hanshotfirst1138

Yeah, but the sad part is that it's the same reason Lucas' treatment of the OOT has been allowed to endure: the average purchaser just doesn't care about that kind of thing.

Maybe, but it sounds like the stuff they're putting on there is the EPK stuff and the other exclusive extras are more interesting. Besides, it's the principle of the thing.

How wide is his readership or influence though? I doubt Paramount will lose much sleep over it.

My brother was a marketing major, I'm beginning to understand why he dislikes them as much as I do. If I could play their stuff on something else, I might be a little more sympathetic. It's a shame I love my iPhone and iPad as much as I do.

Very nice.

And there's the deal-breaker, they know full well that's what everyone wants.

It would in a heartbeat if it had what I wanted. Though the German text would be annoying next to all of my English-language DVDs.


I come from originaltrilogy.com. I assure you, he is not so popular there.

I'm still waiting for the "very likely" OOT announcement he tweeted about.

Just on my computer screen, but yes. And which Blu-Ray? It's getting harder to figure out which one has what. I'd like to pick up a used copy, but last time I did that, the guy redeemed the digital copy before he sold it.

But who's gonna fly it kid? You?

Yeah, it most certainly does. But there probably isn't anything to be done about it, sadly.

Josh Z

If this is true, then Paramount had to strike two transfers for the film, one with a constant ratio and one with a shifting ratio. This will probably wind up being like their release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, where the shifting ratio version was released as a retailer exclusive (Walmart in that case). We just have to figure out which retailer got it. I can't believe that it would only show up in Germany.

It would help if the studio's PR department would clarify some of these release details.

milo bloom

Bill Hunt? He's been running that website since the early days of DVD. He's gotta have some kind of audience and he apparently knows a lot folks in the industry.

Yes, he posts a lot of rumors, and the nature of rumors is that they can change, be delayed, or sometimes turn out to be wrong. How often has he ever outright said something was happening and then it didn't? He may be passing on gossip, but I don't think he's ever tried to qualify it as anything other than that.

Supermallet

As far as I can tell, only the 3D has the shifting ratios, not the 2D, so it would have to be a retailer exclusive on the 3D disc, which Wal-Mart isn't selling.

Josh Z

Is it possible that all copies of the 3D edition have shifting ratios, while all copies of the 2D are flat 2.40:1?

Josh Z

Let's please not relive the format war again here, huh.

The Valeyard

Has there been a review of the 3D version yet? I'm thinking about holding out instead of pre-ordering for this release.

My Other Self

All movies purchased/downloaded on iTunes are encrypted with DRM which will prevent you from watching it on any non-Apple product or your laptop/PC.

However, there are ways (which I won't mention here) to circumvent that annoyance so you can slap it on a flash drive and watch it on whatever you want. The .m4v file format that Apple uses is just a poor man's .mp4 container, so it's just the metadata Apple puts in all of its releases that prevent you from being able to watch it on something else.

It's a shame if you're not tech savvy because they have some good looking movies in HD that aren't available on Blu-ray.

Oh, and I'm not surprised Paramount is releasing STID like this. They have what might be the largest fanbase of any intellectual property at their disposal and they're counting on fans to buy it multiple times. It's been like this in regards to content for awhile now, but the dumbest thing to me is the commentary as an iTunes exclusive. Luckily, they're including the digital copy on all purchases of the movie regardless of which B&M exclusive you purchase.

mattysemo247

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Star-T.../58503/#Review

PatD

I'm not surprised by any of this from Paramount. All the way back to the glory days of DVD, the only special feature they would include on their first run catalog releases was the theatrical trailer. That's it. Finito. (However, they would include menus and chapter selection as "special features" as well). And they would charge around $29.99 MSRP for these while much savvier studios were releasing films jam-packed with extras (at a lower price) and earning customer loyalty.

The Valeyard

Thanks. No shifting ratios then.

milo bloom

I think you can even go back to the Laserdisc days for Paramount. Josh will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure Paramount never did any kind of special edition on LD. Even their Trek releases were barebones; they'd occasionally do boxsets but they'd just stick the movies in a box and call it a day.

After their 2 disc SE's of the movies, and the way they're doing the TV series on Bluray, one might think they had learned better, but somebody must have seen an opportunity to try to make a little more money, and they're just going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

fitprod

Yeah, Paramount LDs were always pretty much bare bones. I think there were a couple titles with commentaries, but that's it.

fitprod

Josh-da-man

I know that Howard Stern wanted to do a DVD special edition of Private Parts but Paramount shot him down and released it barebones.

Josh Z

To be fair, most Laserdiscs from all studios were "bare bones." Supplemental content and Special Editions were the exception on that format, not the norm.

I've been racking my brain to think of any deluxe Laserdiscs Paramount may have released. I thought I was onto something with My Fair Lady, but apparently that movie was with Fox at the time.

Paramount released three titles under the "Director's Series" label: Star Trek IV, Fatal Attraction and Paper Moon. Star Trek IV's only supplement was a 10-minute video interview with Leonard Nimoy that was programmed at the beginning of the disc, and since the disc had no chapter stops, you had to fast-forward through it every time you wanted to watch the movie. The non-Director's Series copy was greatly preferred.

Fatal Attraction also had a director's interview and an alternate ending. Paper Moon had a commentary.

So, yeah, they weren't much into bonus features on LD.

hanshotfirst1138

Because it's not enough that they're gridlocking the extras, no. If I could move it to my damn Blu-Ray player with a USB stick, I might be a little more inclined to actually buy stuff from them.

I'm off to Google...

Greek to me, I'm a poor nerd.

And apparently they're going to have a lot of extras in the future too. Incidentally, Ultraviolet iTunes copes don't work on the classic for some weird, irritating reason (Not the streaming, the actual digital copies.).

Fans should boycott this if not other Paramount products to send a message through to them, but given how small the voice of Internet movie nerds is, I kind of doubt it would do much.

I'm considering buying a used copy that hasn't had the iTunes copy redeemed to ensure that Paramound wouldn't get money for it, but I still think that would make a me a raging hypocrite.

Probably not enough to send a message about this though. The only thing that'd send a message about this is lots and lots of money, and fans don't have the sway.

Double_Oh_7

Really? That was the whole point of the format.

DJariya

Cancelled my Amazon pre-order. This release is a mess. I might just go for the Target exclusive.

I'm not Xage who will be all versions of the same movie, but will leave them sealed.

RocShemp

With any luck the documentary will be along the lines of "oh, that guy was great. Remember him? Yeah. She was great too. Everyone is great in this scene. And that scene. And that other scene." It'd help take the edge off.

RocShemp

It seems the 3D release is also fixed at a 2.40:1 aspect ratio: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Star-T.../58503/#Review

fitprod

No actually it was about the improved picture quality over VHS. Supplements were a bonus that evolved from the Criterion Collection during the late '80s.

In the early '90s studios like Fox and Disney started spending money on elaborate collector's editions. WB, Sony, Lionsgate and Universal joined in around 1994... Paramount, outside of their Director's series didn't try at all.

fitprod

b2net

Despite the fact I would want almost all the special features for this release (as I watched everything from the first one), I will take the same decision path I used for GI Joe ... and then buy only 1 version... Hope being in the long run to catch the other version on the cheap to snag the other I want... for this one.. It is down to Best Buy or Target ... and leaning towards Target to get the 3D along with the Bonus Disc/Features... which btw.. is who won for GI Joe also.. (I did hesitate on Oblivion and ended up getting no version and the BB version is out of stock or ridiculous price now)..

TheMovieman

BestBuy.com has it. It's $25 which is more than I would pay but not over the top either.

badlieut

Was there a review of the German version that said it had the shifting ratios?

b2net

It would have been about $10 cheaper during the U&S and release week.. but that was still about $5 more than what I try to pay for most releases.. so I enter the waiting game.. in hopes like the MI4 release.. it drops someday.. along with GI Joe Action edition..

now that I think about it.. it was the GI Joe version that was $14.99 release week with U&S but went to $34.99 the following week.. so yep.. Oblivion isn't that over the top.. ha...

now back to Into Darkness.. this article (copied from post #70 of this thread - thanks hanshotfirst113) ... clearly states there are about 6 versions of this release.. and that the Best Buy features are only Digital on CinemaNow in the US (never mind that their exclusives are not on the 3D version either).. yet are on a Disc in Canada ... so for me thus far Target wins... and I will have to try to get my hands on the BB Canada disc... for cheap, of course..