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Hardware HBO Also Goes Blu-ray Disc Exclusive
Marcus Yam (Blog) - January 10, 2008 12:02 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 80 comment(s) - last by neilrieck.. on Jan 18 at 7:34 AM
The Sopranos merge with the Blu-ray Disc family

HBO Home Video has confirmed reports that it too has sided exclusively with Blu-ray Disc. HBO Home Video is closely partnered with Warner Home Video, so “going Blu” is not unexpected for the company.

HBO Video president Henry McGee confirmed with the Hollywood Reporter that HBO, too, is “following the same policy as Warner Home Video.”

To date, the only major high-definition release from HBO Home Video was the sixth season of The Sopranos. Available on both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, the season six collection of The Sopranos was met with praise for its dramatic improvement over the standard definition DVD version.

Other HBO series that may have seen release on HD DVD, such as Band of Brothers, Angels in America, Deadwood and From the Earth to the Moon, will likely become Blu-ray Disc exclusive releases.

Other Warner partner New Line has also said that it will no longer be releasing movies on HD DVD. New Line’s only HD DVD release to date, Pan’s Labyrinth, will also be its last on the format. New Line’s pending releases of Rush Hour 3 and Hairspray are cancelled for HD DVD.

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Rush Hour 3
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 1/10/2008 12:26:52 PM , Rating: 1
No big loss with Rush Hour 3. They were playing it on my flight back home last night. It was truly horrible. I got through the first 20 minutes of it and decided to instead get some sleep.




RE: Rush Hour 3
By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: 0
RE: Rush Hour 3
By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1
RE: Rush Hour 3
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 1/10/2008 1:07:33 PM , Rating: 2
Yea, I can't say theres a lot of good movies I would jump at on HD right now. Transformers was one yea. Planet Earth from the BBC was definately excellent in HD. The Matrix in HD will probably be worth it, but other than that the number of movies that benefit from being in HD is minimal at best. Probably taking the studios a long time to figure out what to remaster into HD and which were filmed in 16:9 so they can be released in HD. Not to mention few people will re-purchase DVD's on HD media. I find myself buying HD DVD's for movies I don't already own, but stick with the regular DVD's if I already own it. Eventually I will swap out to a Hybrid Player (Come on Samsung stop dragging your heels) and pickup the occasional BR movie (Lord of the Rings Trilogy comes to mind).


RE: Rush Hour 3
By daftrok on 1/10/2008 2:37:04 PM , Rating: 4
Here's a list to ponder on what would be sweet in HD:
300
Apocalypto
The Aviator
Behind Enemy Lines
Beyonce: The Beyonce Experience (you know you wanna see that in HD)
Black Hawk Down
Blood Diamond
Blue Planet
Cars
Casino Royale
Cast Away
Chicago
Click
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
Dawn of the Dead
The Day After Tomorrow (solely for visual reasons)
Deja Vu
The Departed
The Descent
The Devil's Rejects
Die Hard
Die Hard 2
Die Hard with a Vengeance
Dinosaur
Discovery Access series
Dragon Ball Z: Broly Double Feature
Dreamgirls (Beyonce HD, nuff said)
Edward Scissorhands
Enter the Dragon
Fantastic Four (Jessica Alba HD, nuff said)
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
The Fifth Element
Final Fantasy: Spirits Within (waiting for Advent Children!)
Flags of our Fathers
Flyboys
The Fugitive
Gone in 60 Seconds
Goodfellas
HAPPY FEET!
Harry Potter Series
HD Window series
Hellboy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Home of the Brave
House of 1000 Corpses (hell yeah)
Ice Age: The Meltdown
Independence Day
Kingdom of Heaven
Kung Fu Hustle
The Last Samurai
Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon 2
Letters from Iwo Jima
AC/DC: Live at Donington
Live Free or Die Hard
Destiny's Child: Live in Atlanta
Lord of War
Man on Fire (I love Mexico City)
March of the Penguins
Mission Impossible
Mission Impossible 2
Monster House
Night at the Museum
Nip/Tuck
Ocean's 11
Ocean's 13...Ocean's 12 is dead to me
Pan's Labyrinth
The Patriot
Pearl Harbor (ONLY FOR THE INVASION SCENE!)
Pirates of the Caribbean series
Planet Earth
Polar Express
The Prestige
The Punisher
Purple Rain
Rambo: First Blood
Ratatouille
Reign of Fire
Remember the Titans
Resident Evil series
Robocop
The Rock
Rocky
Saw series
Seven Years in Tibet
The Shining
Shoot 'Em Up
Shuttle Discovery's Historic Mission
Silent Hill
Simpsons Movie
Sleepy Hallow
Smallville
Sopranos
Space Cowboys (it looked good even its its weird)
Spider-Man 1 and 2...3 is dead to me
Superman series
Syriana
Tears of the Sun
TMNT (that movie was AWESOME!)
Terminator series
Transporter 1 and 2 (it didn't make sense but it was sweet)
Troy
Underworld
Underworld: Evolution
Vertical Limit
X-men series

There are 487 Blu ray titles out right now, and this list are the ones I believe would be sweet to see in HD. I don't believe that the number of movies are minimal at all. Granted you wouldn't watch every single movie I listed, but I know a good chunk of it is what you want to see.


RE: Rush Hour 3
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 1/10/2008 4:22:49 PM , Rating: 2
Most of the movies on that list I don't really see the real advantage of being in HD rather than standard. HD makes a difference mostly on the visual level.

Black Hawk Down
Blue Planet
The Day After Tomorrow
Kingdom of Heaven
Independence Day
The Patriot
Man on Fire
Planet Earth (Which I already pointed out)

Those are the only movies on your list I see any remote advantage to having in HD, the rest (Especially the animated ones) would be comparable simply upscaled. Depending on the condition of the original footage for several of those films, even HD might not save it.


RE: Rush Hour 3
By daftrok on 1/10/2008 6:03:55 PM , Rating: 2
DUDE! BEYONCE! IN HD! CMON!


RE: Rush Hour 3
By BikeDude on 1/11/2008 7:48:35 AM , Rating: 2
Simpsons The Movie needs HD. Already in the opening sequence, when Ralph hums the fox jingle (or whatever), HD is noticably better. On the DVD, he is barely visible, just a handful of yellow pixels. The blu-ray edition is much better, even though it has been oversharpened (there is a sharpening halo around everything).

I noticed some compression artifacts in the cinema version, so there is room for improvement there as well.

--
Rune


RE: Rush Hour 3
By Xenoterranos on 1/11/2008 11:15:52 AM , Rating: 2
"Dragon Ball Z: Broly Double Feature"

Wow. Just...wow.


RE: Rush Hour 3
By Mach Omega on 1/10/2008 10:03:50 PM , Rating: 2
You have WAY too much time on your hands :)


RE: Rush Hour 3
By jpeyton on 1/11/2008 10:28:16 PM , Rating: 2
Bottom Line: HD DVD needs to be gaining exclusive studio support, not losing it , for it to have any chance of survival.

All signs point to a mass exodus from the HD DVD exclusive camp.

It's over.


RE: Rush Hour 3
By CRimer76 on 1/10/2008 4:38:45 PM , Rating: 4
Blade Runner: Final Cut looks amazing.


RE: Rush Hour 3
By Samus on 1/10/2008 4:53:45 PM , Rating: 3
Blade Runner is really incredible. It's almost like it was filmed with modern technology, the models look better than any CGI of today.


RE: Rush Hour 3
By bighairycamel on 1/10/08, Rating: -1
RE: Rush Hour 3
By bighairycamel on 1/11/2008 7:09:57 AM , Rating: 2
Nobody gets sarcasm around here.


RE: Rush Hour 3
By SavagePotato on 1/10/2008 1:37:32 PM , Rating: 5
Ok thanks, captain incoherent.

Good games like perhaps ratchet and clank, assassins creed, that I've played and enjoyed. Or maybe GTA IV gran tourismo 5, metal gear solid, or all the other awesome releases I'll be playing in 2008? In addition to watching tons of great blu ray releases like batman begins, the dark knight, etc.

Yeah things are looking so terrible for ps3 owners, excuse me while I go cry tears of blood at your stinging appraisal of the situation.

I see my personal dailytech obsessed rate down fans have been busy. Keep it up kids your admiration and obsession amuses me so.


RE: Rush Hour 3
By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1
RE: Rush Hour 3
By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: -1
RE: Rush Hour 3
By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1
RE: Rush Hour 3
By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: -1