HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on February 19th, 2008
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Feb 18th 2008 9:58AM
posted Feb 18th 2008 9:58AM
So it seems that our favorite battle between Red and Blu is all but over, as long as titles are released for each format we'll be here to sum 'em up for you. And of all the weeks for HD DVD to fall like a house of cards, what an interesting one for it to happen, with one of the two remaining hot exclusives for HD DVD hitting the shelves. The number one movie this week is easily Universal's American Gangster with a stifling IMDB score of 8.2 placing it in the IMDB top 250 at number 166 -- that's the first time a movie was released on either format while making the list. Meanwhile on Blu-ray, Warner brings Michael Clayton which is no slump and will be available on HD DVD in about three weeks also. Finally, Warner catches up a title on Red (officially) with The Invasion, but based on how poorly it sold on Blu, we're not expecting it to make much of a dent in the Nielsen numbers. Looking ahead to next week, HD DVD's remaining hot exclusive on the calendar hits the street as Beowulf and while IMDB didn't think much of it, overall we expect it to be a hot commodity for Red.HD DVD 389 vs Blu-ray 451*
Blu-ray
- Deep Purple: Live at Montreux 2006 (Eagle Rock)
- In the Valley of Elah (Warner)
- Michael Clayton (Warner)
- Night of the Werewolf/Vengeance of the Zombies (BCI)
- Run Lola Run (Sony)
- Santana: Hymns for Peace - Live at Montreux 2004 (Eagle Rock)
- Yes: Live at Montreux 2003 (Eagle Rock)
- American Gangster (Universal)
- Galaxina (BCI)
- The Invasion (Warner)
dont forget about Bee Movie. thats a hot exclusive.
Good point.
It's kinda sad that American Gangster was supposed to be a premier release for HD-DVD yet they couldn't even put a hi-res audio track on it! Where's the TrueHD Audio??
* quote
Jay
It's kinda sad that American Gangster was supposed to be a premier release for HD-DVD yet they couldn't even put a hi-res audio track on it! Where's the TrueHD Audio??
=================================================================
If it ends up being another 'reference' audio track without TrueHD (as Transformers did) then what's the big deal?
The ill-informed spec-sheet jockeys mightn't like it but if Dolby Digital Plus is done right & there is no actual audible difference (which, you know, is only what Dolby say.....but what would they know with their professional sound stage kit etc etc, right?) the why would anyone cry about this?
(and before the issue of space is brought up Transformers had 5gbs space on the disc, there was room on the disc for Dolby TrueHD, it would just have been pointless)
Worse than the audio, the gimped HD DVD only has the extended version on the DVD side.
Doesn't matter now... better off just buying/renting the DVD until the BLU version comes out.
Bee Movie? Really? I thought it did poorly at the Box Office.
In any rate, it'll probably be a "hot exclusive" for all of six months, once Paramount announces a return to publishing both formats (which could happen as early as this week).
ratatouille has 8.3 on IMDB and it was released on blu-ray.
"American Gangster with a stifling IMDB score of 8.2 placing it in the IMDB top 250 at number 166 -- that's the first time a movie was released on either format while making the list."
YOU'RE WRONG.
Right, but did it when it was released on Blu-ray? Cause that is what I'm talking about.
OMG where are "Truth" Teller and nfinity!?
I hope they haven't done something drastic...like you know a kamakaze attack on sony HQ...
Ok, I'll play Nfinity to satisfy his "fans" .
starting insanity:
"Ah AH !! In your FACE Blu Ray!
with Toshiba showing strong suport, and Universal and Paramount releaseing the best films of the year, no, the decade!!!, the Nielsen ratio will easily show what we had been suspecting all along, with sales favoring HD DVD 90:10 easily!
with HD DVD players selling like hot cakes, you can expect HD DVD to be the sole format by end of Mai.
then Warner will have no choice but to apologize and go back to Red exclusive, which is what they wanted to do anyway!
I also have from a good source that Sony, MGM, Disney and Fox are all going red exclusive next week, because they are just tired to have to deal with the kiddy console people!!!
Oh and Microsot is releasing a VC-125.6 within a few weeks, where you can encode with a 1000000:1 ratio! You can put 54 Terabytes on 1 layer of HD DVD!! in YOUR FACE!
HD DVD forever!!!! "
/end of insanity
I don't know people on these boards, and certainly not enough to be able to mimic one of their posting styles, but I can honestly say I can't wait for a response from that person.
TruthTeller - There is no such thing as a "reference" DD-Plus audio track. "Reference" and "compressed" do not go together. TrueHD is a lossless audio format that is the definition of Reference. There is a huge difference between these 2 formats with a decent audio setup.
@ Jay
Sure there is, of course.
You know better than Dolby & your "decent audio setup" is better than Dolby's multi-zillion $ professional sound stage kit.
Utterly laughable.
Another badge fetishist & spec-sheet jockey who claims to know it all.
TruthTeller - I'm looking on Dolby's site now. Where does it say DD-Plus is just as good as TrueHD Audio?? And by the way, I could care less what the "spec sheet" says. I care about how it sounds and looks and if you say there is no difference then obviously you have never experienced good uncompressed audio on HDM or your have some $10 PC speakers hooked up to your 360 with the external HD-DVD drive. The fan noise is probably so loud you can't hear anything to begin with.
Dolby podcast is your friend.
http://cdn.libsyn.com/hdtvpodcast/HDTV-2007-11-02.mp3
The relevant part is 24 minutes in.
Dolby say that, whilst DolbyTrueHD is bit-for-bit identical to the PCM master, DD+ should sound 'transparent to the original' (eg. identical to our ears).
They also say the Transformers DD+ is soundtrack is possibly the best sounding high def disc.
Just because some people report a slightly louder audio sound when selecting lossless does not mean (once levels are adjusted) that you kit is playing anything 'better' at all.
(and I wonder how many red faces there are out there now that we've had a little reminder about Blu-ray audio & SPDIF?
LMAO)
Most of the time TrueHD sounds better than DD+. The only time I'll accept DD+ as being "reference" quality is with Transformers, where every independent reviewer I've read and Dolby themselves say the sound is awesome.
I don't have transformers myself to say it's the best thing they've heard, but a ton of people have said that, and its accepted now as canon. I think it's silly to argue that point.
I wonder how many PS3 owners come here & talk sh!t about uncompressed audio etc etc?
The truth is that when you are using optical links the Blu-ray format will just use the hidden Dolby Digital track to output (or a DTS core) for the SPDIF output, regardless of the audio track selection.
Not even Dolby Digital plus.
I have an A35 and a Onkyo 805 and I do care that pos HD DVD American Gangster can't do lossless and that the extended version isn't on the HD side. You're so busy QQ against people with PS3's with that wikipedia knowledge of yours, you don't call HD DVD on some of its half ass releases.
Lossless means nothing to the vast majority.
The extended version?
Big deal.
I preferred the theatrical release myself, it might annoy the pedant but it's no loss at all IMO
(and in fact it's no loss at all, you get the extended version too).
Truthteller - I'm not even sure who you are supporting now. First you dismiss Blu-ray for every reason possible and now you dismiss HD-DVD features as silly and not needed. Why don't you just stick with DVD if you don't care about picture and sound quality?? I have both a HD-XA2 and a PS3 and I do care about these things. And yes I do know how to connect my PS3 to get uncompressed audio. You act like it's some secret that uncompressed audio doesn't work over an optical digital connection. Duh.
Jay, you shouldn't be so 'either or' about it.
Lossless audio is nice to have but certainly not vital - and not having it doesn't make Dolby Digital Plus utter crap, it's still an extremely high standard of audio
(that most people don't even have the kit for).
@ TT
QUOTE:
"The extended version? Big deal.
I preferred the theatrical release myself, it might annoy the pedant but it's no loss at all IMO
(and in fact it's no loss at all, you get the extended version too)."
It amazes me how you so blindly defend the obvious lameness of AG's HD DVD version. THe extended version SHOULD have been on the HD side at the very least. After all, aren't HD DVD owners paying a premium over the DVD version? It's no wonder they got trounced by BD. Thank goodness we will have a format that will actually do HD right.
LMAO at your blind fangirlishness.
Yes...quite interesting how many "final" nails were driven into the HD DVD coffin (not to mention unofficial "official" pullouts) the weekend before the American Gangster release...
Seriously, at this point it'd be nice to have it over with but it won't happen faster by lying about it.
I saw commercials for American Gangster last night and I found it interesting that the voiceover said "Coming to DVD on Tuesday," not "Coming to DVD and HD DVD on Tuesday." The graphic at the end of the commercial had both logos, but the voiceover didn't mention the HD version at all. Interesting.
You're right. I heard/saw that last night too and was wondering the same. Again, this is another example, and probably one of the main ones, why HD-DVD has failed miserably all along; their crappy marketing.
They have the same thing for Michael Clayton.
ahhhhh, how my blu ray lineup will shine on my 120hz Samsung.
American Gangster (HD DVD) is going to be a must-buy for me. I saw the movie in theaters and absolutely loved it.
Well as a fan, you get to enjoy the extended version on the DVD side only... but since HD DVD players are great at upconverting, it should look just as good as the HD DVD side.