Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

Go for it Nelson! You should see The Thing in HD! The increase in detail and field of depth is amazing.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

I am at least a year away from considering an HD player for various reasons including this idiotic format war, so I'll be happy to have the SD collector's set to enjoy in the meantime and can always buy a disc-only HD version when the time comes.

Regards,

Joe

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

I'm in the same boat, Joseph. I'll be waiting another generation or two before taking the HD plunge. However, it IS encouraging to see such high-quality product bowing in the new format(s).

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

I watched the Watch The Skies documentary on disc 2 last night, and it was pretty good. Lots of clips (well chosen) from various 50s films, and the likes of Lucas, Speilberg, Ridley Scott, and Cameron talking about the influence of those films. They placed even the silliest 50s sci-fi flicks into their historical context. A very worthy addition to the Forbidden Planet set.

As for the high-definition formats, I'm waiting as well. (There is an excellent piece about this today on thedigitalbits.com.) My fear is that the format war could collapse the entire DVD industry. Most folks don't buy BluRay or HD-DVD, waiting for the war to end, so those formats implode (like SA-CD and DVD Audio). Meanwhile, no one buys standard DVD, waiting for the format war to end so they can pick up new discs in hi-def, and those sales slow to a crawl.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

Keep in mind that F.P. will be out on Blu-ray as well. Probably a nice 50 gig disc.

Anyone waiting on the format war issues is ok as it will be available on both HD formats (so no need to rush or worry that you'll miss it in HD if you don't buy immediately).

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

These fears might be valid if the kind of people who hang around The Home Theater Forum were representative of mainstream consumers, but we're not.

"No one buys standard DVD"? What, did I pull a Rip Van Winkle and sleep through all the years it is going to take before the installed TV base in this country is 100% HD? Only a fraction of U.S. households currently have HDTVs. Only a smaller fraction of those households are receiving HD content on those TVs. My sister just bought an HD tube set to replace her dying bedroom TV. She has DirecTV, no plans to upgrade to HD anytime soon, and lives in a bad area for OTA reception. She bought HD now had to replace a TV and it made sense to "future proof" it against the digital cut-over.

She won't be adding a Blu Ray or HD-DVD player anytime soon. (In fact, she doesn't even have a DVD player in the bedroom.)

I, by contrast, have four HD-capable devices, three LCD panels (26", 27", 32") two of which double as computer monitors, and a 56" LCoS set in the living room. Somewhere or other I'm probably counted as "4 HD households". Only two of those sets are currently receiving HD (cable) source material.

Because we are deeply invested in home theater, we tend to forget that probably 90% of consumers couldn't play a hi-def DVD if they wanted to, and many are still transitioning from VHS. (A format that is still being supported, as you might have noticed.) The market for SD DVD is far from the point of collapse, and the format war will be over long before that is an issue. In the end one of the hi-def formats will outperform the other in the marketplace, or one group of backers will run out of deficit-financing cash to keep a losing proposition going, and we'll end up with one hi-def format - because there is going to be enough of a demand for such a thing to support one, but not two.

"Most folks don't buy BluRay or HD-DVD, waiting for the war to end..."

That is, "most folks" among the tiny minority who have HD ready equipment, know what BluRay and HD-DVD are, and are willing to spend early-adopter bucks to invest in a new format? I don't see any evidence of this. I see many of the usual early adopter cadre buying one or both formats (usually just one, which they faithfully adopt and defend against attack with all the zeal of religious converts ) while a smaller (or less vocal) number wait on the sidelines. No new format gets "most people" to buy it early on if by "most people" you include the entire population. Enough people are going to buy BluRay or HD-DVD or both to a) establish the viability of some hi-def DVD format and b) produce a clear winner in the marketplace. And that's all the sales anybody needs.

When enough people do have HDTVs and are getting HD satellite and cable shows, there will be demand for a high-def DVD format. Hi-def DVD will fill a perceived need - which SA-CD and DVD Audio never did. It wasn't like consumers were clamoring for a new audio format. Rather some engineers tinkered around with existing technology to see what cool new applications they could come up with. Sometimes this approach works (Apple's iPod.) More often than not, it doesn't (SA-CD, DVD-A, Mini-Disc.)

Regards,

Joe

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

I thought about this, too. But VHS and LD co-existed quite well for a long time (relatively speaking). It's true DVD sales have cooled off a bit; but my gosh, DVD was so hot for a few years there what did the studios expect? What did we expect?

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

"Cooled" meaning they're still increasing, just not as fast as previous years. Which is to be expected now that everyone has a DVD player, so growth isn't being driven by people entering the DVD market.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

VHS and LD are a bad comparison. LD was even more of a niche product in the U.S. than HD is now and it never had a chance of becoming mainstream. VHS was the mainstream format and most VHS owners had never even heard of LD, much less seen any players discs or demos. At least with HDTV the whole CE industry along with broadcasters, cable and satellite are all pushing hi-def generally, which can't hurt. A better analogy might be vinyl/tape and CDs, where one format really did replace another, but took a long time doing it.


Well, there are people entering the DVD market. New people are born every day, and they eventualy grow up, move out of the parents' house and start buying stuff. Other people move to this country from other places, often without a lot in the way of personal possessions and they start buying stuff. That's what keeps our economy going. It isn't like the old days, but it isn't like there is no room for further growth.

Regards,

Joe

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

LD was more of a niche product than HD discs (both formats) are now? Baloney.

DVD is the mainstream format right now and most DVD owners probably haven't heard of HD DVD or BD.

Sounds like you're assuming one of the two HD formats will replace DVDs, which is not a foregone conclusion at this point.

I think it's kinda' amazing how analogous VHS and LD are to DVD and the HD formats right now. So, needless to say, I stand by my analogy. :^)

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

To me the best comparison between DVD and HD-DVD/BR is, quite obviously, CD and SACD/DVD-A. Regular CDs and "HD" CDs coexist, but not a lot of people know about them and not a lot of people buy them. They require special hardware, and the benefits are not night-and-day, as was the case with the previous mainstream audio format, the cassette.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

Picked up my SD-DVD copy of FP today at Best Buy. Interestingly, the Canadian version of the disc-only package uses the same cover art as the Ultimate Collector's tin (albeit with both English and French text).

Not that I'm complaining... I certainly like that art better than the cover art with the never-seen-in-the-movie red and green uniforms. I was just a little surprised when I saw it on the shelf, and at first thought there was a single-disc version that I hadn't heard about.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

Hey All,

Aren't HDDVD and Blue Ray being sold in Circuit City, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target at this point? It's pretty safe to say that by the end of this holiday season just about everyone will have at least walked by a display that is firmly in the electronics department front and center. Not to mention with the PS3 being released this week, every kid will certainly know what Blue Ray is and will bug the heck out of their parents about it. There will be consumer awareness about these products. It won't help sales all that much for the simple fact that most people don't have HD sets yet, but they will at least know about it. And that is the difference from the VHS/LD years. LD was never sold in the mainstream stores. Virgin was about it and that's only because it was and still is considered to be a more progressive store.

Also, I think what was meant in an earlier post about the DVD sales not having the same boost as in the past few years is that while yes, there will always be new customers, DVD has penetrated a tremendous portion of the market already and will never get that same kind of boost again. Sure your Aunt Marge might get a DVD player this holiday or next, but the rest of the neighborhood got their players last year. And they purchased every Disney DVD, Star Wars, Matrix, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc already. I'd be surprised if Aunt Marge picks up those titles.

Myself, I'm staying out of the HD/Blue Ray market for now. I got my first DVD player right out of the gates because there wasn't a format war at the time - and the sad thing is I've had an HD display crying out for some HD format for about 3 years now. But I don't like the format war, so I'm just going to wait a little longer. I'm glad I got DVD before the whole DIVX thing rolled around or I might have waited a very long time to enter the DVD market. I still remember the forum back then. Man were people upset about the DIVX! Those were interesting times.

Cheers,

Jason

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

I've said it before in another thread (or maybe even another forum, I dunno): the new upconverting DVD players are a great interim step on the path to upgrading. DVDs look near-HD on my plasma display, so it's almost like enjoying my DVDs all over again. I'm perfectly content to stretch out and wait.

Back on topic: I couldn't find the FP tin anywhere yesterday! I'm pretty sure I'm getting it for my birthday (the 27th), but I wanted to at least gaze at it lovingly.... no luck.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

I just received the FP tin and it is gorgeous. I haven't yet been able to make myself break the celophane seal. This looks as good (and its bigger) as the original King Kong tin.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

Be prepared to be a little disappointed at the tiny Robbie figure. I'm sure they could have made it a couple of inches bigger than this.

Still a nice set though and a fantastic presentation of a classic movie.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

I went back and forth on whether to get the tin or just the single HD release ( I was suprised to see them offer the Tin w/ the HD version), but in the end I decided I didn't the need the Robby figure at a cost of about $18 more (I wasn't really interested in the lobby cards or the poster offer- just the figure).
I saw the tin yesterday and I will admit it lookd sharp, but when I saw the actual size of the figure (3.5") I was really glad I didn't go with the tin.
I was thinking this thing would be more like 6" or 8" tall. 3.5" is more like a keychain charm.

Still, considering you get a free poster in the deal, its not too bad if you like that stuff and are a big fan of the film. Actually, its still a good deal, as those poster can run about $15 anyway.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

"Aren't HDDVD and Blue Ray being sold in Circuit City, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target"

I went to many stores today and no stores had a HD DVD player. Only one store had HD DVD's and they stated to me that they haven't sold one of them yet.

Well I did see a HD player but it was for the XBox 360. I don't own any video game machine but am trying to find out if I can buy this HD player and use it to watch HD discs on my computer using the USB connection as does cost only 200 dollars.

I may be wrong but I don't think there is a single computer HD dvd drive on the market. I'm not talking about a burner but just a basic drive. I did a search over the internet, and all I saw were notebooks that had drives in them already but no others. I did see where NEC has been talking about making a drive that will play HD and Blue Ray togeter but those discussions were talked about in 2005 and still can not find one to buy anywhere. I do know that there are a total of 3 stand alone HD dvd players on the market for around 1000 bucks but these are not showing up in any stores that I have been in.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

GodDAMN IT! I splurge and order the tin, looking totally forward to my very own Robby The Robot (seeing as how I can't afford the life-size one), and now this. I knew it! I KNEW IT!



MC

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

On second thought, I may just get the DVD and skip the tin. I was planning to display the Robby toy on my desk, but at 3.5", it'll get buried under stuff.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

Duplicate post, please delete.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

For me, the star of this edition (excepting the movie and other dvd content of course) is the tin. It's gorgeous with a beautiful illustration of the saucer landing on the rear of it. In addition, the Robby replica is encased inside the tin so that it may be left there while still allowing a good look at it.

Oh well, I guess I like the tins better than figures. Unless you are spending big bucks for a separate purchase, it seems to me the figures that come with dvds are a little on the cheap side. Robby is small, but he looks good.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

Dan,

I meant the discs themselves, not the players. I haven't even looked to see if the players were at any of the stores. I meant actual endcaps and stand alone mini-kiosks that were devoted to HD DVD and Blue Ray. Also, netflix has Blue Ray and HD DVD sections. And again, once the PS3 comes out, everyone who has a kid will know about Blue Ray. I guess I was just saying that by the end of this holiday season, I do believe there will be consumer awareness about these products.

Just out of curiosity, where do you live? I wonder if the markets are different at this stage of the game. I'm in Manhattan, but I've also seen Blue Ray and HD out in Jersey.

Cheers,

Jason

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

The question is... will Joe Q. Sixpack even care at this point about either format? In the end only one of the two will make the cut, and I suspect at best we are looking at that format being the new Laserdisc of the video market. And this is at best. Worst case is we got another SACD vs DVD-Audio fiasco on our hands. We all know how that turned out..... so far at least. Given the forthcoming Doors and Genesis releases my hopes have gone up a bit but we'll see.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

Yeah, I'd definitely be more enthused about the HD formats if it wasn't for the upconverting players. The new FP SD disc looks so good on my Sony 36" HD CRT via my Oppo upconverting player that I'm not sure it'd be worth it to go true HD, at least not with a "mere" 36" screen size. Those of you with 60"+ plasmas or projectors might feel differently.

I held off getting the tin. I got the Kong ('33) tin and I don't find myself looking at the postcards and whatnot very often.

Great release. Don't think I've ever seen FP looking this good. Warners does it again!

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

I got 8 tins for customers and all the Robby figures came with broken antenna! Crap packaging around toy causes the brittle plastic antenna to snap...anyone else have this problem?

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

The antenna on my Robby is fine so far. I've left it in the packaging.

I saw The Invisible Boy for the first time. Nice transfer, anamorphic and clean. What an odd film! Hard to believe the screenplay was written by the same writer of Forbidden Planet.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

My Robbie antenna was broken, too. I'm going to try to glue it back, but it is so disappointingly small it's not worth the effort to send it back for a trade.

Of all the goodies that have come with "special" DVDs, the 3 Rings models have ruled them all.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

I can't believe how hard it is to find a tin that isn't dented or scratched. I finally got one that is passable (just a hairline scratch on the front cover and a few minor bends). The tin is gorgeous I just wished they shipped them to retailers better.

Re: Warner announces Forbidden Planet for November

My Robbie is ok.

I must say, I'm 45 and I'm sure I've seen FB at the least 20 times in my life on tv, on old vhs and on the previous dvd. I got my tin Monday and watched FB lastnight. I've never seen it look so clean or with colors so vibrant. It really looked good. I was also afraid the DD5.1 track would loose the left/right dialog and fx cues locking dialog to the center channel but it didn't which was good. I like this release.