rfduncan

I was watching The Matrix on my HDTV last night and wondered why it isn't out on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray yet? I mean there is a prime opportunity to release a movie with great sound and video but remains unreleased in an HD format. Meanwhile Chain Reaction (quite a sub-standard film by comparison), is available on Blu-ray. Why are the studios seeming to release the turds of their back catalogues when more obvious titles would be snatched up immediately? Not to mention that a "format exclusive" might even push consumers to choose one format over another.

I'm far, FAR from choosing a format myself, but I was wondering what anyone's thoughts were on the dearth of decent HD back catalogue releases were.

Popler

I'm not an expert in this field, but my theory is that Warner Bros. is delaying release of their HD DVD titles until they can release them day-and-date with the Blu Ray titles (they have to port them over). Plus I think they want to spread the releases of some of their top titles out (and I think this goes for several other studios as well).

If the recent rumor about the Universal release line-up from now until August is true, there will be plenty to look forward to on the HD-DVD front (Mallrats FTW!).

applesandrice

The studios know that among early adopters there is a hunger for high def content, so they know they can release a two-star snore-fest and lots of folks are still going to buy it. At ridiculous prices, I might add. Whereas, if they were to release said stink-burger a few years down the road, they wouldn't be able to attach the same outlandish price tag to it; the film would be instantly relegated to the bargain bin at WalMart -- right where it belongs . . .

Mr. Cinema

The good news is we will get The Matrix and Harry Potter films this year. The bad news is no one knows for sure. I would say the Potter films will probably debut with the new film's "video" release, not the theatrical. I think Blu-ray is supposed to have BD-J finalized by June, so The Matrix trilogy should show up after that, assuming they will have interactive features for those films.

Either way, 2007 will be exciting as we'll be getting some more of the higher profile hits from both formats. Matrix Trilogy, Harry Potter, Pirates 1/2, most certainly Spider-man, Cars, hopefully some Hitchcock movies from Universal.

darkside

Unfortunately, I think Warner is waiting on these big films for their TrueHD discs to be ready. That means instead of buying them on our format of choice for $20 we get both versions for $30. I really, really hope they also release on HD DVD and Blu-ray separately so the market can show them just how much we don't want TrueHD.

applesandrice

"TotalHD" is the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray combo disc. "TrueHD" is Dolby's lossless audio format. We like "TrueHD" and want lots more of it!!