Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

The upcoming release of Star Trek TOS Season 2 on HD-DVD is still tracking for release on March 25th 2008, based on the news that I know of. The remaining 3rd season of Star Trek TOS will be released this year as well. If anyone has any new updated info, please chime in.

We all know about the Warner Bros breaking news Friday that they will go Blu Ray exclusive starting in May 2008.

A story found at trekmovie.com reports that the sales figures for Season 1 on HD-DVD have been very good and there are plans to continue with Season 2 and the final 3rd season on HD-DVD. The response has been good enough that they are considering other TV Shows like CSI, since it would be a natural.

That story of course was reported the morning of January 4th, 2008, before the Warner Brothers Blu Ray exclusivity story broke. In light of this news though, I have not seen any information about how this will affect the Star Trek TOS season sets.

It's way too early to know. I can't imagine CBS stopping now and resetting all releases to Blu-Ray just yet. My sense is that the remaining Star Trek TOS sets will be HD. At least Season 2 will be HD, it's so close to March now. Of course that doesn't mean CBS could scrap it's plans and rethink this.

There is a possibility that CBS has some kind of out in their contracts with Toshiba and HD-DVD. Sometime down the line, perhaps in a year, there could be a total season set reissue in Blu-Ray. Anything is possible, or Star Trek TOS simply skips that and goes to the next format, be it download or holographic imagers.

For an article on CBS TV releases including Star Trek news, here's a link to TVShowsOnDVD. Star Trek DVD news: Plans for Star Trek on HD DVD | TVShowsOnDVD.com

There's enough interest here amongst the members that a good number will buy this set. But in light of the Warners news, I wonder what others think. I'll likely still collect the remain seasons if they are indeed out on HD-DVD. The hardware still works. It's unfortunate it appears that HD-DVD is going down. Perhaps others will still hold out as the price of the last set was high for many to swallow. So a future version, if it happens, could be in the offering as BD and perhpas less costly when the cost to manuafacture goes down.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

As far as the "Star Trek" library is concerned, for me, I would like to see "Star Trek: Enterprise" and all of the theatrical films; personally, I could do without Star Trek: Nemesis. I would hope that, and especially in the case of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which I don't own and didn't care for what director Nicholas Meyer added to the SCE, that they will at least be the original theatrical cuts in HD. The Director's Edition for The Motion Picture I would also buy, but this is all wishful thinking and depending on when CBS/Paramount will go Blu-ray.

It should be interesting to see what this studio will do now. I'll be skipping the remastered TOS, but they should honor their plan and finish out this on HD-DVD and then go straight to Blu-ray (including an eventual reissue) for all future Star Treks.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

Nothing more than a cynical guess but I think Paramount will release at least the first three seasons of the original series on HD DVD because they know that they can bleed money from the Trek fanbase who can't wait for a Blu Ray release. Then they'll eventually sell the Blu Ray seasons to people that waited, just got into high definition or the people that have to own everything Trek.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

I bought TOS S1 on HD-DVD and will also be buying S2-3 if they finish them on HD-DVD. I must say though, if there was a BD alternative, I would prefer those to the HD-DVD combos, not to mention fewer discs with 50gb to play with and better packaging.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

Well, I think Paramount is going to continue to release on HD-DVD until they don't. Meaning they could drop it at any time,and I don't think we'll have any advance notice. Unless they make an announcement soon I'd expect season 2 to move forward but I doubt season 3 will make it to HD-DVD.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

This will never happen, but maybe CBS/Paramount could offer a rebate for Blu-ray owners, and soon-to-be Blu-ray owners. I'm not speaking for myself as I'm not planning on buying TOS in high definition either way, but for other fans, it's just a thought.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

Paramount will release this in every format that exists until the end of time. They dont miss a trick with Trek.
I am sure they will finish the HD DVD/combo sets, but they will eventually do stand alone DVD, and Blu-ray. Its a matter of time.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

Given the amount of trouble I had with poor packaging and scratched Combo Format discs on the Season One release, I will wait for a Blu-ray Disc release no matter how long it takes.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

Now that you mention that, I'm kinda surprised that there already isn't an SD release of the remastered episodes.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

There is. It's an HD DVD/SD combo.

Doug

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

Oh. I thought the SD side was the original versions of the episodes.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

Up until Friday I was settled in for a long drawn out format war so I was all set to get Season 2.

Now the propect of paying $120-$140 now and again in a year or two on BD doesn't make much sense. I may cave if the price is right but a lot of events can happen in the next 3 months so I plan to hold off and just see what happens with the HD DVD format.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

No both sides are the remastered versions with new effects.

Doug

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

There's no telling what the next few months will bring from the shake out of the Warner's announcement.

They likely will continue with HD-DVD and could reduce the price a bit. I agree a re-issue on blu-ray of all 3 seasons could take a year from now at the earliest. CBS must be smart enough to know that they'd upset those who bought into HD-DVD. Perhaps if they did do a BD version sooner, they'd offer a rebate for those with the HD sets as others have discussed. I doubt it though.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

I'll buy the last two seasons on HD DVD and get my SD version too!

Doug

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

I have to be honest here.

I don't think I can buy the remaining seasons on HD-DVD
knowing that it's very possible that format is not going to survive.

I'm going to wait out for additional news over the next few weeks,
but if HD-DVD is going away, I'm not purchasing any more titles
on that format.

If it means waiting a year for Star Trek to be released Blu, so be it.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

I agree Ron.

I'll wait too. I waited on the SD releases so another year will not hurt.

My HD DVD purchases have stopped - except maybe for any upcoming fire sales.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

I'm with you Doug!!!

Going thru Disc #4 right now, and I plan to watch 'The Menagerie Part I', 'The Menagerie Part II', Starfleet Access (TRUE PiP Commentaries, etc.) next!!!

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

At this point if its on HD DVD and thats the only place I can get it (not just Star Trek, any title) thats where I'll be buying it. I'm interested in the films, I really couldn't care less what format they are on.

I'm probably also going to pick up another HD DVD player and put it in the closet for now as a replacement when my A1 dies.

Not that I think HD DVD is going anywhere anytime soon. Frankly I think Toshiba will still be selling HD DVD players 2 years from now. This thing really isn't over yet. And who knows what wacky thing could happened that would totally change the picture. Warner could decide they've made a mistake and switch back. I mean can anyone honestly say that stranger things haven't happened in this war?

Doug

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

What if the wait is 3 years or 5 years instead? First you have to wait for an exclusive studio to start releasing on Blu-ray (6 months? 1 year? 2 years?). Then you are hoping that the studios will then immediately release the hundreds of catalog titles in addition to the new releases.

Unless money is really tight, I say buy HD-DVD exclusive titles and enjoy them now. I can't see myself passing on a Universal or Paramount/Dreamworks title in the hopes that some day in the future there may be a blu-ray release that I would own.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

The most current news is that Paramount CBS will continue to support HD-DVD. That means Star Trek TOS Season 2 and 3 boxsets will continue in the HD-DVD format. The article seen on trekmovie.com also goes on to deny what the Financial Times says that Paramount will drop HD-DVD. I see a lot of spin going on here and up coming too!

Paramount Sticking With HD DVD - Star Trek Seasons 2 & 3 Still On Track for 2008 | TrekMovie.com

Looks like Season 2 will be out in May or June and Season 3 in November. Oh man, I can't stand the wait! Just get it out and then work on the next format version!

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

Expect to see this on Blu-Ray if Paramount drops HD-DVD to be with the in-crowd. Although, without a doubt the HDi Starfleet Access interface will not translate to BD-Java. Being a programmer I can almost gurantee it. If any of you have watched the Starfleet Access feature, you will surely miss it.
We should expect to see 5-6 Episodes a disc with just dolby digital sound and the statement would by "TrueHD will most like not be ported over due to some technical (blah, blah, blah) and the $199 SRP we feel represents the value of this title."

It's not hard to be cynical about this when most of my BD lack any features from the previous DVD. At least the HDi will be understandable because of compatibility issues.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

The orginal theatrical cut of "Star Trek VI" has never been issued on Video in any format. I think they did some final tweaking after the film was released to the theaters to 'help explain' some stuff.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

I'm curious as to why they couldn't port the TrueHD track to Blu-ray. Plus I think part of the insane price of the set was due to the Combo HD-DVD/DVD discs, which are just plain stupid if you ask me. There may be few nutters (like me) that purchase anything with the words "Star Trek" printed on them, but really, is a non HD-DVD owner going to really buy these sets?

I also wish they would have retained the 16x9 ratio on these as well. The HD versions of the episodes available from XBOX Live are 16x9 encoded with the original footage pillar-boxed and the new external FX footage in full widescreen. It might be confusing to some, but I liked it.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

I know it hasn't and that was my point. I have this on VHS which included about five minutes of additional footage, but for the Special Collector's Edition, the director tweaked the Spock/Lt. Valeris mind meld (so I heard) which wasn't in the theatrical or the VHS release. It wasn't necessary IMO. There might be another addition/or tweak made for Star Trek VI for this two-disc DVD, but I don't recall what it was.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

As I understand it, this was one of the reasons that the CTO of Paramount chose HD-DVD over Blu Ray, access to all functionality was fully functional.

I've seen a good amount of the Starfleet Access features and it's really well done. It's probably a good thing Season 2 and 3 of TOS will still be HD-DVD, assuming they stick with it as they've stated recently. Then at least, these extras are available on these discs.

If a Blu Ray version comes out some time, I'd bet it would not be a hybrid disc and thus, the costs would be a little lower. This assumes at that time the cost to manufacture BD discs has come down.

I would be curious why these functions are not possible(?) to implement in BD?

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

The "Special Edition" DVD is a new cut of the film, different from all of the previous video versions. The part of Colonel West (Rene Auberjonois) was a bit part (and uncredited) in the theatrical cut - and indeed in the final version as well. All of his sub-plot about the retrival plan and revealing him as the klingon assassin in disguise at the end was not in the theatrical release, but was in the previous videos. There is some additional detail in the mind meld - shots of the conspirators as they are named - which is added to this new cut.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

I have and enjoy the ST TOS Season One HD DVD set, but I'm with Ron on this one... These sets are too expensive for me to collect in a format that may soon be on the way out. I may pick up the occasional can't-wait title (I have no regrets about "Bourne Ultimatum," for example), but I'm now glad I didn't grab the Matrix HD DVD set when it came out. I'm sure I'll enjoy my HD DVD's for years to come... I just don't think I'll be buying that many more.

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

I'm of the exact opposite opinion Ron. With over 70 titles on HD DVD already, I'm not about to get rid of my Toshiba XA2. And selling off the entire HD DVD collection (as some folks have already started to do) is just plain silly. Hell, I can afford to throw the player and the discs in the trash and start over, but that would be downright stupid. So, what difference does it make if I buy more HD DVD titles?

I've got a standard def DVD player that is over 10 years old and it still works perfectly. I see no reason to expect anything different from my HD DVD player. So, it will sit happily with my Blu-ray player (currently, the Panny BD30) and play those beautiful red discs whenever I want to watch one!

Now, if Paramount has gone neutral by March 25 and releases TOS Season 2 in BOTH formats, that will be a tough call.

Mark

Re: Star Trek TOS Season 2 HD-DVD- March 25th tentative release

The videos and info for the Starfleet Access is there, but they would have to reprogram it all for BD-Java. The programmers cost money which I'm sure they will not dish out. Especially when they already paid for new menus.

As for the TrueHD part, just find someone who has Warner's (yes, I know ST is a Paramount title) Superman Returns on with BD with TrueHD and I'll find you a piece of Colorado beachfront property. Things have ways of getting lost.