my local BB had all but polar express.
i didnt ask if it was in stock.

north wilmington del

As posted earlier, I went to my local Best Buy, and they didn’t have it. Since then, I swung by my closest Target, and have called another Best Buy and two more Targets. Guess I’m SOL today.

I was SOL today too. Stopped by a Target on the way home from work. They had the disc, but wouldn't sell it to me because it wasn't on the sales floor. This was the second time I tried to get it from this Target. I was unable to purchase it before the release date, and then unable to buy it even after it was released.

On the other hand, I did finally receive my firmware update disc from Toshiba, so the day wasn't a total loss.

16.98 Shipped : http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=480364

What a day. I took the advice of emailing Amazon about my HD DVDs taking so long to ship yesterday. I get a response late yesterday that the reason they take so long is because I'm using super saver shipping. They are the lowest priority and get shipped out of the warehouse last.

I emailed back that I have also had the same issue when I used the 2 day shipping option. They would still ship a week late even when using Amazon Prime.

I get a response this morning that basically says the same exact thing. It is because of Super Saver shipping and if speedy shipments are important to me I should use a faster option. However, they have changed the shipping option for me so I can get my DVDs sooner. I go to the site and sure enough they bumped me to standard shipping and they went ahead and charged me for it as well. So for an extra $4 I got to get my HD DVDs shipped today. I was going to cancel the order and go to Target, but it had moved to ready to ship.

So much for great customer service. I get the one wise guy there to answer my request. Can't believe some of you got free shipping upgrades and gift certificates instead.

Anyway, I guess I'm done with Amazon. I think I will try and cash in on some orders from Buy.com while they still have the $10 coupon.

I finally found BB at Circuit City, but I was surprised when it rang up at $28.99. Bought it anyway, since I was tired of the scavenger hunt, but I was kind of surprised.

Also: FYE had all of the other 10/10 releases in stock (Charlie, Willy Wonka, Corpse Bride, Polar Express, Army, Fast Times), albeit at full MSRP. Actually, they often put them out a week ahead of time. So if you're tired of looking for a title (and don't mind paying $5 more than you would at BB), you might try there.

Man...I ordered my 3 dvds from Amazon on Sunday and they came in today...Watching Batman in about 20 mins. I was pretty much set to wait at least 2 weeks but this is the earliest I have ever gotten anything from Amazon (and it was free shipping to boot).

i couldnt wait until the end of the month for Batman to ship with Out Of Sight and Spartacus so I picked it up at Target. Looks incredible.

Got mine in the mail today (should have been yesterday). I guess I tend to think that a darker movie (lighting wise) doesn't quite have the "pop" in HD as scenes that are colorful, but this was still an amazing thing to watch. I don't think I ever found a spot where I felt like I was looking through a window, like I did on certain scenes of Unforgiven and Serenity, but, again, I think that is just because of the lighting. At the same time, I never noticed anything that was anything other than beautiful.

See, the thing that got me was all the detail. The detail in the dark areas is just astounding. Look at the scene where the police captain is telling his people they need to capture Batman (when he's holding up the newspaper after Batman captures Falcone). You can see every detail on his face, and his hands, and the newspaper.

Did you guys check out the theatrical trailer on the disc as well? That even looked spectacular.

This disc was certainly worth the wait.

I noticed on the trailer that the way Batman says "Here" at the end sounds completely different from how he says it in the movie.

No, I agree. The detail was as good as any I have ever seen. Maybe it is the contrast, or something else in other movies that makes it suddenly look 3D. But again, this wasn't that kind of movie. But as a complete movie, this is still the best.

Another good example of what I am calling "pop" is in Aeon Flux when they run through the garden of death to the main building. When they are on the hill and the camera comes up from behind and you suddenly see everything in front of them, it absolutely looks like a window you could walk through.

I still haven't seen Aeon Flux.

Doing my Space Cowboys review last night, I was continually impressed by how much pop that transfer had.

I was really surprised by that movie. I wasn't expecting a lot from that title but when they made it into space it was stunning.

Yep.... definitely a great film.

I guess I'll be odd man out and say I was underwhelmed with the PQ of Batman Begins. Thought the opening with Bruce and Rachel as children was quite sharp but was less impressed later in the movie. I need to go back and check out that scene Suprmallet mentioned above. But I was more impressed by by the PQ of Seabiscuit and Grand Prix and even Serenity, one of the oldest HD DVDs out there. Maybe I was too tired or something while watching BB last night.

On the other hand, the sound mix was pretty aggressive, especially the bass, and I can well understand why the AQ is getting rave reviews. It really was pretty impressive and I don't even have TrueHD enabled yet.

Looks like "Begins" is a hit with DVDTalk

That was a fantastic review by Adam and he hit my feelings on the film dead-on, especially the fight scenes.

I agree Adam's review was dead-on about the movie, but I wonder why it got only Highly Recommended? That disc is, to me, the definition of DVDTalk Collector's Series.

I was just thinking the same thing. Are reviewers nervous about giving those out too early in the game?

I'm very reluctant to dole out a "Collectors Series" rating in general.

The only thing I could think of that would keep this from being Collector's Series would be the same problem I had with the SD-DVD: As many featurettes are on the disc, they're very thin on actual information. At least this one adds in the IME.

I really was considering it, and more extras would have put it over the top.

I finally got this on Friday from Amazon and got to try it at the Home Theatre a work yesterday. I love the PQ and the AQ. The Dolby TrueHD track was nothing short of amazing! I wonder how this disc'd look on a properly calibrated plasma display.