A few words about...™ Top Gun -- in HD - Page 2

Originally Posted by Scott Jentsch

Do we know that the extras on the 2004 DVD are available in a format that is conducive to HD resolutions? If the extras were shot on SD video, they would have to be upconverted, and I would rather them not include them if all they're going to do is upconvert them or provide them in 480p.

If those extras are on film, someone has to convert that film to HD, which is going to require time, effort, and money. I think it would be a lot of fun to see the principals involved brought back for their perspectives on the movie. With 21 years having passed, and Tom Cruise's career is definitely in a different place than it was back then, getting these actors back together could be very interesting. But I would imagine that creating new content for a Top Gun HD DVD Special Edition would be very time consuming and expensive, and we certainly wouldn't see that title on the shelves for $19.95.

There are some examples of HD DVD's that I've watched (can't think of which ones right off-hand) where they have a mixture of SD and HD extras, so that's an example where if they're going to go through the effort of including extras (and probably charging more because it will now be considered a Special Edition), they might as well provide a complete package.

You are right in that we have a dichotomy, and it's one that is not uncommon. There is an audience that wants to absorb every additional detail they can find, and there is an audience that places a much higher value on just watching the movie and the extras are just a nice add-on.

While I enjoy watching some extras at times, I have not watched the extras on many of the DVDs that I purchase or rent. In the case of the Top Gun DVD, I'm not even sure that I watched the extras they provided on there, even though I liked the movie. The same goes for the wealth of extras that are on the LOTR DVDs, and I really liked those movies!

The presence of extras are something that may push me over the edge in the decision of whether to buy or rent a movie. In that respect, the extras are important to the studio, because I can imagine that they want me to buy it instead of rent it. In the case of Top Gun on HD DVD, I have it from Netflix right now, and I'll decide from there if it's worth picking up as demo material (even at the nice price it's being offered at).

Bottom line is that I don't think it's unfair, misleading, or unreasonable for Paramount to have produced a bare bones version of Top Gun and offer it for sale for $20.

Everyone is free to have their own position on that topic, and I respect and understand your desire to have a more featured-filled version.

After putting some more thought into this subject, I think that there is some interesting discussion to be had about extras and the value they represent. I've created a new thread titled "Thoughts about extras on HD DVD and Blu-ray" to discuss this topic in more detail, but it reaches beyond the Top Gun HD DVD release. I am very interested in continuing the discussion over there!