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

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KZObsessed

KZObsessed

Member
The Main Event said:
There will be Blood will apparently come out on a 2-disc HD DVD set on April 8th.

One of my most anticipated title along with No Country for Old Men.
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Im seeing that this Friday, is it as good as the hype suggests?

Daniel Day Lewis is all kinds of awesome.
 
T

thaivo

Member
Got Terminator 2 on UK Import HD DVD yesterday and watched the whole thing. 8.96 English Pounds... and 1 for shipping all the way to California!

It was bliss, although Studio Canal could take some lessons from the US HD DVD companies, as the menu system is almost DVD like. The present menu is really herky jerky... but it is T2 in HD, and all is good when the movie starts.
 
S

Solo

Member
The Main Event said:
There will be Blood will apparently come out on a 2-disc HD DVD set on April 8th.

One of my most anticipated title along with No Country for Old Men.
Click to expand...

MINE! Finally I get to see my most anticipated movie of last year, which sadly never came to theatres here. Its times like this when Im happy that I have both HD and BD players.
 
The Main Event

The Main Event

Member
thaivo said:
Got Terminator 2 on UK Import HD DVD yesterday and watched the whole thing. 8.96 English Pounds... and 1 for shipping all the way to California!

It was bliss, although Studio Canal could take some lessons from the US HD DVD companies, as the menu system is almost DVD like. The present menu is really herky jerky... but it is T2 in HD, and all is good when the movie starts.
Click to expand...

I have it too (French edition). Great transfer, but I'm really anticipating the upcoming German Edition (really regretted trading off my Ultimate DVD for the Extreme edition back in the days). I'll probably trade-in my Studio Canal T2 once the Kinowelt version comes out.
 
N

Nicodimas

Banned
but I'm really anticipating the upcoming German Edition
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Same here..did you go through Jpc.de? I wish there shipping was not such a rip..The price does not really bug me, but that shipping to the states is depressing.
 
T

thaivo

Member
The Main Event said:
I have it too (French edition). Great transfer, but I'm really anticipating the upcoming German Edition (really regretted trading off my Ultimate DVD for the Extreme edition back in the days). I'll probably trade-in my Studio Canal T2 once the Kinowelt version comes out.
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I really thought about waiting for the German release, but I already have two other versions of T2! Lol.. how much more bonus stuff can I handle. So I picked it from BlahDVD, which has amazing deals on imports. Can't beat the shipping either, as 1 English Pound for international shipping is a steal. I hear the shipping for the German T2 release is around $15.

Cosmic Bus said:
Two more UK HD-DVDs on the way soon: the Motorcycle Diaries and Sexy Beast(!) on March 31st.
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Motorcycle Diaries is mine when that baby comes out. I loved that movie, so poetic and memorable. It should be amazing on HD. Trainspotting is another one that I definitely must get as well.
 
T

thaivo

Member
Nicodimas said:
Same here..did you go through Jpc.de? I wish there shipping was not such a rip..The price does not really bug me, but that shipping to the states is depressing.
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No bought it from BlahDVD.com. I recommend them highly. Also, if something is marked as out of stock, order it anyway, as T2 came back into stock almost immediately following my order, then went out of stock.
 
X

xS1TH L0RDx

Banned
polyh3dron said:
Miramax will be releasing TWBB on BD in Europe and Japan though, so you can do the smart thing and get the BD version.
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i'll most likely do that. I'm going to have to jump on that import bandwagon and snag children of men, too.
 
P

polyh3dron

Banned
xS1TH L0RDx said:
i'll most likely do that. I'm going to have to jump on that import bandwagon and snag children of men, too.
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From the impressions in this thread i'd wait for Uni to go Blu and release it stateside.
 
R

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
Sweet! My last outstanding shipment of BluRay's has arrived over the last few days.


2001 and PotC 3 (last of my impending BOGO's)

Lost Season 3 (from that Amazon sale)


And my imports:

Children of Men (Scandinavia)
Pan's Labyrinth (UK, non-gimped video rev)
12 Monkeys (Germany)
Perfume (Germany)
 
R

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
BoboBrazil said:
Even if hd-dvd is still around, Paramount's exclusivity agreement ends before this even comes out in theaters...
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Not to mention a huge amount of Paramount's domestic releases are distributed by others outside of the states.
 
T

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
The Main Event said:
And for those who are wondering, Timecop looks really, really good. Van Damme's mullet never looked better.
Click to expand...

And I think there was never a region 1 widescreen DVD. There was a widescreen release on laserdisc and I think on Region 4 DVD.
 
N

Naked Snake

Member
I got Lost S3 a couple of days ago, and the clarity of some shots is truly eye popping. But I'm not a big fan of the oversaturated look in some scenes, I hadn't noticed the effect in SD downloads that I watched previously.
 
X

Xater

Member
Midas said:
First Swedish store - Hifiklubben is dropping HD-DVD! Reports say that other retailers are to follow.
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Wouldn't be suprised if Saturn in Germany would drop it. After all they had the thing with the rebate on BD players if you hand over your old HDDVD one.

I received Ratatouille today and took a quick look into it. This movie is absolutely gorgeous in HD. This may be the best picture quality I have ever seen.
 
KZObsessed

KZObsessed

Member
The 2.4million Blu-Ray discs sold in Europe has been posted but I dont think this info has:

In December alone, a half million Blu-ray discs were sold during the important holiday season. The biggest seller during this time was 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End' which sold nearly 100,000 units. Coming in second was 'The Simpsons Movie' followed by 'Casino Royale'. During this time, Blu-ray sold at a 3-to-1 ratio over rival high definition formats.

When comparing this success to DVD, the results are even more impressive. The second year of DVD resulted in 230,000 players and 2M discs sold. For Blu-ray, it has resulted in 3.5M players (3.2M PS3s and 340,000 standalone players) and 2.3M Blu-ray discs sold.
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http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=961

Blu-Ray taking off faster in Europe in hardware and Software.
 
A

avaya

Member
Old?

Michael Bay loves to rub it in

Michael Bay Relishes Blu-ray's Victories

Author: FRED TOPEL

TransformersWhen Paramount Home Entertainment decided to support HD DVD exclusively, Michael Bay was vocally opposed. Since the decision came just as his Transformers would debut on high-definition home video, Bay threatened to back out of the sequel.

He took back his drastic comments and is hard at work developing Transformers 2, but now that Blu-ray is the format that is gaining momentum, Bay cannot help but remind us he told us so.

“Blu-ray’s better, and I told everyone,” Bay said at the Visual Effects Society’s sixth annual award show, where he presented the award for animated character in a motion picture. “I was very vocal about it. I knew HD [DVD] was not going to make it.”

With HD DVD being edged out of competition by sheer volume of product moving to Blu-ray, Bay is all but gloating.

“Am I thrilled? It really wasn’t my fight, but remember what I said in the press? I was kind of saying HD [DVD]’s going to lose,” he said. “No one believed me.”

Many of Bay’s films were produced by studios that have supported Blu-ray from the beginning. The Rock is already available on Blu-ray from Buena Vista Home Entertainment (now Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment), with Pearl Harbor and Armageddon possibly on the way. Sony’s Columbia owns the “Bad Boys” films.

Bay personally supervises his Blu-ray transfers and says he loves his preferred format.

“It’s just sharper,” he said. “It’s just [that] the tools are better. I just think it’s closer to what it should look like.”

Should Armageddon make it to Blu-ray, there may be even more work in store. Original materials were destroyed.

"Believe it or not, we have to remaster Armageddon,” he said. “The Armageddon [master] was burned in a fire apparently, so we’ve got to re-master the whole movie.”

With many of Bay’s films 10 years old or more, it is possible that Blu-ray editions will reveal flaws just by bringing them into sharper focus.

“I’m sure that’s going to be apparent, probably in Armageddon,” he said.

The Rock, Bay’s second film after Bad Boys, was released in 1996. The Blu-ray edition appears grainy in certain shots, but Bay likes it that way. He uses it as an artistic choice, even in his more recent film.

“Yeah, there’s some grain, pushing film, shooting at night,” he said. “There’s actually some grain in Transformers. We pushed it just a little too much. I don’t mind grain. Grain has a vibe.”

http://www.shootfortheedit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1265
Click to expand...
 
B

bill0527

Member
VanMardigan said:
How in the hell did you get PotC 3 on BOGO? I've been looking for that and Rat to get on BOGO since they came out.
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You missed the Toys R Us in-store BOGO last month I guess. All Disney Blu-Rays were included. I got Cars and Ratatouille, used a $5 off coupon and the grand total was $23 and some change. I would have picked up the Pirates movies as well, but I've already got them.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
“It’s just sharper,” he said. “It’s just [that] the tools are better. I just think it’s closer to what it should look like.”
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what it is. :lol

You missed the Toys R Us in-store BOGO last month I guess.
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Oh. No Toys R Us (or any large store outside of Kmart) for me. :*(
 
J

jjasper

Member
VanMardigan said:
How in the hell did you get PotC 3 on BOGO? I've been looking for that and Rat to get on BOGO since they came out.
Click to expand...

I got those 2 during the BOGO at Toys R Us. I actually had a $25 gift card so only had to pay tax for 2 movies it was great.
 
R

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
VanMardigan said:
How in the hell did you get PotC 3 on BOGO? I've been looking for that and Rat to get on BOGO since they came out.
Click to expand...

I thought it was part of the last Amazon BOGO? I'll have to go look it up, it may have just been on sale.


As for Rat, I did in fact get that as part of a BOGO at Toys R Us (All Disney BD's were part of it). There selection was quite limited, but at least that was part of it.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
Onix said:
I thought it was part of the last Amazon BOGO? I'll have to go look it up, it may have just been on sale.
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Nope. If it was on an amazon BOGO, I'd own it already. It was on sale (along with Rat) for $20. Almost good enough for me to pick it up. Almost.
 
R

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
VanMardigan said:
Nope. If it was on an amazon BOGO, I'd own it already. It was on sale (along with Rat) for $20. Almost good enough for me to pick it up. Almost.
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You're right, it was on sale ($18 for me :p)
 
The Main Event

The Main Event

Member
http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/beowulf/5635/1

Video:
As we have come to depend upon from high-definition transfers of CGI animated creations, "Beowulf" looks terrific. Paramount's MPEG4/AVC reproduction of the movie's original 2.35:1 aspect ratio images comes across with all the exacting detail and wonderful color one would expect, rich, deep, and luxuriant. If you liked the look and feel and sound of "The Polar Express," you'll like everything you see and hear in "Beowulf."
Click to expand...

Audio:
I have the feeling that critics are going to get after Paramount again for offering only a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio track and not a TrueHD one. Maybe the Paramount engineers were trying to save disc space. After all, the disc also comes with a picture-in-picture feature that requires a lot of space. And what people forget is that a good, high-bit-rate DD+ track can sound practically the same as a lossless THD track. Of course, we'll never know because neither you nor I have access to the original soundtrack. Besides which, disc engineers always re-equalize a movie's soundtrack for home use. All I know about for sure is what we've got, and as I said about "Transformers," in terms of audio that's plenty good.

The sound certainly has good clarity, good dynamic range and impact, and good deep bass. Furthermore, it has some good surround effects in its combat sequences, with its longboats, with its thunder, and with its rain all around. If anything, though, the soundtrack is too rambunctious, too loud, too dynamic, too blaring, and, at least in a few places, too overbearing. In other words, it may be too much of a good thing.
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DVDTOWN.com rates this HD DVD:
Video 10
Audio 9
Extras 7
Film value 5
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Insane Metal

Insane Metal

Member
More good news (Blu-ray related of course):
Sigmatek Announces SBR-1000 Blu-ray Player

Posted February 14, 2008 by Josh

Sigmatek Sigmatek has announced their first Blu-ray product: a standalone Blu-ray Disc player, the SBR-1000. The player will retail for under 250€ making it by far the cheapest player on the European market. The player will support 1080p24 and 1080p60 output via a HDMI v1.3 connection, as well as being able to decode Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD.

Building this low cost player is possible because it makes use of the recently announced Sony/Nichia laser which is cheaper to produce than typical Blu-ray lasers. The player should be available sometime in April.

45_1_large.jpg


* Output Resolution: 1080p (24/60) / 720p
* HDMI Version: 1.3
* Audio Decoding: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, DTS, MP3
* Media Support: BD-Rom/DVD/VCD/CD/CD-R/DVD+R (RW)
* Video Output: HDMI/Component/Composite
* Audio Output: Coaxial
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http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=963

Really sleek looking huh? ;)

And

Sharp Announces New Blu-ray Lasers

Posted February 14, 2008 by Josh

Sharp Sharp, the industry leader in Blu-ray laser diode manufacturing, has announced two new Blu-ray lasers. The new design allows for an industry leading 250mW output, allowing for 4-6X recording of Blu-ray media. The smaller 3.3mm version (GH04P25A4G) will be made available for laptops, while the larger 5.6mm version (GH04P25A2G) will be for PC drives.

When production begins in April, Sharp expects operating at maximum capacity will output 700,000 units every month. Sharp will utilize these laser diodes in their Blu-ray products during the second half of the year.
Click to expand...

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=964


Go Blu, go! :D
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
Onix said:
The Warner BluRay release has lossless audio ... again!
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Great. I hope someone does a comparison between the two so we can figure out what the differences are. I imagine for the average HT setup, it's meaningless, but for high end setups, it'd be nice to know how much of a difference there really is.

edit: any news on where that sigmatec player lands on the profile scale?
 
D

djkimothy

Member
Days like these... said:
I hope Bay puts his money where his mouth is and demands a re-encode for Transformers so we can see how it looks compared to the hd dvd version.
Click to expand...

Well, it'll probably have TrueHD or PC audio.
 
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