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Hi-Def Media Lovefest: The war is over and we can all go home.

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C

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
Warm Machine said:
Strange how his review calls Top Gun pretentious. Its the least pretentious movie possible. It is completely straight forward in its story, unveiled, and pretty overt in its intentions.
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most of the reviews that i have read of the actual movie at HDD i have found a little odd.
 
C

Cosmic Bus

pristine morning snow
A bunch of decidedly 'eh' movies (and a few decent ones) on sale at Fry's:

$9.99 Blu-Ray
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Fifth Element
Replacement Killers
A Few Good Men
Memoirs of a Geisha
Underworld
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
House of Flying Daggers
Hitch
Immortal Beloved
King Fu Hustle
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Tears of the Sun
Layer Cake
Curse of the Golden Flower
Donnie Brasco
Blackjawk Down
Hellboy
Wild Things
The Patriot

$13.50 HD-DVD
Failure To Launch
Top Gun
The Warriors
Untouchables
Trading Places
Hustle & Flow
Mission Impossible
Mission Impossible II
Black Rain
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Manchurian Candidate
We Were Soldiers
Sky Captain & World Of Tomorrow
U2 Rattle & Hum
Aeon Flux
Italian Job
Sleepy Hollow
Four Brothers

As usual, HD gets the shaft with higher prices, and east coasters are shut out entirely since Fry's don't exist on this side of the country.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
It seems to be mostly Paramount movies on the HD DVD side. Also, the sale price is on their website, so east coast people are ok.
 
The Main Event

The Main Event

Member
http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6490438.html

OCT. 12 | UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.—LG Electronics will launch one of the first Blu-ray Disc players boasting picture-in-picture functionality this month.

LG’s second-generation dual-format model will handle HD DVD advanced interactivity, as well as comply with ‘full profile specifications’ for Blu-ray players, reported the company’s product development director Tim Alessi at the HDTV DisplaySearch Conference here on Thursday.

As mandated by the Blu-ray Disc Assn., all Blu-ray hardware streeting after Oct. 31 must be full profile, carrying certain enhancements not required of earlier players. This broadened spec includes picture-in-picture and greater memory capacity.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 is expected to offer a firmware upgrade to fit this spec, but no availability date has been set.

To date, only HD DVD players can playback picture-in-picture, which has played a big part in such HD DVD titles as Warner Home Video’s 300.

Additionally, Pioneer Electronics will unveil its first full-profile player during January’s Consumer Electronics Show, said Pioneer senior manager of product planning and marketing Chris Walker at the conference.

Walker said Korean firm Daewoo and Japan-based Denon also will soon bow full-profile Blu-ray players.

However, HD DVD backers still own the market on Web functionality for now. No manufacturer has announced the rollout of BD Live players, which would be capable of such Web connectivity.

In fact, HD DVD will offer its most advanced Web features yet with the launch this year of remote networked control. With this feature, users can be linked up for private presentations, in which a group leader can direct the sessions remotely from a variety of devices, including mobile phones and PCs.

Microsoft HD DVD evangelist Kevin Collins said studios envision a filmmaker treating fans who’ve bought his or her HD DVD to exclusive discussions and video presentations.

Collins declined to name the HD DVD title set to first include remote networked control, but he said it will street by the end of the year.

“This takes networking to a new level, and it has never been done on a title,” said Collins.
Click to expand...

That remote networked control HD DVD feature sounds very, very intriguing.
 
D

djkimothy

Member
Argyle said:
It does? I don't see how that is any different (user experience wise) from say, a featurette.

Do HD DVD players support VoIP? :)

djkimothy, isn't that issue from like two months ago?
Click to expand...

Yah. I was wondering why the SI went down to 60:40... :lol
 
C

Costanza

Banned
Cosmic Bus said:
A bunch of decidedly 'eh' movies (and a few decent ones) on sale at Fry's:

$9.99 Blu-Ray
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Fifth Element
Replacement Killers
A Few Good Men
Memoirs of a Geisha
Underworld
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
House of Flying Daggers
Hitch
Immortal Beloved
King Fu Hustle
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Tears of the Sun
Layer Cake
Curse of the Golden Flower
Donnie Brasco
Blackjawk Down
Hellboy
Wild Things
The Patriot

$13.50 HD-DVD
Failure To Launch
Top Gun
The Warriors
Untouchables
Trading Places
Hustle & Flow
Mission Impossible
Mission Impossible II
Black Rain
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Manchurian Candidate
We Were Soldiers
Sky Captain & World Of Tomorrow
U2 Rattle & Hum
Aeon Flux
Italian Job
Sleepy Hollow
Four Brothers

As usual, HD gets the shaft with higher prices, and east coasters are shut out entirely since Fry's don't exist on this side of the country.
Click to expand...
I just put an order in for RE: A, Hellboy, Underworld and The Patriot. 46 bucks for 4 BD movies? Amazing deal.
 
C

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
djkimothy said:
$10 for those BD movies is awesome! Too bad we dont have Fry's here. :(
Click to expand...
Yea i had several of them in my amazon cart to order next week, but ill go pick up A Few Good Men and Underworld at frys instead.
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
Cosmic Bus said:
A bunch of decidedly 'eh' movies (and a few decent ones) on sale at Fry's:
Click to expand...

Has anybody gone to the store to pick these up? The newspaper ad only says buy 1 get 1 free.
 
ManaByte

ManaByte

Gold Member
Spider-Man 3 BRD Review:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1042/spiderman3.html

The Video: Sizing Up the Picture

'Spider-Man 3' may just be the most eagerly-awaited Blu-ray title from Sony since the launch of the format war. Simply put, this one can't just be good, it's got to be outstanding -- the kind of demo disc that will get the fence-sitters to finally plunk down the cash and buy a Blu-ray player. Thankfully for Sony, they've largely delivered. The picture quality of 'Spider-Man 3' may not be perfect, but it is without a doubt among the top tier of titles released on the format so far.

The film is presented in 2.40:1 widescreen, and encoded in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video. Although it was shot on film, the CGI effects are so prevalent that, like the 'Star Wars' prequels, it often feels like you're watching an animated movie -- not live-action. That gives 'Spider-Man 3' an unreal quality, which is heightened by the processed nature of the transfer.

As you would expect from a new release, the source is impeccable, with rich blacks and very bright contrast. Unfortunately, this leads me to my main gripe with the image -- the darker scenes actually look the best and most dimensional. Anything brightly lit or in daylight suffers from hot whites, which flatten out depth somewhat. Fleshtones also suffer, with even close-ups of the actors faces not looking natural in texture.

Still, when 'Spider-Man 3' delivers, it delivers in spades. The image is razor sharp, and colors are bold with no bleeding or noise. Again, darker scenes are fantastic. Even the most panoramic wide shots are rich in detail, seemingly down to the pixel. Three-dimensionality is exquisite, with the image often boasting that perfect picture window effect. Sony has also clearly taken their time with the encoding, and there are no noticeable artifacts, such as banding or macroblocking.

In short, although I can't give Spidey my full vote of confidence with a perfect five-star video rating, I can't imagine anyone being disappointed with the picture quality of this disc.
Click to expand...

The Audio: Rating the Sound

Even better than the video is the audio. Two tracks are included -- a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround mix (at 48kHz/24-bit) and an uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround mix (at 48kHz/16-bit/4.6mbps). Although both tracks are quite stellar, if pressed, I would give the TrueHD a slight edge in terms of impact, dynamics and accuracy of sound placement.

What's great about 'Spider-Man 3,' however, is that regardless of audio format, any one of its many action sequences is instant demo material. The early fight between Spidey and Harry, the transformation of the Sandman, the over-the-top final battle -- take your pick, and you'll be treated to a stunning home theater audio experience. The "wall of sound" effect in the rears can be mammoth. The swirling waves of the Sandman are like a sonic character all on their own, while the shrieks of Venom seriously gave me one of the biggest jolts I've ever had on my couch. Deployment of discrete effects is highly aggressive, with frequent and seamless pans between all channels that create a terrific, wholly believable 360-degree effect. This is exactly the kind of surround experience that high-def is all about.

The soundtrack elements are also impeccably produced and recorded. Clarity, tonal range and realism are state-of-the-art. Low bass is a mover, shaking up the subwoofer almost constantly during the action sequences. Thankfully, volume balance is also terrific. From the all-too-clear reproduction of Kirsten Dunst's singing (please, god, no!) to the loud-as-hell extended climax, dialogue is always intelligible and well-placed in the mix. There are no apparent defects to the source at all, with the entire sonic spectrum crystal clear and free from noise, harshness or other imperfections.

Simply put, this one is reference quality, from beginning to end.
Click to expand...
 
X

Xater

Member
djkimothy said:
Hmmm...

I just canceled my order of Spiderman trilogy cause I'm thinking of getting Lost 1&2 on DVD and then Season 3 on BD. This review is making me change my mind again... :/
Click to expand...

The quality of the other 2 moves is pretty much the same. I like having the whole trilogy even with the weak third movie.
 
T

thaivo

Member
VanMardigan said:
Nope. I want backwards compatibility. .....So, the 40GB lacks backwards compatibility (a big deal to me), and the 20GB lacks wifi. And unfortunately, the 60GB hasn't hit my price point max yet.
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All these SKU's are probably confusing the hell out of the regular consumer.

Nonetheless, Sony looks a lot stronger than it did a few months ago, considering the larger software catalog and (pending) price reduction. I'm think BC is important to most of the people that have waited until now, as they probably have a considerable PS2 collection, but I think that Sony did the right thing.

Most interesting is how this is going to effect the HDM war. Certainly more PS3's are going to be sold now than previously thought. However, it isn't certain that a PS3 owner will buy any HDM, and there is also the nagging feeling that an HDM format should not be so closely associated with a videogame console.
 
user friendly

user friendly

Member




1. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (blu-ray)
2. Knocked Up (HD DVD combo)
3. 300 (blu-ray)
4. Bram Stoker's Dracula (blu-ray)
5. Top Gun (HD DVD)
6. 300 (HD DVD combo)
7. Troy: Director's Cut (blu-ray)
8. Halloween (blu-ray)
9. Planet Earth (blu-ray)
10.Next (HD DVD)
Click to expand...

Back to normal it seems.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
Hey, look at that, back to nearly 70/30. What a shock. So much for that "Paramount announcement has had a noticeable impact" article from a few days ago.
 
O

Oni Jazar

Member
user friendly said:
Back to normal it seems.
Click to expand...

As a bluray fan I have to say... you wish. :) This Q4 is going to be anything but normal. Next week's results will be very interesting with more Fox titles and Evan Almighty which didn't make a profit (yet anyways) but still brought in $100M in sales. Then comes TRANSFORMERS, then comes SPIDERMAN.

Good times. :)
 
I

Ignatz Mouse

Banned
I'm still waiting for must-have titles, myself. Rise is *not* it.

I thought Knocked Up supposedly held the top spot?

And I suppose it's a good sign overall that Casino Royale is out of the top ten.
 
D

djkimothy

Member
Dudes, the more relevant data has been forgotten. Top 10 broken down...

FF 5 times the sales of Knocked up. Pretty telling of the size of the Blu-ray camp from such a shitty film.

Top 10 by SKU:

1. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer 100
2. Knocked Up 21.11
3. 300 BR 13.91
4. Bram Stoker's Dracula 10.87
5. Top Gun 9.23
6. 300 HD 8.19
7. Troy: Director's Cut BR 8.01
8. Halloween 7.74
9. Planet Earth: The Complete Series BR 6.88
10. Next 5.62

xx. Planet Earth: The Complete Series HD 5.56
xx. Troy: Director's Cut HD 3.71
 
user friendly

user friendly

Member
Oni Jazar said:
As a bluray fan I have to say... you wish. :) This Q4 is going to be anything but normal. Next week's results will be very interesting with more Fox titles and Evan Almighty which didn't make a profit (yet anyways) but still brought in $100M in sales. Then comes TRANSFORMERS, then comes SPIDERMAN.

Good times. :)
Click to expand...

Evan Almighty won't do any better than Knocked up as it has a few BD titles to compete with. If Transformers can't push HDDVD over on the + side for that week then HDDVD won't be outselling BD at any point during this year. If it does however, it "will" be the only week.

My guess though is that it will finally win a week for HDDVD, mainly because BD doesn't really have any significant releases that week. To say the least, I'm excited about the numbers that will close out 07.


djkimothy said:
Dudes, the more relevant data has been forgotten. Top 10 broken down...
Click to expand...

It was in the PDF (stealth linked) ;)
 
C

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
djkimothy said:
Dudes, the more relevant data has been forgotten. Top 10 broken down...

FF 5 times the sales of Knocked up. Pretty telling of the size of the Blu-ray camp from such a shitty film.

Top 10 by SKU:

1. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer 100
2. Knocked Up 21.11
3. 300 BR 13.91
4. Bram Stoker's Dracula 10.87
5. Top Gun 9.23
6. 300 HD 8.19
7. Troy: Director's Cut BR 8.01
8. Halloween 7.74
9. Planet Earth: The Complete Series BR 6.88
10. Next 5.62

xx. Planet Earth: The Complete Series HD 5.56
xx. Troy: Director's Cut HD 3.71
Click to expand...
I think its just that Knocked up had a huge drop off because last week it was 100/25 to the second place title which was 300.
But didnt someone say knocked up only sold 15k last week anyway?
 
O

Oni Jazar

Member
user friendly said:
Evan Almighty won't do any better than Knocked up as it has a few BD titles to compete with. If Transformers can't push HDDVD over on the + side for that week then HDDVD won't be outselling BD at any point during this year. If it does however, it "will" be the only week.
Click to expand...

Yes I will say this, when Spiderman comes out HD DVD will never get even close to winning a week in sales. Not because of Spiderman per se but because of the mountain of BD releases this quarter.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
Off by 3 points. :(

I think Stooge nailed it though.

I expect FF4-2 to continue to sell well, too. I'm glad Top Gun made the top ten.
 
T

TerryLee81

Member
Btw did anyone get 12 Monkeys? I think it's only out in Europe, I can't find a review on highdefdigest. Any impressions on the picture quality?

Bought Layer Cake today with a 40GB PS3.
 
S

snacknuts

we all knew her
Cosmic Bus said:
A bunch of decidedly 'eh' movies (and a few decent ones) on sale at Fry's:

*movie list*

As usual, HD gets the shaft with higher prices, and east coasters are shut out entirely since Fry's don't exist on this side of the country.
Click to expand...

NIce! They also have both hi def versions of Planet Earth for $49.99.
 
T

TerryLee81

Member
ManaByte said:
12 Monkeys is out in the US. I own it but haven't watched it yet.

Since it's Universal it's HD-DVD only and the review is here:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/187/12monkeys.html

Edit: Oh you probably meant Blu-Ray. Sorry.
Click to expand...

Hmm thx for that info, I didn't know this was released on HD-DVD in the US. I guess they used the same VC-1 version for BR, so the pq will be about the same and according to the review nothing spectacular.
 
D

distantmantra

Member
So, Amazon still won't give me a straight answer on why my copy of Robocop on Blu-ray has yet to ship out, but they did give me $10 to use on my next order.
 
T

thaivo

Member
user friendly said:
My guess though is that it will finally win a week for HDDVD, mainly because BD doesn't really have any significant releases that week. To say the least, I'm excited about the numbers that will close out 07.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if the Bourne Ultimatum has as much pull as Transformers, but the week that movie comes out is another chance for HD DVD to possibly do some damage.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
thaivo said:
I'm not sure if the Bourne Ultimatum has as much pull as Transformers, but the week that movie comes out is another chance for HD DVD to possibly do some damage.
Click to expand...

Shrek 3 as well. It did big box office numbers.
 
X

Xater

Member
TerryLee81 said:
Hmm thx for that info, I didn't know this was released on HD-DVD in the US. I guess they used the same VC-1 version for BR, so the pq will be about the same and according to the review nothing spectacular.
Click to expand...

Should be a totally different encode on the German Blu-ray because it is another distributor. They don't use the encodes by other companies. I can't tell you how it looks because I have not seen it.

@Mouse: It is region-free.
 
user friendly

user friendly

Member
thaivo said:
I'm not sure if the Bourne Ultimatum has as much pull as Transformers, but the week that movie comes out is another chance for HD DVD to possibly do some damage.
Click to expand...

It will help for sure but it will have a hard time going up against the likes of:

~ Cast Away
~ Independence Day
~ PotC: At World's End
~ Ronin
~ Superbad

While these titles come out the week before Ultimatum, they will still probably have enough legs to outsell it in the weeks after. Plus, Harry Potter comes out the same week as Ultimatum so it should be an awesome week for HDM in general.
 
O

OokieSpookie

Banned
Xater said:
Should be a totally different encode on the German Blu-ray because it is another distributor. They don't use the encodes by other companies. I can't tell you how it looks because I have not seen it.

@Mouse: It is region-free.
Click to expand...

Is there a list of Euro releases that are region free?
 
O

Oni Jazar

Member
No way Bourne or Shrek 3 topples BD for their prospetive weeks.

Harry Potter BD , Pirates 3, & Superbad will slaughter Bourne.

Spiderman, Close Encounter & Pixar films will slaughter Shrek 3.
 
O

OokieSpookie

Banned
Picked up Resident Evil : Apocolypse, Underworld, Immortal Beloved, Hellboy, and Replacement Killers from frys.com.
Thanks for posting that, is a fucking awesome deal
 
W

Warm Machine

Member
GuessWho said:
so how good/bad is a 360 add on?
Click to expand...

Amazingly good. Don't know if it does 1080p with the HDMI equipped ones though, or any of the advanced audio codecs. It is certainly worth the teeny investment especially if you have a TV capable of delivering the visuals.
 
M

mrklaw

MrArseFace
because of this shitstorm I've been avoiding what movies have come out. Made the mistake of taking a look today and ordered a ton of stuff:

Robocop
Edward Scissorhands
Die hard box set
Ratatouille
Cars
......


Robocop is getting some grief for being only 'ok'. For me the reviews actually sound pretty good, and it should be *way* better IQ than the criterion version on crappy letterboxed NTSC. One of my favourite movies too

and ratatouille is crazy. Its out in the UK today, but on bluray in the US in four weeks. So for the price of me taking my son to the cinema I can just buy the bluray and some popcorn :)
 
D

distantmantra

Member
mrklaw said:
Robocop is getting some grief for being only 'ok'. For me the reviews actually sound pretty good, and it should be *way* better IQ than the criterion version on crappy letterboxed NTSC. One of my favourite movies too
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's one of my favorite 80's movies, I loved it as a little kid. But, Amazon doesn't think I deserve the copy I bought from them, since they still haven't shipped my copy out.

The only other Blu-rays I've got preordered at the moment are Paprika, Ratatouille, Blade Runner, and Oldboy. I'm holding off on buying everything else (Die Hard 1, Superbad, Simpsons movie, all the Harry Potter films) to give people some ideas for Christmas, though.

I also preordered Hairspray and Rent for my wife for Christmas. I think we have every single musical released on Blu-ray (Chicago, Dreamgirls, Phantom).
 
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