In addition to the High-Def Digest listing of Star Trek: The Original Series under "Paramount Home Entertainment", Amazon.com lists the Studio in the Product Details section as "Paramount Home Video" and then DVD Empire lists the Studio as "Paramount Pictures".
Peculiar, after it's been stated several times in several places, that Holiday Season '07, would be crucial for both hi-def formats.
Perhaps Paramount/Dreamworks, think that 'Transformers' and 'Shrek the Third' are their big bang statements after having signed over to HD exclusively. They are big, but no big enough to carry the whole program, IMHO.
There seems to be a parallel shaping up here, that's eerily similar to this time last year. At about the same point, people were saying "Oh, there's still plenty of time." (for Q4), but nothing ever happened as the weeks ticked by. After several signs of life, and reasons for hope, are we going to see HD "lose its way" again? I hope we're not seeing a return to inexplicable decisions, or lack of them, in high places.
It's as if there's some giant, unseen hand, making sure that neither format strides too far in front of the other.
In my opinion, the biggest thing in the way of Catalog releases is the fact that the players upconvert our old movies. It's tough convincing yourself to blow $20-$25 on a movie you already have, and looks okay for hi def.
I know this isn't news to anybody, bla bla.
In my opinion, it IS worth it to upgrade. The only ones I replaced were my Matrix SD-DVd's but it was $60. I've been buying a lot of catalogs that I never bought on SDDVD because I never really was an avid DVD collector. I bought more HD-DVD's in the last 2 months than I bought DVD's within 2 years.
It makes sense to release Carlito's Way 2 with the original from a marketing perspective.
Also think about retail shelf space. If they released another 40 catalog titles between now and Christmas, along with all the WB releases, and new releases, where would they go? which B&M stores have room in their HD sections to carry all of these films? Studios have to look at the market and see what else is out there so their titles don't get lost in the crowd. Only so many people are buying HD titles (both formats), so the economics aren't there yet to flood the market. Be patient with both formats. Despite what people think, from a software standpoint Q4 isn't some magical make or break quarter. A lot of good quality catalog titles are coming....be patient. As it is, with the WB HD titles and everyones new releases, I'm not going to be able to afford everything I want in HD in Q4.
I'm pretty certain that all of the TREK TV shows fall under the CBS banner, while the Trek threatrical films are under the domain of Paramount Pictures.
I too have also read the reports that HD in Q4 won't be a make or break season. Nonetheless, I would like to see a title or two each from Paramount & Universal before the year ends that at least matches the big catalog exclusive Close Encounters on BD. As Jim pointed out, December is pretty wide open for Paramount/Dreamworks/Universal. I am hoping that they give us SOMETHING in December.
Pretty much all Warner. They don't seem too concerned about shelf space. and I don't see how Warner's releases should somehow give Universal and Paramount a pass.
I don't view Q4 as make or break time for either format but I do see it as a lost window of opportunity with most studios releasing catalog content. If they don't think a catalog title will sell in Q4 07 I doubt they think it'll do better in slower selling months.
I may seem unreasonable in expecting a moderate assortment of catalog titles to use on these HD players I invested in but there it is................
[BTW I'm not yelling, there's some kind of formatting glitch which isn't allowing me to un-bold the above]
These studios need to think outside the box then. Make HD catalog titles Internet exclusives for a time. Hell most people buy HD media online anyway, or at least it seems like it. Then you can sell to your early adopters and keep them happy, press less discs and incur less overhead, save the B&M their precious shelf-space, and everybody wins.
I see Adam's point, but yeah, I definitely wasn't expecting 40 catalog titles from Paramount/Universal, just a FEW major catalog releases. I wonder why these other studios feel that WHV should shoulder the burden when it comes to releases? Universal is head of the HD-DVD group for logics sake! you'd think they'd know better than to drop the ball in the lucrative holiday season. I guess this is why many format war "enthusiasts" believe whoever wins Warner exclusively will ultimately win the war.
Looking at WHV's 4th qtr schedule compared to other studios, this certainly gives that theory some creedence...........
One could argue that WHV has always been better than other studios when it came to DVD in general, so this trend is merely carrying over into HD. Afterall, Warner destroys both Universal and Paramount when it comes to catalog releases on SD-DVD. The only gripe I have with Warner (and it's a big one) is it's lack of attention to a Jean Harlow boxset - but that's another story!
If the HD-DVD group has a head, it would have to be Toshiba; Universal's just a company with a contract. As to the why, same reason as in the SD world: Warner is apparently more willing to accept several small profits over one larger one, and has a cable/satellite outlet (TCM) that can absorb some of the cost of new transfers... Although I'd hope some of the stuff showing up on UniversalHD (the Babe movies, Cold Comfort Farm, etc.) makes it to HD DVD sooner or later.
Perhaps Adam G. can chime in and help here, as I'm certain that Universal is the main chair/head of the HD-DVD promo group (or whatever it's called). Also, it has never been proven that a contract of any sort exists between Toshiba and Universal. I am NOT saying one doesn't, but I had always seen this thrown around by BD proponents (in the days before the Paramount/Dreamworks deal) as "proof" that Universal was going neutral because their contract with Toshiba was expiring.
One word: Fox. They own the film jointly with Paramount. Previous debuts on home video formats have been done jointly between Fox and Paramount around the world, and I can't see a Hi-Def release being any different.
I had forgotten about that. Fox does own the rights outside of North America, I think Lightstorm is the one who makes the final call if I'm not mistaken.
BD catalog titles for Q4 aren't much better than HD-DVD. It seems like everyone on both sides is awaiting to see what happens over the holidays.
The Fox release in europe of the SE was a 4 disc set. Here we got the shaft, only a 3 disc set. Here in the US, Paramount would release this. In Europe, Fox.