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

[sj001]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

OKAY... THIS IS CONFIRMED:

Just spoke with Warner Home Video. Both V for Vendatta and The Perfect Storm WILL have English Dolby TrueHD audio on the U.S. Blu-ray versions. Press releases will be updated shortly.

Great news! Thanks. Though I wish Warner would be like everyone else and just COMMIT to any future disc being up to par like everyone else.

[neo_reloaded]

Originally Posted by Moonraker

Any reason why Warner (prev New Line) announced Be Kind Rewind for DVD only.

Also was there a reason why Rescue Me Season 4 is DVD only. I kinda feel like a sucker for buying Season 3 on Blu.

I'm really interested in these two questions as well. I'm hoping Blu-ray announcements for them are coming (especially Rescue Me season 4 considering season 3 is already on Blu-ray), but it looks less and less likely as each day passes.

[treyw00]

hey bill im sure you get this alot, but are there any more rumblings from paramount? last i saw you said in the coming weeks...hoping i don't hear that one again

[MerrickG]

Bill,

Is there any chance of the CSI (or NCIS) series coming to bluray? I read a while back that they intended to bring it to HD-DVD.

Obviously thats not going to happen.

[bajor27]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

Bill, I just got your new "The End" shirt, and I love it!
You guys should all look into these, its great!

Excellent work on it. I am looking into my own line of shirts and was wondering where you had yours made? Thanks again.

I just ordered this shirt. I can't wait to receive it. Hope it helps you over at the Bits Bill. You deserve it - you do so much for us.

[blitz6speed]

Bill

Ive "heard" that Universal is going with a all new authoring house for their discs and will be starting from scratch. It has been implied that all new encodes for every release will be happening. If this is so, can you let Universal know how commited Blu-ray customers are to having lossless audio on EVERY disc? And if they'll be switching to AVC or sticking to VC-1? Thanks.

[WickyWoo]

Ive "heard" that Universal is going with a all new authoring house for their discs and will be starting from scratch. It has been implied that all new encodes for every release will be happening. If this is so, can you let Universal know how commited Blu-ray customers are to having lossless audio on EVERY disc? And if they'll be switching to AVC or sticking to VC-1? Thanks.

They will not be re-encoding every movie. Just retransferring/recompressing the ones that were awful

[AaronSCH]

Bill,

Is there any word from MGM/Fox regarding a 40th anniversary edition of The Beatles' Yellow Submarine (1968) in the works? The original DVD release was non-anamorphic and I was hoping its annversary would be a perfect opportunity for a re-release on DVD or even a Blu-ray edition.

Aaron

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

They will not be re-encoding every movie. Just retransferring/recompressing the ones that were awful

Oh, so almost every movie?

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

I'm looking into it...

::Fingers Crossed::

[kaliraver]

Thanks for the clarification about V for Vendetta have a True-HD track for the US BD release. Bill I have and many others want to know if the limited edition Batman Boxset will include the "regular" blu-ray case inside of the limited edition boxset? If you could find out from Warner that would make a lot more people purchase the boxset instead of the regular edition.

[jd213]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

They will not be re-encoding every movie. Just retransferring/recompressing the ones that were awful

Does this include Battlestar Galactica?

[krinkle]

Originally Posted by Grubert

2. Big studios should stop snubbing their smaller new releases
As a film lover (of the less mainstream and more arthouse side), it angers me that Fox sees it fit to release Alvin and the Chipmunks on BD, but not the latest Wes Anderson movie, The Darjeeling Limited. Same thing for New Line's Rendition or Warner's Otis. Sony is doing the best job with that.

I really second the sentiment expressed in this post by Grubert.

Sony has been the only studio to put some effort into getting tier2, art house, and classic films onto Blu-ray.

Now that we have one format with every studio supporting it, I have been underwhelmed by the number of titles announced. I really hope they (the studios) shift into high gear for Q3 & Q4.

[WickyWoo]

Does this include Battlestar Galactica?

I'm not aware of BSG being on HD DVD

If you mean that space show they show on Fridays on Sci-Fi, it looks awful on the master. Dark+early 1080i cameras+"gritty"=not so great to begin with.

[jd213]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

I'm not aware of BSG being on HD DVD

http://www.amazon.com/Battlestar-Gal.../dp/B000V5IPA6

If you mean that space show they show on Fridays on Sci-Fi, it looks awful on the master. Dark+early 1080i cameras+"gritty"=not so great to begin with.

That doesn't excuse the compression artifacts it reportedly has.

[frank_t]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

I'm not aware of BSG being on HD DVD

If you mean that space show they show on Fridays on Sci-Fi, it looks awful on the master. Dark+early 1080i cameras+"gritty"=not so great to begin with.

haha! i can't tell if you like the new BSG or not from the above comments

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

Hey Bill, not to be contradictory, but all of the info I am getting says it is not going to be redone until a DC or EE is put onto Blu-ray. I was told about a month ago, so I could very well be late to the party if circumstances have changed...

DC or EE?

[Simplayer]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

DC or EE?

Director's cut or Extended Edition would be my guess.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Simplayer

Director's cut or Extended Edition would be my guess.

Of course.

If he had said SE, then it would have clicked.

With how poor the Warner releases can be, I was worried that second one was Edge Enhancement, and was wondering whether to start a movement to have the entire Warner video group committed.

Gary

[AlexanderG]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

Hey Bill, not to be contradictory, but all of the info I am getting says it is not going to be redone until a DC or EE is put onto Blu-ray. I was told about a month ago, so I could very well be late to the party if circumstances have changed...

Sounds logical for Batman (although disappointing), but what about the fate of V for Vendetta, Matrix Trilogy, Constantine, Dukes of Hazard, and the rest of the held off Warner releases? Is the decision to re encode going to be done on a title by title basis, or are we just going to have to wait until a new edition (one that doesn't exist on HD-DVD) is released for all of these movies?

Also, what about a title such as Troy (Theatrical Cut)? In this bizarre situation, 2 editions were released on HD-DVD, and Blu Ray was fortunate enough to receive the Director's Cut edition. Does Warner intend on bringing the theatrical cut to Blu Ray, and would the second release of this title on the format warrant a re encode? I preferred the theatrical release's color timing, score, and omission of certain scenes to the Director's Cut, but it was pretty soft in comparison to the DC. God knows this title needs a re encode just as bad as Batman Begins does... They both shared a whopping average bitrate of 12 mbps.