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

[Nick Graham]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Jack Ryan, which I'm sure they'd like to have out in time to pimp with Indy

I'll pass since they will likely scrimp on the extras. Just because we are getting Paramount back, doesn't mean they aren't still giant cheapskates. Heed the warning sign that has been lossy-only tracks on recent 90 minute-ish day and date releases from them on HD-DVD.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by sAvAgE69

Hello Bill:

Regarding your Answer you stated that there may be some other retailers thay maybe going to be going blu exclusive. would it be safe to say that the next retailers may well be planning in putting the final nails in the coffin for HD-DVD. perhaps an online retailer?, or other major vendors?


Thanks in advance Bill.

The final nails are already in the coffin. Things are moving very quickly now, and this will be completely over soon enough. The fat lady singing was Wal-Mart and Best Buy. It frankly doesn't matter what Toshiba does now, and Universal and Paramount now MUST make some kind of change in their high-def status soon, as they're backing an HD format the retail industry is no longer supporting. I wouldn't be surprised to see the white flag waving by the end of March, if not sooner.

[Blu-Beard]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

The final nails are already in the coffin. Things are moving very quickly now, and this will be completely over soon enough. The fat lady singing was Wal-Mart and Best Buy. It frankly doesn't matter what Toshiba does now, and Universal and Paramount now MUST make some kind of change in their high-def status soon, as they're backing an HD format the retail industry is no longer supporting. I wouldn't be surprised to see the white flag waving by the end of March, if not sooner.

Great news Bill

[monkyman]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

The final nails are already in the coffin. Things are moving very quickly now, and this will be completely over soon enough. The fat lady singing was Wal-Mart and Best Buy. It frankly doesn't matter what Toshiba does now, and Universal and Paramount now MUST make some kind of change in their high-def status soon, as they're backing an HD format the retail industry is no longer supporting. I wouldn't be surprised to see the white flag waving by the end of March, if not sooner.

Six weeks or sooner!! That would be sweet, thanks Bill.

[ezcobar411]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

The final nails are already in the coffin. Things are moving very quickly now, and this will be completely over soon enough. The fat lady singing was Wal-Mart and Best Buy. It frankly doesn't matter what Toshiba does now, and Universal and Paramount now MUST make some kind of change in their high-def status soon, as they're backing an HD format the retail industry is no longer supporting. I wouldn't be surprised to see the white flag waving by the end of March, if not sooner.

This is good to hear. Looks like Toshiba will have something to say soon, well that's my hope at least. It's good to know that this is over and I won't have to boycott Iron Man like I did with Cloverfield. How long do you think it would take Michael Bay to encode Transformers for BD?

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

The final nails are already in the coffin. Things are moving very quickly now, and this will be completely over soon enough. The fat lady singing was Wal-Mart and Best Buy. It frankly doesn't matter what Toshiba does now, and Universal and Paramount now MUST make some kind of change in their high-def status soon, as they're backing an HD format the retail industry is no longer supporting. I wouldn't be surprised to see the white flag waving by the end of March, if not sooner.

[Jack Torrance]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

The final nails are already in the coffin. Things are moving very quickly now, and this will be completely over soon enough. The fat lady singing was Wal-Mart and Best Buy. It frankly doesn't matter what Toshiba does now, and Universal and Paramount now MUST make some kind of change in their high-def status soon, as they're backing an HD format the retail industry is no longer supporting. I wouldn't be surprised to see the white flag waving by the end of March, if not sooner.

[MerrickG]

Well Bill,

It looks like Media Wonk Paul Sweeting is now saying HD-DVD is dead.

http://www.contentagenda.com/blog/15...680021968.html

[PeteS]

As merrick pointing to media monk said, its over and we're just waiting for the wrap up. Which brings us to the bigger arena: Blu-ray overtaking the DVD market.

Bill, I've been a visitor to your site for many years, including the early DVD days when we were striving for things like anamorphic widescreen on DVD. Can you paint a picture of how studios are planning to re-invigorate the spinning disc market and create significant Blu-ray vs DVD sales?

[Bullseye]

I would be amazed if it takes six weeks for either studio to make an announcement.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

I would be amazed if it takes six weeks for either studio to make an announcement.

No kidding, that seems like a LONGGG time to constantly answer questions about whether they are going to support bluray.

If I were them, I would just announce that I was supporting bluray and say that title announcements were forthcoming.

That doesnt take anything, they should just do it.

Back on topic:
Bill are you surprised that thet HD-DVD camp has not put out any sort of response to all this bad news?

[blindcat87]

Bill,

Because I have been reading the Bits for so long and because I have fond memories of reading the news that DIVX was dead there, I always check the Bits before going to any other site so that I have a greater chance of reading the news of the end of this war on the Bits as well.

Today, that finally happened and I want to thank you for over a decade of great reading and enjoyment. For a break in the usual questions people naturally have at this point, I want to ask you to muse for a moment on the differences you see in the end of this war as compared to the much shorter DVD vs. DIVX battle.

While I was elated by the news today, I was not at all surprised, the writing on the wall has been glaringly obvious for some time now. The end of DIVX however, totally bowled me over on the day it came. Your thoughts?

Chris

[WickyWoo]

I'll pass since they will likely scrimp on the extras. Just because we are getting Paramount back, doesn't mean they aren't still giant cheapskates. Heed the warning sign that has been lossy-only tracks on recent 90 minute-ish day and date releases from them on HD-DVD.

The Blu version should have the extras HD lacked, probably all ported from the SEs that were done a few years back. There's a reason why the set shipped with "Special Edition" on it and no extras and had to be recalled because the packaging was wrong

[hollywoodguy]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

The Blu version should have the extras HD lacked, probably all ported from the SEs that were done a few years back. There's a reason why the set shipped with "Special Edition" on it and no extras and had to be recalled because the packaging was wrong

The Jack Ryan BDs were already authored, right? Do you or Bill know whether they also have different encodes since the recalled HD DVD versions were supposedly full of DNR and EE? I fear it's in the master though...

As for the ^^^ "reason," were the original plans to release the BDs with extras and the HD DVDs bare bones? Or did they simply scratch a second HD DVD with the extras because without the BDs they figured it wasn't needed for "parity" and they could save a few bucks?

[blitz6speed]

I cannot fathom why Uni/Para would wait 6 weeks to announce? HD DVD is done, why wait? Just announce now and get to work.

[CouchPotato]

Bill,

Do you think you could start tracking on your site which of the AFI 100 are available on BD? I know there aren't a lot yet, but there are some.

Also, any ETA on a site re-design? There's wealth on information there, but not even an effective way to even search for info.

Thanks.

[jnm422]

Bill,
I said on another thread that I think this is all said and done NLT March 11. Would you say I am more or less correct?

[WickyWoo]

The Jack Ryan BDs were already authored, right? Do you or Bill know whether they also have different encodes since the recalled HD DVD versions were supposedly full of DNR and EE? I fear it's in the master though...

Paramount typically used different encodes, I don't see why this would be any different. We don't know if that EE is on the master tape though, since it was done for DVD

As for the ^^^ "reason," were the original plans to release the BDs with extras and the HD DVDs bare bones? Or did they simply scratch a second HD DVD with the extras because without the BDs they figured it wasn't needed for "parity" and they could save a few bucks?

No. Parity was planned. Various issues changed that, but since they'll obviously be dropping HD DVD, I don't think parity matters any more

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Paramount typically used different encodes, I don't see why this would be any different. We don't know if that EE is on the master tape though, since it was done for DVD



No. Parity was planned. Various issues changed that, but since they'll obviously be dropping HD DVD, I don't think parity matters any more

Ok, I dont want to crowd Bill thread with this, but are you saying that they already had a bluray version of these films in their warehouse?

If not, I would also assume that its reasonable that Transformers on blu could come relatively soon, since it more than likely also got a bluray optimized codec based on Michael Bays comments.

[Robert Siegel]

Bill, thanks for your response on The Sound of Music and the Fox musicals I asked about. I have another question on classics, and a request.

It seems Hollywoodhidef (Scott Hettrick) posted today the specs for some upcoming Fox titles including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. This will definately be their oldest film announced with specs included. I was saddened to see that there is only a Dolby Digital soundtrack. This scares me because Fox has done DTS HD/MA on every release so far, and this being their first classic, well, you know what the trend might look like after this. I realize that Butch Cassidy is a mono films (so I am not sure why Scott listed 5.1 Dolby Digital) but mono can also benifit from lossless.

You passed along the requests (and we appreciate it greatly) to Warner about Uncompressed, is there anything you can do to get word to Fox about this before they release Butch Cassidy or Sand Pebbles/Longest Day and Patton? I think I speak for everyone here who has interest in older titles that this would be an immense disappointment if Fox were to make the mistake Warner made with their older films (soundtracks in lossy only). Please, if you know someone there, tell them how important this is to us. After all, Fox's prices are the highest on the market and I would be willing to pay, but only if it includes a DTS MA or Dolby True (or PCM) track, if not, I will really consider passing on a purchase of these.

Also, would you have a postal address for Mike Dunn, I would like to personalize a letter to him on this matter. I think this is the time to act, since none of these titles is probably pressed yet and in planning stages. Thanks Bill.