Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

Yeah, I would totally agree with that.

Well, for me and using the Bit's letter grading scale:

I: C+
II: A
III: B
IV: A-
V: D+
VI: B+

The Director's Edition didn't change the script or overall plot, so the grade would be the same for me.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

I don't know about the second season, but later seasons have 24p sources. Season one represents the early days of HDTV.

Like Jeff says, as long as you have good deinterlacing, you should be fine. I just know some will be vocal about it not being 1080p24 on disc.

I'm not too concerned about 1080p/24p with TV series (compared to films), and my "Torchwood: Season One" set is 1080i and looks fantastic. Not to mention that while I may get "CSI: Season One" on a lark, I'm not sure I may get any other seasons (this season being a exception due to the excellent Taylor Swift and ST/BSG episodes). I was mainly just curious about how many seasons it would be an issue.

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

All mentioned in the daily column on The Bits a few weeks ago. I think we've posted cover art too recently for some of these...

I probably just scanned right over them on The Bits since I already knew about them from their pre-orders listed here on Blu-ray.com, and wasn't sure if Jeff knew about them.

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

And now it's time for a special Saturday episode of...

TWO THINGS THAT MAKE BILL VERY HAPPY TODAY!

1. Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series is now available for pre-order on Blu-ray at Amazon.com.

http://thedigitalbits.com/#bsgpre

I'd be happier if it was $44 cheaper. It's worth the price it is... but yikes... that's a hefty amount to put out at one time (can you tell I've never bought one of these series sets?). I noticed Amazon has a pre-order for Season 4.5 as well, but unless the packaging is terrible on the complete series, I'll probably end up getting the set instead of Season 4.5.

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

You had a theater that still charged $4.50 in 1999?

I'm sure mind did as well (although it could have been $3.50) as our ticket prices were $5.50 here for a while. Last time I went, it was now $8.50, but I remember hearing last year that they lowered the prices to $7.50 to attract people last Summer. They've probably raised it since then, but I don't know for sure. I know the matinee prices are still around the $4.50/$5.50 price tag.

Kudos on the ST:TOS review Bill, I'm looking forward to my copy being here!

I also (mostly) agree with Jeff's scoring of the ST movies, though I personally prefer V over I regardless of whether or not it's the theatrical or DC... well, I haven't actually seen the theatrical version of TMP, but even the presence of Stephen Collins didn't save the first film in my mind!

~Alan

[JonBidinger]

Bill or Jeff, any new information on Army of Darkness? It was announced like two months ago and we haven't heard anything since. No cover art or anything. There is an amazon pre-order but it doesn't have a date on it.

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Yes, it can be gotten cheaper though

4700yen is standard pricing in Japan, where everything is geared toward the rental market.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=GNXF-1003

Information on both those sites is a little bit scant. The running time is listed as 153 minutes, presumably meaning that it contains only the director's cut?
Can you personally vouch for the PQ/AQ on the Geneon release?

[coolmilo]

The point I was trying to make is Blu-ray movies are not priced correctly on release day. This error takes away some of the incentive to go out there and buy new releases on release Tuesday. In fact the only incentive to buy on release Tuesday is if someone wants new releases right away. If a person is patient enough, they can often buy these BD movies for a good price several weeks later. On the other hand, DVD prices new releases to sell on release Tuesday. I believe the proof to this is weekly stats show that Blu-ray's only sell 8 to 15% of DVD. I am surprised this is still the case after more than 1 year after the end of the format war. IMO, this is the biggest problem with the format now.

Further, I believe high prices will hurt the BD format in the future because of gaining competition of HD downloads and legacy DVD. It also hurts when major radio programs are complaining that Blu-ray is too expensive and then people call in and remind the audience of more affordable alternatives to Blu-ray.

The Wrestler is releasing on Tuesday. There is no reason why this movie should be priced at $28 on Amazon. It took less than nothing to make this movie. If the movie was priced at $20 on Amazon and else ware, BD sales would have been huge and would have really competed well with the competition.

BTW, I went to the theater today to watch Crank 2 and there were probably 50 people total at the theater (3 people watching Crank including myself). The price for movies and popcorn has chased many people away from the theater too.

[Jack Torrance]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

The Wrestler is releasing on Tuesday. There is no reason why this movie should be priced at $28 on Amazon. It took less than nothing to make this movie.

Even you would have to admit this is a bit of an exaggeration

$7 - 10 million dollars as it's production budget is not exactly less than nothing. And that does not include marketing. It's done around $26 million gross at the domestic box office. The studio gets roughly half of that, maybe. Which then has to be shared with it's financing partners.

Even factoring overseas revenue, this movie is probably only just about to break even. DVD and blu-ray sales are what will put it into profit.

I know what you are saying about BD msrp's in general being too high (they will come down), but to suggest that a film's retail price is too high because it didn't cost as much as other movies to produce is a bit daft. After all, based on that logic, would we have to pay more for stuff like PLUTO NASH because it cost more?

This comment, as Ringo Star put it, is said with nothing but "peace and love". No attack on the OP of this comment was intended.

[NoQuestion]

You want to guess why there was only 3 people watching crank 2......

[Jeff Kleist]

Information on both those sites is a little bit scant. The running time is listed as 153 minutes, presumably meaning that it contains only the director's cut?
Can you personally vouch for the PQ/AQ on the Geneon release?

Yes I can personally vouch for it. Panasonic Tokyo does all of Geneon's discs, and we all know how good they do in Hollywood. It contains only the DC, if you want to step up to both and the extras then you have to buy the 6700yen version

You want to guess why there was only 3 people watching crank 2......

The same reason why only 3 people wer watching shoot em up, looked too weird for Joe 6 pack, will do great on video eventually

[BluDomain]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

The point I was trying to make is Blu-ray movies are not priced correctly on release day.

Blu-ray is a PREMIUM product. Don't buy on release day. Problem
solved. Also, it used to that six months from Screen to DVD. Now it is
more like two months. Do you think that is to lower price for the public
good?

It also hurts when major radio programs are complaining that Blu-ray is too expensive and then people call in and remind the audience of more affordable alternatives to Blu-ray.

I don't think Howard Stern is a major radio program, but they often
choose the subject that is geared to invoke the audience. Do you think
they would have anything about normal people. No shock value in
that. Howard should do a segment on hair styles and grooming.

The Wrestler is releasing on Tuesday. There is no reason why this movie should be priced at $28 on Amazon.

It isn't a mainstream movie. Mostly movie enthusiasts. Sales
probably not expected to be much. Most Independent and Foreign
films on DVD are priced close to $28 also as the expected interest
(volume) doesn't warrant economies of mass production. Criterion
probably has lots of insight into low demand by the general populace
and their pricing. Hell, only Barnes & Noble carries Criterion. Not
exactly the Wal-Mart crowd.

In short, I get really, really tired of people expecting a PREMIUM
product to be reflected in low pricing to get Wal-Mart shoppers out
of the house on slow week days like Tuesday and Wednesday. They'll
be there for the $17.98 release week for DVD anyway.

[NoQuestion]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

The same reason why only 3 people wer watching shoot em up, looked too weird for Joe 6 pack, will do great on video eventually

I see this as a quick turn around to dvd/blu-ray.

[Jeff Kleist]

I don't think Howard Stern is a major radio program, but they often
choose the subject that is geared to invoke the audience. Do you think
they would have anything about normal people. No shock value in
that. Howard should do a segment on hair styles and grooming.

Howard Stern is a gigantic radio program, and singlehandedly blew Satellite radio up overnight.Me, not that big of a fan, but I'd be a fool to discount him. Millions of listeners, especially in the prime Blu demographics. You're right on the shock factor, but not in this case. If he wanted to shock, it'd have something to do with bodily functions, not movie prices

The Wrestler is one of those movies that will pay off well, and like everything in HOllywood, the successes pay for the bombs. I'm just sad that Mickey Rourke was under the "nothing dangerous" clause for Iron Man 2 for Wrestlemania, he so needed to do the Ram Jam

[coolmilo]

OK, I see that I may be the only one who shares in my opinion/concerns.

Don't get me wrong, I am a huge Blu-ray fan and I have well over 300 BD's. I have fully supported Blu-ray from day one and I want it to succeed as much as everyone else. I have purchased most of my BD movies on release day and I have rarely been able to take advantage of the sales that occur a few weeks/months after the initial release date. However, I have been taking advantage of the $15 sales recently including new releases such as Transporter 3 and this is a very cool deal.

I just wish that Blu-ray movies were priced to sell from day 1 instead of making us wait for the sales a few weeks/months later. I also believe aggressively priced BD's will help the weekly sales numbers and bring the percentage up to say 50% of DVD sales. That would be huge for the format as a whole.

Like Jeff suggested, we are still early in the game and the numbers/prices will improve over time. I may bring this up again next year.

[Jeff Kleist]

It's not that we don't share your opinions, it's simply that no one feels that progress has stagnated, and there's no format war, so there's no need to do week 1 subsidies of blu-rays

I think Best Buy's 2 for 35 deal on x-men movies is darn good myself

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Yes I can personally vouch for it. Panasonic Tokyo does all of Geneon's discs, and we all know how good they do in Hollywood. It contains only the DC, if you want to step up to both and the extras then you have to buy the 6700yen version

Hmmmmm......does the even dearer one contain the theatrical & "director" cut? (ie, not the extended as well)
Does it have the same extras as the upcoming US release?

Sorry for all the questions!!

[Holographic]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

Jeff and I agree for once, for some reason as a child I was addicted to Voyage Home, not sure why. I especially loved the ending.

It's no wonder really, it is clearly the best one in the series. I never understood why people (I should call them Trekkies) liked Khan. I usually skip the second film totally, although it will be harder to follow the third one, which I actually skip too...

Matter of opinion like always.

[depooter]

Jeff:
Any idea what's up with lionsgate? They semi-announced Angel Heart (even included a picture of the box art inside other releases), but now it's MIA. Seems like it would have been a great tie in with The Wrestler.

Also, they are sitting on some nice catalog titles such as Glengarry Glen Ross, Jacob's Ladder, Made, etc.

Any hope?

[Beast]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

I just wish that Blu-ray movies were priced to sell from day 1 instead of making us wait for the sales a few weeks/months later. I also believe aggressively priced BD's will help the weekly sales numbers and bring the percentage up to say 50% of DVD sales. That would be huge for the format as a whole.

They are priced to sell from Day 1. There are sales to be had.

When DVD was in it's early years, the prices were no different.

Not to mention Blu-Ray is still something of a luxury product... technically any entertainment is, and producing the discs is hardly cheap. Just look at what Van Ling has said about it over on HTF. It's going to be quite some time before we hit 50%. We can hope for a steady 15% - 20% hopefully by the end of the year.

[Mr. Cinema]

I think one of the points coolmilo is making is new release titles are sometimes cheaper AFTER their debut. There have been several titles cheaper in week 2 of their release. The cheapest price should be in week 1, just like it usually is with dvd.

Target is selling The Day the Earth Stood Still for $24.99 this week. It was $26.99 during the first week of release. Best Buy had The Bucket List for $22.99 during week 2 of release. And there are a few other examples.

New release sale pricing is getting better though. It appears we're seeing more titles in the $25.99 - $26.99 range at Best Buy and Target. It wasn't too long ago that they were almost always $29.99.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema

I think one of the points coolmilo is making is new release titles are sometimes cheaper AFTER their debut. There have been several titles cheaper in week 2 of their release. The cheapest price should be in week 1, just like it usually is with dvd.

Target is selling The Day the Earth Stood Still for $24.99 this week. It was $26.99 during the first week of release. Best Buy had The Bucket List for $22.99 during week 2 of release. And there are a few other examples.

New release sale pricing is getting better though. It appears we're seeing more titles in the $25.99 - $26.99 range at Best Buy and Target. It wasn't too long ago that they were almost always $29.99.

Just remember, those stores do price adjusts if the price goes down.

[Grubert]

Originally Posted by depooter

Jeff:
Any idea what's up with lionsgate? They semi-announced Angel Heart (even included a picture of the box art inside other releases), but now it's MIA. Seems like it would have been a great tie in with The Wrestler.

That applies also to Darren Aronofsky's Pi and Requiem for a Dream, which were also pre-announced in 2007, and would have been suitable tie-ins.

Actually, Lionsgate is hardly releasing any catalog stuff in 2009. Just look at their schedule and weep.