Blu Ray Titles Announced!

[Shane Martin]

We have titles announced finally..

Sony MGM:

Bram Stoker's Dracula
Desperado
The Fifth Element
For a Few Dollars More
The Guns of Navarone
Hitch
House of Flying Daggers
A Knight's Tale
Kung Fu Hustle
The Last Waltz
Legends of the Fall
Resident Evil Apocalypse
Robocop
Sense and Sensibility
Species
Stealth
SWAT
XXX


Paramount:

Aeon Flux
Four Brothers
The Italian Job
Manchurian Candidate
Sahara
Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow
Sleepy Hollow
Tomb Raider
U2: Rattle & Hum
We Were Soldiers

Fox:

Behind Enemy Lines
Fantastic Four
Ice Age
Kiss of the Dragon
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen


Other notes:

Mi3 will be released on Blu Ray/HD DVD and DVD at the same date when ready.

Stargate Atlantis, Black Hawk Down and Bridge on the River Kwai will be the first 50 gig discs and released at a later date in 2006.


Rumored Disney titles include:

Kill Bill Vol 1
Pirates of the Carribean
Hero

The Disney titles are not yet official.

While not alot of compelling titles, it's a start. Not too many compelling titles started when DVD launched IMHO.

[mitch57]

Great! But what are we going to do with them? Buy them and put them on our shelves while we wait to see which format comes to market first with a DVD player that will play them?

[PewterTA]

Like anything it's going to take time to ramp up to it all. It didn't help with the HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray...if there had been only one, you'd have seen more titles (perhaps better ones). I know I'll definitely hold out for a while, probably the PS3 will be my first real taste of Blu-Ray, just to make sure I like it....then I'll really research the players.

Another problem is since it's only been recent that HD is really starting to take off, there hasn't been enough of a "populous" demand for HD style content. Once more HDTV sets get into the home, HDMI get really well standardized, you'll then start to see people crave for more Blu-Ray stuff.

I know as soon as they put Lord of the Rings on Blu-Ray... I'll have a tough time not wanting to buy them...this will really be made for those exceptionally beautiful movies. I'm thinking the recent "Into the Blue" comes to mind with the beauty of the picture (yes I mean the seascape, not just Jessica Alba). :P

[Shane Martin]

There have been player announcements. HD DVD announced one today for $500. You can pre order it on Bestbuy.com. It comes out in April they are saying.

Blu ray players are looking to be more expensive($1k or so) but it's early.

Also Lionsgate added the following titles:

Independent distributor Lionsgate announced its own support for the Blu-ray format as well, detailing its first 10 titles, set to start hitting shelves in the spring: Lord of War, The Punisher, Devil's Rejects, Saw, T2: Judgment Day, Reservoir Dogs, Total Recall, Dune, Rambo: First Blood, and See No Evil, starring the WWE wrestler Kane

[aud19]

Lionsgate, good local company :T

[Chris D]

Stealth? They pick a group of movies to premiere this great new format, wanting titles that the public would be interested in, and they pick... Stealth?

Uh huh...

Yeah, I had heard that Rattle and Hum would be in the initial offering. That's cool... it's still my favorite DVD that I own. I don't think a high-def treatment will really get it that much better, but hey... anything to improve my favorite DVD.

On that note, you really have to wonder how much better a HD treatment of these older movies that were filmed in non-HD is going to be, compared to standard def DVD's that are upconverted. My guess is... not a huge jump.

Now... NEW movies, FILMED in HD... those are going to take your breath away.

[saurabh]

And what happens when HD-DVD comes out with some titles, are we supposed to keep 2 DVD player so that we can watch both Blu ray and
HD-DVD.

This is just crazy.

[Chris D]

Ah, yes... it will be years, if ever, I think, before somebody releases a player that can play both. And my guess is we'll never see a TRULY universal player that can play both plus SACD, DVD-A, etc.

Like I posted in TTP, realize that this also means that you're going to walk into Best Buy and have THREE sections of movie discs, many of them duplicates in different formats.

First, you'll have the standard-def DVD section, for those who can't afford a new high def player. Then you'll have the HD-DVD section over there. If you walk this way, you'll find the Blu-Ray section. Good luck finding your movie! What's that, you want to buy a specific title on HD-DVD? Sorry, that was produced by a studio that is owned by Sony and is only available on Blu-Ray. Don't have a Blu-Ray player? Ah, too bad... looks like you can't watch that movie.

[PewterTA]

That's why I wish they'd just get to one format... We are at a point where we don't need another VHS vs. Beta.

[Shane Martin]

Yeah, I had heard that Rattle and Hum would be in the initial offering. That's cool... it's still my favorite DVD that I own. I don't think a high-def treatment will really get it that much better, but hey... anything to improve my favorite DVD.

The difference is ALOT. I saw it on InHD a while back.

On that note, you really have to wonder how much better a HD treatment of these older movies that were filmed in non-HD is going to be, compared to standard def DVD's that are upconverted. My guess is... not a huge jump

A big jump if they properly conserve the title. Titles like Lawrence of Arabia will look fabulous in HD. They show quite a few classics on the HD movie channels in OAR. The most recent of those was Ben Hur in OAR on Cinemax HD and the PQ was mind blowing.

Like I posted in TTP, realize that this also means that you're going to walk into Best Buy and have THREE sections of movie discs, many of them duplicates in different formats

There is a pretty strong rumor that BB has a deal with Toshiba to shut out Blu Ray releases at BB. They'll give you the choice between HD DVD and DVD and that's it!

are we supposed to keep 2 DVD player so that we can watch both Blu ray and
HD-DVD.

Samsung has a rumored dual format player. They mentioned this some months back.

[Chris D]

The difference is ALOT. I saw it on InHD a while back.

A big jump if they properly conserve the title. Titles like Lawrence of Arabia will look fabulous in HD. They show quite a few classics on the HD movie channels in OAR. The most recent of those was Ben Hur in OAR on Cinemax HD and the PQ was mind blowing.

Shane, have you compared these pictures with a properly upconverted standard def DVD? I have the HD package from DirecTV, and occasionally watch movies on the channels that you mention. Specifically, I also saw Rattle and Hum when they showed it on one of those channels in HD. As I own the DVD, too, I was able to make a comparison with my DVD played and upconverted by my Denon DVD-3910. Both in 720p. I found that the satellite feed seemed a bit better, but not by a whole lot. Now shows on the HD channels that were FILMED in HD, like the Rose Bowl last night, many Discovery Channel HS shows, etc, those are mind-blowing.

There is a pretty strong rumor that BB has a deal with Toshiba to shut out Blu Ray releases at BB. They'll give you the choice between HD DVD and DVD and that's it!

Greeeaaaaaat... this format war will be bad for everybody...

[George Bellefontaine]

I guess I just too long in the tooth. After all the farting around between Bluray and the HD DVD camp I just don't care. Standard dvd suits me just fine for now and probably for sometime until they see who comes out the winner. And I won't be triple-dipping to get those HD titles either: Laserdisc to dvd to HD dvd... uh, uh. Nuff's enuff.

[Shane Martin]

Shane, have you compared these pictures with a properly upconverted standard def DVD?

Yep upconverted dvd stands no chance against true HD. Remember that anamorphic dvds are downcoverted from HD masters. Then reupconverted using your player. In this case they will be downconverted from a 4k master down to 1080I/P and then rescaled to fit what resolution you feed it.

The comparison between Rattle and Hum is a very valid one but on my 1080I set the difference is not subtle.

[Shane Martin]

If you look at the various photos going on the net you will more titles yet unannounced like:

Armageddon
and everything you see on the HD-DVD release list.

[Chris D]

Now, to continue the buffoonery of the "Armageddon" DVD's, this new HD-DVD release will also have to be non-anamorphic letterboxed widescreen.

[saurabh]

Samsung has a rumored dual format player. They mentioned this some months back.

I wont buy any of them till I find a multi-format player and stick to my good old DVD's.