Holy crap, the news keeps on coming. The same source for the Paramount info that is being confirmed as we speak sez Scorsese's Rolling Stones docu "Shine A Light" is coming July 29, in TrueHD 5.1!
Since I already own this title on HDDVD and I won't be buying a stand-alone Blu-ray 2.0 player until 2009, I'll pass on the BD version. No biggie since it's a great film. Will both discs for the BD be dual layered though? Glad it has lossless audio for the BD. This film is literally my most watched HDDVD's. Felt like being a kid again watching this. Just don't really see the need to double dip on a title I'm satisfied with on HDDVD. To be perfectly honest and frank, it'll save me money to only buy titles on BD which are fully exclusive to the format. Hell, I also would need to buy a brand new receiver! "Foony" thing though, I am gonna buy TRANSFORMERS 2 on Blu-ray of course. Um, can anyone say possible start for a Unicron saga for the next film?
Oh oh oh! TRANSFORMERS: The Movie is already on BD but from Region B UK. Don't fret, it's actually Region "X" aka Region 0. DO fret since it has zero extras!
Blu-ray does support DD+; there just haven't been any releases that I'm aware of that use it. DD+ is required for bitrates higher than 640. Some DD+ tracks were only 640 (HD DVD required + for this bitrate) and got DD on Blu-ray, which could handle the 640 bitrate just fine with DD.
Though there were 1.5 DD+ tracks that lacked an equivalent on Blu-ray.
Anyway, this makes sense. HD DVD was mastered with "max 30gb" in mind (like many others during the format war, I guess), so new encode has "50gb" in use.
Should I double dip this anyway for my collection since I bought TRANSFORMERS on HDDVD for only $10? I mean it has the same exact extras but for the film disc is/most likely gonna utilise a BD-50 and lossless audio. I don't mind owning TRANSFORMERS 2 on BD but what would be the point of me doubling a film I already own in HD? I mean I don't have a BD player yet (I'm in the market for a stand-alone low priced 2.0 one), I'd need to buy a new receiver to take care of all the different cabling my current one is overloaded with and also for lossless audio, finally an HDTV and of course larger living space. Yeah, I'm one of those slowly but surely upgraders for their HT equipment but at the moment I just don't have the feasible space needs. My reasoning if I already own it on HDDVD, there needs to be very strong reasoning for me to buy it on BD. All it comes down to as I've mentioned before, the sequel I don't mind owning on Blu but I'll only buy the true BD exclusive movies. To double dip or not to double dip is the question? Eh, might decide better when I actually own a 2.0 profile STAND-ALONE BD player sometime next year. But great news though! Hopefully it'll be released in a digipak with a thick booklet.
I to own Transformers on HD-DVD and was never blown away by the DD+ track. Don't get me wrong it is a pretty decent track but I would rather have the movie with a lossless track any day. So I think that the Blu-ray with lossless alone is more than worth double dipping as far as I am concerned.
Transformers on Blu-ray + Dolby True HD = Instant Purchase !
BUT in my case it'd need to be: TRANSFORMERS on BD w/low price + Dolby True HD + Profile 2.0 stand-alone player + new receiver with HD capabilities = gradual purchase!
I mean as I said it's far more likely for me to buy TRANSFORMERS 2 on BD compared to actually buying the first one again on BD. More as not to clutter it up and for the pricing on my end. Just gonna stick with the 100% exclusive BD's for now since I don't have a player yet and possible dip on the titles I own on HDDVD to Blu. Also convenience is also a factor in my case. Great fun film though!
I would be willing to bet that in a double blind test that most people would not be able to tell the dif between the TrueHD/PCM track on the BR vs the DD+ at 1.5 on the HD-DVD. The real world listening dif between the lossless BR tracks and the 1.5 DD+ track will be VERY minor at best IMO
Most people probably won't or can't, but I sure can. Most people don't have systems that they'd even be able to hear a difference even if they could play both BD and HD-DVD. The DD+ track was good, but not great, not overwhelming like some lossless tracks I've heard.
The sad part about HD-DVD was not enough space on the disc for extras and lossless audio tracks and the extras won out. That was the main reason I stopped buying HD-DVD a long time ago, no lossless audio on most all the discs.
Ray, I am certain that I read somewhere that the reason Transformers on HD-DVD did not get a lossless track was due to space limitations because of, or in part due to extras.
Well, the HDDVD which I own is two HD discs. Only extras on the film disc are a commentary and some downloadable stuff. Second disc is relegated to HD extras. Ever think about they wanted to keep the video bitrate up? Doesn't matter to you since you don't care about extras anyway. No difference. Oh, here's some copypasta from DVDCompare.net to illustrate my point.
R0 SE America - (DreamWorks Home Entertainment/Paramount)
Commentaries: DISC ONE *The Film Audio commentary by director Michael Bay
Extras: High Definition Exclusive Bonus features: -"Transformers Heads Up Display" Picture-In-Picture video commentary *Web-enabled content (via Ethernet connection/register online): -Download Center portal -"Intelligence Center" (customize the movie with the assistance of different "Widgets": "Robot Status", "Data Manager", "Alerts", and "GPS Tracker") -"Movie Guide" trivia track - "Sector 7" videos -"Menubots" (customize menus)/"MyClips" (share your favorite bookmarked scenes)
DISC TWO "Our World" 4-part documentary (49:20) : - "The Story Sparks" (8:34) - "Human Allies" (13:11) - "I Fight Giant Robots" (13:59) - "Battleground" (13:36) "Their War" 4-part documentary (1:05:12): - "Rise of the Robots" (13:41) - "Autobots Roll Out" (20:00) - "Decepticons Strike" (14:34) - "Inside the All Spark" (16:59) More Than Meets The Eye - "From Script to Sand: The Scorponock Desert Attack" featurette (8:53) - "Concepts" featurette (2:12) - Trailers: --- Teaser Trailer 1 (1:48) --- Theatrical Trailer 2 (2:13) --- Theatrical Trailer 4 (2:35) High Definition Exclusive Bonus features: -"Transformers Tech Inspector" (360-degree look of film's every Autobots and Decepticons)
Subtitles: English HoH, French, Spanish, and Portuguese-Brazilian
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Picture Format: 1080p 24fps
Soundtrack(s): English Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (1.5 Mbps) French Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
Case type: 2-Disc Amaray (Keep) Case
Notes: Using AVC MPEG-4 compression. Extras are in 1080p.
Easter eggs: Disc 1: 1. When the closing credits roll, sit through or simply skip ahead to the next chapter and a hidden menu will pop up with a bonus trailer for "Iron Man", a "Transformers" teaser trailer and a "Rise of the Autobots" Internet piece. Disc 2: 1. Select "Our World" then scroll down and highlight "I Fight Giant Robots". Press "down" on you remote until you see a marker. Hit "enter" and you'll be treated to a fake toy commercial for the "All New Bay Bot". 2. Select "Their War" and scroll down to "Inside the All Spark". Press "left" on your remote until you see a marker. Press "enter" to see a behind-the-scenes look at director Michael Bay's deleted cameo. 3. Select "More Than Meets the Eye" and highlight "From Script to Sand". Press "up" until you see a marker. Hit "enter" to see the casting of Mojo, the family dog. 4. Select "More than Meets the Eye" then scroll to "Trailers" and hit "enter". From there, highlight "Theatrical trailer 4" and press "right" on your remote until you see a marker. Hit "enter" to see a behind-the-scenes look at a deleted gag featuring a sexy woman getting her dress ripped off by a robot. 5. Go to the main menu and highlight the "Our World" section. Click "Left," and a Megatron icon will appear. Hit "Enter" to read the hidden production credits.
So in fact if Paramount/DreamWorks would've left the non-original audio tracks to DD+ 2.0 the actual audio could've been lossless? If it were up to me, I'd have the non-original audio languages be delegated to subtitles only.
This is the one I own. Of course I bought mine during the buy two for $20 from Hollyweird Videro awhile back. I had to buy generic HDDVD cases and hubs to make custom 2-disc cases... I also need to print out the retail cover too. Actually it only came with the discs. So, I'll buy the sequel on BD and if I'm wanting to, buy this one also on BD. Hey, for $10 I paid for this, you can't beat that.