The first Matrix movie was photographed in a process that de-emphasized blues and thus left a greenish hue. When the sequels were made, the Wachowskis decided to go full-tilt and heavily tint the scenes inside the matrix a much deeper green. Then, when the "Ultimate Edition" DVD box set was released, they re-transferred the first movie to bring its visuals in line with the sequels. The HD DVD should be the same master as the DVD box set.

Yeah, I think that is the deal. It was always a little green, but it is really green, like the second two movies on the new releases (SD and HD).

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks guys!

Just finished watching the IME on The Matrix, very decent. I'm watching all the IME's first, then I'll go back and do the trilogy...I had the Ultimate dvd set, but never watched hardly any of the extras (I bought it after selling off the 3 stand alone releases on sd), so a bunch of this IME stuff is new to me. I like the outer box for the Complete trilogy...I kind of wish they had either redone the cover art or disc art for the sequels, but so far, a big for the set.

This set is amazing. I had not watched reloaded since it came out, its beautiful in HD!!!

Those commentaries are brutal though.

D

My sentiments exactly. This is the set every HD-DVD owner must have.

The philosopher ones are hilarious.

Just wanted to chime in...
I know a question was posted regarding some banding or blotchiness in the sky during the scene at the very beginning. It's where Trinity is inside the phone booth and the Agent tries to run her down with the truck. When the Agents are searching for her body among the remains, you can see the sky. No banding or blotches on the HD DVD.

That was actually me, and I've watched the scene again a few more times and saw nothing on subsequent viewings. Must have been a player hiccup. Thanks for the confirmation!

Watched The Matrix and I was blown away. This is really a fantastic film. The quality was very impressive, especially when they show the fields of "batteries." I really noticed the green tinting that I never did before on the second DVD release. One minor minor minor quibble: The art on the slip for the first film is blue when the others are green. I wish they'd have at least changed the spines.

Anyone else hate the cover art for "Revolutions?" Yuck. They could have improved on the DVD version's cover a little.

I got this set with the buy-the H-A2 and Matrix get 2 free deal this week (selling off my 360 addon and Oppo 970). Too expensive for my blood otherwise.

Watched the Matrix the other night. Meant to just pop it in and check it out, but instead I stayed up and watched the whole thing. Forgot how good of a movie it is. And the HD-DVD is very pretty.

I chose the cheaper edition. I'm not that big on the Matrix special features, and I don't like double sided disks very much (although the HD-DVD ones are much more clear about what is on which side). If they weren't double sided discs I might have spent the extra $10.

Considering Warner's recent track record for "redone" cover art (see the Superman reissues), I'm glad they just left them alone.

Thank goodness for custom covers!

Question: I never did own the Ultimate Matrix on SDVD. I only owned the separate versions of The 3 films the Revisited and The Animatrix. The Roots of the Matrix, The Burley Man Chronicles, or The Zion Archive were not included on these. I play on picking up the HD set of the Matrix but can not decide if the Ultimate is worth it just for these supps. If not, i'll buy The Complete only. By the way I do enjoy the mythology and style of the show and all 3 features. But, I dont have a Matrix poster or dolls.

Quick question for anyone watching on an Xbox 360 drive.

Have you had any random times where it doesn't load when you put it in the tray? I've been popping mine in and out a few times as I have time here and there to check things out - and most of the time Reloaded loads up just fine. But, once in a while - it will just stay at "Reading" on the dashboard and won't load. Eject the tray, close the tray - boom, works. Trying to determine if this is a disc issue or just a compatibility issue. Haven't noticed this on the first Matrix disc.

I just read that the two sequels in this set are the original versions as shown in theaters, meaning they didn't rewrite and remake them to be as good as the first.

What!?! I thought they would at least remove the dance scene in the second movie.

Is any one have problems loading any of the HD DVD set of the Matrix on their XA2 player? I'm getting the error code of 4086 4203 when I try to play the Matrix Reloaded HD DVD.

Has anyone had problems with Revolutions freezing after the crash landing on the machine city? Specifically when Neo is talking to Trinity after he realizes what has happened to her. Twice now it's frozen on me at the same moment. I'm able to fast forward and backward at that point, I'm able to skip chapters and all of that. Heck, if I skip the chapter ahead and then rewind to just before the freeze point, it will play through fine. But if I'm just playing the movie straight, it freezes. I'm playing it on an A1. I'm wondering if it's my player or my disc. Thanks!

I got an error code the first time I popped Unloaded in my XA2. It played fine the 2nd time. I haven't tried it again since downloading FW 1.6 though.

I just bought the A2 today and I am getting the same 4086 4203 error code but on the first Matrix disc. I was able to load the other discs fine though I didn't run them for long. Incidentally, I also got the same error code on The Departed! What an annoying first day with HD-DVD! So is this a disc issue or firmware?

Our review is up:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=28274

Enjoy!

So is the "Complete Matrix" set the same but just the movie discs and their commentaries? If so, sticking onto the original Ultimate and just getting the Complete box set would probably be the best choice, seeing they didn't even bother putting Animatrix on HD.