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HBO, BBC also on Blu-ray Disc's side

Warner’s announcement last week of Blu-ray Disc exclusivity had a ripple effect on more than just one home video company’s releases. Warner Home Video also distributes New Line, HBO and BBC Video products, leaving some to wonder if Blu-ray Disc just gained an entire stable of studio support.

According to Variety, New Line and HBO will follow Warner’s lead to side only with Blu-ray Disc. BBC Video, the company behind the popular high-definition nature documentary Planet Earth, has not yet publicly expressed its intentions with format exclusivity.

New Line already positions its Blu-ray Disc products with greater priority than the equivalent HD DVD. New Line’s first high-definition film, Hairspray, hit Blu-ray Disc in late November 2007, while an HD DVD version was only promised sometime in early 2008.

The reason for the disparity in the release date of Hairspray was supposedly due to HD DVD’s lack of region coding, reported High-Def Digest. Studios can sell Blu-ray Disc and DVD versions in the North American market thanks to region coding technologies that uphold international distribution agreements. The same situation also applies to the currently released Rush Hour 3 on Blu-ray Disc and DVD. New Line has yet to announce release dates for Hairspray and Rush Hour 3 on HD DVD.

Perhaps the most important outcome of New Line's upcoming decision is that the studio owns the rights to The Lord of The Rings trilogy. Should the (second) most compelling motion picture trilogy hit high-definition home video, it’ll be on Blu-ray Disc.

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"second"?
By Gul Westfale on 1/7/08, Rating: 0
RE: "second"?
By cochy on 1/7/2008 9:59:41 AM , Rating: 4
Star Wars.

(IV, V, VI)


RE: "second"?
By EntreHoras on 1/7/2008 10:53:08 AM , Rating: 2
Is Star Wars in HiDef already?
I truly don't know, but I think is not.
What it seems to me, they are talking about The Matrix Trilogy.


RE: "second"?
By FITCamaro on 1/7/2008 11:18:55 AM , Rating: 2
Star Wars is not in HD yet. If it comes out on a particular format, that will drive me to care about having an HD player.


RE: "second"?
By mmntech on 1/7/2008 12:42:45 PM , Rating: 2
I think it may be a while. Look how look it took for the original trilogy to appear on DVD. It really depends what George's flavour of the month is, and right now he's more concerned about the live action series.


RE: "second"?
By Alpha4 on 1/7/2008 12:54:27 PM , Rating: 2
Well I know for a fact that there is a pirated copy of the Starwars Trilogy in High Definition making the rounds on various Torrent Sites. And if you google Star Wars HD you'll find various bits of news and even screenshots with comparisons.

Some things lead me to believe that its not ripped from an official release but maybe from a leaked sample. For instance I've not seen it in stores, and the comparison screenshots show the DVD versions as far more cleaned up, with character complexions appearing softened up and lighter looking.


RE: "second"?
By jonrem on 1/7/2008 1:28:10 PM , Rating: 2
Not sure either, but when all 6 movies were recently on HBO HD I was amazed at how much better they looked than the DVD releases. Maybe someone was able to get it off their HD DVR?


RE: "second"?
By JAH on 1/7/2008 1:33:42 PM , Rating: 3
Those are ripped from HBO HD broadcast and it does look better then standard def/DVD versions, but it would be no match for versions that are specifically authored for HD optical media.

Star Wars with 1080p pictures + uncompressed 7.1ch HD sound = *drools*


RE: "second"?
By BZDTemp on 1/7/2008 6:38:03 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
Star Wars with 1080p pictures + uncompressed 7.1ch HD sound = *drools*


LOL - what ever the picture and sound format the Star Wars movies will stay pretty trivial adventure movies. I'd much rather see some really great movies in the new format.

Give me:

Lawrence of Arabia
Le Mans (The Movie)
American Beauty
The Usual Suspects
Apocalypse Now
North by Northwest
Cinema Paradiso


RE: "second"?
By TheBaker on 1/8/2008 6:31:17 AM , Rating: 4
*swoon*

Your disdain of such bourgeous drivel as Star Wars shows us all clearly how superior you are to the unwashed masses. And your choice of great movies! THREE different languages in the titles? Surely there is no one else as cultured and refined as you! Why, what sort of cretin would devote two or more hours of their life to entertainment so casual as a "movie"? Surely their time would be better spent watching a "film" that carries a profound message about the frailty of the human condition.

Kudos to you, sir, for showing us all what we should strive to be.


RE: "second"?
By rykerabel on 1/8/2008 12:53:49 PM , Rating: 2
Sorry, everyone here needs help.

Red Dwarf > all

LOL


RE: "second"?
By Misty Dingos on 1/9/2008 12:06:49 PM , Rating: 2
You fawn too quickly. His list is suspect. Fine attire but still flawed showing his true nature not in the content but those in absence.

The list should have at the very least.

Blade Runner (director’s final cut)
Cool Hand Luke
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Maltese Falcon
Das Boot (with subtitles for those that don’t speak German)


RE: "second"?
By MatthiasF on 1/10/2008 12:35:17 AM , Rating: 1
While I love Blade Runner, I have a feeling because it's special effects are so dated and the production was on film, a high def version won't be that spectacular.

For the same reason, the rest of your files might seem more crisp but you can only scan film to a certain DPI. A true aficionado would probably prefer watching them from the original film than on a television anyway, high-def or otherwise.

Meanwhile, Children of Men, my second favorite sci-fi movie of all time, was 100% digital and I have a feeling it'll be gorgeous in high def.


RE: "second"?
By cubdukat on 1/18/2008 12:20:17 AM , Rating: 2
Where did you read that "Children of Men" was a digital production? It most certainly was not. It was shot on Kodak Vision 2 Expression 500T, which is a lower-contrast, more muted stock. And that's according to Kodak's own website. Parts of it may have been digitally-originated, but it was mostly shot on film--as it should be.

As for "Blade Runner," much has been made of its being scanned at 4K, and believe you me--if you saw it during its theatrical run last year, you'd never believe the film was 25 years old. Both the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray releases were struck from that 4K version, so it's gonna be a reference-quality disc. If any movie will test the limits of what either format is capable of, it's this one.


RE: "second"?
By Samus on 1/7/2008 1:54:26 PM , Rating: 1
I just downloaded a torrent that included episodes 1-6, all 1080p. Total download size was over 48gb, or apx. 10GB for episodes 1-3, and 7GB for episodes 4-6 (they were shorter in length)

They had to come from somewhere. They're encoded from DTS-HD as well.


RE: "second"?
By FITCamaro on 1/7/2008 2:00:15 PM , Rating: 2
You're free to do a search. Commercially available copies aren't available. As JAH said, likely HBO rips from the HD channel. Or possible rips directly from copies of a theater's files since a lot of it is digital distribution anymore.


RE: "second"?
By jpeyton on 1/7/2008 9:39:34 PM , Rating: 4
At this point, there are two major studios left in HD-DVD's camp: Paramount and Universal.

CES 2008 is the largest consumer electronics show in the world. Paramount has announced their continued support for HD-DVD (not surprising since they have a highly publicized 18-month contract and $150 million payout), but has announced no new titles at CES.

Universal has been declined comment since WB's announcement. Even at CES, they have refused any announcement for continued support for HD-DVD.

Toshiba covered HD-DVD for a few minutes at CES, noting their surprise of WB's announcement, but has announced nothing in regards to 4th generation HD-DVD players or studio support.

[b]Just compare how Blu-Ray and HD-DVD have reacted to studio defections.[/b] When Paramount announced HD-DVD exclusivity in August 2007, Blu-Ray studios like Fox, Sony and Disney came right back and immediately added new titles to their release schedules. They welcomed the media and renewed their commitment to the Blu-Ray format.

Toshiba, Paramount, and Universal have withdrawn from the spotlight since WB's announcement, even though media coverage of the consumer electronics industry is at a peak during CES. Not exactly confidence inspiring, since HD-DVD's 2008 release schedule was already pathetic before the WB announcement.

One last thing: check out Amazon's sales ranks for HD-DVD titles in the 48 hours since WB's announcement. Remember that title availability and pricing have stayed the same before and after the WB announcement. I'll give you a hint: the numbers are tanking. The WB announcement has set off a chain reaction; the media is already crowning Blu-Ray the winner; consumers are taking notice and backing away from the format.


RE: "second"?
By euclidean on 1/9/2008 8:04:14 AM , Rating: 2
There not talking about HiDef Trilogies...as the LOTR trilogy isn't out in HD yet either...there just talking about all time...


RE: "second"?
By virage on 1/7/08, Rating: -1