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The HD Movie thread

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Az987 said:
From HDD:

UPDATE 08/15/08: We've received word from Disney that despite retailer reports, the studio has now pushed back the Blu-ray release date for 'Sin City' to sometime in early 2009. We've updated our database accordingly

Fucking SHIT!
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jesus christ Disney.. stop dicking us around on this one.
 
Though we are still awaiting an official announcement, retailers have reported receiving a trade ad
touting a November 18 Blu-ray arrival for 'Wall•E,' day-and-date with the standard DVD.

wallebd.jpg


http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/s...trol:_Wall•E_to_Get_November_Blu-ray_Bow/2006

Cover art is similar to the game cover I think. Pity because the teaser/main posters looked much better.
 
Hulk will come in a Green Case I guess

_wsb_275x291_hulkblu.jpg


The Incredible Hulk is coming October 21st, but more exciting is the Blu-ray exclusive features. The release will include BD-Live to enjoy while viewing the film, as well as My Chat! Watch the movie with your friends through online connectivity. The Blu-ray edition will not be so Blu though, it will be a collectibe 3D Packaging, in green!
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Spinning Plates said:
Though we are still awaiting an official announcement, retailers have reported receiving a trade ad
touting a November 18 Blu-ray arrival for 'Wall•E,' day-and-date with the standard DVD.

wallebd.jpg


http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/s...trol:_Wall•E_to_Get_November_Blu-ray_Bow/2006

Cover art is similar to the game cover I think. Pity because the teaser/main posters looked much better.
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If this only were region free. :( We will probably get this in Europe next year.

Thanks for the tips about those sites!
 
Criterion Blu-Rays for November

20000_box_348x490.jpg


Special Features

* - DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY EDITION FEATURES:
* - New, restored high-definition digital transfer supervised and approved by director Wes Anderson and director of photography Robert Yeoman
* - Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
* - Commentary by director/co-writer Anderson and co-writer/actor Owen Wilson
* - The Making of “Bottle Rocket”: an original documentary by filmmaker Barry Braverman featuring Anderson, James L. Brooks, James Caan, Temple Nash Jr., Kumar Pallana, Polly Platt, Mark Mothersbaugh, Robert Musgrave, Richard Sakai, David and Sandy Wasco, Andrew and Luke and Owen Wilson, and Robert Yeoman
* - The original thirteen-minute black-and-white Bottle Rocket short film from 1992
* - Eleven deleted scenes
* - Anamorphic screen test, storyboards, location photos, and behind-the-scenes photographs by Laura Wilson
* - Murita Cycles, a 1978 short film by Braverman
* - The Shafrazi Lectures, no. 1: Bottle Rocket
* - PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by executive producer James L. Brooks, an appreciation by Martin Scorsese, and original artwork by Ian Dingman
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20001_box_348x490.jpg


Special Features

* - New, restored high-definition digital transfer
* - Remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack supervised by director Wong Kar-wai
* - Audio commentary by noted Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns
* - Episode excerpt from the British television series Moving Pictures featuring Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle
* - U.S. theatrical trailer
* - New and improved English subtitle translation
* - PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Amy Taubin and excerpts from a 1996 Sight and Sound interview with Wong by Rayns
Click to expand...
 
I think these are also coming out in November

20003_box_348x490.jpg


Special Features

* - DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY EDITION FEATURES:
* - High-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Nicolas Roeg
* - Uncompressed stereo soundtrack
* - Audio commentary by Roeg and actors David Bowie and Buck Henry
* - New video interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg Performance, video interviews with actors Candy Clark and Rip Torn
* - Audio interviews with costume designer May Routh and production designer Brian Eatwell
* - Audio interview from 1984 with author Walter Tevis, conducted by Don Swaim
* - Multiple stills galleries, including Routh’s costume sketches; behind-the-scenes photos; and production and publicity stills, introduced by set photographer David James
* - Gallery of posters from Roeg’s films
* - Trailers
* - PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Graham Fuller
Click to expand...

20002_box_348x490.jpg


Special Features

* - SPECIAL BLU-RAY EDITION FEATURES:
* - Restored high-definition digital transfer
* - Uncompressed mono soundtrack
* - Video introduction by writer-director Peter Bogdanovich
* - Two audio commentaries: one by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy, and one by by film scholar Dana Polan
* - Shadowing “The Third Man”/ (2005), a ninety-minute feature documentary on the making of the film
* - Abridged recording of Graham Greene’s treatment, read by actor Richard Clarke
* - “Graham Greene: The Hunted Man,” an hour-long, 1968 episode of the BBC’s Omnibus series, featuring a rare interview with the novelist
* - Who Was the Third Man? (2000), a thirty-minute Austrian documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew
* - The Third Man on the radio: the 1951 “A Ticket to Tangiers” episode of The Lives of Harry Lime series, written and performed by Orson Welles, and the 1951 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Third Man
* - Illustrated production history with rare behind-the-scenes photos, original UK press book, and U.S. trailer
* - Actor Joseph Cotten’s alternate opening voice-over narration for the U.S. version
* - Archival footage of postwar Vienna
* - A look at the untranslated foreign dialogue in the film
* - PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by Luc Sante
Click to expand...
 
I can't wait for Wall*E. I saw it on a crappy screen and even then it looked great. Also looking forward to Hulk, which I missed in the theaters.

It seems that chat function for HD DVD (I think it was in Harry Potter?) is making it's way to BD.

Considering it's now on Blu Ray, and the fact that most of us here own Ps3's and own a USB keyboard, maybe it'll get a warmer reception this time. Hopefully they let us use bt headsets as well.
 
original.jpeg
The Video: Sizing Up the Picture

'Transformers' is Paramount's top-selling next-gen title ever (on either format), and previously hit HD DVD back in 2007 with a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 (2.40:1) encode. The studio has not messed with their golden goose for Blu-ray, and again trot out the same specs for this go-round. But that ain't bad news, because you can just about pick any scene on this disc and you've got great demo material.

Michael Bay's visual style has always been one of overkill, and 'Transformers' is no exception. But this is arguably his most ambitious film stylistically, falling roughly into three distinct acts. The first third or so of the flick, with all the exposition leading up to the initial reveals of the main Transformers is quite "dirty," with heavy use of filters to dress down colors and add a more diffused look. Once the Autobots arrive on the scene, the second part of the film takes place almost entirely at night, with hotter contrast but brighter hues, and the image really pops here. Finally, the extended city battle with the Decepticons is again awash with harsh daylight, and so much CGI and fast-cutting that the last 30 minutes of the movie often looks like one big ball of motion blur.

Impressively, this transfer handles it all very, very well. Despite the edgy contrast which results in the usual hot whites, detail ranges from excellent to exceptional, with even the widest, most CGI-crammed vistas finely textured and rich. Colors, while again all over the map, are rendered accurately and without noise or loss of stability. Unfortunately, there is some over-saturation in spots, making the image blur out in areas of solid colors and/or giving fleshtones a bit more of an orange-y wash than actual human skin. The level of sharpness can also be a problem at times -- I was surprised to see noticeable jaggies on slow horizontal pans (such as tracking shots of cityscapes, or chrome on vehicles, etc.), giving the presentation an edgy, digital sheen. All other aspects of the transfer are perfect, though, with rock solid blacks, an absolutely pristine source and not a hint of compression artifacts -- remarkable considering the film's length and intensity of fast action.

Does 'Transformers' look absolutely "perfect?" No, but it is pretty damn close. And stylistically, this is somewhat of departure for Bay (at least compared to the perfume commercials passing for movies that have comprised most of his past work), so the nod to a newfound scumminess is appropriate. Make no mistake, you'll get a great show-off disc for your home theater here.

The Audio: Rating the Sound

Paramount's previous HD DVD release of 'Transformers,' contained a high-res Dolby Digital-Plus Surround option. With this Blu-ray they've provided a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround track (48kHz/24-bit). It's hard to imagine a home theater mix that could sound better.

To say 'Transformers' is incredibly aggressive is an understatement. Discrete effects are relentless, but it is precisely this lack of subtlety that any fan of the film would want. Directionality, imaging, accuracy of localized effects, and the sheer depth of the soundfield are superb -- the "wall of sound" illusion is utterly transparent. Even the front soundstage is a stunner -- stereo effects are quite pronounced, and the first time you get to hear a Transformer "transform," it's about as cool as the first time you heard a lightsaber unsheathe in 'Star Wars.'

As you would expect, this is also the kind of disc your subwoofer will devour. Even at moderate volume levels I was blown away by the sheer low frequencies that were drummed out. Whether you're talking about the opening attack, the sequence in the desert with that weird "sand Decepticon," or the film's entire last 30 minutes, there's such a sustained low bass presence that it's almost like it's another character in the movie. The realism and texture to every sound -- from the effects to the score to the dialogue -- is reference-quality. Volume issues are also, thankfully, not a problem -- I was truly shocked that I didn't have to reach for my remote once, as dialogue is leveled nicely throughout.
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Costanza said:
What happened to the 74 minutes of cut footage? They're just advertising an alternate opening?
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Saved for the director's cut to be released summer or holidays '09 [/cynicism]
 
Deep Discount dropped the prices on a ton of Warner HD-DVDs to $8.99 today, along with the Ocean's trilogy to $20, Sopranos to just under $30...

Costanza said:
What happened to the 74 minutes of cut footage? They're just advertising an alternate opening?
Click to expand...

It's cute that you thought something a director was spouting off about might actually show up on the DVD, especially the first release of said movie.
 
The deleted scenes are on the Hulk Blu-Ray, but its actually about 40 minutes of deleted scenes rather than 70

23 Deleted Scenes 41m 58s
Alternate Opening 2m 33s
Click to expand...

The alternate opening is most likely the Antarctica scene where Banner
tries to kill himself
 
So just out of curiousity, I was browsing around the net for any info at all on The Whole Bloody Affair, and apparently Uma Thurman had an interview with MTV back in April regarding some of the extended footage, in this case an anime scene that doesn't involve the Bride.

Nice to hear that, three years later, we still get teased, but I'll be damned if I spend money on two movies that should be one.
 
should be one? How so? This isn't Grindhouse. They were made as seperate movies. Combining them would be ridiculously lengthy.
 
HD-DVD is where it is at. 200+ HD-DVDs available at Fry's for $9.99 each.

Yeah, it is a dead format. But those discs will continue to work fine.

Ah . . . the spoils of format war. :D

BTW, I just watched 'V' for Vendetta. That was pretty awesome.
 
this might sound like a stupid question but reading some of the 'features' listings in this thread for some of these blu-ray releases has me worried. i have a ps3, but my speakers are only logitech z5500's (ie. only support DTS and DD5.1) does this mean i can't watch blu ray with proper sound as most of them are TrueHD etc ?
 
I haven't kept up with this thread but can any of you tell me if and when I can expect my two favorite movies, Lost in Translation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, on Blu-Ray in PAL territories?
 
julls said:
this might sound like a stupid question but reading some of the 'features' listings in this thread for some of these blu-ray releases has me worried. i have a ps3, but my speakers are only logitech z5500's (ie. only support DTS and DD5.1) does this mean i can't watch blu ray with proper sound as most of them are TrueHD etc ?
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You won't be able to listen to the lossless tracks (ie TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, PCM) but your still good to go with DD5.1 and DTS.

Incidentally if you ever decide to upgrade you'd only need a receiver that has HDMI which accepts multi channel uncompressed PCM audio. That's because the PS3 decodes TrueHD and DTS-HD MA into PCM then passes that to your receiver.
 
speculawyer said:
HD-DVD is where it is at. 200+ HD-DVDs available at Fry's for $9.99 each.

Yeah, it is a dead format. But those discs will continue to work fine.

Ah . . . the spoils of format war. :D

BTW, I just watched 'V' for Vendetta. That was pretty awesome.
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Yep, a $40 HD-A3 player is a hell of a lot cheaper than RE-buying the tons of movies I want in high def.

I've kinda went HD crazy this week. Found good deal on some decent movies. Got Italian Job, Payback: Directors Cut and Face Off.
 
Thanks to tax-free weekend in Massachusetts, and several Reward Zone certificates, I finally bought a Blu-ray player today (Sony BDP-S350). I can't wait to get excited about buying movies again! I kind of held back on DVD purchases over the past couple of years, since every time I did I just felt like it was a waste of money. Now I can't wait for this summer's big flicks to be released on BD, as well as a lot of my old favorites that haven't been yet.

Just wish I had some money left so I could take advantage of that Amazon buy-two-get-one deal.
 
captive said:
No, it doesnt and no it wasnt.

What did you get, speakers and screen?

Men In Black looks pretty good and the sound is fantastic.
Batman Begins you'll see how well your tv displays dark content.
Both are fairly new releases.
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Cool, I have recently picked up both of these, but have yet to watch.
 
The real trick with buying cheap HD DVDs is to buy a 360 drive so that when BD-R drives are affordable you can rip them all on your computer and burn them to Blu-ray. Totally legal as well, now that HD DVD fits the DMCA's criteria for obsolescence.
 
NekoFever said:
The real trick with buying cheap HD DVDs is to buy a 360 drive so that when BD-R drives are affordable you can rip them all on your computer and burn them to Blu-ray. Totally legal as well, now that HD DVD fits the DMCA's criteria for obsolescence.
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Seriously, that sounds like a huge hassle and why anyone would do that is beyond me. The few bucks you save from buying HD DVDs will probably go towards that BR drive and the BR disc too.

I also don't understand the people going for HD DVDs now when it's already an obsolete technology. Why buy something that you may not be able to use (lack of HD DVD drives) in the future? Why not just spend a little more for something you know you're going to be able to use five to ten years from now?
 
I've been picking up a few HD-DVDs on sale at Fry's, planning on getting a Blu-ray player hopefully in time for the release of Ironman and some other films. Must include Wall. E.
 
ElyrionX said:
Seriously, that sounds like a huge hassle and why anyone would do that is beyond me. The few bucks you save from buying HD DVDs will probably go towards that BR drive and the BR disc too.

I also don't understand the people going for HD DVDs now when it's already an obsolete technology. Why buy something that you may not be able to use (lack of HD DVD drives) in the future? Why not just spend a little more for something you know you're going to be able to use five to ten years from now?
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If you already on the player, buying cheap HD-DVDs is a win. I'm going to just buy new releases on Blu-ray for obvious reasons.
 
ElyrionX said:
Seriously, that sounds like a huge hassle and why anyone would do that is beyond me. The few bucks you save from buying HD DVDs will probably go towards that BR drive and the BR disc too.

I also don't understand the people going for HD DVDs now when it's already an obsolete technology. Why buy something that you may not be able to use (lack of HD DVD drives) in the future? Why not just spend a little more for something you know you're going to be able to use five to ten years from now?
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Because I cant get the HD's at 1/3 the price of their BD counterpart.

How far in the future are people expecting the HD DVD drives to all fail? I see this comment everywhere and its like they will all break in the next year. You will always be able to find a drive somehwere. If I wanted one I could find a Laserdisc player or a BetaMax player within 5 minutes on the web.

And going by Fry's stock as of last weekend there is a plentiful supply of 360 HD drives available. These can also be used on basically any modern PC.


Dont get me wrong, I still actively buy new movies on BD. I will admit with the higher prices I am more selective on what I buy.
 
Dead said:
I think these are also coming out in November
Click to expand...


Looks like The Last Emperor will also be released in the first batch of Criterion blurays.
Unfortunately they're using the cropped 2:1 aspect ratio. Damn Storaro...
 
Costanza said:
What are you guys picking up this week?

I'm just getting Terminator: SCC Season 1.
Click to expand...

Same as you.
 
Cosmic Bus said:
Just the Proposition for myself and a friend. Can't beat $10 catalog titles with more extras than the standard DVD... Taking notes, Fox?
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Where is that 10 bucks at? Amazon has it for 14 + ship.
 
OG_Original Gamer said:
If you already on the player, buying cheap HD-DVDs is a win. I'm going to just buy new releases on Blu-ray for obvious reasons.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. It's just basic math really.
The hardware is solid as hell, so there's no reason to ditch the players I do have and rebuy all my movies. For whatever reason on DOES fail, I can get another on EBay for dirt cheap. It's a small world now, much easier to get this kind of stuff.

Hell, for back catalog stuff, I can buy the HDdvd version for about 5$+ship or $20-$30 for bluray.

Since the demise of HD-DVD the price of the damn discs has gone UP and not down. Charging $25 for back catalog movies is a bit of rape.
 
Costanza said:
What are you guys picking up this week?
Click to expand...

Street Kings, I heard its not that great but I loved Training Day and Harsh Times so ill give it a try.

The Proposition is tempting for 13$ but I already have it on DVD... Great movie though so for that price I will definitly buy it some time down the road
 
so, i got heroes for 15 bucks on hddvd, Im nearly done. I really like it, but it kinda seems like they made a stand alone story that is going to wrap up in this season. I do sorta wish they dropped the lost style slow reveal mystery and went straihht out action, but I suppose that is how they keep the show affordable.

Which brings me to my question: just how bad is season 2? Is it just not as good, or am I better off pretending it doesnt exist? Anything happen in S2 that I need to know for S3?

Also, Sylar = watchmaker is ripoff total. I just pretend its an homage to watchmen and not outright theft.
 
Costanza said:
Where is that 10 bucks at? Amazon has it for 14 + ship.
Click to expand...

Family Video. They routinely beat almost everyone's prices on preorders (their Godfather Blu-ray is $15 less than Amazon) and they're very fast and reliable with shipping; my copies went sent a few days ago, so I'll probably have them right on Tuesday.

Only downside is that they don't offer free shipping, which I'd usually take if it's an option. Still, $2 isn't a big deal and my friend can cover that when he pays me for his copy. ;)
 
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