The Blu-Ray Upcoming, News & Info Thread

[Seretur]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

Back when they were double-format, Paramount actually did separate encodes for HD DVD and Blu-ray. They didn't get far with it, they were just learning; and Blades of Glory was to be one of their first titles with lossless audio on Blu-ray when it was suddenly pulled.

So I would hope they released a higher-bitrate encode of Transformers on Blu, and with lossless audio to boot. And nowadays they can replicate all the web-features on this format too, although it would be smarter to just include all that info on the disc itself using BD-Java and Bonus View.

For all the capability of Blu-ray, it still takes a lot of work to make a disc that actually uses all that capability. Even the studios who stayed with Blu-ray only aren't pushing the format to its limits yet.

 

[The ill Jedi]

Re: Paramount goes Blu

Makes sense. I would expect an Indiana Jones box set by the end of the year, Star Wars and LOTR probably next year.

Just read that, great news!!!

 

[SSC_Nerd]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

FANTASTIC!!!:chew:chew:chew:chew

I'm hoping that maybe by next week they'll throw some dates at us for movies. I need them to announce some big sellers from HD DVD. They're gonna blow some minds when they announce Bourne and Kong. It'll likely start with the biggest HD DVD sellers first, just to get things rolling.

 

[bagelsncheesey]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

VICTORY!

 

[darthviper107]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

Paramount/Dreamworks is pulling it's HD-DVD releases after March 4th, including Sweeney Todd, Bee Movie, and There Will Be Blood.

 

[SSC_Nerd]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

Youchies. That has to hurt.

 

[darthviper107]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

Yeah, I was waiting for Sweeney Todd as a last HD-DVD purchase and now it's gone...

 

[Natrix]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

Great...let the double dipping begin.

Here Comes the Reaming: Blu-ray Movie Rereleases Coming with BD-Live

We warned you that one reason to hold off on boarding the Blu train is that movies released in the past year without sweet BD-Live interactive features might be re-released. A lot of them. Today, we got first confirmation of this from Fox, which told us it'll be re-releasing Alien Vs. Predator later this year with a suite of new interactive features. And that's just the beginning.

Sony Pictures is also reaching in with both hands, though they're "not 100 percent sure [they're] going back on every disc" and will be looking at "different ways [they] can allow people to connect to a BD-Live site" for stuff that's already come out sans the BD Launcher. But they haven't figured that second part out yet.

To be fair, of all the Blu-ray studios, Fox is currently the most pumped about the interactive aspect—a big reason they helped build Blu along with Sony and friends. What Fox is adding doesn't make this a crap double dip, either: It's a multiplayer game woven into the film that you play as it progresses, attacking and killing other players in hopefully the most genuine film interaction to date. Not only do you upload your own avatar, it'll stay in memory and reappear when you buy future AVP titles. Sven Davison, Fox's VP of Worldwide Product Development and Production, said nothing he's seen on HD DVD has come close to this.

Davison also said Fox was looking at three other major franchises for a heavy interactive component. But other studios probably aren't going to be as scrupulous, because they primarily see interactivity as "icing on the cake" rather than potatoes to the 1080p-and-uncompressed-audio meat.

This of course opens the door for nearly everything already on BD to be double-dipped in the coming year—especially in cases like Warner's, since that studio has already launched more interactive versions of movies on HD DVD while simultaneously putting out lower-featured editions on BD. Would this have happened if the 2.0 spec had been mandatory from the start?

 

[KitFisto]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

I won't re-buy movies just for that crap.

 

[King Darkness]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

I won't re-buy movies just for that crap.

Me neither. I am buying BD for the picture and sound quality, all the other crap is really not that important to me.

 

[Seretur]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

I have 51 Blu-ray titles currently in hand, and as I don't plan on ever connecting my player (PS3 until a few weeks ago, Panasonic DMP-BD50 when it gets released) to the internet, ever ever, I really don't care about BD-Live.

I care about the beauty and clarity of lossless audio.

If studios decide to rerelease their lossy titles with lossless audio (here's looking at you, Warner), I'll be all over them. I've held off purchasing over two dozen titles because of the lack of lossless audio support on them.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about -- wait until you hear it.

Take it from an old artilleryman.

 

[Amanaman]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

I'm holding off for HVD and UHD :emperor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_High_Definition_Video

 

[lcummins]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

I'm holding off for HVD and UHD :emperor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_High_Definition_Video

Great! Just about the time we get a nice collection of Blu-ray discs and have gotten used to HDTV... it will all start over again!!!

 

[darthviper107]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

Great! Just about the time we get a nice collection of Blu-ray discs and have gotten used to HDTV... it will all start over again!!!

Oh don't worry, they've planned it from the beginning. But at least this will be helpful. OLED displays are starting this year (amazing piece of technology) which have 4x the resolution of current displays so the increase in resolution will be worth it. It's just whether or not we go to the Theater resolution 2000p or straight to the IMAX resolution. I don't think the HVD discs could hold an IMAX sized film.

 

[KitFisto]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

I have to admit. As much as I am into home theater stuff at some point I will call it quites. I am not going to go spend 5-10K every 5 years on the "new" stuff.

1080P is fine with me.

 

[lcummins]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

Oh don't worry, they've planned it from the beginning. But at least this will be helpful. OLED displays are starting this year (amazing piece of technology) which have 4x the resolution of current displays so the increase in resolution will be worth it. It's just whether or not we go to the Theater resolution 2000p or straight to the IMAX resolution. I don't think the HVD discs could hold an IMAX sized film.

Oh, I know! It's called "planned obsolescence"! They never give you the best features, etc., right off the bat, but keep releasing bigger and better hoping everyone will upgrade.

 

[Shadow King]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

Thanks to Blu-Rays victory I get to enjoy $10.00 HD DVDs so hurray for saving some cash.

 

[Reinhardt]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

Thanks to Blu-Rays victory I get to enjoy $10.00 HD DVDs so hurray for saving some cash.

where have you been able to find HD-DVDs at that price?? Thanks!

 

[bagelsncheesey]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

I'm putting all my $$$ into my Blu-ray collection, so I could care less about the next format. That will be far in the future anyway... at least to the point where I could afford it.

 

[Nitro]

Re: Blu-ray wins format war

I'm just not going to go crazy shelling out for new movie releases on Blu Ray like I once did for the standard DVD format (where I racked up about 1075 standard DVD's) . I'm just going to pickup whatever movies I like the best for that Blu Ray format. So far, I'm only up to 5 movies and I'm not making it a point to have an overbarren Blu Ray collection. I'll only upgrade my standard DVD copies as I see fit.