oh my god, the bits reports a 3 disc Black Hawk Down for R1 (1 Viewer)

[Declan]

Cheers for the update Charlie.
But I do hope that those subtitles are brunt into the scope image and not the lower black bar of the current release as those with projectors that are able to mask off at 2:35(or 40 ) will not loose the subs.

 

[Matt Stone]

I highly doubt a Superbit release.

 

[Daniel J]

Usually, we always want to have a DTS track on Ridley's discs, but in this case, we have some extraordinary content that had to take priority.

Here here! Those commentary tracks are exactly what I've been waiting for- can you give us any details? Which of the Ranger/Delta members you were able to involve in the commentary, for example. I especially would like to know if there are any Delta members on the track; Mr. Bowden said he was only able to contact one of them for the book, apperantly they're quite hard to track down
Again, good work on the SE, I can hardly wait! The lack of a dts track is unfortunate, but the extras will be worth it.
Is the DD track going to be EX?

 

[Dan Brecher]

I did ask about the subtitles for the SE a while ago, and Charlie seemed to indicate that the SE retains the original burnt in ones. I certainly hope so. I'm really looking forward to this release (and I've not even seen the film).

Dan

 

[YANG]

"It could have three discs and the same extras...the movie could be split over 2-discs and have DTS."

CHARLIE mentioned that due to extensive special features that is coming with the release,DTS surr will not be included.I don't see how a few commentaries will take a lot of space of the disc1 main movie disc.Unless...CTHV is going dual ratio release,i mean squeezing both fullscreen and widescreen together in a single disc...

This is a big problem indeed...

 

[Mikko-Ville]

I don't see how a few commentaries will take a lot of space of the disc1 main movie disc.

Having a commentary track is almost the same as having an extra language track. You don't think four language tracks take a lot of space?

 

[Declan]

it is a thought though. New Lines Se7en had 4 commentary tracks (one of them in 5.1 for the isolated score with commentry and the other 3 were in 2.0 stereo.) plus the usual 5.1 and 2.0 mixes and a DTS track. Although BHD is a longer film and there is more action going on in the frame that the bit rate would need to be high to cope with all the different film stocks and gradients inherent in BHD's look. While yes i would have loved to have a DTS track on it. I cannot really fault the current 5.1 track on the bare bones R1. The only complaints I had with it were that it was a little quiet and when the Rangers Nuke! (would that be appropriate word to use) the Somalians on the top of the building near the end of the film using the strobe the bass was not as in your face as I would have hoped. But they are minor quibbles that can be fixed by.............well turning the amp up.

 

[Declan]

Sorry Dan,

But do you know if that applies to the R2 version as well with regards to the burnt in subs?

 

[DanR]

Yang,

I posted that speculation before Charlie cleared up the contents of the 3rd disc and mentioned that The Digital Bits was indeed correct. It's sort of a non-issue at this point. The movie will be on disc 1, and not spread across 2 discs.

Regards,
Dan

 

[Charles de Lauzirika]

"Black Hawk Down" is approximately 17 minutes longer than "Seven." That's not just for picture, obviously, but each audio track is also 17 minutes longer. That adds up after a while. While it's true that simple 2.0 tracks (like many commentaries) don't take up that much space, it's also true that DTS tracks take up a comparatively huge amount of space.
As for BHD's subtitles, yes, it's my understanding that the R1 SE will include the original theatrical "burned in" subs. I'm not sure about R2 and elsewhere because of the multiple languages involved.
And I like Dan R's idea about a homemade "ultimate edition."

 

[Declan]

it did seems strange that the opening text explaining the war in Somalia was the original theatrical burnt in text and the subs were player generated...........it just seemed a strange thing to do a mix of the two.

 

[Bill J]

I think that we will see a Black Hawk Down Superbit release sometime next year.

I still don't understand why Columbia's first release was a barebones edition (without DTS) instead of a Superbit.

 

[Mark_vdH]

Although the R1 release date hasn't been announced yet, it's probably safe to say that there will be at least six months between the European/French 3-disc release and the R1 one.

I'd really like to know if the extra time for the R1 release will be utilized for the inclusion of better/more special features (like the 'Back To The Future' release).

Or is the R1 release already finished in terms of development, and identical to the forthcoming European 3-disc release? Although it seems improbable with so many time between the respective releases, I have read that the only reason for the current R1 delay is that the CTHV release schedule for the upcoming months is already too tight.

It's really hard not to buy the European release next month, but I've decided to wait until I can make an informed decision......

 

[Adam_WM]

After seeing the Documentary, I had an all new appreciation for the film, and I loved it to begin with. Ridley and Co. did a good job of keeping the film very close to the actual events.

While I agree with you, I thought this would be neat to mention. I saw something on CSPAN2 that had a panel discussing US foreign affairs. One of the members on the panel was another Hollywood legend Oliver Stone. He went on to trash WE WERE SOLDIERS (which I can't disagree with) but also BLACK HAWK DOWN. He said that these movies were not realistic portrayals, but instead just commercials for the US Army and what the Army would LIKE its soldiers to do in an actual combat situation. I guess in his eyes, he's the only one capable of making real war movies.

well, I thought BHD ruled and I can't wait to get the Special Edition. I held off on the first one for this very reason! Can't wait!

 

[Malcolm R]

I saw something on CSPAN2 that had a panel discussing US foreign affairs. One of the members on the panel was another Hollywood legend Oliver Stone.

1. Oliver Stone is a Hollywood "legend"? News to me.

2. I don't know why a panel on US foreign affairs would include celebrities anyway. They're entertainers, not policy experts.

 

[Chad Ferguson]

Not to get hugely off topic here but Oliver Stone did fight in Vietnam so I would take his word on what he says and if he does not classify as a legend then who would? I was just curious, what is the running times on the documentaries? I'm assuming that the 3rd disc that has the trailers will actually have a BHD trailer?
Thanks

 

[oscar_merkx]

Charlie
Thanks for chiming in here, can you give us some hint about your work on the Blade Runner SE. I know this is off topic but more an opportunity to learn more about its delay.
Cheers
Oscar

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

I saw something on CSPAN2 that had a panel discussing US foreign affairs. One of the members on the panel was another Hollywood legend Oliver Stone. He went on to trash WE WERE SOLDIERS (which I can't disagree with) but also BLACK HAWK DOWN. He said that these movies were not realistic portrayals, but instead just commercials for the US Army and what the Army would LIKE its soldiers to do in an actual combat situation.

Ah, but the same criticisms were leveled against him and Platoon for not being realistic. And these criticisms came from Vietnam veterans themselves!
~Edwin

 

[Willem Vos]

Oliver stone should know better than to trash other people's movies.
They can't all be as righteous as he wants them to be.
Platoon is an excellent war movie, but so is blackhawk down in its own action-packed way
I might need to make a special sticker so my receiver permanently indicates DTS...

 

[Dan Hitchman]

That's exactly why I am beginning to really hate DVD in its current form: you can have good video OR great audio, but usually not both if they start cramming a lot of special features on the same disc(s) as the movie. The specs. were too limiting.
HD-DVD on super capacity discs with a MANDATORY Merridian Lossless Packing (MLP) compressed or uncompressed 24 bit/192 kHz resolution (on all channels) PCM track with up to 8 channel discrete surround (no audio watermarking), and true 1920x1080p video would be a Godsend.
The movie's video and audio quality should be of PARAMOUNT concern. Then they can add supplements once those requirements are met. Just how often do you access the special features (8 times out of 10, a bunch of fluff pieces) anyway?
Dan