This is when Blu-ray starts to piss me off. (1 Viewer)

I have nothing against progress. But I have over a thousand DVDs, and not only that, for me to upgrade my home theater to Blu-ray is way too cost-prohibitive at this point. I do not forsee this happening within the next year or two, anyway.

And then I read this wonderful news:

The Omen (US - BD RA) in News > Releases at DVDActive


One of the best film scores ever was withheld for two DVD releases, and then just out of the blu they go, "Oh wait, yeah let's throw that on there, there was absolutely no way we could've added this in SD but this is HD, tons of extra space!"

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.

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.

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.

I'm not pissed off about Blu-ray. I'm pissed off that the studios are putting exclusive extras on there. And in this case, something quite important and significant, and something that could've and should've been on the 2-disc CE from a year or two ago.

Also, a Blu-ray player is not a problem. I would, however, need to upgrade my projector and sound system in order to take advantage of 1080p and lossless audio. That's where the cost become a tad too high.

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.

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!

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...

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.

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.

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.

Isn't the retail price $129.95?

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

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.

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.

Maybe for some titles, but not all of them.

New DVD Artwork Images from Warner Bros!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.