This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

So you're pissed off that Blu-Ray has added-value content or that you can't control your buying impulse? Either way seems like a weird complaint.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

Dont forget Blu-ray has more storage potential than DVD. I have about 900 DVDs, and most i dont have any interest in replacing. Not unless i can find the Blu version cheap. Having said that, my DVDs look really good upconverted by my Sony BDS300, and you can find that player pretty cheap. I think Wal-Mart, has, or will have a cheap, under $300 player out as well.
Start with 1 piece, you dont have to s**t can everything just because you buy a Blu-ray player. Enjoy.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

I really don't see what the problem is. Look at the guy just now getting into DVD. He's benefiting from getting the last iteration of all those double dips with great transfers and paying rock bottom prices. If you ever bother to go Blu, you'll pick up that Omen release for pennies on the dollar. Knowing that's its a future option has got to be better than not seeing it at all.

Personally, Blu is not for me right now. Disks are more expensive and have less features than their SD counterparts. That's a losing formula in my eyes, but they'll eventually turn it around. Your Omen disk is a nice exception. When I finally perceive some actual value there, I'll jump in and clean up with all the bargain bin Blu disks.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

There will always be a new version with better features, that's just the way the game is played. You can always get the BR version when you upgrade.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

To get you to buy into Blu! I wouldnt cry if they did this more often.

And once again, you dont have to do it all today. My plasma is 1080i, and looks great! I dont have a $5000 sound system either, but what i have sounds good. And when i CAN upgrade my receiver, i already have the Blu-ray discs, and player!

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

the only thing that worries me is that the studios will soon halt their wonderful digging into the obscurer realms of the Studio Age back catalog and go back to re-releasing the same old "usual suspects" from the 30s and 40s...

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

I still don't get this attitude that the companies are in some way taking advantage of you. If you can't afford Blu then just don't get one, tough luck, thats always the way its been with top-end home theater equipment, and its not like the studio deliberately withheld the score, they might have decided to go an extra mile to differentiate the Blu Ray release or discovered more space that they could fit more extras in. To me it just sounds like someone whining they don't have hundreds of dollars in disposable income to buy top-of-the-line equipment, and few people do.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

The payoff is that Blu owners are going to have to keep buying two formats because a lot of DVD titles won't be released as BR.

Off topic but I think Fox is really stupid for the retail price on this thing. I bought the "standard" box set for my father a few months ago for $35. If your average shopper even thinks about upgrading and sees the price difference then there's no way they're going to make the jump.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

Stores don't sell it for the suggested retail price though. It'll probably be $32.99 like a lot of Blu Ray special editions when it comes out.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

Isn't the retail price $129.95?

Edit: My original post was in regards to the box set.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

I guarantee you (as a film composer myself and knowing what composers and their agents out here are doing)...the isolated music scores were not included and stopped from being included on DVDs because of space limitations or anything else technical. It was/is purely a financial decision.

The musicians union stepped in and made the case (successfully), that the musicians were compensated for performing on the score in context of the film only. As soon as you isolate that recording outside the film (even if it is in synch with the picture...but separated out from the dialogue & sound effects), it becomes a separate product that was not accounted for in the original musician performance agreements. These musicians get paid all over again when their score performances get released as audio CDs. And in the case of isolated scores...the musicians union has argued that they should again get another fee for their music being isolated away from the film's final soundtrack (without dialogue and effects). There are valid arguments on both sides here.

Add to that the same argument from the composer's perspective where the isolated score is really a separate 'product' offered to the consumer (similar to an audio CD)...and the composers have started to ask to be compensated separately for that as well. As their initial contracts never had any contingencies for compensation on isolated score tracks.

So...the practice of having isolated scores on DVDs almost overnight became a cost prohibitive thing and had nothing to do with space on a disc in most cases. It is the performers and writers of the music who were not liking it happening without further compensation. So, the studios stopped.

In this case...they probably worked out a deal to compensate the musicians on the score and the composer separately and it is as simple as that.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

I'm not surprised in the least. Because my prediction for years now has been that the studios know that they've got to do SOMETHING in order to push Blu-ray and eventually make it replace SD. I've always bet they'd either start slacking off with the quality of SD or else save all their extra bells and whistles for Blu-ray only.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

Maybe for some titles, but not all of them.

New DVD Artwork Images from Warner Bros!

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

What will stop me from spending is when the studios begin to do this on day and date releases. I will simply use the extra income to spend on records, books and other things. BD exclusives on same date releases will not lure me towards a newer format but draw me away from spending period.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

Nowadays, we seem to live in a society where people need everything right now. What ever happened to saving and budgeting, then purchasing what they want?

I struggle along, but hell, so do a lot of people. If I want something, I wait until I can afford it.

Just a piece of advice Paul. You don't need Blu-ray right now. Perhaps curb your SD purchases, save and wait until you can afford it.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

Ironically, the laserdisc release had the isolated score, which was dropped for the DVD edition!

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

Before I got a Blu-Ray player, I would try to look at BR releases that I really wanted as something to look forward to when I got a player rather than be pissed off that I couldn't watch it this second.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

And than there are those of us with thousands of dvds who are not planning on changing formats, ever.

Or until we have absolutely no choice in the matter.

While an isolated Omen score would have been nice, I have the soundtrack on CD and LP, so, no biggie.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

The upgrade from VHS to DVD was a HUGE leap quality wise, and relatively cheap. Just get a DVD player, wham, you're good. Heck, my first DVD player was the drive that came in my new computer. Didn't get a set top box for another six months.

With Blu-Ray, arguably a much smaller quality leap than the analog to digital one (certainly from the demos I've seen in the stores), to upgrade, I'd need:

The player itself AND a new TV. Not to mention a sound system and all the other crap.

So my $250 DVD player for a MASSIVE quality leap was a much more sound investment than this Blu-Ray nonsense. It's one thing if it was just an issue of buying a player, but certainly everyone I know is in no position to even bother with Blu-Ray due to, at the very least, needing a new TV and yet they're already using special features as leverage when, in many cases, there's no justifcation other than trying to force consumers to upgrade.

Not arguing against it. I just think it's pathetic. It's only a matter of time before we see the repeat of what happened with VHS. Where we'll get "Buy it now on Blu-Ray. Rent it on DVD." Which may as well translate too "Please Pirate This Movie".

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

Isn't Ultra HD supposed to be on the horizon and I've heard it looks a 100 times better then Blu Ray. I think I can wait for that rather then throw away money on a format that will not last.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

I doubt you need 4K resolution in your home. You likely will not be able to tell enough of a difference to justify the expense when dealing with a television monitor.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

Didn't they say that after DVD came out? It certainly smacks of that same "This is the last format you'll ever need" thinking.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

Yeah but at 4k resolution the difference in apparent picture quality is pretty much zero because most people have televisions in the 30-50 inch range. At that small a size the difference in apparent quality between HD and 4K is so small that I doubt most people will tell because you approach the resolving-power limits of the human eye. If you have a big screen with a projector, like a wall, then it might be worth it, but to manufacture a projector capable of displaying that will probably cost as much as a used car. 4K res is intended for theatrical display, not a home monitor.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

Not quite sure if your argument is valid, but it would seem that previous posts have already argued the case for me, better than I could.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

I think these statements sum it up nicely. No matter what it is, from houses to cars to electronics, etc. etc. there will always be newer and better versions of things. Is it really so hard to believe that films on any format would be so different. The studio wants to make money and attract new sales to old product. That's where the bells and whistles editions come in. Like it or not, it's the way it is. I have double and triple dipped on more than a few titles as many others here have. It's either that or be satisfied with the version you have or never buy the film to own at all. Those are the the options. Myself, I buy the films I want regardless of what may come because you never know what films may go OOP to never return. There have been a good many on sd dvd that are gone and not likely to see a second pressing. It sucks sometimes but, that's the game as Jeff said.

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

I believe that The Omen was recorded in London with the Royal Philharmonic and would not be subject to Hollywood Union rules. It is one of the reasons that many films scores were recorded in England in the late 70s and into the 80s, and why many are now recording in eastern Europe.

You are correct of course that the reason that most films don't have an isolated score is because of Union rules on compensation.

Doug

Re: This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off.

That's my approach too, and in my opinion by far the most sensible attitude to adopt.