The Blu-ray Thread v1.0

YellowS4 · June 6, 2008, 2:36am

Girls Gone Wild: Hottest Moments Ever (Blu-ray) LOL

Fuck, Amazon is OOS on TWBB, so now I’ll have to buy it locally.

System_1 · June 6, 2008, 4:16pm

DeepDiscount.com’s Bi-Annual 20% off sale is back =)

Coupon Codes:
DDAF
DD1109
DVDTALK
USATODAY
NYTIMES
SUPERSALE
DDDCD
DD1110
DVDPRICESEARCH
LATIMES
ESPN
YAHOO
JIM
WGN

Each can be used once per account. It doesn’t work with pre-orders (damnit, no 16 dollar Batman), but I just put in an order for the Blu-ray of There Will Be Blood for 22 bucks & V for Vendetta for 17, and will be surfing around for more Blu-rays I might want.

Enjoy.

w1r3d · June 6, 2008, 6:27pm

they never include tekkon kinkreet in their specials

System_1 · June 7, 2008, 12:12am

??

The codes work for it. Try adding it to your cart & then applying one of the coupon codes I provided. It goes down to $21.48

YellowS4 · June 7, 2008, 12:22am

I won’t order from DD, shipping to Canada just negates the 20% off, not to mention brokerage fees. I’m gonna stick with Amazon.

Barnes and Noble has a B2G1 deal going on though; for me, 3 titles ended up being 10$ cheaper than Amazon lol and I don’t have to deal with fees since they ship from some local warehouse (just like Amazon).
http://video.barnesandnoble.com/collection.asp?PID=20702&cds2Pid=16444

But if I buy locally at b&m stores, I end up paying whatever Amazon was charging me.

Septimus_Prime · June 7, 2008, 12:52am

That’s because it sucks.

Don’t buy it.

bokchoy · June 7, 2008, 7:27am

Lies! Good movie. Great picture quality. Meh audio.

It’s not my favorite Blu-Ray or anywhere close to it, but I am glad I bought it.

I ignore “The”, numbers go before letters (example: 2001: A Space Odyssey is before the A’s, and not in the T’s), and series are sorted according to release date instead of alphabetically (example: Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone is before Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets)

Septimus_Prime · June 9, 2008, 10:19pm

Blu-ray adoption outpaces DVD

Singulus has revealed that consumers are adopting Blu-ray faster than they did DVD, with the company having received 21 orders for Blu-ray dual-layer machines in the first quarter.

The information was revealed to shareholders at the technology manufacturer’s Annual General Meeting of the Singulus Technologies in Frankfurt and directly contradicted claims by Microsoft’s Robbie Bach that consumers were hesitant to upgrade to Blu-ray.

“This means that the orders for Blu-ray in the first year of the dual layer technology already by far exceeded the volume at the start of the DVD eleven years ago with 17 machines,” said Stefan A Baustert, CEO of Singulus.

Blu-ray became the standard high definition format after Toshiba’s decision to end its HD DVD business earlier this year. The announcement by Toshiba was then followed by Microsoft’s decision to end production of the HD DVD player for Xbox 360.

Awesome.

Dirt_Mc_Girt · June 9, 2008, 10:40pm

i dunno its hard to compare the two because with VHS not many people owned due to the high prices but they rented a lot

a couple years after dvd came out the mentality of buying everything and keeping it started and carried over to blu-ray

but if it helps bring prices down i’m for it

i just got my 300th blu-ray today (NBK) and i looked at my collection (i have about 200 hd dvd) too and realized what a waste of money

Septimus_Prime · June 10, 2008, 3:36am

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/features/2853/5-shortcuts-to-blu-ray-release.html

5 Shortcuts to Blu-ray Release
Doesn’t it seem random, how some B-grade old flicks make it to Blu-ray first while classics wait in line? Here, five criteria studios use before giving a Blu the green light.
By Reed Tucker ? Illustration by Adam Christie ? June 2008

To the list of life’s great mysteries ? which already includes what’s our purpose on earth, and how does Keanu Reeves keep getting work? ? you can add one more: Just how in the name of 1080p do studios decide which titles to re-release on Blu-ray Disc?

The new releases are a no-brainer, but when it comes to the backcatalog, is there any rhyme or reason? Doesn’t seem to be. After a two-year flirtation with HD DVD, Paramount recently came back to the Blu-ray fold and, with great fanfare, announced its first slate of titles, which included Bee Movie, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and . . . Face/Off?

One of the first titles Fox rolled out was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Say what? Are these really the movies fans have been saving their allowances for? Sean Connery probably doesn’t even want a copy of League, and he’s in it.

That said, the studios do put a lot of research and effort into choosing Blu-ray titles. They’ll eventually get around to releasing the bulk of their catalog, but for now, because the technology is relatively new and the transfer process so expensive, they have to be judicious with the release slate.

Here are the elements the studios are looking for:

Stuff blows up
Quite simply, the most important criterion for choosing a Blu-ray release is a film that will best exploit the benefits of a high-end home system. “You want sexy-looking stuff that is going to make your system scream,” says Steve Feldstein, spokesperson for Fox Home Entertainment. That means a movie with striking visuals and cinematography, jaw-dropping special effects, and booming sound. More often than not, these are big action movies, like Face/Off or Twister ? the latter, one of the first titles released on DVD that’s now getting a Blu-ray release. These are also the movies that the early adopters of Blu-ray (who are generally male) enjoy. In short, Feldstein says that what all of the Blu-ray titles have in common is great imagery. “In the early days of the format, it’s key. It certainly was with DVD and laserdisc,” he says.

There’s a sequel out now
With a new installment of a franchise currently in theaters, studios will often look to release previous films. That’s why Fox put out the first Die Hard movies, as well as the original Alien vs. Predator.

The title has proven popular in the past
George Feltenstein, senior VP of marketing for Warner Bros., says, “Films that have had a prior sales success in other media demand our attention.” If it was a big hit on DVD, it’s more likely to get the Blu-ray treatment.

**4. Fans have been clamoring for it
True, a write-in campaign by the three fans of Nail Gun Massacre probably won’t get any results, but the studios say they do take customer feedback into consideration. “I’ve been hearing from [fans] for 20 years,” Feldstein says. “The Internet makes it even more democratic. We absolutely listen to our customers. We’re looking at a lot of different properties.”

The staff at Warner Bros. gets asked constantly about when titles from their voluminous library of classics will get the Blu-ray treatment. Sit tight. Feltenstein says indispensable titles, such as Gone With the Wind, Casablanca and Ben-Hur, are on the way.**

The master doesn’t need much cleaning up
"If we have a good looking hi-def master available, that would get a title out sooner than another title that might need full restoration," Feldstein says. “So quality elements is definitely a determining factor.” Restoration is obviously time-consuming and expensive, and it’s easier for the studios to release films that don’t require much.

Which is not to say they aren’t paying to have films restored. John Lowry, founder of Lowry Digital Images, says his company is working on an ever-increasing number of “important” titles, in preparation for a Blu-ray release. The list includes a number from Fox and Paramount, though Lowry declined to name names. The good news is that Lowry is scanning from the original camera negatives, not a duplicate, which should make for the best image quality you can get. And isn’t that why you plunked down hundreds of dollars for that Blu-ray player in the first place?

So yeah. Let’s start writing in.

Septimus_Prime · June 10, 2008, 11:03pm

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1381

Interesting.

Geese_Pants · June 10, 2008, 11:44pm

Warner Bros…where’s my Sweeney Todd Bluray???

Dios_X · June 10, 2008, 11:55pm

Its out in japan and other regions already, and im pretty sure they work on the ps3 if you want to import it.

System_1 · June 10, 2008, 11:59pm

They need to release Muse Haarp first :B

Geese_Pants · June 11, 2008, 12:03am

Fuck it…seems like a hassle.
I’ll be patient and wait for a domestic release.

P.Gorath · June 11, 2008, 1:26am

you just realized this?

Dirt_Mc_Girt · June 11, 2008, 1:30am

well with dvd’s i didn’t have much space in my theater so i’d move them to the basement in boxes except for the ones i really liked

since i rebuilt my theater to include shelving when i’m sitting there i can just see all the crap layed out on the walls and then i try to find something to watch and i’m like crap crap crap seen it crap crap crap

maybe i’ll get netflix and just buy the good ones instead

Dirt_Mc_Girt · June 11, 2008, 1:33am

oh btw The Island import looks amazing

one of the best non 100% CGI movie (this movie was only 99% CGI!!) i seen in high def

too bad the movie didn’t work

decent idea for story, nice action sequences, horrible acting and directing IMO

YellowS4 · June 11, 2008, 1:42am

http://img511.imageshack.us/my.php?image=island2gn0.jpg :amazed:

System_1 · June 11, 2008, 1:49am

Yeah, I want The Island BD… but with shipping & all, it’s so expensive T_T.