Warner Brothers and missed opportunities

[ClaytonMG]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

LOL!!! Some of them did! I had over 30 (getting close to 40) before I sold them, and some of them looked great. Could some of them have benefitted from a higher bitrate encode, sure, but they still looked pretty darn good. Personally, I favored my Universal/Paramount titles over my WB titles even on HD DVD. I felt they often looked superior to WB's titles.

UPCOMING (ANNOUNCED) WB RELEASES

The Perfect Storm - Dolby TrueHD
The Lost Boys - Dolby TrueHD
Lost Boys: The Tribe - Dolby Digital 5.1?
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Dolby Digital 5.1
Justice League Of America: Season One - ????????????
Pale Rider - ?????????
The Adventures Of Robin Hood - Mono
Under Siege 2: Dark Territory - Dolby Digital 5.1?
Outbreak - Dolby TrueHD
The Gauntlet - Dolby TrueHD
Every Which Way But Loose - ?????????????
Eraser - Dolby TrueHD
Smallville: Season Seven - Dolby Digital 5.1
How The West Was Won - Dolby Digital 5.1?
Cool Hand Luke - ??????????
Speed Racer - Dolby Digital 5.1?
Risky Business - Dolby Digital 5.1?
Another Cinderella Story - Dolby Digital 5.1?
Pushing Daisies - Dolby Digital 5.1
Beetlejuice - Dolby TrueHD
L.A. Confidential - Dolby TrueHD
Blow - Dolby TrueHD
Rest Stop - Dolby TrueHD
Rest Stop: Don't Look Back - Dolby TrueHD
Otis - Dolby Digital 5.1?
A Christmas Story - Mono?
The Shawshank Redemption - Dolby Digital 5.1?

Note that two titles above have no audio listed, but rather "?" by them. These titles are titles I could not find tech specs for the audio on. Also note that on the above list, several titles with "lossy" have "?" by them. These titles are titles where we don't know whether they will be receiving a "lossless" track or not. Though some have had rear artwork released showing a "lossy" soundtrack... well, we all know what happened with "The Perfect Storm" and "Blow" do we not?

The point is, WB is getting better in regards to "lossless", but if you're favorite movie is released in the meantime while they are working their problems out, it doesn't mean as much. That being said, I can deal with it for now, but I don't have as much hope in them straightening out their PQ issues as quickly...

~Alan

Paramount and Universal titles did kill most WB titles on HD DVD. And yes, although people here don't think so, some HD DVD's actually did look awesome... though they were pretty much all lacking lossless audio which is probably why the PQ looked so good.

As for that list, I don't think we can go by the announced specs right now though. I think that it's all pretty screwey. As they said, some of their announced specs were wrong. BD-25's are BD-50's, Dolby Digital is Dolby TrueHD... We can't go by their announcements or even the back cover art for that matter (as you even said on Blow and The Perfect Storm). Plus there are probably still some HD DVD created movies that haven't seen the light of day yet, so those might pop up. But I think pretty much all the future manufactured WB titles will be on BD-50's (where required) and feature Dolby TrueHD.

Now if they could just stop DNRing stuff and quit using 16-Bit tracks instead of 24 and stop DialNorming the tracks, that would rock...

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by ClaytonMG

As for that list, I don't think we can go by the announced specs right now though. I think that it's all pretty screwey. As they said, some of their announced specs were wrong. BD-25's are BD-50's, Dolby Digital is Dolby TrueHD... We can't go by their announcements or even the back cover art for that matter (as you even said on Blow and The Perfect Storm).

I think it's pretty safe to go with specs of titles announced to have Dolby TrueHD, but the titles with a "?" after Dolby Digital 5.1 remain to be seen.

Some people should start getting the "Lost Boys: The Tribe" very shortly (if they haven't already) and can inform us as to whether or not it's "lossy".

I feel pretty certain that "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" will be lossy.

I suspect that "Justice League" will be as well (the DVDs were Dolby 2.0).

"Pale Rider" remains to be seen.

"The Adventures Of Robin Hood" was mono on HD DVD, so that's pretty much a given.

The rear cover for "Under Siege 2" shows "lossy", but again, the rear cover doesn't mean much these days.

WickyWoo confirmed "Smallville" will have "lossy".

The specs for "How The West Was Won" is a mystery.

Since the DVD of "Cool Hand Luke" only contained a mono track, the odds of it getting "lossless" is slim.

Bajor27 gave "Speed Racer" fans some more hope of it getting lossless.

He also did the same for "Risky Business".

Given it's target audience, I don't really feel that good about "Another Cinderella Story" getting "lossless"

I don't feel that good about "Pushing Daisies" getting it either.

No clue about "Otis".

"A Christmas Story" will probably have the same mono track.

Originally Posted by ClaytonMG

Plus there are probably still some HD DVD created movies that haven't seen the light of day yet, so those might pop up. But I think pretty much all the future manufactured WB titles will be on BD-50's (where required) and feature Dolby TrueHD.

"The Shawshank Redemption" is one that concerns me giving that it was advertised in WB's earliest HD DVD titles. Hopefully, given the stature of the film, it will receive "lossless" as well.

Believe it or not, my list was actually in support of WB's efforts for "lossless", as I believe the ratio is much better for them.

~Alan

[ClaytonMG]

Ohhhh sorry, I thought you put the whole "?" thing there because you were like "what the crap is this crap?!" kind of thing. But yes, I 100% agree with you. Generally I think TV shows from WB will be lossy.

And I am with you on Shawshank, but since it was never created for HD DVD (as far as I know) I think it's pretty safe to guess it'll be lossless. I still love that all my first Warner HD DVD's advertised a bunch of films as "Coming Summer 2006" and I don't think any (maybe 1 or 2 did) actually got released that year.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by ClaytonMG

Ohhhh sorry, I thought you put the whole "?" thing there because you were like "what the crap is this crap?!" kind of thing. But yes, I 100% agree with you. Generally I think TV shows from WB will be lossy.

No... it was for titles unconfirmed to have "lossless".

If you take out the TV titles, and the titles with mono tracks, there is at least a 50% support of "lossless". Add to the fact that Bajor27 brought up the fact that the ads in this week's Home Media Magazine for "Speed Racer" and "Risky Business" have Dolby TrueHD logos, the odds are good for 60% support of "lossless". Couple that with the fact, that so far, only "Lost Boys: The Tribe" and "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory" have shown "lossy" on their rear covers means that (other than WB's track record), the other titles listed with "Dolby Digital 5.1?" could have "lossless" titles as well.

Originally Posted by ClaytonMG

And I am with you on Shawshank, but since it was never created for HD DVD (as far as I know) I think it's pretty safe to guess it'll be lossless. I still love that all my first Warner HD DVD's advertised a bunch of films as "Coming Summer 2006" and I don't think any (maybe 1 or 2did) actually got released that year.

"Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" was released in the UK back in 2006... but a quick peek at HighDefDigest.com reviews seem to indicate that it's a different encode than the US released last year... so hopefully WB hasn't encoded TSR yet... but we'll see...

~Alan

[Farid]

What are they gonna do about The Sarah Connor Chronicles?

The back cover clearly shows 5.1 only.

[lgans316]

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1539

BD-50 , VC-1 video but DD only audio ?

[Teazle]

Originally Posted by lgans316

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1539

BD-50 , VC-1 video but DD only audio ?

Oh man, here we go again ...

[kpkelley]

Disappointed to see that Dark City has seperate encodes for the two versions of the film that are on the disc:

To get some specifics out of the way first - on the Blu-ray the Director's Cut takes up 21.3 Gig of space and lasts - 1:51:43 - 11 minutes+ longer than the theatrical which takes up 19.4 Gig of space on the Blu-ray.

Link

When will they learn about seamless branching?

[ClaytonMG]

Originally Posted by lgans316

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1539

BD-50 , VC-1 video but DD only audio ?

Have you been listening? The stats aren't accurate. This could have Dolby TrueHD but someone accidently said Dolby Digital.

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by Octavio

Now you are threatening me?

OK I guess I can do the same with ur posts.

Hrm, I see "suspended" here. Guess we know how that all worked out.


On topic, I'm kind of surprised Dark City didn't have seamless branching. Why aren't studios using this feature?

[ClaytonMG]

Originally Posted by aramis109

Hrm, I see "suspended" here. Guess we know how that all worked out.


On topic, I'm kind of surprised Dark City didn't have seamless branching. Why aren't studios using this feature?

That actually surprised me (the seamless branching thing, not the suspended thing). I don't think this is utilized enough. Sony and Disney seem to be the only ones doing it. Except I think Universal may have said they're using it for their upcoming comedy movies, but I am not 100% sure on that.

[fighthefutureofhd]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

"The Shawshank Redemption" is one that concerns me giving that it was advertised in WB's earliest HD DVD titles. Hopefully, given the stature of the film, it will receive "lossless" as well.

Believe it or not, my list was actually in support of WB's efforts for "lossless", as I believe the ratio is much better for them.

~Alan

the shawshank redemption was released by columbia.

[WickyWoo]

Shawshank is a WB title

[fighthefutureofhd]

it was released in theaters by columbia and castle rock though.

[ClaytonMG]

Originally Posted by fighthefutureofhd

it was released in theaters by columbia and castle rock though.

But WB has it now and they're releasing the Blu-Ray.

[dobyblue]

It was released theatrically by Columbia, and on VHS and Laserdisc, but the first US DVD was from Warner Brothers in 1999.

Oddly, WB also did a US VHS release in 1996. Must have been a joint release.

Look at the back of Dogma, just about every company's logo is on there!!

[alexakajeff]

Warner Brothers does it once again.

[wallendo]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

...If you take out the TV titles, and the titles with mono tracks, there is at least a 50% support of "lossless".

Mono is not necessarily "lossy". We have the right to demand high audio quality regardless of the number of channels.

Robin Hood was apparently Dolby Digital Plus on HD-DVD. It would make no sense to release a Blu-Ray with LOWER audio quality. On a BD-50 there is no good reason not to release this with lossless sound (20 extra gigs should allow for a lossless single channel audio stream.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by wallendo

Robin Hood was apparently Dolby Digital Plus on HD-DVD. It would make no sense to release a Blu-Ray with LOWER audio quality. On a BD-50 there is no good reason not to release this with lossless sound (20 extra gigs should allow for a lossless single channel audio stream.

The HD DVD was released with a English Dolby Digital-Plus 1.0 Mono soundtrack encoded at 640k. I would expect the same bitrate on Blu-ray.

~Alan

[ClaytonMG]

Originally Posted by alexakajeff

Warner Brothers does it once again.

... does what once again?