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

[jaaguir]

Jeff, it seems that Kino is releasing Buster Keaton's The General on November.

I know this will mean nothing to blu-ray's biggest demographic, but I think you guys should announce it on The Bits the way it deserves. After all, it's considered a masterpiece of cinema, and it's the first silent movie released on blu-ray in the USA, right?

Glenn Erickson at dvdsavant says there's a good looking 35 mm print of this movie around, so let's hope it looks good.

[Living Near Shamu]

Jeff,

I read Bill Hunt's recent posting about Fox's Ice Age 3 and how its going to include a dvd copy of the movie. Is this something we can expect Fox to continue doing like Disney has, and will other studios jump on this bandwagon? Forgive me if this has been answered already as I just saw read that and thought of asking.

Btw, I was recently browsing Sony's Blu-ray rewards program and got a poll question that said "Would you like to see a DVD copy of the movie with your blu-ray disc?" Does this mean Sony is also gauging interest in this? I honestly would really like a copy of the movie released on DVD as well, especially for kid/family oriented movies as one can take them in the car.

Thanks in advance for your answer. Say HI to Bill from us and Happy Labor Day weekend

[Jeff Kleist]

I think it's s trend you'll see in family titles a lot until digital device cradles are more common in cars and in TVs in kid's rooms

[Uxi]

I love included DVDs since they easily enable one to do their own "digital copies."

[jlaavenger]

Doe's the single Star Trek: First Contact Blu Ray have anything that the Blu Ray box set doesn't?

[Jeff Kleist]

It should just be the exact same disc

[Q?]

Hej Jeff.
Do you by any chance know if the U.S. version of Watchmen Directors Cut
has english subtitles and not just english sdh?
English is not my first language and I sometimes miss what they're saying and the sdh subtitles distracts me with descriptive subs.

Also... what do look most forward to in the world of blu-ray in the foreseeable future?

[BluDomain]

Originally Posted by Q!

Do you by any chance know if the U.S. version of Watchmen Directors Cut
has english subtitles and not just english sdh?

Always check the Reviews.
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movie...50&show=review

[Jeff Kleist]

Are you asking what I look forward to? In regards to features or titles or what?

[Q?]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Are you asking what I look forward to? In regards to features or titles or what?

Well anything blu-ray
BluDomain thanks, but
yes, I did check the review, but if you look at the back cover only english sdh is listed, nothing about english only, blu-ray.com have listed wrong information before.
And if you look at Blade Runner 5 disc set https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?id=545
english only is also listed, but I know only english sdh is available, I own it.
They're both from Warner too.

[Jeff Kleist]

I'd trust the back cover then. English SDH is default, especially when a studio only has NA rights

I look forward to learning more about 3D, especially since my TV is "3D Ready" and I'll be super cheesed if they want me to buy another player ( I just did). As I understand it, it's possible that the "3D Blu-ray players" simply provide the sync connections a lot of 120hz TVs lack, and the HDMI 1.4 simply provides the ability to get a signal down the pipe to the player

At least I hope that's right Cause otherwise it's going to be awhile for me I don't look forward to 3D for 3D's sake however.

I look forward to more and better BDLive features that aren't just a glorified chatroom, and the ability to connect via a USB keyboard, wifi or a phone app to them so the interace isn't so clunky, and less use of it as a billboard (looking at you Uni, I spend how much time booting up BD-Live when "new features are available" to find out it's commercials?)

Title wise I'm looking forward to Ben-Hur, the David Lean epics, Star Wars and Indy, Ed Wood, Tron, Roger Rabbit, and Miyazaki's films, specifically Porco Rosso and Totoro.

I also look forward to more concerts on Blu-ray, preferably recorded on-site at 192/24

[MerrickG]

Jeff,

Several questions:

1. Is it possible that Lord of the Rings getting delayed is due that New Line finally got the hint that people want both the EE and theatricals? I know its not confirmed that there has been a delay, but Im just going by what was discussed on the homepage.

2. Why havent the Hangover and Terminator Salvation been announced yet?

3. Can we expect any Q4 surprise releases or have the studios adopted what the game industry has done and pushed everything back to 2010?

[Jeff Kleist]

1. Is it possible that Lord of the Rings getting delayed is due that New Line finally got the hint that people want both the EE and theatricals? I know its not confirmed that there has been a delay, but Im just going by what was discussed on the homepage.

New Line has no power. Think of them as an office in WB. When it comes to home video, they are WB. If there is a delay, I'd say it had more to do with the lawsuit having an uncertain outcome, and the fact that Hobbit won't hit theaters for another 2 years more than anything else. I hope also that PJ may have gotten a look at them and....umm..decided to help WB create a transfer that represents his vision

2. Why havent the Hangover and Terminator Salvation been announced yet?

Hangover just left my local theater within the last 2 weeks. It's still playing at over 700 theaters. Would you announce a video when it's still playing at more theaters than some pictures open 3 months later? WB typically doesn't announce things until 4-6 weeks before release anyway, don't worry about it. It's definately coming before the end of the year, November-ish. Before anyone asks, no word on whether it's extended or not, but I hope so

The game industry pushed everything back to 2010 because they finally realized they were eating themselves alive asking people to buy half a dozen games in an 8 week time period. I believe that from 2010 on there will be a much more balanced schedule of big titles coming out throughout the year. There's no real suprises in store, Christmas is winding down right now in home video because pretty much everything has to be done so early. Busiest time is July-September, and after that it's mostly autopilot.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

New Line has no power. Think of them as an office in WB. When it comes to home video, they are WB. If there is a delay, I'd say it had more to do with the lawsuit having an uncertain outcome, and the fact that Hobbit won't hit theaters for another 2 years more than anything else. I hope also that PJ may have gotten a look at them and....umm..decided to help WB create a transfer that represents his vision

Lets hope so!

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

The game industry pushed everything back to 2010 because they finally realized they were eating themselves alive asking people to buy half a dozen games in an 8 week time period. I believe that from 2010 on there will be a much more balanced schedule of big titles coming out throughout the year. There's no real suprises in store, Christmas is winding down right now in home video because pretty much everything has to be done so early. Busiest time is July-September, and after that it's mostly autopilot.

This is definetly true. The gaming industry needs to do a better job with balancing the schedule. The summer months typically are wayyy too dry for top releases. Im hoping that all these delays will result in a better in a much more balanced slate in 2010.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I hope also that PJ may have gotten a look at them and....umm..decided to help WB create a transfer that represents his vision

we can all agree with that

[MerrickG]

Now that Bill has chimed in with the delay. I will say that Im actually happy this happened. Hopefully it will mean that we will get the EE versions without DNR and EE.

If thats what the delay is for.

On another note, I would like to thank the studios and gaming studios for officially making 2009 a joke in terms of bluray releases.

Delayed thus far:
Alien Quad
Indiana Jones

Gaming:
Splinter Cell
Bioshock 2
Singularity

Disappointing year if there ever was one.

Right now Im just waiting for the announcement Heat and Forrest Gump to be "pushed back to 2010"

[Jeff Kleist]

well, don't forget if Indy 5 goes fasttrack it'll probably be delayed again

I honestly expect Alien Quad to be delayed until it's a Quin, or at the very least such a time as they can pack a ticket in.

On the upside- All of the above will likely benefit in AV and supplements from the delay. So it's not all bad news

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

well, don't forget if Indy 5 goes fasttrack it'll probably be delayed again

I honestly expect Alien Quad to be delayed until it's a Quin, or at the very least such a time as they can pack a ticket in.

On the upside- All of the above will likely benefit in AV and supplements from the delay. So it's not all bad news

Has the new Alien film been officially greenlit? The last I remember reading is that Fox would only greenlight it if Scott were to direct.

[Jeff Kleist]

I believe they greenlit him to do pre-production on it. I don't think it's greenlit greenlit yet.

I do know that Robert Rodriguez's "Predators" starts shooting on the 28th, and stands a decent chance of not sucking

I also wanted to drop this:

For those who really really want the vector based subs, I know for a fact that there's a disc currently in production that should be out before the end of the year that will feature them.

That is all