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[SRG01]

sony should redo house of flying daggers as well!

Nah. HoFD had some obviously CG screens that would look awful in HD.

If anything, Hero should be remade. So many color motifs = in HD.

 

[SRG01]

:lol The pertinent question.

C'mon, no one's going to crack a Halle Berry Oscar joke? :lol

 

[Raistlin]

Nah. HoFD had some obviously CG screens that would look awful in HD.

If anything, Hero should be remade. So many color motifs = in HD.

You're missing the point ... they already did release HoFD, but the A/V transfer blew.

Redoing it would be an improvement.

 

[distantmantra]

If anything, Hero should be remade. So many color motifs = in HD.

I want Hero (and a HOFD remaster) on Blu Ray to finish off Yimou's wuxia trilogy. Does Miramax/Disney still have the rights to it?

 

[Argyle]

You're missing the point ... they already did release HoFD, but the A/V transfer blew.

Redoing it would be an improvement.

paidgeek (the Sony insider on AVS Forum) has gone on record saying that the master for House of Flying Daggers is very soft, so the current BD pretty much is as good as it gets

 

[mrklaw]

BD50
AVC video encoding
LPCM 16/48
Dolby True HD 24/48 full blown master

wonder why they did this?

First, if you have LPCM why do you need TrueHD?

Second, why not encode the LPCM at 24/48 in the first place? There have already been 24/48 LPCM tracks.

Not a big increase in size - probably less than the combined total of those two tracks.

very odd.

 

[jjasper]

When does this release and how can you tell the difference with the covers looking the same?

You should be able to tell a difference in the box. The old box has a different border on the bottom:

vs: the new bottom

 

[VanMardigan]

You get 3 free movies now when you buy the 360 add-on.

King Kong
Breach
Bourne Supremacy at Bestbuy

And

King Kong + any two movies (within $59.98) at Circuit City

 

[Argyle]

wonder why they did this?

First, if you have LPCM why do you need TrueHD?

Second, why not encode the LPCM at 24/48 in the first place? There have already been 24/48 LPCM tracks.

Not a big increase in size - probably less than the combined total of those two tracks.

very odd.

On the other hand, everyone is happy - if your player doesn't support TrueHD you get an uncompressed soundtrack, and if it does you get a slightly better uncompressed soundtrack

 

[Chemo]

So Sony is stripping off the Experience High Definition thing at the bottom? I wonder if this is a one-time deal so people can tell the difference or if they're tired of it... I wish Buena Vista and Lionsgate would stop branding their titles with those big garish borders, but Sony's was super-minimal and practically invisible already.

 

[DarkJediKnight]

wonder why they did this?

First, if you have LPCM why do you need TrueHD?

Second, why not encode the LPCM at 24/48 in the first place? There have already been 24/48 LPCM tracks.

Not a big increase in size - probably less than the combined total of those two tracks.

very odd.

It's called easing into the transition. What Sony is basically saying: "Look audiophiles, 24bit (20bit on all other Sony titles) True HD and 16bit PCM. The True HD sounds better so we'll be using this instead." Is anyone going to complain? I doubt it.

PCM is not good for marketing. You have to tell people what PCM is. Not so with True HD or Master Audio. It's self explanatory.

Eventually, they will phase out all PCM tracks from their releases. You can see it already. New titles are all coming out with True HD with them and their Standalone players are getting True HD upgrade. Eventually it will be:

 

[jjasper]

We now have a Best of line:

In a high-def first, Warner Home Video is planning to release three new "Best Of" collections bundling over a dozen of its top Blu-ray and HD DVD releases.

On September 18, the studio will release three separate volumes on both formats, containing four top titles apiece.

"The Best of Blu-ray Vol. 1" and "The Best of HD DVD Vol. 1" will include: 'Lethal Weapon,' 'The Road Warrior,' 'Swordfish' and 'Training Day.'

"The Best of Blu-ray Vol. 2' and 'The Best of HD DVD Vol. 2" will include: 'The Last Samurai,' 'Phantom of the Opera' and 'Unforgiven.' Note that the fourth title in the Blu-ray set is 'The Fugitive,' while the HD DVD box includes 'Troy,' instead.

"The Best of Blu-ray Vol. 3' and 'The Best of HD DVD Vol. 3' include: 'Blazing Saddles,' 'The Departed,' 'Goodfellas' and 'Superman: The Movie.'

Each box will carry an MSRP of $84.99 on both formats, a savings of up to $55 compared to the combined list prices of each title, if bought separately. (Amazon is already taking pre-orders for all six box sets at $58.95)

Note that none of the box sets include any additional bonus features or different specs from those on the stand-alone releases. Box art for each individual title as also remains the same.

 

[DarkJediKnight]

Contact information for disc exchange
Please see below for the contact information to exchange your original copy of "The Fifth Element". The new disc can be easily identified by the additional information on the top edge of the disc which states "BD RMSTRD".

Our customer service department has been notified about this program and will assist you. Please be patient if you cannot get through right away (this sort of program is out of the ordinary), or better still, use email as the phone lines may be very busy for the first day or so.


Phone: 800-860-2878
Email: consumer@sphecustomersupport.sony.com

__________________
Sony Pictures BD Insider

This is for all you 5th Element Owners out there.

 

[Eggo]

$21.25 apiece hardly seems like a good deal when you're forced to buy 4 movies at a time. :-/

 

[jjasper]

This is for all you 5th Element Owners out there.

damn if I knew they would actually go through on their promise I would have picked it up during the B2G1F sale at amazon

 

[Cosmic Bus]

$58.95 / 4 = $14.74 ea.

Who pays MSRP?

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

I might've picked up the volume 2.

If I hadn't already picked up The Last Samurai.

Maybe I can sell it to my friend. haha.

 

[kaching]

This is for all you 5th Element Owners out there.

So Sony sends the updated version of FE, after we provide them with confirmation of owning the original BD version?

 

[StoOgE]

So Sony sends the updated version of FE, after we provide them with confirmation of owning the original BD version?

thats a really great move on Sonys part to admit they screwed up the transfer and fix it for free. Bravo. They really didnt have to do that. They easily could have double dipped alot of people.

 

[StoOgE]

$21.25 apiece hardly seems like a good deal when you're forced to buy 4 movies at a time. :-/

I expect you will get this cheaper on Amazon, but bundled deals should really be crazy cheap, like 40 bucks for 4 movies. Thats the only way I would consider some of these.

 

[Suikoguy]

thats a really great move on Sonys part to admit they screwed up the transfer and fix it for free. Bravo. They really didnt have to do that. They easily could have double dipped alot of people.

A company, admitting a mistake?
Unspeakable! (Seriously )

Anyway, anyone picking up Bridge to Terabithia?

Been a while since i've bought anything, and the reviews are really positive.

 

[StoOgE]

Been a while since i've bought anything, and the reviews are really positive.

Warning: This is how movies like Troy wind up in your collection :lol

 

[VanMardigan]

The only HD movie I blind-bought was Happy Feet, and I loved it. But yeah, generally it's better to at least rent a flick before buying.

 

[Suikoguy]

Warning: This is how movies like Troy wind up in your collection :lol

The only HD movie I blind-bought was Happy Feet, and I loved it. But yeah, generally it's better to at least rent a flick before buying.

Probably a good idea...

 

[Azrael]

The only HD movie I blind-bought was Happy Feet, and I loved it. But yeah, generally it's better to at least rent a flick before buying.

Hypothetically, say you rent for $5 and buy for $20. If on average you're satisfied with your blind buys more than 75% of the time, you're better off blind buying than renting before you buy.

If it's a controversial film like The Fountain or A Scanner Darkly that I haven't seen, I will rent it first, but I have blind bought a few movies that were very highly reviewed and haven't been burnt on it.

 

[kaching]

thats a really great move on Sonys part to admit they screwed up the transfer and fix it for free. Bravo. They really didnt have to do that. They easily could have double dipped alot of people.

Go quote someone else, I'm legitimately looking for an answer to my question!

I'm trying to get clarity as to whether it's some sort of refund deal, or a straight exchange.

Edit: and when can we start to do this?

 

[jjasper]

I blind buy a lot of movies nowadays, mainly because I would rather not pay $20 dollars (w/ gf) to see a movie in the theaters and instead spend the $5 extra and own it. I am usually pretty good about picking movies I will like although I did get burned buying Open Season.

I do rent too though, mainly for movies I already own on DVD and don't really want to pick up again and some I am not too sure I want to check out first.

 

[The Main Event]

http://blogs.business2.com/utilitybelt/2007/06/bluray_vs_hd_dv.html

Sony (SNE) executives in the United States are well aware that the battle has barely begun between their Blu-ray disc format for high-definition content and rival HD DVD, they told me over lunch this week.

Randy Waynick, senior vice president of marketing in Sony’s Home Products Division, said that Sony has sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 stand-alone Blu-ray disc players so far; that number does not include the hundreds of thousands of PlayStation 3 consoles that include a Blu-ray drive. That number is low enough, I told him, that it probably will be dwarfed by the number of high definition players that sell in the month of November alone. He didn’t disagree. (The holiday season and its discounts will really begin to shape the HD player landscape. Note: Microsoft (MSFT) has backed HD DVD with an add-on for the Xbox 360.)

Meanwhile, the rival HD DVD format is showing signs of life. Though fewer movie studios are backing the HD DVD format, the machines that play the discs are far more affordable than Blu-ray players. At Amazon.com, the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player costs $250, and is the top-selling DVD player as of Thursday morning. Sony’s most affordable Blu-ray player, the BDP-S300, costs twice as much. The highest-ranked Blu-ray player on Amazon’s list is at #30.

Waynick said he believes one format, either Blu-ray or HD DVD, will win this format war – the players that combine both formats are just too expensive, he said. He acknowledged that Blu-ray’s price would be a big factor in determining which format wins, and said Sony is working hard to close the gap.

I pushed a bit on this point about price. If HD DVD players are already selling for $250, it’s conceivable that they could be at $199 or even less during the holiday season sales, I pointed out. If the Chinese manufacturers start building HD DVD players, the price will get especially low. How will Blu-ray compete? Waynick pointed to the larger volume of movies that are available in Blu-ray format, which is a decent argument.

But again, Amazon.com’s listings offered a powerful counterpoint Thursday morning. On the list of top-selling DVDs, Planet Earth in HD DVD format is ranked #4 – higher than the regular DVD versions of Seinfeld - Season 8, The Sopranos: The Complete First Season, and Ghost Rider. The top-selling Blu-ray title is Planet Earth – but it’s way down at #19. I’ve been checking for several days, and they’ve stayed in roughly the same positions.

What does this mean? Here’s my take:

Blu-ray has an early lead, but that doesn’t count for much. What matters is, who will have the lowest-priced high-definition players at a decent quality level when mainstream consumers finally start buying HD?

If the mainstream starts buying HD players this holiday season, expect to see HD DVD surge ahead of Blu-ray in a big way. Market makers like Wal-Mart will run with whatever player they can price below $200, just to draw people into stores. And most people in the mainstream won’t necessarily buy 10 HD movies; they’ll buy one or two, and wait for the studios to follow the installed base.

And if HD DVD sells big, you’d best believe the Hollywood studios will follow. Aside from Sony, they really don’t care with HD format wins – just as long as they get sell a lot more movies.

 

[Suikoguy]

You are kidding.. an entire article based around what looks like a quick interview and Amazon Numbers :lol

 

[jjasper]

Too bad that (in regards to movies) Amazon ranking means nothing.

 

[Forsete]

Thats a lot of whats and ifs.. Too bad time is running out for one format. I wonder how much longer the lonely big studio will hold out?

 

[djkimothy]

Too bad that (in regards to movies) Amazon ranking means nothing.

This pretty much sums up why this article is out to lunch.

 

[The Main Event]

At least he's admitting that the format war have just begun and did not end in March.

 

[jjasper]

This pretty much sums up why this article is out to lunch.

The other problem is that overall Blu Rays are selling better on Amazon

 

[Crisis]

That article is so stupid. :lol

 

[VanMardigan]

Hypothetically, say you rent for $5 and buy for $20. If on average you're satisfied with your blind buys more than 75% of the time, you're better off blind buying than renting before you buy.

I use blockbuster online, so throw the hypotheticals out the door. Blind buy is not a good proposition for me.

About the article: yeah, using amazon is not a good idea, but the price/holiday combination is solid.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Thsi reads like it was sritten from a hypothetical "Message Boards HD Formats Talking Points" document.

Wal*Mart: check
Amazon: check
Price vs Content: check

Neatly omits any reference to absolute sales data, where HD-DVD is getting its ass kicked.

 

[Chemo]

I use blockbuster online, so throw the hypotheticals out the door. Blind buy is not a good proposition for me.

About the article: yeah, using amazon is not a good idea, but the price/holiday combination is solid.

Just to contribute to the discussion about renting first or blind-buying, I own seven Blu-ray titles (Casino Royale, The Departed, The Fountain, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Layer Cake, A Scanner Darkly and Weeds Season 1) and every one of them outside of A Scanner Darkly, which I caught in the theater, was a total blind-buy. Of course, in most cases I read enough beforehand about the premise/cast/whatever to have a good idea that it'd be the right fit for me.

I do agree that blind-buying is not the best idea unless someone looks into the title beforehand, though, and my system would probably not work for nearly as many people as it would infuriate. XD I've been enjoying the new format as a chance to see stuff I'd never seen before, things I'd been interested in and never gotten around to. I have yet to replace a single film I own on DVD... but I'm sure that'll be coming soon.

 

[Bebpo]

And if HD DVD sells big, you’d best believe the Hollywood studios will follow. Aside from Sony, they really don’t care with HD format wins – just as long as they get sell a lot more movies.

This was written by a legit journalist?

 

[captive]

You are kidding.. an entire article based around what looks like a quick interview and Amazon Numbers :lol

Look at who posted it.

 

[djkimothy]

You are kidding.. an entire article based around what looks like a quick interview and Amazon Numbers :lol

It wasn't even an interview:

Randy Waynick, senior vice president of marketing in Sony’s Home Products Division, said that Sony has sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 stand-alone Blu-ray disc players so far; that number does not include the hundreds of thousands of PlayStation 3 consoles that include a Blu-ray drive. That number is low enough, I told him, that it probably will be dwarfed by the number of high definition players that sell in the month of November alone. He didn’t disagree. (The holiday season and its discounts will really begin to shape the HD player landscape. Note: Microsoft (MSFT) has backed HD DVD with an add-on for the Xbox 360.)

That's pretty much the only thing in the article that comes close to a question asked. At least the guy acknowledged, the PS3. :/

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

At least he's admitting that the format war have just begun and did not end in March.

That seems to be a real sore point for some. I don't doubt SOny claimed that, but can you point me to it so I can see context? I probably read it, but I tend to ignore the bravado aspects of PR.

 

[Oni Jazar]

This is why Planet Earth HD DVD is selling so well on amazon:

By Charles A. Jacques "Tony" (S.C.) - See all my reviews
I Purchased the HD DVD to finf out that it would not work in my DVD Player. I could not return It because it was opened but not used. How are you supose to know it a thing works if you don't open it. So your return is not worth a dime! I ored the regular DVD and Found that all one needs is DVD one. The outher four DVD Has the same things as on the first DVD.

By Elaine E. Paasch - See all my reviews
Real rating is a minus 30! I was unable to access the DVD on ANY player! I took it to Best Buy, and they said it will not work in any player they have in stock and are unable to program any player to play the DVD. It was a total waste of money and a horrible experience with Amazon because they will not help in any way to correct the problem.

By Dwight F. Entwistle (satellite beach, florida United States) - See all my reviews
I ORDERED THIS ITEM WITH GREAT ENTHUSIASM. MUCH TO MY SURPRISE, MY DVD PLAYER COULD NOT PLAY AND IT AND I WAS ADVISED TO CONTACT THE MANUFACTURER FOR "FIRMWARE OR SOFTWARE" UPDATES. THE MANUFACTURER WAS OF NO HELP AT ALL BECAUSE, AS IT TURNED OUT, THEY DO NOT MAKE THE NECESSARY HARDWARE. SO FAR, I HAVE HAD TO BUY A NEW "BLUE LASER" DVD PLAYER AT A COST OF $500 (AND AT THAT I AM BETTING ON HD DVD AS OPPOSED TO BLU RAY) PLUS A $138 REMOTE TO PLAY THE HD DVD WITH MY EXIXTING HD TV AND MY CURRENT $600 AV RECEIVER SO I WON'T HAVE TO SPENT $800 OR MORE FOR A MORE ADVANCED AV RECEIVER. OF COURSE I COULD HAVE RETURNED THE PLANET EARTH DVD SET AND GOTTEN A REGULAR RED LASER SET FOR POSTAGE COST, BUT I WAS CURIOUS ABOUT THE "NEWEST" TECHNOLOGY. WHAT'S NEXT? ALL THIS IS JUST VENTING! THANKS FOR LISTENING. POINT: I DO FEEL YOU SHOULD HAVE INCLUDED A CAVEAT SOMETHING LIKE "THIS HD DVD SET WILL NOT PLAY ON YOUR CURRENT DVD PLAYER. PERIOD!!" YOU WOULD BE CORRECT 99.9+% OF THE TIME.

By Tewfik Benredjeb "Tewfik" (Minneapolis) - See all my reviews
I had to return the HD DVD because i don't have a HD DVD Player.I reordered Planet earth's DVD with no problem.I received my credit.The service was fast and good.Thank you.This was my 1st order thru Amazon.com and it would'nt be the last.

By Francesca Matterhorn "skeptic" (WA) - See all my reviews
Thanks to Amazon's pathetic scheme, I now own an HD DVD format piece of plastic. It was very deceiving of them to have the HD formatted DVD as the first choice in a search on this series. So I'm out almost $80 because I took the plastic off... I now know that an HD DVD is not only a different format, but is being compared to laserdiscs, so don't bother buying this version of Planet Earth or an HD DVD player for that matter.

By Justin M. Griffin - See all my reviews
I am mainly writing this out of disgust for the stupidity of some people. This is an excellent program with some of the best HD visuals you will see currently on the market. For those of you stupid enough to not understand that you must have an HD player to play an HD DVD...well... go back to your caves and get a clue! It has noting to do with the show so why would you give an excellent program a bad review because you are to stupid to buy the right format...hey I got a bunch of VHS tapes if you wanna try those on your DVD player...

By T. Shelton - See all my reviews
I thought since I have a high def TV that this would work but apparently you have to have a high def DVD player to play this dvd. I couldn't use or play this so I had to return it. I will be buying the regular dvd though.

By Jeffery C. Ottesen "Jeff" (Juneau, AK) - See all my reviews
I've given the Planet Earth DVD 5 stars because the cable broadcast of the work is so compelling. I can only wait to actually see it in High Definition. Alas, that is the rest of this story.

Owning a shiny new HD TV (Sony Bravia) and a tenured DVD player I opted to purchase the HD version of the Planet Earth series. Here is where I made my mistake (and Amazon too!)

I did not understand that only HD DVD players can play a HD DVD. Your ordinary DVD player simply can't read the new technology on the HD DVD. Period.

OK, it does say so, in the very fine print on the back of the DVD case. Why with 10X reading glasses I might have even noticed. But no where on the ordering process on teh Amazon web site is this requirement brought to my attention.

Sure, snicker, you video-philes who are early adopters and know this implicitly. But trust me, I have talked to at least a dozen people who like me didn't have a clue. And not one person I have discussed this with was aware of the DVD shortcoming with HD DVD format.

 

[djkimothy]

This is why Planet Earth HD DVD is selling so well:

It would be interesting to know the percentage of people who are in that situation. Can't be that big. You don't see that problem with other titles.

 

[distantmantra]

It would be interesting to know the percentage of people who are in that situation. Can't be that big. You don't see that problem with other titles.

You also don't see other HD-DVD titles selling as well as Planet Earth.

 

[Oni Jazar]

It would be interesting to know the percentage of people who are in that situation. Can't be that big. You don't see that problem with other titles.

Well other movies aren't tied to the High Definition format as well as the Planet Earth series was on HD. Discovery Channel really pushed the High Definition aspect all around their channel/website/etc.

Also as one of the reviews state, "It was very deceiving of them to have the HD formatted DVD as the first choice in a search on this series".

 

[djkimothy]

You also don't see other HD-DVD titles selling as well as Planet Earth.

Yes that's true...

Well other movies aren't tied to the High Definition format as well as the Planet Earth series was on HD. Discovery Channel really pushed the High Definition aspect all around their channel/website/etc.

Also as one of the reviews state, "It was very deceiving of them to have the HD formatted DVD as the first choice in a search on this series".

Yah, I noticed that as well, it could be an honest mistake on Amazon's part due to similar format names. Though this doesn't really look good for the HDDVD format.

 

[maharg]

This is why Planet Earth HD DVD is selling so well on amazon:

Ah, FUD. I guess it doesn't only happen one way.

 

[Days like these...]

This is why Planet Earth HD DVD is selling so well on amazon:

You can't be serious.

 

[Oni Jazar]

You can't be serious.

Half-serious. I would have to know for sure how the Amazon ranking system works. As of now it doesn't mean too much though because it would seem like Planet Earth HD DVD is demolishing anything HD but the neilson ratings indicate that it is further down the list of top selling HD titles for the week.

1. Pirates: DMC (BD) 100.00
2. Pirates: CBP (BD) 84.63
3. Apocolypto (BD) 82.92
4. Planet Earth (HD) 41.26
5. Letters from Iwo Jima (BD) 33.23
6. Ultimate Matrix (HD) 30.19
7. Planet Earth (BD) 28.97
8. Complete Matrix (HD) 28.21
9. Letters from Iwo Jima (HD) 27.48
10. Casino Royale (BD) 24.30