Sony Pictures releases first Blu-ray Discs
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jun 21st 2006 8:32AM
posted Jun 21st 2006 8:32AM
posted Jun 21st 2006 8:32AM
The amount of electronics thrown away rather than recycled in 2007.
The EPA reports that 82% of electronics disposal in 2007 ended up in the garbage (mostly landfills) rather than a recycling center. (source: EPA, July 2008)
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Yes! Give em here :)
These are the movies I would liked to have seen in HD-DVD. I'm a realatively happy HD-DVD owner (yes, it's slow). My only serious issue so far is the lack of movies worth watching. Most of the one's released so far do little to encourage the switch to HD. Luckily it does a nice job of upconverting my copies of Fifth Element and House of Flying Daggers
Now to get a Blu-ray - HD-DVD comparison for real.
Like I've said before and I'll say again. I'm not buying either format (Blu-Ray or HD-DVD) until there are dual/universal players available.
I've seen too many format wars and I'm not going to be collateral damage by picking the wrong device.
I'm still waiting for Sony Pictures to release some of their back catalog on good ol' DVD. I guess I can forget about that ever happening.
I'm looking forward to the future of pretty, but kinda mediocre, movies.
I'm also holding-out for a dual-format player before I drop the $$$ to buy one.
But I give Sony credit, they seem to have released BR with a much better set of movies than when HD-DVD was released (there wasn't much on there I was interested in).
Circuit City already has them for sale at their stores. Also if you go take a look they already have the player showing aswell. From what I've seen playing (XXX) Its not too great of a difference. Atleast not on the 56in samsund DLP (A Great TV). But yea just to tell you guys it will also be in their, and probably many others, weekly ad next week.
Glad to see The Fifth Element as one of the first. That's one of my favorite movies and a good movie to see in high definition with all it's bright colors and scenery. And sold at a reasonable $20. I thought these discs were supposed to be $30 or $35 fromthe start? Oh well I'm not complaining. But I'm also not going to buy a blu-ray player until they fall into the $200 and below price range.
But why didn't Sony release *Spider-Man 2* first? And considering the MGM (Sony owned) James Bond catalog was remastered, why weren't some of them released on Blu-Ray first? That would be the way to pulverize HD-DVD. Bring out the big guns now.
"That would be the way to pulverize HD-DVD. Bring out the big guns now."
I would argue that these are already some pretty big guns, and they're movies that early adopters would buy. Look at something like House of Flying Daggers, which a) is an extremely well-reviewed and well-respected film on a critical level, b) *looks* amazing from a technical standpoint, and c) stars Zhang Ziyi. This is the sort of film those who buy the first players are going to go nuts for.
Fifth Element also was one of the first DVD's, so some people will no doubt buy it again as a BD just for old times' sake (seriously). The Terminator is another film that sort of transcends what most people think of as the sci-fi genre (though T2 probably would have been a better first-release choice).
Sure, there are some questionable titles in there, but a lot of these are dream discs for early adopters. They're really good films and they're showcases for HD content. I seriously cannot wait to see House of Flying Daggers in HD - but I'm gonna probably have to wait until the PS3.
I was at Best buy(the one in Kildeer, IL) last night and they had the samsung player set up with a samsung 40" LCD TV and it was playing fith element. It really didn't look that good, everything still looked very grainy. That aside, someone walks up to me and says if you buy the TV, I can throw in the Blu-Ray player for free. That got my interest, then he went and checked on his computer and said that he could give the player for $500. That's $500 off the retail price for no reason. If anyone is interested in buying a samsung blu-ray player, I'd recommend you guy to best buy, they seem that they are trying to give them away.
Unfortunatly the Fifth Element on Blue-Ray is reported to be only slightly better than the Superbit version. A major dissapointment to me as I LOVE that movie.
Indeed, but the question that has not been answered yet is... Why?
It may be the master used, the transfer, the encoding. Nobody seems to know, though with the players not yet released, I can see why. Once the player gets into the wild, I think people will be able to look and see more closely what the problem is.
-Pie
Blu Ray's the one all the hardware makers are adopting.. It'll win.. finally Sony's working with others..
I seriously doubt the assertion that the image quality on *The Fifth Element* Blu-Ray is marginally better than the SuperBit DVD release. Sure, the transfer may be bad/grainy, but you are still talking about 1080 lines of resolution versus 480 (or 576 in PAL countries) lines. From SD NTSC to 1080, that is 600 more lines of resolution, which simple math dictates is an increase in the number of lines of resolution which is even greater than the existing lot that people are viewing in SD. Seems to me that if there's anything to be complaining about in the comparison, it should be the quality of the HDTV that the people are viewing both versions on.
Or a better example. Think of someone ugly. They are still going to be ugly in HDTV versus SD, but with HD, they are going to be clearly ugly. Excuse me, attractively challenged. Where's my manners?
First batch of Blu-Ray movies all use MPEG2 compression on a single layer. VC-1 is clearly better in this respect.
Why would anyone use MPEG2 for a next generation title? It makes no sense, its outdated and add in the fact that these first Blu-Ray movies are all only 25Gb vs the 30Gb of the HD DVD titles and it doesn't make any sense that the Samsung costs twice as much as the Toshiba.
I'd love to see someone do a comparison of the Chinese EVD release of "House of the flying daggers" vs the blu-ray version and see how Blu-Ray stacks up against 4 year old chinese mass marketed (read cheap) technology. I'm not suggesting EVD is the way forward but Blu-Ray had better put out a significantly better picture.
Well, if you have a HDTV Satellite or Cable receiver, chances are that it's still getting a MPG2 transport stream for the video (though some operators are apparently trying to switch to MPG4 to save bandwidth). MPG2 can handle HD signals just fine if you give it a high enough bitrate (say 20+Mbps).
The only reason you'd need (want?) to go to a newer format is to make the files smaller. There's no point calling MPG2 outdated, if you've got the space to spare the picture looks just as good (and BR has more space than HD-DVD so they can get away with less compression), then there's no compelling reason for manufacturers to go to a new format.
As far as i,m concerned, its all a lot of bull!! First VHS;then laserdisc;then DVD,s.Now Blue-Ray and HDTV-discs.I,ll stick with my LD,s and DVD,s for now...A sharper pic does not mean the movie will be any better in theme or storyline... I just want a good viewing;not a pile of expensive techno-hype. You can all have it..