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

[Jeff Kleist]

Well, this sucks. I hope you can still get an answer from Disney as to whether this was a screwup (standard templates) or was dictated by Japan/Ghibli. I'd like to know how this is going to effect future titles going forward...

Well, technically that wouldn't be a screwup. I'm working to get something official, but don't hold your breath. All I can tell you is that I'm going to work to get something done about it, but there's no promises involved, and don't assume there's ever going to be an update on it. As soon as there's something I can share I will. Until that time, if lossless is important to you, buy the R3 or the Japanese disc. Yes I know the Japanese disc is hugely pricey

In other news in the vein, Evangelion 2.22 Blu-ray was just solicited in Japan, this should mean a much shorter wait for the US than last time, where there was a huge gap between Blu and DVD, maybe around this time next year, or fate willing right before Xmas

[MerrickG]

Jeff,

Played Bioshock 2 or Dante's Inferno yet?

Ive spent the last week religiously playing Fallout 3 having missed it the first time around and boy am I glad I did. It was so enjoyable I couldnt put it down to even check out Bioshock 2 or Dante's Inferno. It has me mega excited to play New Vegas later this year.

[Jeff Kleist]

No, I'm not planning on getting either for awhile.

Alien vs Predator is the only game I see myself getting in the near future, assuming the 1-player doesn't suck

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

No, I'm not planning on getting either for awhile.

Alien vs Predator is the only game I see myself getting in the near future, assuming the 1-player doesn't suck

Reviews have been rather mixed for AvP, but we'll see. It may be a game that I pick up when it goes for the cheap.

My gaming plate is rather full at the moment. Im going back and playing Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare on veteran and its been rather tough

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I'm working to get something official, but don't hold your breath.

Thanks for the efforts, Jeff! Personally, I'm more concerned with getting the message to them that the audience for these titles demands lossless Japanese soundtracks, in hope of fixing this 'template' issue prior to future Ghibli releases.

[DaViD Boulet]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Thanks for the efforts, Jeff! Personally, I'm more concerned with getting the message to them that the audience for these titles demands lossless Japanese soundtracks, in hope of fixing this 'template' issue prior to future Ghibli releases.

Hey Jeff,

while your at it, let them know that collectors *always* want the *original* soundtrack in lossless... not just newer mixes. Whether that original mix is Japanese, or mono (think classic animation), or a non-DEHT mix like the original 2.0 or 4.0 for Mary Poppins... the original track should always be lossless.

Naturally, newer mixes can be lossless as well, but never at the expense of an original mix lossless presentation.

[scaramunga]

Any further news on the remaining 9 James Bond films and the other 2 Sergio Leone Clint Eastwood films?

Goldeneye
Tomorrow Never Dies
You Only Live Twice
Diamonds Are Forever
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
The Spy Who Loved Me
Octop ussy
A View To A Kill
The Living Daylights

Fistful Of Dollars
For A Few Dollars More

thanks!!

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by scaramunga

the other 2 Sergio Leone Clint Eastwood films

How 'bout some of the other Sergio Leone non-Clint Eastwood films?

C'era Una Volta il West

e

Giu la Testa?

[mark antony]

Originally Posted by scaramunga

Any further news on the remaining 9 James Bond films and the other 2 Sergio Leone Clint Eastwood films?

Along with everything else mgm/ua, once it's sold! And then if the new owners want to release them!

M

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

How 'bout some of the other Sergio Leone non-Clint Eastwood films?

C'era Una Volta il West

Right. Any news on the restoration Martin Scorsese was involved in?

[Jeff Kleist]

Nothing "good" from MGM until after they're sold

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

Right. Any news on the restoration Martin Scorsese was involved in?

This, of course, would be coming from Paramount.

[garyrc]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Never saw a visual gaffe in the Ave Maria - there was an earthquake during principal photgraphy using a horizontal multiplane setup, but this caused the unit to have to go back and start shooting the entire sequence all over, from scratch. And it wasn't the first time, because their first pass, someone placed the wrong lens on the camera, so you not only saw the panes of glass from the multiplane, you saw all the technicians zipping around. The Ave Maria you see in the finished film is the third pass, and they completed it, processed it, and raced the completed interpositive to New York, and then spliced it into the show 2 hrs before the premiere. True story.

Maybe I'm getting two things confused -- the earthquake story and the visual gaffe. In any case, in Ave Maria, there was a very slight lurch to the side (with intervening frame or frames seemingly missing ...like a jump cut) in all the versions of Fantasia I saw in the theater ... it was no big deal, just a little deviation. Now that you mention it, I don't recall it being on any of the home video versions, so maybe they fixed it late in the game. There was also a glitch in Sleeping Beauty when it was released in 70 mm in '59. It looked like a cel was out of place -- out of registration -- as the armoured Knights on horseback pass by during "Hail to the Princess Aurora" (not the earlier shot of them on the bridge, but the later shot of them crossing the courtyard). We were ready and watching for it when the 70 mm re-release came out years later, but it had been fixed. The original glitch was not a skip or edit in the print, because it had an "A-B-A" pattern: the cel in place, followed by one that was out of place, then followed by a third which was back in the place where it belonged. Stuff happens.

[Jodi]

Hi Jeff,
I understand that Warner is having a chat forum on Monday, April 5 regarding television and animation. I was hoping that you might be able to address the following question to the Warner chat:

Will Warner ever release "SilverHawks", Volume 2 (the remaining 32 or so episodes of the animated series)?

Thanks

[Jeff Kleist]

Why don't you just ask yourself? It's a Q&A session for the public

I'm not going to be able to make it, but I hope they say something about Animaniacs collection 4

[Ernest Rister]

In any case, in Ave Maria, there was a very slight lurch to the side (with intervening frame or frames seemingly missing ...like a jump cut) in all the versions of Fantasia I saw in the theater ... it was no big deal, just a little deviation. Now that you mention it, I don't recall it being on any of the home video versions, so maybe they fixed it late in the game.

My friend, I'd be happy to discuss the moment you are talking about - I've just never seen the moment you are talking about.

There are multiple instances of registration errors, in many Disney animated features. In Fantasia, the most glaring is the moment when new blue Centaur (Navi? har har) lovers walk hand in hand in front of a "boysenberry bush" and the bush tracks with them in the foreground, a clear goof, with no real fix outside of new animation. In Bambi, there were multiple resigstration errors and inking mistakes corrected by the last restoration. In the home video release of Pinocchio in 1992, when Pinocchio exclaimed he was a real boy, the entire damn frame lurched to the right as if someone bumped into the telecine during the restoration of the last few minutes.

Restorations haven't been pefoect, and I've seen some home video and original photography goofs corrected over the years, but I've never seen an Ave Maria from any Fantasia release that featured a slight lurch to the side - can you be more specific?

[FourToedStatue]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Why don't you just ask yourself? It's a Q&A session for the public

I'm not going to be able to make it, but I hope they say something about Animaniacs collection 4

I hope we get Looney Tunes on Blu-ray.

[Jeff Kleist]

If someone does go, certainly a valid question to ask would be lossless on their TV releases, if someone already asked about Animaniacs of course

[jd213]

Jeff,

Do you know if the Stargate 15th Anniversary Edition met Lions Gate's sales expectations? I'd love to see them re-do some more of their early Blu-rays such as Total Recall and Basic Instinct.

[Jeff Kleist]

All the LG stuff gets reissued and they're pretty much joined at the hip with Canal now. Check out the UK Total Recall, Much nicer. You going to be Tokyo Anime Fair JD?