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

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Blu TV sets are very expensive to do both on the authoring end and to press it right now, so studios are going to stick to providing stuff people don't already have as opposed to what they do (Prison Break was originally supposed to come out around the time that Fox started their little vacation), as it tends to move a lot better. I don't think you'll see Lost 1/2 or PB 2 or Smallville 1,2,3,4 (5 maybe simply because it's an easy HD DVD port and the hard part is done) until those series are complete and they want to do a box set. Since frankly as much as I enjoy it, I doubt PB will go more than another season with the current cast, you probably don't have that much longer to wait for at least the "Complete Scofield Saga" or whatever

The time, money and resources required simply won't be made back in a reasonable amount of time and can be put toward far more lucrative product. They can do 8-10 movies with the same time, money and resources it takes to make 1 22 episode TV box. One of the big reasons why TV on DVD boomed is that many of these shows no one has ever had a chance to purchase before. Now that isn't the case.

Just to add a little to this discussion:

BCI's David Levine recently spoke about TV-on-BD when asked about the rumored "He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe" (2002 series) HD release on Home Theater Forum.

TVShowsOnDVD.com's David Lambert brought up some VERY good points as well... some of which are mirrored by my own experience on this (and other boards).

BCI's David Levine followed up with a reply that made a lot of sense as well.

Back a few years ago, I was buying A LOT of TV on DVD... in fact, during the months of August through November, I was buying more TV on DVD sets than movies. Several things changed that though. Before I got into HD, TV on DVD sets provided me with superior versions of my favorite shows. But as I got into HD and started viewing more shows in HD, buying them in SD which was inferior to my original viewings, became less appealing than when I got superior copies to my collection. With the prospect of HDM appearing on the scene soon, I simply slowed down my TV on DVD buying to older series where HD releases are less likely or simply less interesting to me. The few exceptions being where I was able to get a show pretty cheap and I wanted to watch it with somebody ("October Road: Season One"), a show where I was able to get it cheap and I wanted to see it ("Friday Night Lights: Season One"), or a show where I was able to get it cheap ("The Big Bang Theory: Season One") and I missed a few episodes... or gifts, of course. Other than that though, I'm simply passing on what I can't get on Blu-ray.

While I'm not in ANY hurry whatsoever to go back and get many of the TV-on-DVD sets I already own on Blu-ray ("Firefly: The Complete Series", "Arrested Development", and "Everwood: Season One" being the few exceptions, and given the poor sales of "Everwood" on DVD, the odds of getting it on Blu-ray are worse than winning the lottery twice in a month), with studios like Fox releasing a catalog TV-on-BD set ("Firefly: The Complete Series"), BCI with plans to release "He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe" (now available on DVD) and "Daybreak: The Complete Series" (now available on DVD) on Blu-ray (most likely next year), Paramount's release of "Dexter: Season One" next year, and WB's consideration of releasing "Friends" on Blu-ray (click here for a statement regarding WB's plans regarding TV-on-BD), surely we'll see a little more action regarding "catalog" TV-on-BD releases this coming year?

~Alan

[Alan Gordon]

A question regarding the Universal issue with BD25s:

Universal released "Heroes: Season One" and "Heroes: Season Two" (five discs for the first set, four discs for the second set) along with "Miami Vice" all on BD50s on August 26th.

While Penton-Man's recently commented on BD replication issues, which appear to be close to non-existent given Paramount's speed in correcting bad "Iron Man" discs, perhaps there was an issue when Universal began working on some of their August/September releases, and they chose to use the BD50s on the above mentioned titles... which left some titles to get the shaft?

~Alan

[mark antony]

Hi guys, I was suprised that in the last few years of director's cut's, extended versions etc the long mc tiernan cut of "the 13th Warrior" never came out, is their any chance of this making a debut on blu-ray?

M

[Jeff Kleist]

Daybreak is actually a HUGE anomoly

It's a show that because huge years after its fast cancellation thanks to a few cable networks picking it up, and an audience that never would have seen it found it and embraced it. Firefly (which last I heard had sold well over half a million copies, HUGE seller and an evergreen catalog title), He-Man and Daybreak also have the advantage of having existing HD masters you can just throw in. How well He-Man sold I don't know, but it must've done pretty well.

Friends and Seinfeld are gigantic sellers for their respective studios. and both have HD masters ready to go. Basically the only things they're taking risks on are ones with a worst case scenario having a healthy ROI

With a lot of shows like Lost or Prison Break, they know the end is coming sooner than later, and everyone is content to hold off until costs go down, installed base goes up, and they can tie it into a big marketing campaign

Hi guys, I was suprised that in the last few years of director's cut's, extended versions etc the long mc tiernan cut of "the 13th Warrior" never came out, is their any chance of this making a debut on blu-ray?

Not unless you get a bunch of first born to sacrifice. McTiernan and Michael Crichton REALLY hate each other, and both would need to agree. My mother would love this

[Uxi]

What about the HBO shows? I've been wanting Rome on Blu-ray and refuse to buy the DVD's (though i've borrowed a friend's many times). Band of Brothers is due shortly and at a quite attractive price, it appears.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

It is all about value, they need to give high profile titles BD50 treatment. I don't understand it sometimes because there has been ample BD50 replication capacity left over, hell there still is in October.

I was told by a little birdie that Dave Vaughn might be painting dooms day scenarios again, some people just never learn...

Proud to say I haven't read anything by Dave Vaughn since shortly after the war... but my curiosity was rather from comments Bill Hunt (as well as you and Penton-Man) have made regarding the end of the format war being sooner than people expected and Bill's comments that there might be a replication crunch which would end late in the year.

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Daybreak is actually a HUGE anomoly

It's a show that because huge years after its fast cancellation thanks to a few cable networks picking it up, and an audience that never would have seen it found it and embraced it. Firefly (which last I heard had sold well over half a million copies, HUGE seller and an evergreen catalog title), He-Man and Daybreak also have the advantage of having existing HD masters you can just throw in. How well He-Man sold I don't know, but it must've done pretty well.

Friends and Seinfeld are gigantic sellers for their respective studios. and both have HD masters ready to go. Basically the only things they're taking risks on are ones with a worst case scenario having a healthy ROI

With a lot of shows like Lost or Prison Break, they know the end is coming sooner than later, and everyone is content to hold off until costs go down, installed base goes up, and they can tie it into a big marketing campaign

While I can certainly see the logic in what you're saying, especially in terms of "Prison Break", I still have to pause given that (according to one of the links I provided above) WB is actively looking at their TV catalog for Blu-ray, then surely Disney could see value next year in going back to the beginning for "Lost" considering that (according to one of the other links I posted above) "Lost" is one of two series to actually be successful on Blu-ray.

~Alan

[Jeff Kleist]

What about the HBO shows? I've been wanting Rome on Blu-ray and refuse to buy the DVD's (though i've borrowed a friend's many times). Band of Brothers is due shortly and at a quite attractive price, it appears.

From the Earth to the Moon next year. Rome was kind-of a bomb, I might expect to see the BBC put it out before we get it here. John Adams would definately be a big contender.

Disney is very slow ramping up. This year we get Grey's, next year who knows. Myself I'm waiting for a complete Alias box to show up. I was rewatchign season 1 not too long ago and de upconversion....it does nahsing! They're probably right to do this.

WB never does anything small or cautious. When they go for something it's whole hog and in mass quantity. Check out how many Blus they have compared to everyone else.

Lost is successful because it's hugely popular with the Blu-ray base, a huge home video seller, and let's face it, is positively gorgeous in HD. I think WB is on the right track with the $20 markup over SD releases right now hitting a nice balance point and allowing solid sale prices. Lost 4 is definately priced too high, considering there's only 15 episodes compared to 23, and Firefly should probably be $30 cheaper. The SD DVD came out at $49.99 and can easily be had for $20 on sale. If I ruled the world Blu-ray full seasons- $79.99, Blu-ray half seasons and sitcoms-$49.99 with the idea of having them available for well under $50/$30 on street date.

The guy from BCI is absolutely right about the collector mentality. Personally I would be pushing right now something on the order of massive rebates (a-la disney $10 deal) on future upgrades of previous seasons, and a promise that all collector's box materials will be accessible with yoru rebate. That's been a HUGE sticking point with DVD collectors, the tossing in of as many as 4 bonus discs at a huge discount for complete series buyers.

So for example:

"Buy Lost Season 4 right now and get the first of 3 exchange coupons for Lost: The Complete Series on Blu-ray Disc. These coupons entitle you to the box and all bonus materials that will be included, as well as rebates on Lost seasons 1 and 2 upon release along with a special gift for fans who have been buying since the beginning (a dharma patch or something)"

It makes people feel safe about upgrading, and to not feel the $100 they dumped on the first 2 seasons was wasted.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Disney is very slow ramping up.

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

WB never does anything small or cautious. When they go for something it's whole hog and in mass quantity. Check out how many Blus they have compared to everyone else.

I cannot argue with these points, which I admittedly did not think about before posting. That kind of sums it up quite well.

As for "Lost" though, I still look at the fact that we only have two more seasons of the show (fifth and sixth), and if I were Disney, I'd put out the First Season on Blu-ray during the first half of next year, the Fifth Season later in the year (December like this year), and the 2nd season during the first half of 2010, and then release a Complete Series set concurrent with the sixth and final season, but that's just me.

I agree with you on the pricing though, especially for series with limited episodes, or catalog titles... which is why I'm in no hurry for them to start releasing more catalog TV-on-BD releases.

One correction though, I believe the guy who was originally mentioned the collector mentality you're referring to is the guy from TVShowsOnDVD.com, and not the guy from BCI.

~Alan

[GabrielB]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

It is all about value, they need to give high profile titles BD50 treatment. I don't understand it sometimes because there has been ample BD50 replication capacity left over, hell there still is in October.

Hi guys.
Thanks Alan for your input about BD-25s. I thought too I had heard about replication issues but now Max says otherwise.

I'm a bit confused. Jeff talks about Growing Pains but now Max says it also has something to do with marketing.
Are we to expect the same from Universal then or like Jeff said it's all part of a transitional process.

All I want to know is if Universal will be soon committed to the best A/V experience with the added value (extras) some people expect from releases.

What's your take on this Max?

[Mr. Cinema]

No doubt Iron Man will likely become the new champ for 1st week BD sales. Any idea how many copies Paramount expects to sale? 250,000+ ?

[Jeff Kleist]

I'm a bit confused. Jeff talks about Growing Pains but now Max says it also has something to do with marketing.
Are we to expect the same from Universal then or like Jeff said it's all part of a transitional process.

Max and I are looking at the same issue from 2 different angles I think Basically that to alleviate said growing pains, marketing decides the best use of resources

[kefrank]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

No growing pains in that respect, there is plenty of spare BD50 capacity right now.

Don't forget that plenty of Universal movie sizes were well below 20GB, those could easily be repurposed for Blu-ray on a BD25. Chances are if Universal didn't put the effort in for the HD DVD release, they didn't think it was worth it, and their opinion won't have changed for those specific movies.

For the latest releases, and future ones the Blu-ray installed base will be much larger, so more effort and care will be put in remastering and re-encoding.

Max, as far as resources are concerned, can you shed any light on the cost difference to the studio for a BD25 vs. a BD50?

[coolmilo]

Hey Jeff,

Is there any chance that Dreamworks would do a double dip on Dreamgirls and include lossless audio? A great musical like this should have a great audio track.

[FourToedStatue]

Going from coolmilo's post above would a large scale double dipping for lossless be feasible? What would be the cons of phasing out ALL the lossy titles like Warner is doing for Superman Returns or would that be too expensive?

[Jeff Kleist]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

Hey Jeff,

Is there any chance that Dreamworks would do a double dip on Dreamgirls and include lossless audio? A great musical like this should have a great audio track.

Not any time soon. We're a long way away from anyone thinking about actual double dipping, especially when it comes to a movie like that.

[Jeff Kleist]

Originally Posted by JackBauer24

Going from coolmilo's post above would a large scale double dipping for lossless be feasible? What would be the cons of phasing out ALL the lossy titles like Warner is doing for Superman Returns or would that be too expensive?

That depends

What would it cost in raw dollars? Not that much

Here's the thing. Superman Returns was a commission by Pioneer to show off their spanky new TrueHD decoding player. Pioneer paid for them to encode the tracks and toss them on.

They had the master, all they had to do was use that stamper from now on. Easy as pie. What you're talking about would probably run $8-10,000 per title

Will the presence of lossless audio generate the sales to make it worth the time and effort? Probably not. If another Pioneer style situation came along, then maybe

[Majoran]

Hello,

I know Amadeus has been rumored for a long time now, but since last year Warner has been mum on the subject. I know earlier in the year they were supposed to be "working" on it, but that was another rumor I believe. I was just wondering if there was any word on this title as this is one of the catalog titles I have been waiting for patiently since the original announcement in 2007...Thank you for anything you can find out .....

I was hoping this was one title that Warner might "redo" for a Blu-ray specific encode, as I beleive before it would have been a "dual release".

[Jeff Kleist]

Amadeus is one of the titles floating around in the ether. I'd expect it to be a Digibook title at some point next year for the 25th Anniversary.

[iwanttobeabmoviestar]

hi bill wondering why best buy and other retailers continue to shaft blu ray with dvd only gift sets like iron man and the awesome upcoming indy 4 exclusives you said a while back they were going to try to remedy this any news ?

thanks
http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=5483

link to very pretty skull that blu ray does not get

[Jeff Kleist]

Orders for items like these are placed months in advance, sometimes a year.
I was the one who handled that issue with Best Buy actually

For example, we saw the Iron Man Blu-ray share the wealth at Target, things are getting better, slowly. BB has steelbooks on the Bond titles, Blu-ray included as far as I know. Getting someone from BB on the phone is very difficult, so I haven't confirmed it yet. Honestly I expect speedy to scoop all of us on that one