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First Blu-ray Movie Titles Announced
JorgeDeLaCancha writes "Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and MGM Home Entertainment have recently announced the release of the first titles on the Blu-Ray media coinciding with the Blu-Ray hardware release in the spring. Some of the films to be released include classics such as "The Fifth Element" and "Robocop" to more modern films such as "Black Hawk Down." Other corporations, such as Fox, have announced similar plans."
Until there is a combo hd-dvd/blu-ray player, they can take their discs and go pound salt.
the Fifth Element is from 1997, and it's already a "classic?"
Now that everybody's re-bought their favorite movies on DVD, let's move on to the next format! Call me a cynic, but I don't think the average person wants to do this yet. I don't think it's a stretch to say that the average person has had a DVD player in their home for less than five years.
Hmm.. I can only wonder if Robocop was filmed with decent quality equipment to justify having it on blue ray disc. It's very old movie - it was made in 1989. Isn't it kinda like putting .mp3 files on DVD audio disc? It doesn't make any sense.
I think the movie studios (tv etc) are going to start hitting a wall soon.
Think about it, after hi-def what comes next? (and don't say internet distribution etc only, people want things they can actually own in their hands)
First it was video cassettes, then dvd and now hi-definition.. each with a definitive quality increase over their predecessor. Now however with high definition they've pretty much hit the wall, people don't need or won't want to buy super-high-deluxe-definition unless they've got a projector which projects the video onto a ridiculously large area.
It will reach a point where it'll be "good enough", you can already see a lot of people commenting about how they don't see the point of hi-def dvd (which people will eventually go over to) when dvd suits them fine.
The human eyeball can only see so much.
I'll wait until someone cracks the copy protections on these systems. Hopefully someone clever figures it out quickly. I'm not sure Blue-ray or HD-DVD will survive though. I'm certain the copy protection systems are going to kill the usefulness of both systems.
:-)
I read a while back about a new system much better than both Blue-ray and HD-DVD, but I cannot remember what it was called.. (the name of it started with the letter n). Anybody knows anything about this?
I suspect will see the whole DVD history all over again. First we'll get these 25GB discs, then we'll get 50GB discs and of course the first Blue-ray player won't play anything but 25GB discs so we'll need to buy a new player. Then we'll get 100GB discs and we'll need both a new player and a burner.... then there will be discs only compatible with some players and some burners etc.. then there will be discs with 2x speed, then 4x, 8x, 16x and we'll need to upgrade firmware or buy new players/burners again. In 2007 the new 8 layered Blu-ray discs will be out with 200GB capacity, and we'll need burners capable of burning these as well as players for playing these monster discs.
I'll admit I don't know much about these new formats, but I'm looking forward to making backups of my half TB of live shows in FLAC format!
Until they stop pushing DRM down our throat ....
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I think Babylon 5 looks better on VHS than on DVD.
Seriously, they filmed that series with two cameras, a semi decent one that made the sets look a bit plasticy, and something they found in a dumpster. Watching the DVDs you can see the different cameras in use, scene to scene, cut to cut. Decent. Grainy. Decent. Grainy. And they always put the decent camera on the men, and the grainy character on the women. Unforgivable.
It is the last series I would have thought about putting on HD media. Indeed most TV series until the last few years probably haven't got that much resolution.
Also redoing the effects would be an act of sacrilege. You might also get killed by rabid Amiga fans. Video toaster and Lightwave man! 30,000 polygons for B5 itself. Woooo...
Sadly, 90% of the content out there isn't good enough for a bloody iPod video resolution, nevermind HD.
Why buy those movies now on Blu-ray, give it half a year and then they will come out with the directors cut, special edition, 3 Blu-ray set.
30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
Score:5, Troll
The reason we keep having format wars is the licensing.
The people who own the DVD specs make a ton of money. Even better than a ton of money though, is a yearly stream of license revenue.
You get money from the hardware mfgs and money from the content people. The content people have to pay a license to get that little DVD logo you see on the packaging. Ditto for the hardware guys, but they also have to license whatever fancy encryption scheme you're using.
It is all about the licensing revenue. It is a long-term money maker and is pure profit.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
The other truth of the matter is, for most intents and purposes, the average person has never exploited how good DVD looks in the first place. They use S-video at best. An anamaphoric-enhanced DVD release (as most theatrical DVDs have been since the 90's), on a progressive scan DVD player with component inputs on a widescreen TV looks damn good. Better than most people will ever wish to have in their home.
The big mistake all of the movie companies are making is that they think we are all itching for something new. We aren't. We don't care. Very few people care about this technology. We'll be well into the next decade before we start lamenting that Wal-Mart is carrying more Blu-Ray/HD discs than DVD. The studios and certain techies keep throwing numbers out there, telling us all what we are supposedly missing...and the joke is going to be on them when these things hit the market with a resounding thud.
I enjoyed the Fifth Element. Most TV/Movie Sci-Fi out there tries to be serious, but ends up being so stupid it's funny. The Fifth Element was purposely hokey, and somehow ended up being freakin' cool. Probably because it didn't take itself too seriously, so the parts that had something to say shone through, instead of drowning in accidental bullshittiness.
After all, at any resolution, progressive looks better than interlaced because you have twice the data. Makes pans and other motion smoother, more detail, etc.
Too bad you have to buy a very expensive (right now) TV to watch 1080p. But Sony is pushing it with the PS3. 1080p Video games (if they deliver that) and 1080p video.
I still think Blu-ray will win. While this is a definite plus for them (I assume HD-DVD could do this, but I haven't heard of any of the movies or players being able to), if you combine this with the increased storage capacity, the soon to be massive installed base (the PS3), and the availability (within a few months of HD-DVD, and more importantly: before Christmas)... I think things are getting better and better for Blu-ray to win.
It is too bad the NIH syndrome is so big that the two groups couldn't suck it up and make one format. They didn't learn from Beta, I guess. And now that they have a VERY popular entrenched format (DVD) to compete against where Beta didn't (no previous home-video recording equipment), things don't look good on the whole.
Blu-ray will win. It will be a hollow victory. They will beat HD-DVD, but they will only beat DVDs because the studios will stop producing them/selling them. I don't think ANY high-def format is strong enough to take over DVD without resorting to cheating within the next 5 years, at least.
But that depends on the price of HDTVs. If they stay too expensive, then there is no point. If prices crash, then bring on the high-def movies at home.
And kiss theaters further goodbye.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I know the "don't copy" video you're talking about, I've seen it on some rentals. I haven't had the "pleasure" of buying a DVD with that video though. If I do end up getting one, I know what I'm going to do - take it back to the place I bought it and say that I think it's pirated. After all, if you were an average (honest) consumer, and you just bought a movie that says "STOP PIRATING MOVIES!!!!11" then wouldn't you think you'd just bought a pirated movie?
are still bad, no matter how high the resolution and it is funny to note that the converse is also true. Most people don't give a damn about the resolution. What people are interested in is the thickness of the panels. Most prefer a panel TV over a CRT TV, simply because they take up less space and don't really care about the rest.
Oh well, what the hell...
I think Blu-Ray will win the end for two reasons:
1. Most of the Hollywood studios back Blu-Ray.
2. Blu-Ray's native resolution in 1920x1080 progressive scan, with players currently capable of 720p/1080i video output through HDMI now and 1080p output through HDMI within the next year of so.
There are degrees of apparent privacy. Before home video, there were theaters, and therefore home video market when available was greatly influenced by porn availability. You have to go to a public store and be relatively public or receive a potentially conspicuous package, but have to wait and still risk embarassment. The home video market exploded, decreasing the theater market to nil and growing the overall market for porn in general.
Nowadays, how sizable is the home porn video market compared to the more anonymous, the more instantly 'gratifying' internet porn market that has presumably overwhelmed DVD/VHS distribution due to the immediacy and anonymity the computer offers. If nothing else, seeing all the computers I've dealt with where people stick porn in places they perceive as obscure suggests they have higher confidence in hiding files on a computer than hiding tapes or discs in their home. Even for the television channels, I would wager people feel safer buying some porn network/pay-per-view and hiding the charges on their credit card they find easier than hiding discs/tapes.
In essence, as amusing it is to think of porn as a huge market force in such a context, it probably isn't realistic to consider it a 'killer app' this time around. However, I doubt Sony will be so prudish this time compared to the Betamax fiasco, just to be on the safe side.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Now when you upconvert an interlace source (which film is not) to progressive you can get terrible artifacts, but this also depends on the quality of the upconvert hardware/software. Some HDTVs are un-watchable trying to view NTSC, others actually improve the image HUGELY, it all depends on the upconvert algorithms and horsepower assigned.
If you have ever seen 1080I shot live like some of the BRAVO performances you will see that that the image is stunning fluid and better quality than 24fps film. 1080p will be even better when there is a lot of rapid motion of the whole scene. 1080I looks great when filming plays on BRAVO because they avoid exactly this sort of camera motion. 24fps stutters when you scroll and interlace breaks up into a nasty comb effect. 1080P avoids both. And yes this is why gamers are obsessed with frame-rate. Games tend to be nothing but fast motion and pans. Even 120fps isn't overkill for rapid motion. Granted your eye can't see changes at 120fps, BUT -- and this is a big but -- when you have large field rapid motion your eyes will track the apparent motion. The edges will blur as your eye tries to smoothly track a moving image that is actually a series of stills at the frame rate. The only way it could look un-blurred is if your eyes actually tracked them in with a motion that was a series of skips at the frame rate (not even vaguely humanly possible).
For 24fps film 1080I is much better than 720p. 720p is probably a good choice for sports however for all the reasons listed above. OTA transmission doesn't have the bandwidth for 1080p however (at least not with mpeg2). 1080p if pretty close to nirvana for me, past here the gains are so insignificant as to be pointless. But you can always go higher on the frame rate. Shooting stuff in 60fps or higher would likely lead to new filming styles as current ones purposely avoid things that make 24fps look bad.
The film industry should film everything in 60fps whether film or video (and progressive scan only for video). 1080P will look glorious once there is actually material available. This may be the ace in the hole that put Blu-Ray over HD-DVD in a couple of years. But only if content providers wise up and start making 60fps content.
Letter To Iran
Yeah, but Blu-ray discs comes in a shiny blue box!
(Seriously, as much as I despise this "format war" and especially Sony, I think Blu-Ray has a much better marketing catch.
{ - Generic Guy - }
I'd put Pulp Fiction and Die Hard on my list of classics, even a pretty short list. They both fail your Bruce WIllis Litmus Test.
I'm a filmmaker, and I can't say that I look forward to shooting at 60P. Actually you can already (most economically at 720, but if you're willing to spend the $ and put up with a 2-piece camera system you can at 1080), but for dramatic films higher frame rates are only used for slow motion.
There have been film-based higher frame-rate systems in the past as well, but they never caught on. The problem, as I see it, is that frame rates above about 40fps or so look TOO real. Sets, even well built ones, look like sets -- your brain isn't as easily fooled at 60fps. Even acting tends to look worse -- it's strange, but all the visual cues that are used to convey action and emotion work differently. I suspect that it's possible to develop new film making techniques that would work for high frame rate cinema, but I doubt that it will become universal any time soon. Perhaps eventually when the current generation with its conditioned responses to 24fps drama passes on...
Where I definitely DO see 60fps HD fitting in beautifully is for "experience" kind of things -- rides and simulations and such. It really gives that "looking through a window" feeling that can become really transparent in that situation.
-- It only takes 20 minutes for a liberal to become a conservative thanks to our new outpatient surgical procedure!
(warning, minor speculative rambling follows)
It could happen that way, it depends on how they price the discs and the players. The problem with LD was that the cheapest players were $300-400 (and that was in 1990 dollars). If they can get an affordable Blu-ray *or* HD DVD player (that is, one that sells for a little over $100) available within a year or so of launch, they'll have people lining up to buy them.
Also, keep in mind that unlike VHS/LD, a Blu-ray (or HD DVD) player will also play DVD (so you get your backwards compatibility) and likely CD as well. With LD you had to own both players (so if you were just looking to upgrade your VCR, you couldn't just buy a LD player and get both out of the box).
Moving pricing will affect this as well, but to a lesser extent (especially if the players are affordable as mentioned above; people won't have a reason not to get one if they can continue to play their DVDs on it). Hopefully the actual street prices (NOT MSRP) aren't more than $30-40 per title. And from what I've heard, many studios plan to do simultaneous day-and-date releases of new movies in Blu-ray/HD DVD (so they'll likely be sitting on the shelf alongside eachother at your local Best Buy/Circuit City).
Anyways, LD/VHS is not a fair comparison methinks. It's possible, but the variables are very different this time around. (And don't forget the copy-protection aspect; studios aren't exactly pleased we can copy DVDs using our PC, and are likely eager to get something better protected to market to curb so-called casual piracy. If nothing else, they could force these new formats onto the market by cutting prices on players/media to speed adoption).
All I know about Bush is I had a good job when Clinton was president.
I actually loved LD, but the hard facts of the matter are that it didn't catch on with the mass market because they were satisified with VHS.
That's actually a pretty interesting analysis, but wrong for two reasons:
1) Blu-Ray is going to be embedded in a very popular game system, which will in turn mean a lot more owners of players much more quickly and thus more people buying discs. With a greater market acceleration it will pick up fast enough to live unlike LD where it was hard for a long time to convince people to buy players. In fact this same reason (DVD drives in two of the major game systems, XBox and PS2) were part of the reason DVD did not suffer the LD fate.
2) The industry is moving on without you. ALL of the major players, movie studios and electronics makers alike are behind the new format. That means in a few years the only players you'll be able to buy will be BluRay, and likewise for new discs. So people will basically shift because they have to. Unless online video takes off in that timespan and leaves HD media languishing, but I don't think bandwidth providers in the US can get their acts together enough to make that a real possibility.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Screw the new formats, and screw the DRM that comes with it. I get my HD movies off usenet just fine, thanks. I _usually_ own the DVDs, too. (Sometimes I just want to check something out, and can't be bollocksed to traipse to the video store through a foot of snow.) But then, DVDs don't look as impressive and 'secksiful' on a ten foot screen anyway.
:P Between that and my unlimited download, unlimited speed, 70+ day multipart binary retention, premium usenet feed... I COULD DOWNLOAD ENTIRE INTERNETS!
I have to agree with what someone above said, there's not going to be any more 'formats'... It's all about portability and access of the 'files'. We're at a point now, where sooner rather than later, buying movies and music is really going to be a matter of licensing rather than owning something tangible.
This will be both good and bad. There are some people, me included, who aren't really going to notice the difference... I've actually downloaded DVD ISOs of discs I own, because I couldn't find the damned thing, or downloaded anime preformatted for my PSP. (Or at least, a DVD rip I can transcode.) So, with that becoming sort of the norm, I won't lose much sleep over it. (Besides, I treat physical media terribly to begin with.) But for some people, this will just break them, on a fundamental level. Sucks to be them, but they're simply not fit for the digital world. And I won't lose much sleep over them, either.
Now if only I had Verizon FIOS, and its 15mbps downstram for $40 a month.
No wait, better yet... If only I lived in Japan and could share a 1gbit fiber line with twenty other people for $50 a month....damn, the very thought brings a tears to my eyes... *wrings out his eyepatch*
Friend: "The NIC is misconfigured..." Me: "No prob, I'll just telnet in and fix it." *Silence*