New Blu-ray titles: Kingdom of Heaven 1st 50 gb dual layer (1 Viewer)

[MarekM]

interesting info from digitalbits rumor mill

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html#092006

" And on the high-def end today, our sources are telling us to expect Sony Picture Home Entertainment to release more than the already anticipated two titles on 50 GB BD-ROM media before the end of 2006. Speculation as to which titles to expect has included such films as The Guns of Navarone, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Black Hawk Down, based on previous studio press comments. Watch for official announcements soon.

On a related note, 20th Century Fox has already announced the 50GB Blu-ray release of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut (due 11/14). We're told by sources that additional 50GB titles are expected to be announced by Fox for release before the end of the year, possibly including ID4: Independence Day and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Additionally, we're being told to expect at least one other studio to release titles on 50GB BD-ROM media before the end of the year.
"

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Not to start (another) fight about this.
As I really don't know the answer!

To the best of my knowledge, 10 BD 50GB titles have been announced for '06.
Now the question;
Is this "enough"?
Are ten titles too little?
And give the doubters still reason to doubt?
or
Are ten titles this year enough to prove once and for all BD 50GB is a viable format?
Thanks.

Does anyone know the MSRP of the BD 50GB prerecorded disc?

 

[MarekM]

I think 10 BD-50GB titles are nice to start, remember we were not sure if there will be at least ONE TITLE this year, and not 10 !!!

and there are maybe more in work, as mentioned 2/3 of titles sony working on are BD-50, and from news from Germany IFA 2006, there are some titles wich could use BD-50

(http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...freleases.html
Pearl Harbor, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Lawrence of Arabia,ID4: Independence Day, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand)

 

[Ed St. Clair]

I would guess;
None would be failure.
One would be a joke.
And 10 would be OK!
If it was 10 SD DVD's out of the 20,000+ SD DVD titles, no biggie.
Butt, 10 out of a hundred or so, for BD by the end of the year would be pretty good. IMO!

 

[Chris Dugger]

Does it seem to some out their that Sony is trying to justify the 50 gig disc?

I mean, don't the MPEG-2 and PCM conversions become road hogs for space? Seems to me that these MPEG-2 releases haven't been all that great.

From the look of the Warner titles with VC-1 and DD+, I would think that the 50 gig at this phase is just a press ploy.

Dugger

 

[DaViD Boulet]

There are many uses for 50 gigs even with VC1 and lossless-compressed audio. One example: Getting all of LOTR on a single disc without interruption with bonus features in HD (some of which would need to be on the same disc with the film feature... such as HD video commentary etc.)

50 gig would also be nice for TV season sets... especially for HD programs!!!

 

[RobertR]

I think there wouldn't be much demand for such a thing. Name any other extra long movie without an intermission (in other words, naturally splittable across two discs). I also question whether more than a handful of people want a simultaneous HD video commentary.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

LOTR was one example. Did you not see my mention of TV series as another obvious example? I'm sure if we put 12 HT enthusiasts in a room and had them brainstorm good use-cases for 50 gig media they'd come up with a nice list for us after just a few short hours.

It seems pretty premature to write of the use-cases for 50 gig media the first few months of a format's launch.

Many folks did the same thing with dual-layer DVDs early in that format's history. After a few years of that format's life 8 gigs of continuous space found many applications not anticipated by the videophile in 1996.

We should be careful not to be too short-sighted with our last chance to own a physical disc to carry our 1080P encoded software.

 

[MarekM]

agreed DaVid,

Marek

 

[dpippel]

I don't think the average consumer is going to give a hoot whether a title is on a BD-50 or not. 50GB needs to provide a clear advantage in A/V quality over SL discs. After all, the main problem HT enthusiasts have had with some Blu-ray titles isn't lack of extras, it's sub-par video quality. All of the extras in the world or being able to fit ROTK EE on a single disc isn't going to mean squat unless the studios releasing on BD get the fundamental promise of high-def right - stunning video and audio quality. That's what both Blu-ray and HD-DVD are all about. Not extras. Not BD-J or IME. PICTURE QUALITY. AUDIO QUALITY. The other advantages of BD-50 are inconsequential in comparison.

 

[RobertR]

I don't know why people would consider that an advantage either. Is it really a big deal to change discs after 3 hours of TV watching instead of 6?

 

[PeterTHX]

For some people, yes. As a matter of habit, people prefer single disc players to changers. I would like all the episodes of my favorite TV show in a season at my disposal. Say I'm watching Season 6 of DS9...I like maybe 2 or 3 episodes per disc out of 4. Being able to go from "Sacrifice of Angels" to "In The Pale Moonlight" to "Tears of the Prophets" would be awesome.

 

[RobertR]

I don't think "some" people means it's enough people to make it a big deal.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

RobertR,

I doubt that your apparent disinterest in disc-swapping represents the majority of viewers' interests. The most common complaint about TV sets that I hear is the necessity to disc-swap every few episodes which can make it difficult especially when trying to locate that one particular episode you may not remember by name on the title list.

The increase to 50 gigs is almost double HD DVD's 30 which should result in significant gains in terms of packing more shows on a single platter.

Now... if HD DVD would get the 45 gig platform in the spec...

 

[MatthewA]

For a TV show recorded on SD tape, there would be no increase in picture quality, but you could fit all or almost all of the episodes on one disc. Can the VC-1 codec even handle SD material?

 

[PeterTHX]

Matthew: VC-1 is Windows Media 9, so it's designed for everything from low bandwidth internet streaming to extreme HiDefinition for professional applications.

 

[Jeff(R)]

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

 

[PeterTHX]

Impossible!

The other side was so sure that there wouldn't be any BD50's this year, if ever!

 

[Robert Crawford]

It's a shame that there has to be sides in this thing because it's not helpful at all.

 

[ppltd]

BTW, just what is wrong about having two HD formats to help drive out better product. Competition has never been a bad thing, as it presses the competing sides to better their product. This is good.

Currently, there is not a better product, only competing products that both show great promise. There is certainly enough room in the market place to support both formats.

Thomas Eisenmann