[Paul Hillenbrand]

Universal Preparing Titles for Blu-ray

Quote:

Universal Preparing Titles for Blu-ray


Posted February 19, 2008 12:07 PM by Josh

The statement that Blu-ray fans have been waiting for nearly two years to hear, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment Craig Kornblau has announced that Universal Studios will begin distributing their films on the Blu-ray format. He commented, "While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray."

He continued, "The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear. Universal will continue its aggressive efforts to broaden awareness for hi-def's unparalleled offerings in interactivity and connectivity, at an increasingly affordable price. The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate."

While no solid details about which titles or specific dates were revealed at this time, a more detailed announcement is expected soon.

[Sam Posten]

As I posted in the megathread:

Quote:

The best part of this going forward is that while it might take a while for Universal and Paramount to get on board with Blu Ray, they can totally re-evaluate how they have been making these HD releases. Specifically with Universal I hope they:

-Go from spotty Lossless support to Lossless audio on every release.
-Jettison U-Control like features completely and ensure that every 'extra' is somehow menu selectable or otherwise navigable in a way that does not force repeated complete watchthroughs of the movie to enjoy
-Support the downloadable formats on disk for iPods and PSPs
-Eschew region coding
-Eschew ridiculous web-only extras, and eschew required logins for said web-only content when it IS present
-Not pursue any kind of BD/SD DVD hybrid flipper technology

-In short, work to make their HD releases a mass market priced product while still satisfying the hard core enthusiast's demands. That's not too much to ask is it? =)

[MattFini]

I hope they release the theatrical cut of Miami Vice on Blu Ray...the HD DVD version had the theatrical version on the SD side of the combo.

[Paul Arnette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattFini

I hope they release the theatrical cut of Miami Vice on Blu Ray...the HD DVD version had the theatrical version on the SD side of the combo.

I actually found the director's cut to be superior myself. That said, I hope both cuts find their way to Blu-ray Disc eventually preferably via seemless branching.

[Dennis Maricic]

Personally I liked the U-Control features and what Universal was doing with Online content. Hope they continue and expand on it when they start publishing on Blu Ray.

[Jose Martinez]

memo to Universal:

NO COMBO DISCs for Blu-Ray!

[Douglas Monce]

If blu-ray could do a combo disc I would for FOR it. That way I don't have to buy both an HD and an SD version of every movie, which is what I'm doing now.

Doug

[Brandon Conway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jose Martinez

memo to Universal:

NO COMBO DISCs for Blu-Ray!

I don't think BD can do combo discs without significant further investments.

[Peter Neski]

HD Combo Dvds cost about ten dollars more than standard HD DVDs so
those who don't want a standard version are srewed paying more.
so I don't want Blue ray Combo discs ,imagine how much a Fox Combo
dvd would cost ......50$

[DavidJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jose Martinez

memo to Universal:

NO COMBO DISCs for Blu-Ray!

Oh no. The combo talk was almost as bad as the "war talk."

This just makes good sense for Universal and I hope the single format means that we get to titles like Jurassic Park sooner. I also sincerely hope that they don't do anything to make me consider double-dipping on HDM media. I really don't want to feel the urge to replace a red title with one that is blue.

[Paul Arnette]

On the subject of the Combo Disc Format, I think every knows my position on that so I won't belabor the point. However, given that Blu-ray Disc and DVD are in competition with one another, I wouldn't expect there to be much likelihood for such a beast regardless.