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[Schattenjäger]

i own a 55 inch CRT rear projection HDTV widescreen.. no HDMI just component and can only run in 1080i...
would it be worth it for me to purchase a PS3??? will the blu ray movies look good on my screen or should i hold off on blu ray for another 2 years when i buy another tv

 

[DJ_Tet]

i own a 55 inch CRT rear projection HDTV widescreen.. no HDMI just component and can only run in 1080i...
would it be worth it for me to purchase a PS3??? will the blu ray movies look good on my screen or should i hold off on blu ray for another 2 years when i buy another tv

My gf has a tv just like yours, no hdmi just dvi or component. I brought my 360 hd-dvd player over and it was very impressive, better than anything I have seen on her screen.

So, I wouldn't let that tv hold me back if I wanted to invest in hd media.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

i own a 55 inch CRT rear projection HDTV widescreen.. no HDMI just component and can only run in 1080i...
would it be worth it for me to purchase a PS3??? will the blu ray movies look good on my screen or should i hold off on blu ray for another 2 years when i buy another tv

Blu-rays will look great, but as far as games on the PS3 go you'll have to deal with the fact that some of the games already out, and most likely some going forward, will not support 1080i which means you'll be stuck with 480p output on those games.

 

[ManaByte]

BB Review:

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/248/batmanbegins.html

Mirroring the previous HD DVD release, Warner again presents 'Batman Begins' in 2.40:1 widescreen and 1080p/VC-1 video. There are surprises here, as this appears to be an identical encode. That ain't a bad thing, however, as I really can't find anything real to fault here.

I've always thought that the dominant color of the Batman cinematic universe has been black, from the black of the Gotham skies to black rubber of Batman's suit to the black chrome of the Batmobile. Even recalling my 'Batman Begins' experience in the theater, I remember it being a rather dour experience. Which makes this Blu-ray such an eye-opening experience. Even if the film remains appropriately dark and even grimy in spots, colors are rich, vivid and free from oversaturation. Right from the beginning, such as in the early flashback scenes of Bruce Wayne as a child, oranges, yellows and greens are quite rich and pure. Even the training scenes early on with the Liam Neeson character, which are shot in overcast exteriors, exhibit flashes of striking color, such as the deep blues of the arctic ice or the subtle shadings on a flower. Hues never bleed or smear, and no chroma noise is apparent. Only fleshtones appear a bit artificial.

The source material has also been kept in pristine shape. Blacks are rock solid and contrast excellent. The image has great "pop" but even the harshest whites don't bloom or obscure detail, and shadow delineation -- essential to a dark and moody Batman flick -- is superior. Even in the darkly-lit lair of the Scarecrow, for example, I could still make out the texture on the burlap sack cover his head, right down to the lines in the rope holding it together. Much sharper than the disappointing DVD version, the sense of depth is consistently top-notch throughout. The encode is likewise strong, with no macroblocking or any type of posterization is present. And though there is some slight film grain present at times, there are no compression problems or resultant noise. 'Batman Begins' may offer nothing new for those who already own or rented the HD DVD, but it still looks great.

 

[Solo]

Ive been assumuing for months that WB would just slap the HD DVD transfer on the BD version. Looks like I was correct.

 

[tahrikmili]

Where are you getting the player? Or is it a second-hand one?

A local chain store here in Turkey has them in stock and wants to unload them.

 

[mckmas8808]

So how are Blu-ray sales now? Does anybody know?

 

[avaya]

So how are Blu-ray sales now? Does anybody know?

Perpetual motion.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=23417

This year has to be breakout Christmas. Right now it's doing alright. It can do better. Some titles are selling very respectable numbers relative to DVD in revenue terms.

The original expectation was for a $1bn movie market in 2008 for Blu-ray. Touch and go as far as that goes.

 

[VanMardigan]

Perpetual motion.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=23417

This year has to be breakout Christmas. Right now it's doing alright. It can do better. Some titles are selling very respectable numbers relative to DVD in revenue terms.

The original expectation was for a $1bn movie market in 2008 for Blu-ray. Touch and go as far as that goes.

Seems like the death of HD DVD did absolutely NOTHING to spur Blu Ray adoption. Aside from a spike in March (what movie caused that spike?), it has been pretty much stuck in mud. A bunch of folks were whining about HD DVD holding up adoption, but as I suspected the biggest culprit still, IMO, are the player prices. They're still too damn expensive, and Ps3 is STILL the format's lifeline. I'm pretty much hoping Blu can catch fire this Xmas, and I've pretty much talked my brother into buying a BD player for the holidays, but only if the prices on the players come down, since he's NOT going to be buying a Ps3.

As for Batman Begins, there were a ton of people claiming that it would be a new encode. I wish I'd saved those posts. :lol

 

[DJ_Tet]

My gf was talking about investing in blu but I told her not to bother unless she wants a PS3. I too am not convinced at the long-term viability of this product, unfortunately. I'm hoping that HD video is more than niche but at this rate niche appears to be where it's headed. Unfortunate.

And yeah, the stigma against having a 'game' system as your main video equipment still exists, especially with the older crowd.

 

[rage1973]

Seems like the death of HD DVD did absolutely NOTHING to spur Blu Ray adoption. Aside from a spike in March (what movie caused that spike?), it has been pretty much stuck in mud. A bunch of folks were whining about HD DVD holding up adoption, but as I suspected the biggest culprit still, IMO, are the player prices. They're still too damn expensive, and Ps3 is STILL the format's lifeline. I'm pretty much hoping Blu can catch fire this Xmas, and I've pretty much talked my brother into buying a BD player for the holidays, but only if the prices on the players come down, since he's NOT going to be buying a Ps3.

As for Batman Begins, there were a ton of people claiming that it would be a new encode. I wish I'd saved those posts. :lol

Exactly all these BR supporters were crying for HD DVD to fail and this would explode the market for Bluray. All it did was increase the price I pay for the movies and reduce the ongoing sales that used to come around.

 

[mrklaw]

Seems like the death of HD DVD did absolutely NOTHING to spur Blu Ray adoption. Aside from a spike in March (what movie caused that spike?), it has been pretty much stuck in mud. A bunch of folks were whining about HD DVD holding up adoption, but as I suspected the biggest culprit still, IMO, are the player prices. They're still too damn expensive, and Ps3 is STILL the format's lifeline. I'm pretty much hoping Blu can catch fire this Xmas, and I've pretty much talked my brother into buying a BD player for the holidays, but only if the prices on the players come down, since he's NOT going to be buying a Ps3.

As for Batman Begins, there were a ton of people claiming that it would be a new encode. I wish I'd saved those posts. :lol

the economy has moved the goalposts too. Look at the relative sales of DVDs - they've dropped a lot recently too.

 

[Kolgar]

Seems like the death of HD DVD did absolutely NOTHING to spur Blu Ray adoption. Aside from a spike in March (what movie caused that spike?), it has been pretty much stuck in mud. A bunch of folks were whining about HD DVD holding up adoption, but as I suspected the biggest culprit still, IMO, are the player prices. They're still too damn expensive, and Ps3 is STILL the format's lifeline. I'm pretty much hoping Blu can catch fire this Xmas, and I've pretty much talked my brother into buying a BD player for the holidays, but only if the prices on the players come down, since he's NOT going to be buying a Ps3.

As for Batman Begins, there were a ton of people claiming that it would be a new encode. I wish I'd saved those posts. :lol

I've purposely avoided saying this in here until now, but I think new television technology may have something to do with it as well.

I bought a Samsung LN46A650 120Hz LCD earlier this year, and holeee shit, even standard DVDs look jaw dropping. I'm no longer disappointed in the least when I want to watch a movie and I don't have it on either Blu-ray or HD DVD. Now, I just put the movie in and marvel at how the damn thing has never looked so good before.

For me, it's definitely taken some of the sheen off HD releases.

 

[KZObsessed]

My There Will Be Blood Blu-ray has shipped! Finally! I've been waiting since January for this yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah!!!

 

[favouriteflavour]

Seems like the death of HD DVD did absolutely NOTHING to spur Blu Ray adoption. Aside from a spike in March (what movie caused that spike?), it has been pretty much stuck in mud. A bunch of folks were whining about HD DVD holding up adoption, but as I suspected the biggest culprit still, IMO, are the player prices. They're still too damn expensive, and Ps3 is STILL the format's lifeline. I'm pretty much hoping Blu can catch fire this Xmas, and I've pretty much talked my brother into buying a BD player for the holidays, but only if the prices on the players come down, since he's NOT going to be buying a Ps3.

As for Batman Begins, there were a ton of people claiming that it would be a new encode. I wish I'd saved those posts. :lol

March was the first month after HD DVD folded wasnt it? I would guess that the spike was a large amount of HD DVD only owners migrating over to bluray rather than the release of any particular movie. I know I went and picked up a PS3 right after the announcement.

 

[Lord Error]

My gf was talking about investing in blu but I told her not to bother unless she wants a PS3.

Why not? I mean even if you only care about movies, every new movie will be released on BD, and PS3 is the best choice as a player.

even standard DVDs look jaw dropping. I'm no longer disappointed in the least when I want to watch a movie and I don't have it on either Blu-ray or HD DVD.

For me, there's no going back to DVD. No matter what upscaling, no matter what TV, it just doesn't look good anymore. Of course, I don't mind it if it's a movie where I don't really care what it looks like (and there's actually quite a few movies where I don't). The TV you're talking about is able to interpolate motion to a higher framerate, but that still doesn't make resolution and detail any better, and said interpolation of course works with HD content as well.

 

[distantmantra]

Honneamise Panel Information (03:06 PM EDT): The Honneamise panel at Anime Expo is netting some interesting nuggets of information as discussions about the plans for the new labels titles are coming out:

Simultaneous releases are still the main goal, with lower pricing than they've had in the past, and they will be looking at English language dubs on a title by title basis.

Freedom will be the first under the new label to be put out and will be on Blu-ray in November 2008 with a new DVD release due out in early 2009. The series will be dubbed in English and French and will be a 4 Blu-ray disc limited edition box set for 139.98. The language breakdown for the release isn't specified, but it will contain a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track and a LPCM stereo mix, both presumably for the Japanese. The HD DVD release contained only a Dolby Digital+ 5.1 track and LPCM stereo track. It will contain the seventh episode as well which appears to no longer be coming out on the Twin Format HD DVD release, meaning that Volume 6 is the final HD DVD release of the series. Bandai Entertainment proper will handle the DVD release in the first quarter of 2009.
Gunbuster Vs Diebuster Gattai movie will see release on 11/25/2008 for $49.98 but could not be dubbed. A 3 disc Blu-ray edition will be released as well for $99.98.
In regards to Freedom DVD, you can get it either in boxset form, or get regular DVD next year 1-3, 4-7 (two volumes released by BEI).

 

[YYZ]

Wow, Bandai continues with the ridiculous pricing.

 

[Bebpo]

Yeah, Bandai completely blew off Blu-ray for the rest of 2008 while their Japanese counterpart continues to release all the classics in excellent Blu-ray transfers with NO ENGLISH SUBS.

It's a complete disaster and I'm seriously angered by it. Where the fuck is my CCA w/subs US release? Gundam OO? Escaflowne? wtf......

 

[Duderz]

Bebpo, I'm curious if you own the Perfect Blue Blu-ray, and if so, any impressions?

 

[Bebpo]

Bebpo, I'm curious if you own the Perfect Blue Blu-ray, and if so, any impressions?

I don't :\ I just have Paprika, Brave Story, Jin-Roh, Honneamise, Tekkon Kinkreet, and Stranger in terms of Blu-ray anime.

I'm holding off on importing the Japanese Blu-rays of films I love because I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A NO BRAINER for Bandai to bring them out a few months later with subs in the US. Too bad Bandai has no brains :\

 

[rollingstart]

Yeah, Bandai completely blew off Blu-ray for the rest of 2008 while their Japanese counterpart continues to release all the classics in excellent Blu-ray transfers with NO ENGLISH SUBS.

It's a complete disaster and I'm seriously angered by it. Where the fuck is my CCA w/subs US release? Gundam OO? Escaflowne? wtf......

I want CCA with english subs bad.

 

[Midas]

Anyone got their hands on One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest yet? I think it hits retail in a week or so. Would be nice to get some impressions. I will probably buy it even if the transfer isn't that great just because it's one of the best films ever.

 

[aznpxdd]

Watched Kingdom of Heaven DC on Blu-ray today and it looks beautiful. The scenery and cinematography were top notch, glad I watched the film in HD. The movie itself is a hell lot better than the theatrical cut also.

 

[ChryZ]

Gunbuster Vs Diebuster Gattai movie will see release on 11/25/2008 for $49.98 but could not be dubbed. A 3 disc Blu-ray edition will be released as well for $99.98.

I want this, but holy crap ... the prices ... they're insane ~___~

 

[KZObsessed]

omg There Will Be Bloodz has arrived! Gonna check it out now and watch it later!

*touches self*

 

[Naked Snake]

Watched Kingdom of Heaven DC on Blu-ray today and it looks beautiful. The scenery and cinematography were top notch, glad I watched the film in HD. The movie itself is a hell lot better than the theatrical cut also.

I watched the DVD release of the DC on a 20" CRT I was extremely impressed with the scenery and cinematography and I remember thinking "I want to see this on blu-ray one day". It must look great.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

I don't :\ I just have Paprika, Brave Story, Jin-Roh, Honneamise, Tekkon Kinkreet, and Stranger in terms of Blu-ray anime.

I'm holding off on importing the Japanese Blu-rays of films I love because I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A NO BRAINER for Bandai to bring them out a few months later with subs in the US. Too bad Bandai has no brains :\

any word on Sword of the stranger on bluray?(with subs)

 

[Decado]

Watched Kingdom of Heaven DC on Blu-ray today and it looks beautiful. The scenery and cinematography were top notch, glad I watched the film in HD. The movie itself is a hell lot better than the theatrical cut also.

Yeah, this was awesome. One of my beset purchases, for sure. Troy Director's Cut also looks fantastic. Hell, even Alexander The Final Cut looks gorgeous (the the movies itself isn't really worth watching).

 

[StoOgE]

Ive been assumuing for months that WB would just slap the HD DVD transfer on the BD version. Looks like I was correct.

no real reason to redo it, it was one of the better HDDVD encodes.

 

[Fuzz Rez]

Has anyone seen Protege on BD ?

Is the movie any good and is the video quality good ?

 

[Solo]

no real reason to redo it, it was one of the better HDDVD encodes.

I wasnt trying to say it was a bad transfer, as it wasnt - it was quite excellent. I was just more or less saying that people who expected a new transfer were getting a bit ahead of themselves. The movie came out in 2005, and the HD DVD hit in late 2006. No real reason for WB to spend the time and effort and money on a new transfer when the existing HD one is less than 2 years old and still great looking.

 

[StoOgE]

I wasnt trying to say it was a bad transfer, as it wasnt - it was quite excellent. I was just more or less saying that people who expected a new transfer were getting a bit ahead of themselves. The movie came out in 2005, and the HD DVD hit in late 2006. No real reason for WB to spend the time and effort and money on a new transfer when the existing HD one is less than 2 years old and still great looking.

I didnt mean to imply you did. I was just throwing that out there for anyone who might be disapointed. Im format neutral, and its one of the best looking movies I own. Its soundtrack also rocks the hizzy in trueHD.

 

[Bebpo]

any word on Sword of the stranger on bluray?(with subs)

Actually yeah, Bandai said they would be bringing out the blu-ray & dvd in the US probably by the end of the year. So at least that's coming.

 

[Costanza]

Posting this again cause it got buried under other posts the other day:

E.T. is on HDNet Movies tonight at 8 PM

 

[Fuzz Rez]

Good (probably old) news. Welcome to Dongmakgol and Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War are both region free movies !

Trailer

Trailer

 

[StoOgE]

Posting this again cause it got buried under other posts the other day:

E.T. is on HDNet Movies tonight at 8 PM

Is it real ET or walkie talkie ET?

 

[tha_con]

Seems like the death of HD DVD did absolutely NOTHING to spur Blu Ray adoption. Aside from a spike in March (what movie caused that spike?), it has been pretty much stuck in mud. A bunch of folks were whining about HD DVD holding up adoption, but as I suspected the biggest culprit still, IMO, are the player prices. They're still too damn expensive, and Ps3 is STILL the format's lifeline. I'm pretty much hoping Blu can catch fire this Xmas, and I've pretty much talked my brother into buying a BD player for the holidays, but only if the prices on the players come down, since he's NOT going to be buying a Ps3.

As for Batman Begins, there were a ton of people claiming that it would be a new encode. I wish I'd saved those posts. :lol

If you knew what you were talking about, I'd give you a decent reply.

But you're off base.

 

[methos75]

If you knew what you were talking about, I'd give you a decent reply.

But you're off base.

How so, he is correct. BD adoption rates since the death of HD-DVD has gone now 33% according to sales data. It really seems that the competition was helping to spur BD sells, but now people are just content to wait.

 

[Lhadatt]

If you knew what you were talking about, I'd give you a decent reply.

But you're off base.

Bluray ain't going anywhere until the public can get a good player for under $200 and a good > 30" HDTV for under $600. They need to have an upgradable, good quality player at $150, with discs at $20.

This $400 player/$35 disc crap is limiting adoption. This is basic economics.

 

[Costanza]

Batman Begins Blu-ray is 19.99 in Best Buy's weekly ad

 

[Forsete]

Whatever happened to Da Vinci Code on Blu-Ray? I remember Sony pimping it when BD was being launched, since then.. radio static or have I missed something?

 

[VanMardigan]

Whatever happened to Da Vinci Code on Blu-Ray? I remember Sony pimping it when BD was being launched, since then.. radio static or have I missed something?

There's a 1080p trailer in Talladega Nights that I saw last night and I was wondering the same thing.

edit:

There's also a Seinfeld dvd trailer, and it's in 1080i and made me wish for a Seinfeld BD collection as well.

 

[Cheebs]

Probably waiting to tie it in to Angels & Demons.

 

[Ronin]

Batman Begins Blu-ray is 19.99 in Best Buy's weekly ad

Fuck yes.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

Actually yeah, Bandai said they would be bringing out the blu-ray & dvd in the US probably by the end of the year. So at least that's coming.

YES! thanks. Definately the best movie i have seen in a very long time.

 

[DMczaf]

Batman Begins Blu-ray is 19.99 in Best Buy's weekly ad

Nice, I have $20 in reward certificates.

 

[traveler]

Two questions:

1. What's the current status on a potential Lost in Translation BR? Announced? Given a Release Date? Still not announced?

2. What's the deal with Pixar releases? So far we've got the shorts, Cars, and Ratatouille on BR- (with Wall-E presumably coming later this year) when will the rest hit?

 

[Dan]

2. What's the deal with Pixar releases? So far we've got the shorts, Cars, and Ratatouille on BR- (with Wall-E presumably coming later this year) when will the rest hit?

Finding Nemo is coming in the Fall.

There's no benefit to dumping all those movies at once, so you can bet they'll be staggered. I'd kinda expect Toy Story and Toy Story 2 to arrive after their respective 3D versions hit theaters.

 

[chubigans]

Finding Nemo is coming in the Fall.

There's no benefit to dumping all those movies at once, so you can bet they'll be staggered. I'd kinda expect Toy Story and Toy Story 2 to arrive after their respective 3D versions hit theaters.

Nemo was delayed to 2009, sadly.