Blu-Ray Best Of The Best - for discussing releases only

[sj33]

Somewhat annoying to hear that Tale of Two Sisters is region locked, it means I will have to obtain a US version for my region A player. Clearly Pallisades Tartan's UK division do not want my money.

I've been eagerly awaiting some East Asian horror films on Blu-Ray, it's surprising it's taken this long. That said, the Japanese companies are much slower on the HD uptake than the Korean companies (hell, letterboxing was still the norm until recently).

[JP]

I've been reading a insiders thread on blu-ray.com hosted by Hugh K. David of Palisades Tartan & he mentions that region locking is not always something they are able to choose.

As regards titles, all suggestions gratefully received. Where we have licenses for both the US and UK, there is obviously good reason to consider BD releases in both territories, but when it comes down to it, we are bound by the requirements of licensors as well - if we're required to region lock, then we can hardly refuse the legal owners of the intellectual property. Also, where a title is UK only, we may have to lock if someone else owns the US rights. I imagine this might happen with titles like Audition and Versus, for example, if they ever get considered for BD release.

He mentions in another post that it's their advantage to make them region free when ever they are allowed to.

[sj33]

Yeah maybe, I was a tad harsh in my critisism. Japanese companies are the most anal about region locking, and while I don't know about Korean companies (in the case of Tale of Two Sisters), it wouldn't surprise me if they follow suit. Good to hear that they themselves are aware of the drawbacks of region protection from a business perspective, though.

I'm not aware of many notable Japanese movies receiving a Blu-Ray release in Japan yet, so we might be in for a bit of a wait for the likes of Audition. I don't know how Tartan do things these days, but they rely on the Japanese companies to provide them with a source with their DVD releases, which is why Tartan DVDs always looked so bad - it wasn't their fault, I don't think I've ever seen a well-encoded Japanese DVD.

[JP]

I do think it's a shame and Criterion have some films that have made me seriously consider buying a US PS3 to watch but due to them usually having limited licensing agreements with the studios they've all been locked so far.

Have a quick flick through that as he's gone in to some detail in it and mentions that their priority at the moment is to publish films that already have a HD master available. It makes sense that they want to get their HD division up and running before investing in producing their own masters I suppose.

He's asking what films people want and also whether what people think of things such as having seasons of shows in SD on blu ray instead of boxes of DVDs which they come on now. Not something I'm really interested in but it's good to see that they're really thinking about how they approach the format.

[Richie_uk]

My Star Trek blu has shipped !

[Malc]

One of the best films ever; Heat is finally released on Blu Ray tomorrow.

[dvdmike]

Got mine sat morning

[60-hz]

Please can someone tell me when Pixars Up is getting released in the UK.. Cant find any info anywhere.

Seems the US release is locked also

[Number45]

Mine just shipped along with Monsters, Inc.

Other than that I can't help you I'm afraid, have to assume it hasn't been announced yet for the UK. :/

[Mad Gear]

Got my 4 disc UP last week, fantastic movie. I thought it was easily better than Wall-E.

[Lyris]

I still liked Wall-e a little better, but Up was hardly bad either.
I want to watch CARS again too, haven't seen that in ages and don't think it got what it deserved.

[teddymeow]

Season 2 of Terminator: SCC is out next week. Can't wait!

There's a few decent Blu-ray out soon that I can't wait to buy: North By Northwest - my absolute fave Hitchcock (and Cary Grant) film, Star Trek, Transformers 2, Terminator Salvation.

They should all look sweet in HD!!

[Lyris]

North By Northwest is one of my favorites too. It looks great.

[JP]

There doesn't seem to be that many Hitchcock films available on blu-ray over here, I quite surprised that they haven't been released as a set over here.

On the subject of classics, I'm not sure if anybody else is really interested in it but I bought It's a Wonderful Life on Monday. I've not got around to trying it yet though.

Has anybody watched The Wizard of Oz yet? It's not exactly a favourite of mine but I know a couple of family members who would love to get it. I'd be tempted to buy it for them if it didn't have the ugliest cover art in history.


I think I'd rather pay a little more to import the far more restrained US edition.

[teddymeow]

Play.com have North By Northwest in stock now for the absolutely bargaintabulous price of £11.99! Fingers crossed it'll arrive for my next day off on Monday!

EDIT: Does anybody know if the UK Ghost In The Shell 2.0 and Ghost In The Shell Innocence are region free?