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

[savage1984]

Originally Posted by frank_t

too funny.

i appreciate the original and will watch it on TV when it comes on (I remember watching it when it was the new series on TV!). heck, i'd even purchase it on BD (not DVD mind you, I don't buy those any longer).

but i think the new series is excellent.

My dad loved the old cheezy series, but he watches the new one too. He'll watch reruns too. Though, I don't really watch either one, I may end up picking up the complete series on blu of the new one, whenever that comes out.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

Great info Bill!!
But let me get this straight, the Matrix BD release will be the trilogy and not the Animatrix. But does that mean the Animatrix will be re-released on DVD or released on Blu as a separate item? If Blu, any word on the specs to that?

I don't think it's been decided yet, but I would guess it will be included WITH the Trilogy in the box set. And it's possible that there could be a separate release as well. No specs as yet, other than 1080p video.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by huntifosi

Battlestar Galactica

Exactly. I should have made that more clear.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by fronn

Is their "pain" a fear (scared of consumer backlash), or do they realize where they've actually fumbled?

I don't mean to rant, but being a movie lover it's frustrating to see a studio that owns a large selection of excellent movies doing things as they secretly hated movies.

Believe me, they know they've fumbled and exactly where and how. They pissed off Blu-ray fans last year, and now HD-DVD fans earlier this year. Plus, they backed the wrong format which is embarassing. They know. And I strongly suspect that, if they didn't get it for some odd reason (which I know they did), Spielberg and Bay have made it clear to them. Their consumer feedback has done so as well. They know.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by SBrooks1

Thanks for the continued info Bill. Based on the new info about the Godfather trilogy being remastered, what are the chances of it being announced for a US DVD/Blu-ray right out of the gate? Do you think Paramount will want to make that kind of splash when announcing restart of Blu-ray support?

It's possible, but I'd put the odds at 50/50. I think the studio DOES want to make that kind of a splash, but again there's political stuff going on.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

There's a great many of us I might add, and without us whining and *****ing to Universal for 25 years before they kicked us in the teeth, you wouldn't even have your Sex in the Spacey West wing show :P

And they pretty much wrote the kid and the monkey out by midseason anyway. No one in their right mind liked them

Well, actually someone did because a collector paid 30K for the daggit suit on ebay a few years back.

Not to derail the thread, but dude... Warner's remaking Speed Racer and Get Smart this year, NBC's re-doing Knight Rider and now I hear the A-Team is coming back. A Battlestar Galactica remake was gonna happen eventually.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

Not to derail the thread, but dude... Warner's remaking Speed Racer and Get Smart this year, NBC's re-doing Knight Rider and now I hear the A-Team is coming back. A Battlestar Galactica remake was gonna happen eventually.

I've continued hoping against hope for the studios to go back and re-imagine "My Mother The Car" and "BJ And The Bear"... but maybe next year!

Thanks for the great WB info Bill...

~Alan

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by savage1984

My dad loved the old cheezy series, but he watches the new one too. He'll watch reruns too. Though, I don't really watch either one, I may end up picking up the complete series on blu of the new one, whenever that comes out.

Don't get me wrong - I watched Battlestar, Buck Rogers and even Galactica 1980 back in the day. Hell, I even watched Quark and Salvage One. I was also the proud owner of a Battlestar Galactica Space Alert game (see here http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/Battlestar.htm) as well as a Viper Launch Station. But yeah, the old show doesn't hold a candle to the new one in terms of quality, acting, effects, story complexity, drama, and pretty much every other measurable save for nostalgia value. Even Joss Whedon loves it, much to The Woo's dismay.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

I've continued hoping against hope for the studios to go back and re-imagine "My Mother The Car" and "BJ And The Bear"... but maybe next year!

Thanks for the great WB info Bill...

~Alan

LOVED BJ and The Bear. Toss in Lancelot Link and Supertrain and I'm in.

[bajor27]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

what I'm most excited about is the prospect of BSG on Blu-ray, and I have to say Speed Racer. I think Speed is going to look AMAZING on Blu-ray. Right now, I'd bet it will be the demo disc of the year.

One of the biggest reasons I'm excited about this movie is the prospect of how good it will look on Blu. I can't wait. I almost wish it was coming to Blu first :P

[WickyWoo]

Not to derail the thread, but dude... Warner's remaking Speed Racer and Get Smart this year, NBC's re-doing Knight Rider and now I hear the A-Team is coming back. A Battlestar Galactica remake was gonna happen eventually.

Actually, it happened before. Bryan Singer and Tom DeSanto were doing it before they got forced onto X2. A faithful continuation, but modernized al-la Doctor Who or ST:TNG instead of Ron Moore's Space Show that Steals Proper Nouns To Ape on another show's success (I remind you BSG never left TV in the 25 years between)

http://www.battlestargalactica.com/newfilms.htm

"Bryan Singer's intent is to be very faithful to the spirit and legacy of the original show.... to creatively to go forward in time as the saga has continued in his mind... He is not looking to take it in any direction that would be disappointing to fans of the original show... Bryan and Glen [Larson] sat down. We wanted to make sure this union was very blessed by Glen. ... He has blessed this and wants to see it go forward... I think it's safe to say you can't do Battlestar Galactica without Cylons, [but] what our relationship to the Cylons will be, I can't say... I don't know if [finding Earth] is the goal in this show. ... We could be on a different exodus... It's pretty epic stuff we're going to do. We're committed to doing it right, now that we have Bryan. It's waited some 20-odd years to be reborn."

And that's how you bring a show back that people love.

Here's their Cylon, a man in a suit instead of a cheap looking CG crapfest with the iconic sound FX changed for no reason. They built a full size prototype suit even though this is just a bust

http://www.vincentguastiniproduction...ON%20BUST2.jpg

The sets were almost all rebuilt from the original

http://www.battlestargalactica.com/desanto/image001.jpg
http://www.battlestargalactica.com/desanto/image012.jpg

I wish Cylon.org were still up, they had pictures of the command module of the bridge built and everything.

New Vipers

http://www.battlestargalactica.com/desanto/image007.jpg
http://www.battlestargalactica.com/desanto/image008.jpg

It's safe to say people would have enjoyed DeSanto's version just as much, and everyone would be happy, instead of kicking our teeth in and alienating the real fans who kept the franchise alive for a quarter century

'nuff said

[Bill Hunt]

MEANWHILE, BACK ON TOPIC...

Warner just set 10,000 BC for Blu on 6/24.

[WickyWoo]

Warner just set 10,000 BC for Blu on 6/24.

Doesn't that still hold to the topic of "remakes that are ruinous disasters when held up to the original?" :P

[sj001]

Thanks as always for the info Bill, it must really be tough answering questions on here, on top of answering the tons of e-mails you must get on top of updating your site!

We appreciate your hard work and dedication.

I do have one question for you, to add to the pile... do you have any idea what audio formats will be used by Universal and Paramount when they inevitably come out with their BD releases?

[jkwest]

Originally Posted by sj001

I do have one question for you, to add to the pile... do you have any idea what audio formats will be used by Universal and Paramount when they inevitably come out with their BD releases?

oh!!!! Great question, sj001!!!

considering Blades of Glory had a PCM track, thats what I'm hoping for...

[TheRealBob]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Paramount knows that they've pissed off every single HD customer out there

The notion that Paramount stuck it to both sides seems to be settling into conventional wisdom, and on the surface it makes sense, since they went red and now are jumping back Blu, but I honestly can't see how they have upset the HD DVD side. Paramount stuck with HD DVD until Toshiba threw in the towel. What more could the red crowd possibly have wanted out of them?

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by TheRealBob

The notion that Paramount stuck it to both sides seems to be settling into conventional wisdom, and on the surface it makes sense, since they went red and now are jumping back Blu, but I honestly can't see how they have upset the HD DVD side. Paramount stuck with HD DVD until Toshiba threw in the towel. What more could the red crowd possibly have wanted out of them?

Ask yourself, "When was the red crowd ever rational or reasonable?" I suspect once you answer that question, the answer to your question above will become crystal clear.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

It looks like it's being handled on a title by title basis at the moment, but I would guess that unless there was a specific problem with the HD-DVD encode, the Blu-ray will likely feature it.

Unfortunately, below 1080p temporal resolution is not considered "specifically wrong".

Gary

[jd213]

Or below 720p resolution in the case of Batman Begins, since the tests on AVS show that there's no noticable difference from going 1080p->720p->1080p again, so the effective resolution has to be between 480p and 720p...

[WickyWoo]

Those tests on AVS are dubious at best, and have no actual relevancy in real world, especially with scenes in motion. I got this from several film experts when I showed it to them