Breaking News: Universal Announces Blu-ray plans! (1 Viewer)

[Ray_R]

I got KONG 2005 free in my HDDVD add-on player. Yes, I'm a late adopter and I personally don't care for Blu-ray UNTIL they get their acts together. How? By FINALISING the 2.0 profile and have cheaper player prices. Until then, I'll still buy HDDVD with very few BD's. Why again? It's because I have to go over to a matey's house and play them on his PS3.
HDDVD is great for me right now since the prices are really low and I won't be adopting the other format for a long while. Oh, and I'll even make custom HDDVD's via HD broadcasts with the 3x DVD method. Sure, I might be stingy but hell, it IS my moneys.
Carry on.

 

[Eric F]

Come on man, was there a real need for that post here?

 

[Stephen_J_H]

About as much need as there was for the Kong extended cut.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Please keep discussion in this thread confined to Universal and Blu-ray. You are more than welcome to talk about the format war in this thread.

 

[Jason Seaver]

It's funny that nobody has mentioned the sort of screwy irony of Universal starting their support of the losing format with a movie called "Serenity" while their support of the winner begins with "Doomsday".

(Note: I loved Doomsday and can't wait to see it again in HD.)

 

[Ray_R]

Bring on Hitchcock and Spielberg Universal titles!

EDIT: As LONG as they don't use MPEG2, DNR'ing and EE are my mandates for all new to Blu. VC1, MPEG4/AVC, HD audio, retaining film grain and the director's intent is what an HD master should be about. Oh, and carrying over the extras from SD. There's more then enough space on the DL's.

 

[Paul Arnette]

That's a fair point, but Universal would also pass up the 'synergy' that could create extra sales of the catalog release as a result (you know those people crazy enough to buy both, like, uh, myself ). As I said, it should be interesting to see how they approach it.

 

[Sam Posten]

I see this again and again but people fail to remember that the reason for MOST missing supplements isnt space at all but licensing.

 

[loganhunter2002]

Are they going to offer Heroes Season 1 HD DVD trade in for Blu-ray?

 

[Rolando]

didn`t Uni announce a Conan the barbarian HD DVD release last year? That never seemed to have materialized but I figured if it was announced (heck I even saw a few pre-orders online) then a transfer must have been done and should be among the first BD releases no? please? pretty please?

 

[Ray_R]

It shouldn't really be a problem for Uni since all the HDDVD's I have which I upgraded from SD fairly much carried over every extra.
FOX are just being lazy bums, BUMS!, for not carrying over the extras. Maybe they want us to double dip and be satisfied with SL and the archaic MPEG2 codec?

 

[Dave Moritz]

While I do not remember hearing anything about Conan The Barbarian coming to HD-DVD last year. It would have been nice to have Conan in 1080p as long as they gave it the propor treatment. I have been hoping for Conan to come to HD and maybe they will release both movies at the same time?



And while it seems that Back To The Future has been remastered and will be coming to Blu-ray. The big question is when will it be released and will it actually come with a lossless audio track? For me this is a must buy and I wouldn't mind having a collectors box set on this one.

Another Universal title I am itching to own on Blu-ray as I am sure many of us here are waiting for the release date. Is the Jurassic Park Trilogy which will most likely need a full restoration job before being pressed to Blu-ray. I would also hope that Universal will give this trilogy a lossless audio track. And since this is a Spielberg film it might get a DTS-HD MA track? As long as it gets a good lossless track I could actually care less.

And another thing I would love to know is when will we see the new Battlestar Galactica come out on Blu-ray? And I hope we do not get the same trashy low quality box that they used for the HD-DVD release of Season One! If it was not for the horible way they packaged season one on HD-DVD I would have purchased it the day it was released. But I am looking forward to better packaging and all 4 seasons to hit Blu-ray, hopfully by the end of 2009.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I don't know about the trilogy, but Jurrasic Park does need a lot of work before it will be ready for release.

 

[Jari K]

I kinda doubt this.. I mean all the making of, featurettes, deleted scenes, audio commentaries, trailers, etc usually belong to the studio (at least with the "bigger studios"). Not all of them, but most. Some music videos (that´s why e.g. "Guns N' Roses"-video is still included only in T2 laserdisc, I believe) and "home made" video-stuff/TV-channel documentary might be a different thing, though.

I personally doubt, that there are any "proper" reasons why some releases are missing extras and some are not. Perhaps some companies are indeed just "lazy" (some people in the marketing deciding these things, etc), they want that the old SD DVD-version "still sells", etc etc. I´ve no clue.

Let´s hope that Universal will follow the same road that they did with HD DVD; extras are usually included (with some exceptions). And re-release that "American Gangster" with ALL the extras, dammit.

 

[Ray_R]

I agree wholeheartedly with Dave Moritz. Except for BattleStar Galactica since I don't even own it. But it is a title I'd love to own in HD.
Okay, here's a list for a crapload of titles which have kick ass releases on DVD. Perhaps some of the titles in question will have seamless branching? Oh, mandatory use of full 1080p with excellent transfers which look like how the film is intended to look with zero DNR and EE. Full lossless original audio and the full carry-over of all SD extras.

LEGEND (I own the Ultimate Edition DVD. The Director's Cut would look absolutely mond-boggingly beautiful in 1080p!)
THE MUMMY (1932)
DRACULA (Bela Lugosi)
The Wolfman
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Alfred Hitchcock
Steven Spielberg
JAWS 2
A Beautiful Mind
K-PAX
The Money Pit
Weird Science
American Graffiti
Sixteen Candles
Brotherhood of the Wolf (I'm still gonna import the UK HDDVD and keep the 3-Disc Canadian Collector's Edition.)
CAPE FEAR (1962 & 1991)
SCARFACE
MacArthur

 

[Rolando]

What does the 3 disc Canadian CE have that is not on import HD DVD? aren`t both cuts on the HD DVD?

 

[Ray_R]

From DVDCompare.net

• R1 CE Canada - (TVA Distribution)
  
  
• Extras:
  DISC ONE
  * The Film
  Commentaries:
  Audio commentary by director Christophe Gans [French Language, no subtitles].
  Audio commentary by actors Samuel Le Bihan and Vincent Cassel [French Language, no subtitles].
  
  DISC TWO
  "The Making Of: The Brotherhood Of The Wolf - The Guts of the Beast" - documentary (78 mins)
  "The Legend" Interview with naturalist Michel Louis about the actual Beast of Gevaudan
  6 Deleted Scenes (with introduction by the director)
  Filmographies
  Theatrical Trailer
  DVD-ROM Content:
  - Weblinks
  - Press Files
  
  DISC THREE
  "Behind The Scenes" - documentary (78 mins)
  12 Storyboard Sequences
  Photo Album
  DVD-ROM Content:
  - Screenplay
  Booklet with production notes
• Subtitles:
  English and French
• Aspect Ratio:
  2.35:1
• Picture Format:
  Anamorphic
• TV System:
  NTSC
• Soundtrack(s):
  French DTS 5.1
  French Dolby Digital 5.1
  English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Case type:
  Special Case
• Notes:
  This is a Limited Edition DVD, and available in two different version, one in English and the other in French text, including booklet. All extras apart from the audio commentaries in French with optional English subtitles.
• Easter eggs:
  Easter Egg 1: On Disc 1 on the Main Menu, press Up to make a symbol appear on the altar under the wolf. Select it to see the DVD credits. You will see them in either English or French, depending on your menu choice.
  Easter Egg 2: On Disc 2 & 3 on the Main Menu, press Up to highlight the title. Select it to see the DVD credits. You will see them in either English or French, depending on your menu choice.

^I own it.

• R0 United Kingdom - (Optimum Publishing)
  
  
• Extras:
  French theatrical trailer
  Test calibration patterns
• Subtitles:
  English, French, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish
• Aspect Ratio:
  2.35:1
• Picture Format:
  1080p 24fps
• Soundtrack(s):
  French DTS-HD Master 5.1
• Case type:
  Amaray (Keep) Case
• Notes:
  Using VC-1 compression. ! Mistakes on the back cover: "English DTS-HD Master" dub is listed (not included) and the running time is stated as being 134 min.

So essentially I'll be keeping the 3-Disc Canadian Collector's Edition for the plethora of extras and eventually buy the HDDVD. More for the 1080p picture and the lossless audio.

 

[DanR]

Given Universal's "hit or miss" history with catalog titles on HD DVD, let's hope Universal does the right thing with Jurassic Park on Blu-Ray when the time comes. I think the fact that it's a big Spielberg film is a huge positive for us, meaning that Uni most likely will give it the proper treatment.

Adam, any idea if Universal is going to be including PCM, Dolby TrueHD, or DTS-Master Audio on their Blu-Ray releases?

Regards,
Dan

 

[Dave H]

I can imagine. The DVD looks very mediocre today even for DVD standards.

 

[Ray_R]

I think it's mainly due to the fact they crammed too many extras onto a single Dual Layer DVD. Which in turn doesn't allow a very high bitrate encode for the film. So yes, full on restoration would be highly beneficial. Might as well include a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track since this was the very first DTS film released to theatres back in 1993.
Let's not forget The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III! Yeah, knowing Universal they'll release a trilogy boxset when the fourth JP film movie jobby finally gets made.