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

[Lyris]

Unlike Pan's Labyrinth which I've just put on now. Thought I'd check to see what sort of figures it was pushing out due to all the blurring, as soon as I put it on it showed 43Mps which is about the highest I've seen!!

Does anybody know if this is being released by other publishers in other places as I think this is really screaming out for a pure picture?

The bit-rate and amount of detail in the picture aren't that closely related, but I agree, if you're looking at the Optimum UK BD of Pan's Labyrinth, it's really disappointing. Film grain reduction, why oh why...

And yes, New Line will be bringing out a US version soon, I think.

[JP]

The bit-rate and amount of detail in the picture aren't that closely related, but I agree, if you're looking at the Optimum UK BD of Pan's Labyrinth, it's really disappointing. Film grain reduction, why oh why...

I am and I don't think it's that much of an improvement over DVD to be honest!

I'm going to resist complaining now though as I've not seen it before and it's been excellent so far! I'll keep my complaining until it's over.

And yes, New Line will be bringing out a US version soon, I think.

December 26th it seems, hopefully they'll do a better job of that one! Also, I'm really hoping that they stick to the Warner procedure of not region locking their films!

Have NewLine released any blu-rays themselves and were they locked or not?

[dvdmike]

New line will only lock movies if EIV are releasing the movie after them, So if Shoot Em' Up comes out here on BRD in april and is out in the US in Jan then it will be locked

[JP]

Just been looking online, it seems that they've only released Hairspray so far and that was locked on both the A & B region discs even though they both came out in November!

[Angry the Clown]

Just been looking online, it seems that they've only released Hairspray so far and that was locked on both the A & B region discs even though they both came out in November!

There are other territories Hairspray has still not been released in on home video though, hence the coding. The back of the box for New Line?s release of Pan?s Labyrinth has an ?A? on it? but then so does the back of the box for the HD DVD version in error, so until people try the US disc in Region B players I don?t think anybody will really know for certain. Since the HD DVD version can't be coded I'd be surprised if the Blu-ray release was actually locked.

Their US disc of Hairspray seemed to get good reviews for its A/V, though in fairness I've not been made aware of any reviews from those with better knowledge and a more critical eye to determine whether there are any signs of filtering and so on.

[dvdmike]

I thought Hairspray looked great on my mates display in 1080p its filtered a little for the look of the film, but looked great to me (I don't have the better knowledge0

[JP]

It seems that Germany may of had a version published by Senator Home Entertainment in August.

Anybody know anything about the quality of this version?

EDIT:

Yesterday at High-Def 2.0, studios announced some upcoming Blu-ray titles. Sony Pictures will bring 'Dogma' to Blu-ray on Februrary 12th and 'Run Lola Run' a week later on February 19th. 'The Guns of the Navarone' and 'A Passage to India' will come soon after, with 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Bridge on the River Kwai' later in the year.

Fox announced that they will bring upcoming theatrical titles like 'Juno', 'Hitman', 'Horton Hears a Who' and 'Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium' to Blu-ray, along with many new catalog titles.

Disney confirmed that both 'Finding Nemo' and 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', both due for Spring release, will feature PiP video.

Lawrence of Arabia & Finding Nemo!!! My life is now complete!!!

Title Announcements at High-Def 2.0

[RLench]

I just checked a few more Blurays that came in the post today:

Dracula - grainy but a very stylish presentation. Impressive, IMO

Seven Years In Tibet - pin-sharp and incredibly accurate

Oh and I've just counted how many Bluray films I have...I've broken the "50 Discs" barrier Still to come are Identity, Life Of Brian, and the Ocean's trilogy

[JP]

It seems that Warner are getting involved in all this cheap blu-ray malarkey as well now!

Yesterday we reported on Warner's new BOGO sale currently being offered at Amazon.com. As of today (05/12/07), Amazon has updated this BOGO offering with additional Warner titles. Among the new titles is the blockbuster 300 and other popular favorites such as Troy, Goodfellas, the Best of Blu-ray Sets and more.

Warner/Amazon.com BOGO Blu-ray Sale


Must resist...

[Angry the Clown]

They're worth taking advantage of if you can (though there is some risk of being hit by customs as Amazon still note the full price before discount on the package). Such offers won’t be so common next year as their purpose is really to try and encourage new users this season to get into buying catalogue titles and understand that they can look great in HD too. I'm impressed that similar deals have crossed the Atlantic actually.

[JP]

Angry, have you heard anything about the German Senator Home Entertainment edition of Pan's Labyrinth was like compared to the UK version?

I'm really hoping that Germany got lucky as they did with Silent Hill and ended up with the better quality version.

[RLench]

I'm watching CE3K now and it's really impressive Considering its age and it's not really the sort of film that should look impressive...it looks fantastic. Some of the desert shots at the beginning look perfect. Even though I only said it about Halloween yesterday, CE3K is now the most impressive transfer for an 'oldie' I've ever seen!

And it's such an amazing film as well An essential purchase, IMHO

[JP]

After spending 12 minutes trying to work out what the feck CE3K is and how it's managed to avoid me for so long...I have to really agree with you about this!

It was one of the films that I saw as a kid that ended up somehow becoming a special film for me.

I've resisted watching this so far as I really want to be completely undisturbed when watching it. Also, you people have forced me to buy so many films lately that I'd rather just stick one of those on and keep this.

I did have a quick test to see what sort of quality it was and I was so impressed with the quality of the film.

I'm hoping that Lawrence of Arabia holds up as well when it's released this Easter. The thought of that really gives me the shivers in the same way that 2001 on blu-ray does!

If a good quality blu-ray releases of Der Himmel über Berlin & Faraway, So Close follow later I could really ask nothing more of blu-ray.

[RLench]

Who is releasing Lawrence Of Arabia? Is it Sony? If so then there's no need to worry...CE3K has proven they know how to treat their old films with respect.

I'd forgotten about it, but CE3K is pretty scary. No way it should be a PG movie, IMO. It's reminded me of Signs (or, rather, Signs rips off a lot of CE3K) in a lot of ways, especially the scenes where the aliens try and get into the house. Signs is a 15; CE3K is a PG...one of them has a FAR better atmsophere than the other Guess which one is scarier?

Answer:

->Open Spoiler<-

It isn't Signs!

[JP]

It's on it's way from Sony!

I remember reading that they used a split screen version using clips of the film when they first started taking blu-ray to the shows.

I wish I could find it now but I read about how fantastic it looked all that time ago.

I'm not really sure how much hands on Spielberg had with CE but he seems to have been fairly heavily involved in it from what I've read about it.

It's difficult to imagine that Sony would mess up LoA after using it as a HD demo and because of what a major catalogue title it is. Also, I'm sure they know that if they do mess it up that I will be collecting names and numbers from Lyris and seeking slow, methodical revenge on everybody even slightly involved in HD at Sony!!!