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

[Rolo71]

What do the WB releases mean for Europe?

[JamesN]

Bill,

I feel it's very important to reiterate one point you made in today's post:

So the bottom line is that those of you who want more classic catalog on Blu-ray (and DVD for that matter), need to all get out there and support the titles that do come out.

How true, how true.

Thank you sincerely for all of your efforts!

[DaViD Boulet]

Just wanted to reiterate my excitement to hear that Warner is aiming to compete in the BD space (as opposed to HD Media space) more actively and recognise that lossless audio is key in BD space.

It is kinda intriguing to read that Beowulf will have lossless audio on the Euro BD release, where the US release will have DD+.

Damn. Is that a final/confirmed spec for DD+ only on the US version?

[Knight-Errant]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

Yes. Much more. They just can't give you dates yet. There's a lot more work required to get catalog high-def done. It's a much more finicky and involved process. So they basically can't be slaves of a schedule. They release titles when they're ready to be released. But LOTS more are coming.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

ahem *plays it cool*

[Aelun]

Bill,

it maybe the wrong time to ask but did WB mention anything about using Blu-ray to the max (i.e upping bit-rates) after they have gone fully exclusive.

[NoQuestion]

Originally Posted by Aelun

Bill,

it maybe the wrong time to ask but did WB mention anything about using Blu-ray to the max (i.e upping bit-rates) after they have gone fully exclusive.

Once WB is exclusive i dont see a reason why they wouldnt max out thier films to bluray specs. It only seems logically for them to do that. New Line already did that with thier releases. I have full confidence in WB to do the same.

[NoQuestion]

Bill,

Quick question, do you have any contacts/sources in the HBO camp?

[mikey p]

Bill.....Just a short note thanking you for the follow-up on the Warner titles to be released, great job, again thanks.

[Braktastic]

Bill,

As always, I appreciate you going the extra mile to give us as much of the information we request that you can.

Were you able to discuss the Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines 1080i issue with WB?

[blindcat87]

I have a bit of an odd question. If I put something in my Amazon wishlist after clicking through the Bits upcoming title cover art section or through this site, will they get their percentage on that item when ordered by me or someone else?

I have been trying to remember to just go back and add the titles to my cart by going back and adding them through the sites again and then removing them from my list later, but it would be nice if I could just move them from my list to my cart or for the sites to get their cut when someone buys me a movie from my list.

While I think it would be fair for them to get their money this way, I have my doubts that Amazon would bother to keep track of things like that.

Chris

[neo_reloaded]

Are Fox and Sony expected to eventually do big "this is our 2008 release slate" announcements, or was this Warner event purely a one-off thing relating to their 85th anniversary?

[NoQuestion]

Bill stated in his two cents that this was related to the 85 anniversery.

Bill or anyone else, correct me if i am wrong here, but i believe that FOX stated that there plan was to get out as many titles as possible this year up to possibly 100 titles. I could've sworn that it was originally posted in one of these threads. I'm not so sure what is going on with Sony though

[richard lichtenfelt]

Bill,

I noticed that some movies that are already on blu-ray are going to be re-released special, deluxe, etc. versions.
Will these be the same exact movies released with more extras, or will the movies themselves actually be improved in some way?
Thanks.

[neo_reloaded]

Originally Posted by NoQuestion

Bill stated in his two cents that this was related to the 85 anniversery.

Bill or anyone else, correct me if i am wrong here, but i believe that FOX stated that there plan was to get out as many titles as possible this year up to possibly 100 titles. I could've sworn that it was originally posted in one of these threads. I'm not so sure what is going on with Sony though

I know that specific event was related to the 85th anniversary. What I don't know is whether they would have made those general 2008 announcements even if there wasn't an 85th anniversary to celebrate. If they would have made the announcement anyway, it stands to follow that other studios might have 2008 statements to make.

[Robert Siegel]

Bill, just wanted to thank you for all of the news. Being a classic fan, I can say I have definately supported Warner by buying many of their classic titles (couldn't list them all in my signature). I really respect them because they are really the only ones who have catered as hard to classic fans as of yet. Judging by many of these announcements, I am in for many of them.

I also wanted to thank you (after I posted twice about it, sorry) about the lossless audio. It is a HUGE comfort to know that Warner has heard our voice on the matter. There are films from the studio I have not purchased because of the lack of uncompressed, hoping they will add it sometime to a release. This issue is most important as we are getting such prestine pictures now, we need to finally hear the way these soundtracks really sound.

A friend of mine was a projectionist since 1952 for the premeire theaters in Minneapolis. He taped, on reel to reel, some excerpts directly from the booth and recently played some for me. I could not believe the difference in, say Hello Dolly that he taped (stunning sound) compared to the compressed dvd soundtrack. It was the same with Ben Hur. This is true of all films. People will be amazed at what recordings really sounded like back then.

Again, my sincere thanks for making sure this issue was brought up.

[ra1024]

Hey Bill,

Thanks for the mega update. I too would like to know what their position is on all the titles authored for HD DVD's lower bitrate. I stopped buying their releases a while back due to their general smoothness (Troy was awful). I realize they won't redo everything but Batman, V, Blade Runner, and Matrix are just a handful of great ones that shouldn't be low bitrate or without lossless audio.

[MarekM]

Originally Posted by phloyd

Hi Bill,

Just wanted to reiterate my excitement to hear that Warner is aiming to compete in the BD space (as opposed to HD Media space) more actively and recognise that lossless audio is key in BD space.

It is kinda intriguing to read that Beowulf will have lossless audio on the Euro BD release, where the US release will have DD+.

If they take advantage of the new transfers with less filtering and nice sharp encodes with high bitrate I think we will have another key player in the BD market. Until now, their catering for HD DVD limitations in my opinion has meant that their releases have not competed well in BD space...

hmm, beowulf is paramount title in US (so only on hd dvd in US), that's why probably have only DD+, and it's distributed by Warner in europe... with region free warner titles, it seems like nice import

Marek

[MarekM]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Damn. Is that a final/confirmed spec for DD+ only on the US version?

David,

I saw two scans of back cover of beowulf (hd dvd) one with DD+ and on dvdtown with DolbyTrueHD, check dvd empire for back cover...., IMO import is the way for this title

Marek

[micks_address]

Thanks Bill,

from your updates it seems :

that the older batman films may take more time so wont be out this year?

in relation to HEAT you say it requires a new transfer so i'm guess we wont see this until 2009?

one of the things HD DVD supporters are always throwing in my face is that it may be a long time before we see the likes of Casablanca, Mutiny on the bounty, Robin Hood etc on Blue Ray.. and that with the current low entry price to HD DVD its worth picking up a machine for these films alone..

hopefully these titles are coming sooner rather than later so they can forget about that argument... some people would argue black is white.. HD DVD supporters are trumpeting HD DVD as the superior format.. just because its region free.. and has had a final spec from day one.. what utter cobblers..

when are people going to realise that HD DVD is finished? What will it take? Toshiba to release a Blue Ray machine? Studios to stop releasing on HD DVD?

Then you have people quoting countries like Italy going HD DVD exclusive so they will be able to source all their titles from there..

its a crazy world really...

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

As you've probably already seen, we addressed all these today.

[elwaylite]

Bill,

Will we be seeing any more data from NPD on player sales?