CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

**kal**

I'm curious if anyone else is doing this:

Lately I'm noticing that for some of the new movies coming out only on DVD and HD-DVD that I really want to see, I've decided that I'm just just to wait until they eventually become available on Blu-ray. (6 months? 18 months?)

Here are some examples:

The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal) - Dec 11, 2007
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Universal) - Feb 5, 2008
American Gangster (Universal) - Feb 19, 2008

Errr.... there's got to be more... wait a sec...

Funny, I thought the list was going to be longer! I was sure that there was going to be at least 6-10 titles due out over the next 6 months that I was going to have to skip over. I used the list here: http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html

HD just looks so much better than SD, and I'm not buying into the dying format that is HD-DVD.

Kal

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

Kal i agree 100%

I was mad enough to spit nails when i saw the advert for american gangster.... i'll just wait for the B/R conversion

**kal** · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:16 pm Post subject:

You and I can't be the only ones doing this I would think. This is likely to help sway companies like Universal to also release Blu-ray. I'm not going to spend any money on DVD, nor do I even want to watch it on standar-def DVD. And I'm not going to buy an HD-DVD player (no matter how cheap) to buy or rent a few HD-DVD discs.

I'm really curious how well (or badly) the sales of some of the upcoming discs is going to go.

Kal

ecrabb · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:23 pm Post subject:

I'll rent or buy the movies on whichever format they're available in. I have both players, so I'll be watching American Gangster while you guys sit on your thumbs. Wink

Other than a few kids' shows and one purchased for relatives' Christmas gift, I don't think we've bought a DVD for at least 6 months.

SC

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

ecrabb · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:12 pm Post subject:

There's only a half-dozen or so on either list that I'm really excited at all about. I'm sure glad I started getting into renting instead of buying. There just don't seem to be that many movies I'm interested in owning lately.

SC

Phil Smith · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 7717

Off the top of my head, I see a few more that got good revues:

Beowulf
Michael Clayton
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

**kal** · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 8:05 pm Post subject:

Michael Clayton's available on Blu-ray. The other two are not and do sound interesting.

Kal

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

**kal** · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 8:55 pm Post subject:

Whoa. "Wanted" looks very interesting. Trailer: http://www.wantedmovie.com/

Released by Universal, in theaters June 27th. Hopefully HD-DVD will be long dead within a few months after that and Universal switched to the Dark Side. Smile

Kal

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

**kal** · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:07 pm Post subject:

Like Universal, Paramount's HD-DVD only. Likely not for long let's hope.

Paramount will likely ramp up faster as they already know how to make Blu-ray discs (having done so in the past). Universal never has so it'll likely take them longer to come up to speed with the process. The encoding may be the same, but the menus, replication, etc. is all different.

Kal

ecrabb · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:52 pm Post subject:

It shouldn't take Paramount long, actually. None of the studios themselves do the actual authoring and production. They just hand the content over to third-party production houses. So, if (yes, I said IF Wink

) Paramount decides to go to the dark side, they'll just start working with somebody who's done it already and has the capability.

Just for the record, when I said there wasn't much I was that excited about, I was referring primarily to stuff that was already out or coming soon on HDM. On the other hand, there's lots of stuff I'm excited about seeing that's either in theaters, coming to theaters soon, or hasn't been out of the theaters long and will still be months until it's released on HDM.

Dark Night and Iron Man both look cool, but haven't even hit the theater yet. Wall-E is in the same category - in theaters June.

I am Legend, Cloverfield... there's a whole slew of stuff that's just been in the theaters in the last month or two that I'm excited to see, but won't be out on disc for awhile.

I guess what I was getting at was that out of those big lists, there's surprisingly little I'm actually excited to see. 50+ HD DVD releases announced for through the end of May, and only about half a dozen I'm excited about, another half-dozen I'm like-warm on, and another 40 I couldn't care less about. The BD list is barely any better (percentage-wise). My point was, I wish Hollywood was kicking out some better stuff.

Another thing... I wish that instead of spending 300 million dollars to produce one film, maybe they could spend 100 million on three GOOD films. They're good fun, but I'm really getting tired of every other movie being a campy remake or another comic book/game/cartoon action film. Godzilla, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider Man, Batman, Iron Man, Punisher, Hitman, Transformers...my God, I could go on and on. I love the stuff, but it's getting REALLY old. I want more creative out-of-the-box stuff like Frank Miller - 300, Sin City... Quentin Tarantino - Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs... Fight Club... Memento... actual creative stories and presentations. Pi, Requiem for a Dream...

SC

MYoung · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 369 Location: Madison, WI

SC, I agree with you on renting. I have 12 HD DVDs that I bought at or near retail (got my 5 promos recently). That works out to be over $300. Ouch. I've watched most once, some twice, and some I have yet to watch (I like watching movies with guests as watching a movie alone is boring). At these prices it really makes a hell of a lot more sense to rent than own. Plus, there's still crap for content on both sides. I'm also not buying DVDs anymore. I cannot stand how soft they look on my setup compared to HD. Though the price sure it right for DVDs. Reservoir Dogs is a title I just might have to import from Europe on HD DVD though. That's one worth owning.

If HD DVD is going down in a ball of flames, it sure would be nice to see a break on the media prices. If/when that happens I'll probably start buying more. I wish I could see NPD sales figures between Blu-ray and HD DVD for this past week.

**kal** · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:51 am Post subject:

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

I, too, am not buying anymore HD DVD movies. I am old enough that I can be patient AND distracted by watching what is available on B/R.

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

I'm not buying any either, though I never really intended to. I bought a used Transformers, and I'll keep one of my 5 freebie disks (Pitch Black) so I've at least got something to watch, but right now I'm too busy to justify joining a rental deal to get a steady source of HDDVDs. I got Blade Runner for Christmas and I'm tempted to see if Amazon will take it back. My mom was going to get me Planet Earth but maybe I'll hold off on that. Much as I want HDDVD to beat BD, it's pretty clear it ain't gonna happen.

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

I'm sure BR looks dyno on HDDVD too. Smile

Yeah, I'm ebaying the other freebies, which will mean I've got maybe $50 invested in my player and just a couple of disks, so I won't be hurt if/when HDDVD goes south. But with the only decent BD player (PS3) still running at $400, it'll probably be a while before I jump. I'll just rent HDDVDs for a while.

ecrabb · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 4:50 pm Post subject: