Warner BD titles: No TrueHD

[JTK]

The following is some dialogue between myself and about as rock solid, reliable, credible, and unobjective of a source as you can get. This is someone who currently owns both HD formats and is incredibly hardcore.


See what you make of it:

I just got the first four titles in and unless I'm called in to work, I will commence the reviews later today. But, I thought I'd chime in on a few things first.

First a bit about the cases: the cases are not like the BD cases that Sony and LG have been using. They are the spitting image of the HD DVD cases used by Warner and Universal, except they are blue and don't have the two feet on the bottom, for what little good those did.

That's great. I really like smaller jewel cases.

Looking at the packaging my only disappointment is that the option box indicates that none of the new high resolution audio formats have been used, not even DD+. I know the Samsung player inexcusably doesn't support any of these audio formats yet, but other players are coming that will. So the BD supporter will be stuck with basic DD 5.1 in a few months too.

So even if someone throws down for the big boy hardware in October, like the Panasonic, the Pioneer Elite, or the Sony player...it simply does them no good, because the discs themselves don't even bother with ANY of the newer audio codecs?

No DD+ even?!

Sorry, that's a +1 for HD-DVD right there.

The disc comes with the usual insert, that mentions other Warner titles coming this summer. And I wanted to go ahead and hit on that for those interested. Other titles that are coming according to the insert include:

-Firewall
-16 Blocks
-The Fugitive (hopefully with corrected video over the dissapointing HD)

That would be nice, but if they use the same film transfer, it's going to probably come down to a VC-1 vs. MPEG 2 issue, and I'd probably bet on VC-1, such as it is.

-Million Dollar Baby
-Space Cowboys
-Perfect Storm
-Under Siege
-Caddyshack
-Christmas Vacation
-Swordfish
-Blazing Saddles
-Corpse Bride
-Syriana
-Full Metal Jacket
-House of Wax
-Lethal Weapon
-The Searchers

That's a LOT of discs considering the summer is starting to run short.

Yes. There's several obvious duplicate titles that are awesome on HD-DVD, like Swordfish, among others, that are really going to start bringing some meaningful A/B comparisions.

Looking forward to it!

They're not jewel cases. The size of both Sony's BD cases and these are the same, they're just shaped a little different. I think Sony's cases are a bit nicer actually. In particular the BD emblem has a sunken oval around it that gives it an embosed look with a chrome highlight rather than a silver paint that can be easily scratched off on the HD discs and now on Warner's BD discs.

I think these may be the only MPEG 2 titles that Warner releases on either format and I'm not positive that these are even MPEG 2 yet. But, Warner will be switching to VC1 on BD as well asap, as I understand it.

If The Fugitive hasn't been remastered for the BD release, it won't be worth owning on either format video wise.

I would expect all of the new titles listed as coming in BD will also be available in HD around the same time.

Good stuff!

I really can't believe they didn't throw in DD+, though. That's just senseless, imo.

It's almost a dead giveaway that these titles are going to be double dipped on sometime in the not too distant future. Can't you just feel it?

There's rumor that both Sony and Warner may remaster some of their early disappointments (ie Fugitive, Element). But, other than that, I wouldn't expect too many double dips until either has caught on. I suspect the studios priority right now is getting out as many titles as they can rather than revisiting titles that they've already done, which makes poor early releases all the more disappointing as we may have a very long wait before we see them in high def again. We're already seeing signs that production and authoring facilities are struggling to keep up. That will improve, but it'll take time.

Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but I think we all know Sony's pattern on this sort of thing by now, all too well, don't we?

Ho hum version, better version, good version, great version, Superbit version ,etc. etc.

Here we go again.

I wouldn't contest that Sony is probably the worst offender when it comes to the art of the double dip. How they're not supporting the format with extended cuts of the films is a good indication of their plans; that or it implies that the elements used for the extended cuts aren't up to high definition quality. But, it would take one heck of a retooling to get me to buy Ultraviolet again. That movie looks and sounds great and features one of my favorite action actresses. But, I had a hard time sitting still through it even the first time.

Agreed 100 percent.




This is just an example of why I think the HD enthusiast who wants the best and the most choice is going to most likely have to own two players before the year is out to get the job done right.

[BTBuck1]

wait a second, the "Training Day" has the following audio tracks:
English Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 Surround
French Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 Surround
Spanish Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 Surround

it's only missing the IMO pointless DolbyTruHD track.
I think the mods need to change this to NO TruHD track!

ProvenFlipper showed me on the back of the jewelcase DD+ and i'm sure he can come attest to the DD+ infact being on the disc.

And can't DD+ be played back on any DD capable receiver?

Whether you own an older audio/video (A/V) system equipped with Dolby® Digital, or a newer A/V receiver equipped with an HDMI™ connection or external line-level multichannel inputs, you are assured of a compatible, high-quality playback path.

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/techno...ital_plus.html

how credible was this source, really?

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Brian@BBY

it's only missing the IMO pointless DolbyTruHD track.

Why pointless?

I think the mods need to change this to NO TruHD track!

Calm down...

ProvenFlipper showed me on the back of the jewelcase DD+ and i'm sure he can come attest to the DD+ infact being on the disc.

*goes to doublecheck via email...*

[BTBuck1]

UPDATE:
pwned, packaging is mislabeled...DD+ is infact not on the disc

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Brian@BBY

pwn3d

I just sent those pics. His response to your last question was, and I quote:

Nope the packaging indicates that neither TrueHD nor DD+ are included, just basic DD 5.1.

In the case of Training Day you have 5.1 in English and French and Spanish 2.0.

WTF?!

This is a guy who has a slight bias towards BD even, but is very objective and rarely, if ever, makes mistakes.

Damn, this is interesting.

Brian, where did you get those pics from?

[BTBuck1]

Originally Posted by JTK

Brian, where did you get those pics from?

Sorry JTK, I didn't mean to make you look foolish (your source is the fool)...you just know how i hate B.S.

I'm rarely right but when I am, dammit Im gonna prove it

I took the pics off the back of provenflippers' BR disc.

[BTBuck1]

Originally Posted by JTK

Why pointless?

it's 2 channel, & nothing decodes it right now. so IMO it is pointless.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Brian@BBY

it's 2 channel, & nothing decodes it right now. so IMO it is pointless.

Incorrect. If you own an HD-DVD player, the player decodes it via HDMI or analogs. Granted, it's only 2 channel so THAT is pointless.

Rumors up or down that firmware can change that? Who the hell knows? SUPPOSEDLY the HD-DVD players have all the necessary hardware in place, but...like anything else...I won't believe 'til I see it.