.com about it.. One thing that has frustrated people about this release is that in the blu-ray case, the 4K disc is stacked on top of another disc (the bonus content disc, I believe). Some people have reported the 4K disc was scratched. I myself had bought 2 copies, and while my 4K disc didn't appear scratched, it had errors ripping, and I returned both of those copies. More recently, I bought one from Target online, which arrived this past Monday. This one used a blu-ray case with an additional tier inside, with each disc attached individually to its own side. Both editions of the movie (theatrical and extended) ripped successfully from the 4K disc for me.

Nightfox

It seems there has been some quality issues with the Abyss 4K blu-ray release, as a good number of people have had errors
ripping the movies from the 4K disc.

That's interesting! Is it known if the errors are due to manufacturing / packaging problems, or if there's something intentional in the disc mastering to interfere with ripping tools? Are there problems reported when watching the disc in a standard bluray player also?

Good that you got your copy sorted out, even if it took some extra effort on your part.


Chris/akacastor

--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

Re: The Abyss 4K blu-ray, and disc ripping
By: AKAcastor to Nightfox on Wed Apr 24 2024 11:17 am

It seems there has been some quality issues with the Abyss 4K blu-ray
release, as a good number of people have had errors ripping the movies
from the 4K disc.

That's interesting! Is it known if the errors are due to manufacturing / packaging problems, or if there's something intentional in the disc mastering to interfere with ripping tools? Are there problems reported when watching the disc in a standard bluray player also?

I'm not sure, but from my experience, I think it may have been a manufacturing issue. 2 of the copies I bought had ripping/read errors at different points - With the first copy I bought, I was able to successfully rip the theatrical version but the extended version failed near the end; in the 2nd copy I bought, the theatrical version failed to rip at some point. But with the 3rd copy, my computer was able to rip both successfully. So I doubt it's an issue with the ripping tools, or even my optical drive (which has been able to rip many discs successfully).

Nightfox

Re: The Abyss 4K blu-ray, and disc ripping

I'm not sure, but from my experience, I think it may have been a manufacturing issue. 2 of the copies I bought had
ripping/read errors at different points - With the first
copy I bought, I was able to successfully rip the
theatrical version but the extended version failed near
the end; in the 2nd copy I bought, the theatrical
version failed to rip at some point. But with the 3rd
copy, my computer was able to rip both successfully. So
I doubt it's an issue with the ripping tools, or even my
optical drive (which has been able to rip many discs
successfully).

That's a long-anticipated 4K blueray release for them to mess up like that! Interesting to hear about, thanks for sharing.


Chris/akacastor

--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)