Batman Begins & Matrix - How come these are on HD and not Blu-ray? (1 Viewer)

[Neil_Duffy]

Just wondering... seen as Warners are releasing titles in both formats, how come Batman Begins and The Matrix have been released exclusively on HD DVD, but not blu-ray?

 

[Shane Martin]

Because they have IME and BR can't handle that yet.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Since that was an easy one to answer, maybe it would be a worthwhile exercise to turn the thread towards identifying the HD DVD exclusive Warner titles that do not have IME such as "Casablanca" and The Adventures of Robin Hood".

Regards,

 

[Jeff Gatie]

I've always heard it said that HD DVD owners were seen as more of a classic film market than Blu-ray. Being that these titles, while beautiful in presentation, are barely making a dent on HD DVD; it is my complete speculation that WB probably thinks there would be absolutely no market for these films in the demographic that is dominated by PS3 owners. So tooling up for even less sales in Blu than the HD DVD has brought is not financially viable.

 

[Paul Arnette]

We beat that to death too.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...ghlight=warner

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Agreed. Can we close this thread?

 

[Brandon Conway]

Warner is looking for a marketing window. That is all.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Christmas?

I need forbidden Planet, and both Wonka movies. BAD!

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

But this one has not deteriorated into a format war p!$$ing match yet. Maybe we should delete the other one.

Regards,

 

[Neil_Duffy]

...forgive the dumbness, but what is IME?

 

[Dave>h]

IN Movie Experience

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I think it stands for "Interactive Movie Experience".

Particularly in the case of WB, this includes PIP video commentary and internet-enabled features like they did on 300.

For some titles like the Matrix, they intnetionally held back the BD release waiting for PIP functionality in hardware. For others like 300, they decided to release anyway despite the lack of PIP on the BD.

 

[Grant H]

It's ashame we couldn't have gotten those holdout titles for Christmas. Would have boosted BD numbers a lot too.

I hope we at least get them ANNOUNCED by Christmas. Seems nothing has been announced for a while.

Definitely want to see release dates for Matrix and Batman Begins. Though I fear they'll want to wait until The Dark Knight for BB, which I think is a big mistake, since BD could use the help now. Having big franchises on one format and not the other from a studio that's dual-format doesn't look good.

 

[Romier S]

In Movie Experience.

It's essentially picture in picture commentary and other interactivity related special features. HD DVD uses Microsoft's HDi technology to present the interface while the HD DVD group mandated a second video decoder for such content to be displayed in thier hardware. Blu-Ray has it's own version of this technology (two actually. BDMV for basic pop-up menus and BD-J for more elaborate interfaces) and recently mandated that all new BD players to be released must include Profile 1.1 which adds that second video decoder and 256mb of local strorage. That brings with it the ability to do this type of content but currently it can be fudged to an extent.

To be clear, Warner recently announced Terminator 3 on Blu-Ray and it will include the IME content we're discussing here. They are not using the 1.1 profile though and are literally using the added space and bandwidth to include a second encode of the content that will simulate the experience (The Descent is a good example of a Blu-Ray disc that's out there that already does this). You're going to see more BD discs include these type of features next year. With The Dark Knight releasing next summer you can be almost guarenteed that Warner will be releasing Batman Begins on Blu-Ray to coincide. The Matrix was also announced as being released at a later date so you'll more than likely see that coming as more 1.1 player make it onto the market.

I hope that clarifies things for you a bit.

 

[Neil_Duffy]

Yeah, cheers for that.

My only hope is that they ramp up the activity in the UK, cause it's pretty dull, blu-ray release wise, at the moment.

 

[Brandon Conway]

I'd be very surprised. I wouldn't expect any more announced until next year, for the following reasons:

1. I bet they don't want to promise titles they can't replicate. This has already been a concern, which led to the slight delays for That's Entertainment and T3.

2. I'm sure they don't want to oversaturate the market for the holidays. Catalog titles sell far less than new release titles, and there are simply too many out there in Nov-Dec to consider such a time a good marketing window.

I would think they would release a few of these titles in the slower months of Feb-Mar to supplement other dual format releases.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Thats easy David, buy an HD DVD player. I hear you can get one for under $100 now.

Doug

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Not going near war talk/debate... staying away... far away!

 

[Shane Martin]

Low disc sales I'd imagine is the reason we won't see those for a good while.

I'll see if I can create a list of WB HD titles not on BR yet.

 

[Robert George]

Why is the concept of Blu-ray market realities so controversial here? I'm not directing this at you, Shane, but at some of the previous comments. I quoted your comment as it simply and eloquently gets to the heart of the problem some (all?) studios have with the Blu-ray format. When 95% of a format's installed hardware base is a game console, it does not take a marketing genius to figure out what types of movies sell on that format and what does not. I feel confident that Warner has released enough titles on Blu-ray and HD DVD to have a good understanding of both markets. If Warner has continued to NOT put certain titles on Blu-ray that they have on HD DVD, and IME is obviously not the impediment, well, is that so hard to figure out.