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

[JamesN]

Mr. Hunt,
What if anything can you tell us about the upcoming Blu-Ray release of Lawrence of Arabia? Will Mr. Harris be involved? Will it be a new re-mastering? Will the remaining missing footage be included?

Thanks!

[clyon]

Originally Posted by coolwavepic

Bill,

I have ordered Eyes Wide Shut on Blu-ray in the beginning of December because I couldn't find this title at any local retailer. So I ordered it online at Warner Bros. Store. Its still on back order and I have read that several Kubrick movies are on back order. Also, my Fry's Electronics seems to never get Warner movies on time. Will the dropping of HD-DVD help Warner fix these issues? Do you have any inside info on where the hell is Eyes Wide Shut?

I justed check on amazon & they have it there but - 'Usually ships within 9 to 14 days' & it is 19.95 + shipping.
Also Frys.com (19.99) & Deepdiscount (21.99) both have it instock, soo it is out there, you just have to look alittle.

[UltimateFighter]

Hey Bill,

Can any of your sources confirm that Border's has gone BD exclusive? I know this isn't a big deal but anything to keep the media hammering going.

Thanks!

[Camulus]

Hey Bill. Thanks for answering our questions.

I am huge fan of TV Shows on DVD. Have you any info on upcoming TV Shows on BD like Doctor Who or the Stargate franchise?

[DaViD Boulet]

What if anything can you tell us about the upcoming Blu-Ray release of Lawrence of Arabia? Will Mr. Harris be involved? Will it be a new re-mastering? Will the remaining missing footage be included?

That's a question better directed to Paidgeek (Sony insider) and/or Robert Harris himself (he's got an insider thread too).

A quick plea to other posters in general: let's not bombard Bill with too many "when is such and such a movie coming out on Blu-ray" as it tends to bog down the discussion and it's not his area of expertise per-se. Yes I know, we *all* want to know about LOTR and LOA so it's understandable that questions will be asked... but we should have dedicated threads for release-dates of titles, and Bill isn't going to be the guru of this information anyway (only for a few titles that get leaked his way in off-hand discussions), so let's let him conserve his energy for content that's germane to his information.

Do we have any such threads already? Mods, can we make some stickies? It would be nice if we didn't make them studio-specific as often the ownership of some films is confusing from a consumer point of view.

[iwanttobeabmoviestar]

1st thanks for being here 2nd thanks again for being the voice of reason

I personally want to thank you for helping me decide Blu was the way to go as i trusted many years ago a retailer to help me decide dvd and divx and ... well ill say i kinda understand the hddvd anger and sorrow , but my question is

in your opinion why is WB not waiting on its biggest film this year I am legend till after blu exclusivity ? Seems to me it would probably help cement Blu to consumers if only available on 1 format thanks

[eat_me_cool]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

That's a good question, and it boils down to marketing people always wanting their product to stand out on the video store shelf against competing titles. Plus, they always want to feature the faces and names of big stars, etc. They're always trying to create new buzz around and old title, so that's why you see a lot of new art. My pet peeve is when they give away twists in the story on the cover. The infamous case in point is Fox's cover for the Planet of the Apes DVD.

You mean this..

[atomik kinder]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

Meh... we get some flak, sure. But what I've tended to see is that the people who hate what we've done most either have a bias themselves, or have a very emotional reason for their decision. They hate Sony, etc. So the reasoning of these folks tends to be very emotional. Whereas our reasoning was just simple logic: Larger disc, BD-J more roboust long-term, more studios (including Disney), many more manufactuers, more stable business model on the hardware side, CE industry support and PS3 inclusion = more likely victory.

The other argument we get from those irritated at us is: "Dear sir, shame on you for impuning your journalistic intergrity by taking a side instead of letting the consumer make the choice!" Which to us is bullshit. The consumer WAS making a choice. They were chosing to sit on the sidelines. And of the consumers that WERE getting into high-def - the early adopters - most of them weren't actually choosing! They were buying both formats. So what you had was a quagmire, which is exactly what we predicted would happen on The Bits. And what we know for certain is that if the quagmire persisted for much longer, both high-def disc formats were going to crash and burn. People would stop caring and move on, and high-def packaged media would be an also ran.

As to our "journalistic integrity," we're kind of a weird mix at The Bits. We're part journalists reporting the news, we're part enthusiasts sharing our love of films, and we're part Nader-esque advocates for movie fans and consumers - we stand up for what we believe is in the best interests of our readers. And it just became very clear to us at a certain point last year, that this format war had stopped being in the consumer interest, and was simply being driven by some pretty large egos for their own ends. So that's when we decided to draw a line. We looked at all the facts and made a logical decision. We picked Blu-ray. A lot of people were very glad we stood up when we did. Some weren't too happy about it naturally. But I can tell you that the overwhelming majority of our readers - and especially the many industry insiders that we've become close with over the last decade, and not just those working in the Blu-ray camp by a LONG shot - have responded very positively to our position.

We believe we made the right call for our readers, and I think time has proven our case and will continue to do so.

It is funny what actually turned me off of HD DVD. I bought an HD DVD player first and then about a month later got a PS3 because I didn't want to miss any Blu-ray movies. This was back in Nov/Dec of 06. Then came the Harry Knowles thing. The people on his Talkback Forum were spouting such unbeliveable FUD, and even Harry had been wrong about a few things. I thought, if this is the way people are acting, I don't want any part of it. I stuck with Blu-ray and haven't purchased an HD DVD since. Another funny thing, I had stopped reading The Digital Bits a long while ago since there wasn't really anything interesting happening with DVD, but then I rediscovered it because of your response to Harry and have been reading ever since.

[Nick Graham]

Bill, a lot of us Netflix users are having significant issues with pretty much any Blu-Ray or HD-DVD of note being constantly stuck in "Long Wait" or "Very Long Wait". If you call the Netflix helpdesk, the reps state that the studios are throttling the amount of new BDs and HDs Netflix receives in order to encourage consumers to buy as opposed to rent, as I guess Netflix purchases their movies directly from the studios. This story is starting to pick up some press (Engadget just did a story on it), but whether it is the studios causing this or Netflix, I think the more publicity it gets, especially from influential sites, the sooner it will likely be resolved.

[eat_me_cool]

Originally Posted by Nick Graham

Bill, a lot of us Netflix users are having significant issues with pretty much any Blu-Ray or HD-DVD of note being constantly stuck in "Long Wait" or "Very Long Wait". If you call the Netflix helpdesk, the reps state that the studios are throttling the amount of new BDs and HDs Netflix receives in order to encourage consumers to buy as opposed to rent, as I guess Netflix purchases their movies directly from the studios. This story is starting to pick up some press (Engadget just did a story on it), but whether it is the studios causing this or Netflix, I think the more publicity it gets, especially from influential sites, the sooner it will likely be resolved.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/16...nspiracy-nope/

Engadget debunks that theory, netflix make money by not hiring out films so who are you going to believe?

[SpaceDog]

Bill, why are you so awesome?
You're the only stalwart on the Internet who fought the good fight with Blu Ray. Although HD-DVD vs. Blu Ray wasn't the same as Divx vs. DVD, I really never understood why the internet community didn't take a similar stand.

Thank you for saying what needed to be said in spite of hostility to the contrary. I think your site is the better for it, unlike some others that for me have been tainted.

A question though? Have you heard if it's likely that Warner will give us new encodes for titles like Batman Begins and V For Vendetta, or are we stuck with more HD-DVD ports?

[MarekM]

Hello Bill a big hello from Slovakia

very long time reader of your two cents

no question now, I am sure I will ask some, just I am very glad we have you here....

Marek

[tron3]

I have been saying that Toshibia is not a studio. We do not need them. We never did. Does it help if they drop the gauntlet? Or should we just pressure Paramount and Universal to drop them at this point?

Toshiba still has a lot of fight and seems they aren't leaving until they spoken the last word. Is Toshiba still relevant to ending the war completely?

[Moefiz]

Mr.Hunt welcom to Blu-Ray.com.

In one of your article you mention that you had made a suggestion to a member of the BDA to offer some sort of compensation to the HDDvd owners to make the switch over to Bluray.I know that you had later stated that they had no plans to do this at this time.
Do you think that it will change as time goes on.

Also what are the other studios saying about Paramount and Universal still sticking with HDdvd.

Thank's for your time in advance.

[aygie]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

I actually spoke with New Line folks at CES and asked them about LOTR on Blu-ray. It's coming, but it might be a few years. You'll probably see The Hobbit on Blu-ray first, and then LOTR. They know it's the crown jewel of their catalog, and they're going to want to work with Peter Jackson to create something really special for it on Blu-ray. That will take some time.

Bill you do realize that the new threads will be minimal now that you've answered the LOTR question, tell us when star wars is coming and things will be a lot quieter round here!!

On a lighter note, i wanted to know what Blu you've been most impressed with. best PQ/AQ, upgrade from original source etc. I have to say Close encounters was good but i was shockingly surprised with the Life of Brian.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by JadedRaverLA

I don't want to pass myself off as an insider, but this gets brought up all the time. The "approaching 10% figure" is the percentage of total revenue brought in by downloaded media. The "CDs make up only 50% of music sold" is a figure that sites how many individual songs are purchased via download services vs. CD album sales... not exactly a fair comparison. But it makes Apple (and other download services) look good, so they tend to cite it.

In the end, CDs (and other physical media) still bring in over 90% of the revenue.

What he said. Thank you. Exactly.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by Beta-guy

I was wondering (and hoping) if we will see Blu-ray movies on those 100GB BD discs that were talked about a while ago.

I doubt it. There's no point. All they have to do is include 2 50GB discs, and people feel like they're getting more for their money. That was all about counter-punching the bulls--t triple-layer 51GB HD-DVD announcement Toshiba made.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by coolwavepic

Bill,

I have ordered Eyes Wide Shut on Blu-ray in the beginning of December because I couldn't find this title at any local retailer. So I ordered it online at Warner Bros. Store. Its still on back order and I have read that several Kubrick movies are on back order. Also, my Fry's Electronics seems to never get Warner movies on time. Will the dropping of HD-DVD help Warner fix these issues? Do you have any inside info on where the hell is Eyes Wide Shut?

Yes. Warner has the misfortune of switching to a new distribution software system while trying to support 3 formats at once. Ramping down to 2 will make things easier for them. I'm sure they'll have more copies as soon as they can replicate them.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by JamesN

Mr. Hunt,
What if anything can you tell us about the upcoming Blu-Ray release of Lawrence of Arabia? Will Mr. Harris be involved? Will it be a new re-mastering? Will the remaining missing footage be included?

Thanks!

I know it's coming. The plan is to get it out this year sometime I believe. That's a better question to ask of others on this forum. People from Sony frequent these forums. As for Robert, I'll ask him. But I think he posts here as well from time to time.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by UltimateFighter

Hey Bill,

Can any of your sources confirm that Border's has gone BD exclusive? I know this isn't a big deal but anything to keep the media hammering going.

Thanks!

We're trying to confirm that. I believe others are as well. I suspect you're not going to see a lot of actual retailer press statements. Instead, they're just going to slowly phase out HD-DVD product - sell it, clearance it and not restock it. The end result is the same, except that by not saying anything in a press release, retailers don't rub Toshiba's nose in it.