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

[Mr. Cinema]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Hey Jeff,

I guess my question got lost in the shuffle. Do we have any idea as to approximately how many units QoS sold on blu thus far.

Over/under a million?


Thanks

I'm guessing definitely under. www.the-numbers.com says the DVD has sold 2.4 million copies.

[Jeff Kleist]

I guess my question got lost in the shuffle. Do we have any idea as to approximately how many units QoS sold on blu thus far.

Over/under a million?

Under, but they haven't published actual figures

[jlaavenger]

Hi Jeff, in another thread you mentioned

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

CDJapan has cheaper shipping, about $15. If you're patient, you can get it for under half that

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/help/shipping.html#2

This was concering the Japan Blu-Rays of the Crow and My Super Ex-Girlfriend on Blu-Ray. What did you mean? Are they getting U.S. releases anytime soon?

[Jeff Kleist]

The shipping costs are low from CDJapan if you use the slow shipping

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

He just does it to get a rise out of people, pay him no mind when he goes a -trollin

In this case, I somewhat agree with him. Though I'll probably get "Gladiator" (sword fights in "lossless" = AWESOME), I'll come near getting "Forrest Gump" over "Braveheart", and I'll probably watch it more times in my lifetime than the other two (heck, I already have).

Plus, the music in FG in "lossless" should be worth the purchase itself.

PS: Kudos for the "Fanboys" review... I'll have to break down and get it soon...

~Alan

[Jeff Kleist]

Thanks Alan. Seriously, please just let the thing go. Like the giant mascots, they only go away if you don't look

[Xorp]

Any word on Forrest Gump's transfer? The last DVD version of it was released in 2001 so I assume the film transfer is even older.

[Bobby Henderson]

According to some of the Paramount studio hype the "Sapphire Series" Blu-ray releases are supposed to have brand new transfers. At least that is reported to be the case for Braveheart and Gladiator. I guess we'll see more specifics about Gump in a few weeks.

Anyone else not so fond of the cover art on those "sapphire series" releases? I don't like how the blue Blu-ray band is treated.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

According to some of the Paramount studio hype the "Sapphire Series" Blu-ray releases are supposed to have brand new transfers. At least that is reported to be the case for Braveheart and Gladiator. I guess we'll see more specifics about Gump in a few weeks.

Anyone else not so fond of the cover art on those "sapphire series" releases? I don't like how the blue Blu-ray band is treated.

Love the Gladiator and Gump covers. The Braveheart one is..."off". But I cannot put my finger on why I don't like the Braveheart one. But, who the F cares about cover art. All that matters to me is what's on the discs themselves...

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

Anyone else not so fond of the cover art on those "sapphire series" releases? I don't like how the blue Blu-ray band is treated.

Originally Posted by Esox50

Love the Gladiator and Gump covers. The Braveheart one is..."off". But I cannot put my finger on why I don't like the Braveheart one.

The Blue band looks PERFECTLY fine to me on FG. The colors clash horribly with the "Gladiator" cover, but looks alright. I agree with Esox50 on the "Braveheart" cover art though. Personally, I prefer the artwork on the original DVD release (here) compared to the Special Edition release which the upcoming Blu-ray is based off of.

~Alan

[NL197]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

I agree with Esox50 on the "Braveheart" cover art though. Personally, I prefer the artwork on the original DVD release (here) compared to the Special Edition release which the upcoming Blu-ray is based off of.

~Alan

The original DVD cover was the film's most widely used theatrical poster. As usual, there's this overwhelming need to make a floating head alternative to that.

This alternate theatrical poster could have saved them the trouble:



Floating heads prevail.

[Jeff Kleist]

The art Universal is using on that Steelbook would be quite attractive with the Blu actually, check the steelbooks thread

[MCT]

just a shot in the dark Jeff but have you heard anything at all about Scarface (80's version) going Blu anytime soon? I noticed it was on an HD channel not too long ago and it looked really nice.

[Jeff Kleist]

Nothing in terms of a date not

[MCT]

ah but it is in the works?

[dcowboy7]

Whats with the wierd screen on thedigitalbits site about apache software ?

[Jeff Kleist]

it just means someone's mucking with the server at the hosting company or we're updating something

[MerrickG]

Jeff,

Can we expect the studios (other than Paramount who is doing GREAT thus far) to at least try and make up for moving a lot of their titles into 2010.

In otherwords, are their still hot catalog titles that we can expect to be announced for the Christmas holiday?

For all the crap we are giving the other studios, it is very nice to see Paramount sticking to their guns and releasing their most requested titles.

I would give props to Warner if they were releasing the EE versions of LotR, but since its ONLY the theatricals as far as Im concerned that doesn't count. They absolutely blew it as far as LotR is concerned. Not to mention the fact that many people in the know have mentioned that they will be DNRed to hell anyway. Nevertheless, Im voting with my wallet on this one. No EE = NO SALE.

Sorry for my rant there. Im still pretty ticked about the lack of EE and the fact that the Alien Quad is getting pushed back. Those two things have pretty much soured my hope for a great holiday bluray season.

Time will tell if the studios can deliver the goods.

[NoQuestion]

Jeff,

Can we still expect Universal to pump out as many of thier hd-dvd titles to blu before end of year? I know they have announced two just recenetly for the fall (Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead).

With regards to these two, are we going to see new transfers for them? I've heard that the hd-dvd versions were near perfect in terms of video quality. But seeing as they have waited this long to put them out, it would seem like they went back to do some work on the video side possibly. Any thoughts?

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by merrick97

For all the crap we are giving the other studios, it is very nice to see Paramount sticking to their guns and releasing their most requested titles.

Who would have thought (assuming A/V quality is as good as expected on Braveheart, Gladiator, & Gump) that Paramount may just wind up being the best studio releasing on Blu-Ray by the end of the year!

I think this points to a major problem though. The catalog titles just aren't selling, and we're getting into a chicken or egg scenario. If big titles like Indy Jones keep getting delayed, and other stuff like Jurassic Park, Aliens, etc are AWOL, then how can studios expect average people to move/upgrade into Blu-Ray? Also, raising prices on catalog titles, as some studios have done, is a step in the wrong direction in terms of adoption for the Blu-Ray format. The higher prices don't bother me, but I can see where some people wouldn't be upgrading if it costs $25-30. In some ways, the studios great success with DVD and the subsequent commoditized pricing has created a problem in the next generation optical format.