Star Trek Films, TOS, ENT coming to HD-DVD and maybe BluRay 2008/2009? (1 Viewer)

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

FINALLY!!! some decent and compelling reason to buy into HD. i can't wait for TOS to appear in HD so all of us can really see all of the seams that held the FX together in TOS =). that would awesome to nitpick every little grit+detail.

i thought Paramount already remastered everything for the SD-DVD? why didn't they aim for HD back then? seems like a waste of $ to master for SD AND HD. if they did HD back then, you can downconvert easier than redoing HD again. no wonder Paramount needs a new leader and is in trouble.

PS i think these releases are probably more 2009 since JJ's Trek won't be released until late 2008 (nov/dec?). that means DVD released fall 2009 to coincide with everything. or 2008 since they want people to prepare for continuity porn.

I'm not impressed with some of the original cast Star Trek movie transfers on DVD....it seems they are hit and miss. For example, I'd like to see restoration work done on the first movie and I watched "Voyage Home" recently and I was disappointed with how it looked, as well.

On the other hand, the SE of "Wrath of Khan" looked good for its age.

I'd like to see Paramount really focus on the video quality of these HD releases.

i owned the 1st prints to goto DVD and the collector/SE's. neither looks good. i think the best rendition of a TOS film on DVD is the motion picture. outside of that Undiscovered country. Wrath of Kahn was terrible. the best in the series in quality of story, but worse in quality of presentation. Generation's CE is terrible too. First Contact and afterwards is all pretty reference.

hopefully, they goto Lowry Digital for at least Wrath of Kahn. my goodness that print needs a big washing big time.

but watching TOS episodes in HD glory is just a dream come true =).

"...watching TOS episodes in HD glory is just a dream come true =)."

Agreed as long as they are in their 4:3 OAR. The worrying begins now...

so we could be looking at up to 1440 by 1080p resolution right?

I may be wrong but I think Paramount knows the wrath that they'd face from Trek fans (and the HT enthusiasts) if they messed with the AR.

Paramount's trek TV prices are insane I don't think I can bring myself to rebuy TOS at ~$100 again. If the movies bring over all the extra's then that will likely be the turning point for me to jump on HD-DVD.

Trek is high up on my list of "Must have" titles.

But I think the studios will need to rethink pricing on Tv on (Insert HD disc format).

I own, Trek DS9 through season 5, all of 24, all of Buffy, all of Angel, X-files through season 4, Firefly, and Lost.

I can absolutely say the only TV on DVD I will repurchase is the Firefly and Lost. Because both are incredible shows.

While I'd be interested in rewatching the rest, and interested in Voyager and maybe Trek TNG, there's no way in heck I'm paying the same price to watch them all over again. SD is fine for me for TV on DVD that I already own. Now, cut pricing down to about $25-30 a season, and I'll bite.

I suspect alot of the market will go the same way, once you're talking about $50 for the product, people will probably start deciding SD is sufficient for items they've already purchased. Demand for TV on High-Def DVD will probably not have the same margins it did on DVD due to the higher cost of entry, kinda like catalog titles don't sell as well as new releases IMO.

Edit: The films, OTOH, are the "Must haves" for me. No problem at all repurchasing those.

I would definitely buy Star Trek First Contact and a complete set of the original series (if the price if not obscene) on HD DVD.

I've read that Next Generation and DS9 were filmed and then edited on video, so they wouldn't profit from hd dvd treatment. Does anyone know the technical limitations on these type of sources? Can they go back to the original film elements? Even if special effects are also done on video, 'live scenes' will still look better in hd dvd.

I'm not sure the original series will benefit from HD at a reasonable price. Unlike the later Treks, the original series was done on a shoestring. I really do question whether they will hold up under HD. I heard a story about when they used the original footage for Trouble with Tribbles with a DS9 episode.
They created hi-def masters and a multitude of sins popped up such as the paint on the sets. They had to be fixed at a very high price. If this is true of
all the episodes then it could get very expensive. If Paramount tries to maintain its margins then this could get very expensive. I even refuse to pay $100 for season sets. In HD $100 could be a bargain. Try 2015 for me if ever.

i don't mind paying high price this time for HD versions of TOS. to me, as a collector, this is the one that's going to last from now til i die. SD wasn't worth $100 somn, but HD, the last consumer format for video, is totally worth it for me.

PS i wouldn't want them to fix anything, it's good as if. here you have some fine writing and moral discussions using the vehicle of TOS... but the set is falling apart =). i love the irony. fx does not make a show great.

I would purchase TOS again if the price was somewhere close to reasonable which it won't be.

"SD wasn't worth $100 somn, but HD, the last consumer format for video, is totally worth it for me."


the last consumer format for video ... I really don't think so. maybe for the next 5 to 10 years but definately not the last.

with 1080p, every consumer is finally satisified because even if they have the largest of displays, either a 100" flat screen or 200" front projected screen, 1080p will do fine. anything larger means the consumer will have to have a huge house or real estate. people will run out of square footage before they run out of pixels to stretch. 1080p is more than enough. i don't see 4k or 8k improving upon much unless you owned an IMAX cinema @home.

beyond that, as soon as fiber optics covers the last mile, we'll get true VOD 1080p and that will be the end of hard media. everything will be software-based and streamed by then.

thus, HD-DVD/BR is the final great consumer video format that you can physically hold on to... until VOD delivery/price is viable.

I also think the poster was referring to "The Last" video format that is pre-recorded that you can hold in your hand.
"Hard" software, if you will!!! ;-)

Depends on how they do it. Everyone's going to want to get their hands in the pot, and if the fees are above rentals, VoD will bomb. Maybe at $5 for a viewing VoD may do well, but at $10 a viewing it'll likely tank. TV viewing would have to be around $2 an episode as well.

Beyond that, and they enter the realm of buying it on disc is a better value.

Plus, with the steady increases in resolution on at least LCD's, it's entirely possible that when 1080p VoD is ready, the entire market will have moved to 2k or 4k resolutions. I know I've seen some computer monitor LCD's over the 2k mark for native res already.

Finally, there's some infrastructure questions that need resolved. If that last mile is shared, there may be insufficient bandwidth to handle 1080p VoD. Additionally, any VoD solution that allows customers complete freedom to choose what they watch, whenever they want it, will have some fairly steep computer structure issues to resolve. Vast numbers of people all watching something different will put a heckuva strain on a computer to serve it all in real time.

As has been proven over and over again, no matter how much you want something, if the industry won't sell it, you can't buy it. This applies to all kinds of products, but particularly to media because of the extremely monopoly-driven nature of the industry.

In other words, if Paramount decides that there's not going to be a physical media format after BD or HD DVD, then even if somebody does come out with 4K memory cubes or some such you're not going to be able to buy Star Trek on that format.
And don't tell me about how the companies are responsive to consumer demand, and will release things if people really want them, because the historical evidence is the other way. What about the residual market which was willing to pay $100 a disc for LaserDiscs circa 2000? The US manufacturers discontinued them anyway, because they didn't want to support the format ; in fact the distributors stopped listing availability of titles before they stopped pressing them, in order to make sure nobody could preorder, and thus generate abysmal sales figures they could use to justify dropping the product line. Or look at all the record albums which sit in a vault somewhere, unreleased, because somebody at the label didn't like them.

i believe a better VOD model would be 2 models that have 4 requirements in the order of importance to the target user:

frequent movie watchers:
1. subscription based, a monthly fee not unlike netflix, but "unlimited" viewing.
2. must have as many titles as netflix
3. quality
4. convenience

casual movie watchers:
1. pay per view that is competitive to brick+mortar
2. must have as many titles as netflix
3. convenience
4. quality

both can be on the market at the same time. why? it gives people a CHOICE for entertainment at any time they choose. both ppv and vod can access the same "video database" of 1080p films. and by convenience i also mean the same database can 'downconvert' into ipod, disposable (expirable) DVD's like divx/xvid for DRM control, or any device with easy to use DRM.

that's what i see the future becoming. yeah they can "beam" movies into your head... but i don't think people like the thought of a signal in their heads (even though it's a cheap way to receive IMAX-sized a/v entertainment).... so no thanks.

i'd be willing to shell out upto ~$50/month to replace my netflix subscription.

meanwhile, before that happens. HD-DVD/BR remains the "last frontier". i think i'll die with HD-DVD/BR and my kidz will see the days of the VOD/PPV things like i stated above.

While this is generally true, and I have the highest respect for you CDAC, I disagree.

If Hollywood decides something is going "To be this way from now on", and the majority of consumers decide differently, Hollywood will lose. Hollywood *must* sell media in order to exist, and the majority of their profits if I understand correctly are outside of theaters. Meanwhile, Consumers do not require new media in order to exist. If the majority decides collectively that $10 a pop VoD isn't worth it, after a quarter or two of losses, the Studio will change it's tune.

Divx and other "Pay per view DVD" style efforts are a good example. They are a physical version of VoD, and consumers collectively decided it was a poor choice, even though it was comparable to the then "In vogue" rental model. Consumers collectively decided $20 for a DVD and unlimited rights was a better value than what Divx offered, and all other efforts similiar to it have met with negative opinions.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm *not* saying VoD will never work. I'm just saying that VoD's pricing and features will decide it's viability. If persistant, unrestricted access were sold at $15 dollars a pop, it'd work. If one-time viewing were also offered for $4-5 dollars a pop, it'd work for all "See it once" type movies, but not for Blockbuster "See it many times" movies, or for the frequently viewed childrens titles. Similiarly, TV on VoD would need to hit in the $2-3 per episode persistant or $1 one-time range for it to work.

Anyways, if the consumers decide something's a poor value, Hollywood is the one on the clock, not the consumers. Hollywood needs to sell to survive, and 3-6 months of being starved for revenue will change any policy.

Plus, in this day and age, forcing a standard on consumers that they don't care for is a sure guarantee to increase piracy dramtically. If people decide they want physical media, and the studio does only VoD, it won't be long before the local flea market is the biggest seller of movies.

in regards to convenience, i think pirating is too inconvenient to most consumers. imagine a single mother of 3 trying to pirate anything. she's got no time to do that.

I don't know. Standard dvd shows how low budget most of these shows are. Wouldn't HD just make them laughable?