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

[BluDomain]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

.... I hope that by numerous people cancelling their orders that
just maybe, for once, a studio will step back and say "hey, if we release substandard blu-rays-- our sales figures are way down!"

I'm sure Amazon is thankful for all those cancellations. They
currently have a 11 to 14 wait to ship. Went to one BestBuy
today. They are sold out, but expect a shipment tomorrow.
Taken was also sold out. Lots of the highly acclaimed
Benjamin Button though. The Star Trek Movie
Collection has been on the top of Amazon Sales and Pre-orders
for weeks.

These Internet forums have sooo much influence.

[AKORIS]

These Internet forums have sooo much influence.[/QUOTE]





well, how else are we supposed to judge quality of discs????
I trust DIGITAL BITS more than any of them-- they have never steered
me wrong

[Constitution 101]

Are these studios at all aware that the people most likely to buy blu-ray are going to be by far the most scrutinizing regarding PQ? Is there some reason they just can't simply do it right the first time? Hopefully you guys can all have an influence w/ the studios. Maybe this will relieve us from double-dipping(T2, Ronin, etc.).

[Beast]

Originally Posted by Constitution 101

Are these studios at all aware that the people most likely to buy blu-ray are going to be by far the most scrutinizing regarding PQ? Is there some reason they just can't simply do it right the first time? Hopefully you guys can all have an influence w/ the studios. Maybe this will relieve us from double-dipping(T2, Ronin, etc.).

Double dips are going to happen. Just like they happened with DVD.

[Objectivity]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Knowing Sony, they're evaluating everything pretty well before it goes out, so I would expect that work has been done on River Runs. How much or what kind remains to be seen.

If the previous DVD only had stereo, I expect that's either director's intent, or that the souce elements have been damaged or lost

Thanks for the information. Here's hoping.

That it will be on Blu this early makes me thrilled enough. I thought it would be long time before I saw River Runs or Age of Innocence on Blu-Ray. Still hoping for Age though. It could quite possibly be Scorsese's most vicious movie. (Note I said vicious, not violent. )

Back to the new Star Trek movie for a second. Based on your other comments, I'm surprised you didn't bring up Vulcan having a blue sky. It's one of the first things that stood out as odd when they were showing Spock's childhood. Especially since all the buildings and the environment were so red.

Probably didn't need to hide that, but figured why not.

[Jeff Kleist]

In regards to your spoiler Objectivity, my previous list was by no means complete

I filled 2 sides of an envelope taking notes, mostly stupid continuity/science of Trek/real science errors that could have been solved with 2 days of ADR ands some care in vetting the VFX shots.

The new Trek game on Xbox is pretty good, but it drives me crazy every time you thrust it comes from the warp nacells.....sigh

Hopefully they'll come out with a classic skin pack for it

[Michael.Schinke]

Jeff, I didn't initially think I'd come down on your side of the fence regarding some of the events in the new "Trek" film but, after seeing it, I have to say some of the choices they made were pretty uninspired. The whole thing just smelled of lazy writing evoking the stench of, as one online reviewer put it, "the twin demons of "Fate" and "Destiny"" I think I'll continue to refer to this film as "Star Trek", thereby justifying Paramount's faith that this will be considered as an entity apart from the Star Trek I grew up with. I might even look at this series much the way, "Macross: Do You Remember Love" is looked at in the Macross continuity; as a "Star Trek" movie made by people in the Star Trek universe as entertainment for the people living in the Star Trek universe. Some artistic license has been taken.

[Jeff Kleist]

I might even look at this series much the way, "Macross: Do You Remember Love" is looked at in the Macross continuity; as a "Star Trek" movie made by people in the Star Trek universe as entertainment for the people living in the Star Trek universe. Some artistic license has been taken.

The difference is that DYRL was made literally by the same people that made the TV show They wanted to do a version that would fit in the movie runtime and have the grandeur a movie version could. I've had the honor of meeting Ishiguro, Kawamori and Mikimoto-sans and gotten them to sign my AnimEigo set

Before anyone asks, there's some interesting history behidn the US rights to this film. Back in the day, many licenses for Japanese anime were signed literally forever (which is why Harmony Gold still has Macross TV in the US, and the other 2 Robotechd shows). DYRL's last known owner was Best Video, who went under sometime in the 90s, and specialized in sending out EP tapes of craptastic dubs done in Hong Kong or Australia (the DYRL one was done for Japanese English classes believe it or not, my friend has the LD with the dub and Japanese subs he picked up as a novelty). RightStuf later picked up most of their remaining stock and sold it off at bargain rates, which lead to much fodder for Mystery Anime Theater 3000

No one has been able to find out who owns the assetts of Best Video now, and the the contract is apparently missing in action at Bandai. That, along with the current litigation involving Macross as a franchise, coupled with Harmony Gold's position that they own everything that carries that name means that anything in that franchise is pretty much locked out from the US for the forseeable future (and Macross 7 for eternity due to music rights and the fact the the majority of the audience for it here despises it ). I wish Bandai Japan would just ship the stuff with subtitles, and let the audiences fall where they may, but who knows why they havent taken that step.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

The difference is that DYRL was made literally by the same people that made the TV show They wanted to do a version that would fit in the movie runtime and have the grandeur a movie version could. I've had the honor of meeting Ishiguro, Kawamori and Mikimoto-sans and gotten them to sign my AnimEigo set

Before anyone asks, there's some interesting history behidn the US rights to this film. Back in the day, many licenses for Japanese anime were signed literally forever (which is why Harmony Gold still has Macross TV in the US, and the other 2 Robotechd shows). DYRL's last known owner was Best Video, who went under sometime in the 90s, and specialized in sending out EP tapes of craptastic dubs done in Hong Kong or Australia (the DYRL one was done for Japanese English classes believe it or not, my friend has the LD with the dub and Japanese subs he picked up as a novelty). RightStuf later picked up most of their remaining stock and sold it off at bargain rates, which lead to much fodder for Mystery Anime Theater 3000

No one has been able to find out who owns the assetts of Best Video now, and the the contract is apparently missing in action at Bandai. That, along with the current litigation involving Macross as a franchise, coupled with Harmony Gold's position that they own everything that carries that name means that anything in that franchise is pretty much locked out from the US for the forseeable future (and Macross 7 for eternity due to music rights and the fact the the majority of the audience for it here despises it ). I wish Bandai Japan would just ship the stuff with subtitles, and let the audiences fall where they may, but who knows why they havent taken that step.

Can I ask something then? What would be the best way for another HUGE Robotech fan like myself to get all 3 series with subtitles? Those re-mastered DVDs?

[Jeff Kleist]

Yes

There is an HD remaster of Macross coming out in Japan, presumably on Blu-ray as well, but a US release would be very far down the line and dependant on whether HG invested in the Japanese restoration or whether they're willing to pay for the tapes. Either way it'll be quite a bit down the line from whenever the Japanese Blu release happens

[jd213]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

There is an HD remaster of Macross coming out in Japan, presumably on Blu-ray as well, but a US release would be very far down the line and dependant on whether HG invested in the Japanese restoration or whether they're willing to pay for the tapes. Either way it'll be quite a bit down the line from whenever the Japanese Blu release happens

It came out a year ago, there was no Blu-ray unfortunately. I thought they didn't release it because it was done on 16mm and wouldn't benefit from Blu-ray as much (although it would of course benefit some), but they go and release Z Gundam and Dancouga on Blu-ray later in the year I guess they just had to squeeze out one last double-dip on DVD. Thankfully they seem to have stopped releasing "HD Remaster" DVDs (edit: oh, I forgot they're doing Yu Yu Hakusho, but the remaster DVD is an Animate exclusive and the Blu-ray is a general release).

Anyways, the Japanese remaster looks much better than the US DVD release. In addition to better detail, it also fixed the color timing, which was way too blue.
http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/...estoration.jpg
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/5159/shot0002xf9.png

http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/...26-noemail.jpg
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/8966/shot0003hx1.png

http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/...138-planet.jpg
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/92/shot0004je5.png

http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/...acrossside.jpg
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/3975/shot0001pt4.jpg

http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/...124-bridge.jpg
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/2007/shot0004se2.jpg

[Jeff Kleist]

Shin was working off of 20 year old broadcast dupes that Harmony Gold had vaulted, while the Bandai redo was off of the negatives. Color looks a bit washed out on the Bandai one actually. I know that Shin consulted with Ishiguro and several of the other production staff when choosing his colors. If anything it looks more to me like the reds were pushed more than the blues

After doing Macross he consulted with Gainax on the remaster of Evangelion.

If Z Gundam had only included the subs I might have considered picking it up. They'll never release it here *sigh* I know my friend will be all over Dancouger as well once he goes blu

[jd213]

The colors might look faded in comparison, but that's because the contrast is too high on the US release.

[Invitation1]

I loved the first season, and loved most of seasons 2 and 3.
Ron Moore temporarily joined the show in season 6 after DS9 ended, only he never fit in there because of Braga and Joe Menosky. He also raised a critical point most people don't realize:

When the show was being developed, the creators were sticking to a continuity that would force the writers to be creative with the ongoing journey home. That's why the first episode stranded them without a full crew, limited supplies of food, energy, weapons and shuttles.

While the food idea was maintained for a while with Neelix serving as a chef, and they introduced the idea of some sort of credits for replicated food, they continuously hit the reset button on most other areas, like endless weapon supplies and shuttles, a larger crew than originally shown, and a spotless ship every episode despite the massive battles and non-conflict-based damage they suffered.

They betrayed those original ideas by pressing that reset too many times.

I stuck with Voyager until the bitter end (which was equal to washing dishes - had to do it but didn't like it at all) and I felt they made their biggest mistake by having them "get home" in the last episode, because it robbed them the opportunity to really explore life after the Delta Quadrant, living in a post-Dominion War federation.

-The remaining Maquis-turned-Starfleet officers...what would have happened to them after getting back? How would they adjust? Everyone they knew was wiped out by the Dominion. Would Starfleet give them all a pass for being a part of the Voyager crew?

[Jeff Kleist]

well, all I know is that it was approvied by creative staff What can I say without knowing the full story behind Bandai's work on it

Voyager definately had huge potential, shame they squandered it.

[jd213]

I'm sure the Bandai remaster was approved as well, and probably was given closer scrutiny. A foreign release of a show isn't nearly as important as a domestic one, especially with all the merchandise still being sold in Japan.

Not to say Bandai Visual's DVD remasters are always perfect, a lot of them have EE and their Patlabor OVA/TV discs were full of jaggies. Overall they do a much better job on their Blu-rays, though, which is what really matters.

[Doctorossi]

I am definitely in for that Bandai remaster, if it ever hits Blu!

I think I'd keep my AnimEigo set for sentimental value, though.

[Beta Man]

I apologize if this isn't the proper usage of this thread, but I have a few questions....

I see PBS has been putting out videos with some regularity on Blu-ray (Story of India is the one that sparked this post) and I know Ken Burns' stuff was filmed on "film" so I was wondering if there was any discussion of remastering his works (Baseball, Civil War, and Jazz to name a select few of the many I'm eagerly awaiting) and releasing them on Blu-ray????

I haven't searched really, but has PBS re-released anything on Blu-ray, or they just focusing on "new" material???

Thanks!

[Objectivity]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

In regards to your spoiler Objectivity, my previous list was by no means complete

I filled 2 sides of an envelope taking notes, mostly stupid continuity/science of Trek/real science errors that could have been solved with 2 days of ADR ands some care in vetting the VFX shots.

The new Trek game on Xbox is pretty good, but it drives me crazy every time you thrust it comes from the warp nacells.....sigh

Hopefully they'll come out with a classic skin pack for it

Some of the things are just silly/stupid. The whole thing with how Kirk gets back onto the Enterprise is stupid. If it actually existed why would space travel even be needed any more.

The one thing that I think makes a legitimate argument is that many of the continuity/science of Trek things are the reasons why the franchise had become so tired. (That and having the actors come up with the plots of the movies). We may not like some of the changes made, but given this or the alternative, isn't this better than nothing?

[Doctorossi]

Bill or Jeff, do you have any insight into the reasoning behind the timing of the impending release of M*A*S*H? I ask because I am anxiously awaiting the eventual release of McCabe and Mrs. Miller and I can't foresee many good tie-in/promotional opportunities for release on the horizon (40th Anniversary in 2011, anyone?). Accompanying M*A*S*H would have been a nice, obvious move, but it doesn't look like that's happening. Maybe it'll just be another generic batch catalog release... ?