Jah-Wren Ryel

If you could just rip-and-re-encode in the first place, then the need for combos would drop substantially. If I had a choice, I would much rather risk a 50 cent disposable DVD copy rather than a ~$30 original in my car or anywhere outside of the normal media room.

Hammer99

Some people hate "flippers" more than lack of SD extras... especially if you own/owned a lot of SDs with FF on one side & WS on the other. Other than cost, I don't think it would be quite as much of an issue if the SD + HD were both on the same side of the disc.

Zen Peckinpah

Universal can gargle my balls.

Arpeggi

Combo discs are NOT flippers.

The Cow

How so?

DeanoBKN

The term "flippers" is what you call a disc that you need to stop midway and turn over to finish the movie. Warner Brothers did this quite a bit in the past (Goodfellas, Sleepers, A Time To Kill, etc)

Even though HD Combo discs are double sided, you only need to play 1 side of it to finish the movie. The only time I ever even bother with the SD side is to compare the difference of SD/HD to friends. And since my discs are never left out out the case unless I'm watching the film, I have never owned a double sided disc with scratches on it nor never had a problem with playback. So while I would perfer disc artwork, I really don't care if the disc is double sided.

kvrdave

I don't care about disc art. I hate combos. I hate them because of the extra price (and there is an extra price) and because of the issues they have.

Combo discs will not help HD-DVD. When there is a release I want and it is offered on BR and a combo HD-DVD, I have bought the BR every time.

Michael Corvin

DVDs cost pennies to make. If they want to include both versions to help push the format, it should be a seperate SD disc.

FusionX

As long as the movie itself is in high definition, I'm fine. I couldn't care less about saving a couple of dollars or having artwork. I've also never had a single problem with any combo disc, so I have no concerns with the combo concept. As far as the extras, I guess I fall into a different camp than most, as I prefer the movie over extras. You can give the standard DVD five discs of extras and I'd take a bare bones HD version in an instant. But like I said, I value the movie and its video/audio quality a thousand fold over anything else.

Jericho

Blu Ray counterparts aren't as pricy due to Warner's price scheme. But each studio's pricing scheme is up to them, and will vary. You can't make sweeping judgments based on one studio. If I did that, I could claim all Blu-Rays are insanely expensive since Fox charges $40 for all their titles. But that's not true since Sony releases many titles for cheaper than that. The only reason people claim combos are more pricy is because of an arbitrary decision by Warners.

The Cow

Thanks.

I have often heard of DVDs that had widescreen (whatever variety) on one side and full screen (4:3) on the others referred to as flippers. I see that terminology is wrong.

DVD Polizei

I call any DVD I have to flip over, for any f'in reason, a FLIPPER. So, you're just fine.

I agree, there should be a separate SD DVD included with the HD release if they want to include both versions. But personally, I don't like Combos at all. It just means my HD disc will be used that much more. And I don't like that. Imagine if someone wants to borrow one of my movies, and they don't have an HD player. This means I'm lending them not only the SD version, but the much more expensive HD version as well with not much of a choice but to tell them, "No". I don't loan my DVDs anymore but with this Combo thing, I certainly will not.

Hammer99

Yeah, that's really why I wrote "flippers" instead of flippers... don't think there's a better term.

There you go, problem solved. And if the extras are SD-only, put them on the SD disc.

Bob_Black

I can't wait for Knocked Up. And I have no problem with the Combo format, as I buy all my discs through amazon with the 10% discount, and $25 for a new release with a DVD on the flip-side is worth it to me. If the B&M retailers would just discount the titles 20% or more like they do with DVD's there would be no problem.

As for the comparison to Blu-Ray, at least Universal hasn't charged $50 MSRP for a single title like Sony just did with Spiderman 3! Now THAT'S ridiculous.

Hammer99

Spider-Man 3 is going for $30 at Amazon.. that's $27 with the 10% discount. Granted, still about $1.80 more than the Knocked Up combo.

Gizmo

Seriously, now, is ANYONE going to buy JUST Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray? For like $20 extra bucks you get a bare bones (ugh) Spider-Man 1 and 2. I'll gladly buy the Trilogy for $65 off Amazon instead of just Spider-Man 2 for $45+.

Hammer99

Your dollars are off but I agree 100%... can't wait till the Trilogy is mine!

The Cow

I was with you until this part.

Gizmo

Until this is listed in an ad, we have no idea what stores will charge for S3. The MSRP is $44. I imagine Best Buy will sell it for $34.99 the first week and $39.99 the normal price. The trilogy has a MSRP of $93, and I imagine BB will have it for $65/$70 the first week. Who knows though.

highclassrob

Still its inexcusable to bump off the extra material, and thats what I care more about than disc art or SD on the opposite side. They shouldn't forget that it was all these extras that got me (and others I'm sure) into dvd in the first place. The way I see it, I pay a premium for HD, I should get the premium product. Unless they change it I guess its SD 2 disc for me. too bad.

Hammer99

You referenced Amazon in your post, and those prices are set. SP3 is $30, and SP 1-3 is $65 (both before the 10% discount). If you order today, the price will not increase, but they may possibly decrease per Amazon's Pre-Order Price Guarantee. That's the facts, Jack.

TNAJason

I'll have to buy both to get the full package. The 2-DVD has more features than HD-DVD BUT HD-DVD has U-Control. Damn it Universal!

Josh Z

As has been explained numerous times in this forum, that will never happen because it encourages people to buy the HD DVD and then sell the DVD disc on eBay, which would undermine the studio's DVD sales.

Adam Tyner

...although Tartan UK looks to be doing this with some of their Blu-ray releases. I have a hard time seeing that approach being widely adopted on these shores, though.

kvrdave

He doesn't loan them out, but now, because of combo discs, he won't loan them out.


He's stupid.