The Ultimate Matrix Collection to make Blu-ray debut on October 14th
By Darren Murph 
posted Jul 24th 2008 7:22PM
posted Jul 24th 2008 7:22PM
[Thanks, Alex]
posted Jul 24th 2008 7:22PM
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i'd have to agree i picked it up from amazon long before toshiba threw in the towel for $45.
An $85 premium for the superior transfer and loads of extra features you'll get with Blu-ray. Oh wait, it will be the exact same transfer as HD DVD with a few hours of extra stuff most people won't watch anyway.
You don't find it sad that you keep refreshing EngadgetHD all day waiting for Blu-ray posts so you can make fun of a technology that doesn't hurt anything by being around and only offers benefits over what we already have?
I think it's time to rethink your life.
Anyways, good to see the Matrix on Blu-ray. Should be awesome (and much cheaper once the stores actually list the real prices).
I bet it's the same extras that were on the DVD release.
Finally, I've been waiting for this one. Now, where do I place my pre-order?
And I thought $60 was a rip.
130$????????? I paid 60 bux for the HD-DVD edition. Well I guess I got an even better deal a year ago then I thought :)
I guarantee you I'll be able to pick this up around $60 when it comes out on Blu-ray. This is MSRP. Almost nobody follows that.
Nfinity... Actually Amazon always takes AT LEAST 30% off new BD releases, already giving this title an $84 price tag MAX. So yeah, I don't see that $60 price tag to be too much of a stretch.
Amazon will sell this for practically 50% off the price.
This is why HD DVD has been so great for so many.
I'm so glad I got my copy of this @ £19.99 = $40 on HD DVD.
It's a fantastic transfer and the audio is 2nd to none
(I'd bet the house that it's the same transfer).
I really don't get why some of the Blu-ray 'support' say they can't see this.
By all means go dual if you have to but what sort of nutter is it that claims to be into high def & passes up and slams a media disc type with a catalogue of approx 450 high def English language movies with current prices starting @ around £2.99/$6 (including free P&P), eh!?
It's better to pay $130? How?
If you are so in love with Blu-ray then get yourself an HD DVD drive of some sort (the XBox 360 HD DVD add-on is perfect) and rip the movies to your PC & write them to a BD -R or -RE disc
(if your Blu-ray stand alone will let you easily play blank BD media).
The blank discs will cost several times the price of the HD DVDs.
Sometimes a 'dead' disc format is just what the consumer benefits most from.....but it's only the type of disc that is 'dead', the movie format itself is very much alive and can be transferred to other media very simply.
I now have almost 150 high def (mostly) classics (to go with my 600+ SD movies) and I'm buying a few more foreign unusual ones, but that'll do me for now.
Overall it's cost me pennies compared to any possible Blu-ray alternative.
Behold, the greatness of HDDVD....
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html
By the way, the original MSRP of the HD-DVD version was $120. WOW! Huge savings!
Funny... Amazon.com lists the HD DVD for this set at $119.99 (http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Matrix-Collection-HD-DVD/dp/B000OONTFU/ref=pd_bbs_6?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1216952068&sr=8-6). That and you only get 5 discs.
The Blu-ray Disc is $10 more with two extra discs. And more than likely they are all BD 50 discs, meaning more content and better value.
I love being a smart consumer! BD for teh wins!!1
Same... I got this for 39.99 at the clearance box at future shop a while back... Same goes for most hd-dvds. I got all the harry potters for 9.99 each and blade runner collectors set for 11.99!! Its a shame that hd-dvd had to fade out.
To all those wondering why i'm buying dirt cheap hd-dvds? Its because they are dirt cheap and usually have everything the same, some hd-dvds also have a dolby truehd track vs, just 5.1 on the blu-ray version, I have an HD-A3, an hd-dvd drive laptop, and my recently purchased LG bh200 for 329.99... Thats 3 players I can use hd-dvd's on. I have my collection right in front of my living room tv right next to blu-rays although its like 85 hd-dvds to like 11 blu-rays. I cant justify paying 20-30 for some blu-ray discs, when i can buy the hd-dvd versions for half the price...
bwahahaha. Sorry, the Matrix trilogy is not worth 120 bucks.
I don't think it's worth anything... on ANY format. What a load of crap the ending was.
All I want is the first movie. Except for a few scenes here and there, the rest isn't very good. So, I'll wait for the singles.
EXACTLY what I was going to say.
There is only one "Matrix" movie in my mind. The others are nothing but ego-inflated Wachowski brothers excrement.
I feel the same way about "V for Vendetta". The cliches are unbearable and the movie is just awful...unless except for someone so shallow that it *seems* deep and dramatic.
um competing standards is a bad thing. its better for competition to have only 1 format. and prices have come down, and you can get movies for under $10 in many cases. Oh and hddvd did a lot of pay offs it was like 200 million or so for paramount so whatever. (sure it wasnt a one lump sum payment, but they paid many people off as well)
just because hddvd lost , ou should give up and go blu. its the only quality HD standard available.
It's not expensive. I haven't paid more than new release DVD price for any of my 30+ Blu-rays. Nothing over $20. And it's not hard at all if you are a decently smart shopper (Walmart has a great selection of $15 Blu-rays if you think it's only Amazon). And if you do think they are too expensive, then quit crying and don't buy it. If the current price of $300 or so for a player and $20 - $25 for movies are too expensive for you, then I don't think you're primary concern should be buying Blu-rays or any entertainment technology for that matter. Besides, this set cost $100 when it came out on DVD a few years back. This MSRP isn't that outrageous.
And if players are $200-$250 by the holidays (solid players are already down to $300-$350), then Blu-ray will be at that point before DVD was in it's lifespan. The PS2 at $300 was still considered a great deal for a DVD player alone over year after it came out in 2001, over 4 years after the debut of DVD.
But the MSRP was not that high on the HD-DVD release. The Complete Edition was MSRP $99.99, and I got it at Best Buy by making them price match Frys for $64.99.
Unfortunately that's an apples to oranges comparison as this is the ultimate edition, not just the trilogy packaged together. The HD-DVD release of the ultimate edition did have an MSRP of $120.
I just want the 3 movies; I have no interest in any of the collections that include all the extra crap that i'll never watch.
If you like the story from the 3 movies, you should really give the Animatrix disc a look. I got really, really bored one day and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed that particular extra.
But I'm still not a fan of behind-the-scenes footage. It's almost always the same: green screen + wires + computers. It gets redundant and can take away some of the fantasy of watching the movie, in my opinion.
I will get the first movie and that's all, the other two are fine on DVD...
So, when the prices are to high, all of a sudden DVD is miraculously good enough, is that hypocrisy I smell???
No such luck Gussy, the latter two movies just plain sucked, that's all. I've said before and you can look it up, that movies that I don't plan to buy on Blu-ray that I already have on DVD are good enough. There are a few that I will however spring for that are worth it to have doubled up. So far I have repurchased a handful of movies in blu-ray format that I already had in DVD. When the Band of Brothers comes out, there will be more double dippin', same with Starwars and Lord of the Rings. I will not however double dip for crap no matter....hence, I will buy the first movie but not the latter. Is that clear enough for you, Nancy?
They sucked in the cinema, they sucked on DVD and they'll suck in HD too. Bad movies are not magically transformed into good movies from going HD.
WB is probably bundling the whole trilogy together because they know that many people who are only interested in the first movie might buy the boxed set instead.
Awesome. I was waiting for this.
To everyone whining about the price in comparison to HD-DVD, the MSRP for the HD-DVD set upon release was $120 (see: http://dvd.ign.com/articles/775/775319p1.html) $10 difference. Man, BD is really screwing us aren't they? If you think it's overpriced, don't buy it, or wait for the price to drop as it surely will after the 08 holidays.
The only reason it's so cheap now on HD-DVD seems fairly obvious to me. HD-DVD is definitely a good deal now that everyone knows there will never be any more movies produced in the format and is trying to get rid of all their players/movies. That doesn't make it a cheaper technology, just a dead one, and for some people, a smart buy. But that doesn't make BD crap. To each his own... but that would be too logical/civil for the internet, wouldn't it ;-)
I'm organizing a mortgage for my set now!
Wow, you must have no money.
Poor you.
pretty cool how the animatrix is in HD on this release. Count me in!
I was about to say, post, but it seems finally someone else did before me, that all of you who got it on HD-DVD for these low low prices forget to mention it was ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DOLLARS when it came out on HD-DVD, and that all of you bought it on HD-DVD at fire sale prices. Nice spin as always.
Additionally, no where does it say if its the same old encode or not, AND the Animatrix is in HD, unlike the DVD resolution copy that was in the HD-DVD version of the collection.
So there's your price difference right there. $10 And for something of worth. I'll gladly pay that $10 for a part of the Matrix experience that was equally important as the movies themselves to be in high def. That's why you cared to buy these movies again over the DVDs in the first place.
Umm...Why is it 7 discs? can't the ohh so great Blu-ray hold 50gb of data
Good question. I'd imagine it has more or higher video quality special features than the HD-DVD release, since it's obviously not for capacity reasons.
same reason all the Pirates of the Carribbean movies shipped on 2 discs... it's all about the marketing department thinking consumers are stupid enough to fall for their whoe "valued added" schtick.
Doesn't the HD DVD version use both sides of the disc? There are no combo discs in this version so all of the supplemental features that were on the DVD side for the HD DVD version have most likely been put onto two stand alone DVDs other than what could be fit onto the Blu-Ray sides.
@Nfinity
It's a little premature to be making that assumption, seeing as we don't really know a whole lot about final specs at this point. What we do know from the box art however, is that The Animatrix is included at HD quality in this release, as opposed to the HD-DVD release where it was SD. In addition this release includes a digital download for use on the iPod. (Hence the extra $10 perhaps?) So there is definitely the potential that other extras could have been upgraded to HD for this release, and/or additional extras could have been included.
Actually there is more than the HDDVD version. Two of the discs are regular DVD's with additional extras and digital copies of at least the first movie (and maybe the other two as well) so you can take them on the go with your iPod, PSP, etc. And if Warner makes good on their promise about stepping it up for Blu-ray on "HDDVD ports", the bitrates may be higher as well.
And if the HDDVD was MSRP $120 and it was sold for $60, then duh, the Blu-ray version can just as easily be close to the actual sale price. Your double standard doesn't work. You act like the Blu-ray MSRP is the only price, where as the HDDVD had a similar MSRP but was better because it sold cheaper. And you also need to acknowledge the fact that Blu-ray is still relevant (and becoming more so) and therefore naturally carries more value (supply, demand, you know, Econ 101).
Actually, I think there is a legit Blu-Ray to Betamax comparison. Both were Sony technologies that were at least from a purely technical standpoint in terms of quality, superior to the competition.
The only difference is that Betamax lost the format war (albeit after forcing SCOTUS to recognize fair use rights... prior to the DMCA anyway), whereas Blu-Ray won.
i had this on my queue on netflix for the HD DVD copies for 6 months, even weeks after the format war being over. i eventually cancelled my account, hopefully when i re-open my account again i will be able to rent these, i am sure as all hell i won't be buying them.
It's like they know nobody would buy the two sequels if they packaged the films individually, so they force everyone to buy all three. Do you all realize that there hasn't been a stand-alone release of the first Matrix film since the original DVD in 1999?
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1563
It also has a digital copy of the first movie for iPod, PSP, etc. and all five BDs are 50GB.
Whoopdie fuckin' doo...had this on HD for over a year already
+1
I don't need or want Digital Copy and as we can see by the trend with WB "catch up" titles the video encodes are the same but lossy audio is getting replaced with lossless.
So apart from the aforementioned digital copy the Animatrix being in HD (which upconvers VERY nicely on my XA2) the technical difference between the HD DVD release and Blu will be ??? Lossless audio in the extras?
Come on WB release the technical specs so we can put this flaming thread to rest.
Indeed; however, we now have confirmation that there are quite a few extra features and at least one HD-upgrade that weren't included in the HD-DVD version. (See: http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1563)
Obviously this package is only intended for Matrix enthusiasts that have Blu-Ray systems, but for such people it's a reasonable deal -- considering everything that's included and the MSRPs of related products. (And personally, despite your claims to the contrary, I'm sure that the actual market price will be much lower than MSRP, even at release, at many stores.) Why do you have to incessantly bash it? If you don't like it just don't buy it. I personally can't stand what's being trotted out on other platforms as "groundbreaking HD" when it's still usually 720p w/ DD 5.1, but I don't yell incessantly at anyone who likes it. That's their business.
I just don't understand why everyone has to like the same thing you do or they're a misguided idiot. To each their own...
A year late? Maybe if it was just the same old version, which we already have shown it isn't, then you'd be right. But of course, with all your usual spin, one might forget that this is likely a new encode, with an HD Animatrix, and download versions of the first Matrix, and probably the other two as well.
And you're going to ask truegamer of all people about more expensive? The guy who spams movie deals here every week? He'll be the first to post the best deal for this release.
I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like these movies are really that good. Sure, the first movie offered some special effects that hadn't been seen before, but that's about it. The philosophical issues had been addressed many times before (in Star Trek and other TV series, no less), and the fight scenes were mediocre to anyone with an eye for real martial arts skill. (Watch Tony Jaa or Bruce Lee and you'll know what I mean by real skill.) And even Matrix fans acknowledge that the sequels were inferior. I think I have better ways to spend $130.
Won't buy it. I already bought the HD DVD collection (not the ultimate one) and saw that the last 2 movies still suck. I guess they still suck on Blu-ray, and my HD DVD player still works.