HTF Blu-Ray Review: KICKASS Combo Pack

This is a guilty pleasure of mine from one of my theatrical experiences earlier this year.  Please, don't ask me why.

Crawdaddy

I went ahead and bought the BRD tonight so I can hear Hit-Girl curse like a sailor in 7.1 DTS HD Master audio.  Also, thanks for the review as it helped my purchasing decision.

Crawdaddy

On my PS3, I have a weird thing going on with disappearing features!  When you put the disc in, you get "gadgets" that appear on the right - local weather and a clock (go figure).  They were turned on by default, so I turned them off in the menus.  There was a third gadget for news which is not on by default.

When I put the disc in later to show the wife I couldn't find the "gadgets" in the menus anymore!  I showed her the "Twitter integration" and the wallpapers, etc etc.

I just put the disc in a third time, and the wallpapers are longer beneath the "Twitter integration"!

Where are these features going?  LOL

I heard people with PS3 are having trouble with this disc when the player is connected to the internet.  For the most part, I disconnect it because there isn't much I want to view with BD Live.

Crawdaddy

I watched it on my network connected PS3 last night. Nary an issue.

Methinks you can toggle the menu gadgets on and off by pushing the "red" button on your remote...

I just checked this morning and all the features are back where they belong in the menus.  The features that disappeared last night were all part of LG Live.  Perhaps there were issues with everyone who bought that disc yesterday overloading the server?

and yes Jeff S, the red button does toggle the gadgets, but it did not work last night.  Works now though.

I wouldn't call it satire exactly. It turns some of the conventions of comic book superheroes on their head, but it also at times embraces those conventions. Specifically, when Kick-Ass is trying to do his thing classic irony-of-situation is achieved: reality falls short of fantasy. But when Hit Girl is on the screen fantasy operates without a glitch.

Intertwining the two modes is what makes the film work for me. If the film had all been about Kick-Ass, it would have tended towards the dark and depressing. However, just having Big Daddy and Hit Girl on screen would have rendered everything insubstantial. Mixing them all up together keeps the film balanced.

This definitely had the longest load time of any disc I've played so far. And a good five minutes of that load time was with a completely black screen, which had me nervous. I think it's because of all of the LG Live overlays and gadgets. Once the disc finally made it to the menu it worked without a hitch. Terrific transfer, and a terrific making of documentary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt 

This definitely had the longest load time of any disc I've played so far. And a good five minutes of that load time was with a completely black screen, which had me nervous. I think it's because of all of the LG Live overlays and gadgets. Once the disc finally made it to the menu it worked without a hitch. Terrific transfer, and a terrific making of documentary.

I had the exact same experience with my Panny BD-65 .. for a while there I thought the player had frozen.

Great flick, though!!  IMO, the best scene was "Hit Girl's" assault on the gangsters with the Ennio Morricone music playing in the background.  That part had the feel of a Tarantino movie!  (Second fav scene was Cage channeling Adam West in his first appearance as "Big Daddy".)

Just finished watching (wife gave me the afternoon off).  It REALLY enjoyed it.  Unlike Crawdaddy, I didn't consider it a guilty pleasure, just a pleasure.    Looking forward to going through the extras later.  It did seem to take a while to load and I have an Oppo.

My player (Sony BDP-BX1) has the most recent firmware, but this isn't playing.  It seems like some of you (and people on some other forums) are getting it to work, but with really bad load times.  Any ideas or anything special someone did to get it to work?  My player's not hooked up to the Internet.

I watched this film yesterday and had a blast watching it - just so much fun. The first time I put it in the player, it took a little while, but was much faster the second time. I watched it on my Panasonic DMP-BD50.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich 

Just finished watching (wife gave me the afternoon off).  It REALLY enjoyed it.  Unlike Crawdaddy, I didn't consider it a guilty pleasure, just a pleasure.    Looking forward to going through the extras later.  It did seem to take a while to load and I have an Oppo.

To be honest, it's more than a guilty pleasure for me as I watched it twice during its theatrical run and recommended the film to many of my closest friends.  Of course, some of them didn't like it as much as I did for various reasons.

Crawdaddy

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by robbbb1138 

My player (Sony BDP-BX1) has the most recent firmware, but this isn't playing.  It seems like some of you (and people on some other forums) are getting it to work, but with really bad load times.  Any ideas or anything special someone did to get it to work?  My player's not hooked up to the Internet.

Does your Sony player have a network connection? If so, I'd unplug the cord and see if it plays then. This title has A LOT of online content integrated into it -- albeit nothing especially necessary or relevant -- and I think that's at the source of load times.

Otherwise, I'd just suggest trying to wait it out. I thought the disc wasn't playing at first, too, because literally minutes went by with a blank screen. Unless your player is giving you an error, I'd stick it in, hit the head, take the dog for a walk, pop some popcorn and then come back and see if it's made it to the menu yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt 

Does your Sony player have a network connection? If so, I'd unplug the cord and see if it plays then. This title has A LOT of online content integrated into it -- albeit nothing especially necessary or relevant -- and I think that's at the source of load times.

Otherwise, I'd just suggest trying to wait it out. I thought the disc wasn't playing at first, too, because literally minutes went by with a blank screen. Unless your player is giving you an error, I'd stick it in, hit the head, take the dog for a walk, pop some popcorn and then come back and see if it's made it to the menu yet.

My player doesn't have a network connection, but I can take out the flash drive and see if that maybe does something.  Unfortunately, my player's been stopping after a few minutes when loading the title and going to a message that says the disc is unplayable.  Maybe this means another firmware update is coming?

According to the specs listed at CNet, the Sony BDP-BX1 is a profile 1.1 player. Given how Lionsgate is loading its latest discs with advanced features, I suspect that a profile 2.0 player may be required to play them.

I haven't gotten around to acquiring Kick-Ass, but everything that people are describing sounds similar to what I experienced with Daybreakers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Reuben 

 

I haven't gotten around to acquiring Kick-Ass, but everything that people are describing sounds similar to what I experienced with Daybreakers.

...and the five-minute load time my Panasonic BD-10 (1.0 player) had with Avatar.

If that's the case, it's almost like these studios are trying to undermine the format. In order to qualify as a Blu-Ray, shouldn't all titles play on all players... at least the movie itself?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt 

If that's the case, it's almost like these studios are trying to undermine the format. In order to qualify as a Blu-Ray, shouldn't all titles play on all players... at least the movie itself?

I can't blame studios for problems that are inherent in the format. Blu-ray was launched before it was complete. That's why there are players out there that can't implement every advanced feature. So, if you're a producer creating a Blu-ray, what are your options? (1) Forgo any combination of advanced features that might cause an early-model player to choke, or (2) push the medium trying to develop cool new features?

Believe me when I say that I'd prefer option 1, but I understand the impetus to go with option 2. As for long load times in general, don't blame the studios. Blame the people who created the Blu-ray spec. If I were a conspiracy theorist (and I'm not  ), I'd say that BD-Java was all part of Sony's master plan to sell more PS3 units.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Reuben 

According to the specs listed at CNet, the Sony BDP-BX1 is a profile 1.1 player. Given how Lionsgate is loading its latest discs with advanced features, I suspect that a profile 2.0 player may be required to play them.

 

I haven't gotten around to acquiring Kick-Ass, but everything that people are describing sounds similar to what I experienced with Daybreakers.

This is the first title where I've had this issue, and I know I've watched some recent Lionsgate titles since I watch pretty much every new release, so maybe it's just a bad disc (it's from Netflix, so it's not like I'm out anything if I just return it and say it was defective).  I've been updating it with all of the firmwave, so it's BD-Live capatible and everything.  I just haven't needed to connect it to the Internet because I've never been impressed with the BD-Live features on any disc to buy the hardware I'd need for that.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by robbbb1138 

 

This is the first title where I've had this issue, and I know I've watched some recent Lionsgate titles since I watch pretty much every new release 

I've reviewed numerous Lionsgate Blu-rays for HTF. Only recently have they started loading them up with memory-hungry and processor-intensive special features. The tip-off is the inclusion of Metamenu and BD Touch, which I hadn't seen on a Lionsgate disc before Daybreakers.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by robbbb1138 

I've been updating it with all of the firmwave, so it's BD-Live capatible and everything.

It sounds like your player is upgradeable to profile 2.0. If so, and if you've done the upgrade, it may just be a matter of giving the disc enough time to load -- and I mean as much as 10 minutes.

You can try exchanging discs, but I doubt that will make a difference. The issue you're describing doesn't sound like a damaged disc.
 

It may also be an issue with the amount of available space on your flash media.

I recently had an issue with a disc I rented from Netflix (Warner/New Line's 17 Again) that simply would not load on my Panasonic BD60. The disc would spin up, the screen would go black, then the player would revert to its own splash screen and the disc would stop. The disc would play fine on my Sony PS3.

After a call to Panasonic Tech Support, they suggested removing the 1Gb SD card, replacing it with a larger capacity card (in this case 4Gb) and having the player format it. Lo and behold, that seemed to fix the issue.

The tech told me that although the spec originally called for a minimum of 1Gb of available space, Panasonic is recommending a minimum of 2Gb for their players. Sony may say the same thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Reuben 

 

It sounds like your player is upgradeable to profile 2.0. If so, and if you've done the upgrade, it may just be a matter of giving the disc enough time to load -- and I mean as much as 10 minutes.

 

You can try exchanging discs, but I doubt that will make a difference. The issue you're describing doesn't sound like a damaged disc.
 

I'll try playing around with it again tonight.  My player tends to go to an error message and stops trying to load if it takes more than 3 or 4 minutes to load.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by robbbb1138 

I'll try playing around with it again tonight.  My player tends to go to an error message and stops trying to load if it takes more than 3 or 4 minutes to load.

That could be the problem then. My BD60 took quite a bit longer than that to get to the menu for this disc.

The disc took about 2 minutes to load in my BD-85.

As far as the film itself, so far, it's my favorite film of 2010, so now it's much more than a guilty pleasure for me. 

Crawdaddy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt 

That could be the problem then. My BD60 took quite a bit longer than that to get to the menu for this disc.

Thanks everyone for the help.  I've been meaning to get a second player so that I can watch my BRs in more than one room, so I think I'll take the hint and get one now with WiFi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Reuben 

According to the specs listed at CNet, the Sony BDP-BX1 is a profile 1.1 player. Given how Lionsgate is loading its latest discs with advanced features, I suspect that a profile 2.0 player may be required to play them.

 

I haven't gotten around to acquiring Kick-Ass, but everything that people are describing sounds similar to what I experienced with Daybreakers.

The BDP-BX1 is the Costco version of the BDP-S350, which is Profile 2.0. I stuck an 8GB USB stick in mine, and had very few problems with it when I had it hooked up to the internet. I've since moved houses, and will probably have to go either wireless bridge or powerline ethernet to get BD-Live up and running, and I just don't have the time or the energy to do either right now. I'd rather just watch the movie.