I say a 3-disc set:
Disc 1: Movie up to the intermission
Disc 2: Movie after the intermission
Both discs with max PQ/AQ

Disc 3: Extras

Sorry Tony, I haven't. I have been very sick and most of the time have been away from the net, talks, email, etc.

Pro-B

Tony,

I quite like the transfer on Life of Brian. It's still a low budget British production from 1979, but it's a marked improvement over the Criterion DVD (which was the last DVD version I've seen of it).

Also, regarding BCI and Lionsgate, I am working on getting those titles that we haven't yet reviewed. So I've got my fingers crossed that we'll be able to get all of them.

Hmm... and this is one thing I had hoped HDM would be able to cure with all its space availability: the annoyance of having epic films spread across two discs. :(

I have no problem with splitting an epic film across 2 discs if said epic film had an intermission break during it's theatrical run.

Thanks for the great news Dan! Now time for me to put my best sick voice on the phone when I call in! :o

i think this is a misplaced hope for HDM that many people have. the higher capacity is primarily for higher quality/resolution content, not necessarily more hours of content.

obviously, there are many factors involved in exactly how many hours of video w/ audio a disc can hold, but in general (assuming the quality levels are maxed for the respective format), i believe a BD-50 doesn't fit significantly more hi-def content than a DVD-9 fits standard def content.

For the 228 minute feature, if you were to encode the video alone at a constant 40Mbit/s, you'd need about 54GB. A variable bitrate encoding would therefore allow MORE THAN ENOUGH room on a single 50GB disc for the film plus lossless audio, plus commentaries, etc.

i think your math is off.

13680 seconds * 40 Mbit/s = 547200 Mbits

547200 Mbits / 8192 Mbits/GB = 66.8 GB

Anyone get Saw IV today? Did it have a slipcover?

I realize there's an intermission, but it still would be more convenient to not have to switch discs, possibly sit through the FBI warning again, and select the lossless track before resuming. It would also make it easier to check out different scenes across the film.

Then again, if they decide to include their usual PCM track and a TrueHD track (one of those of course being redundant) and even lossless dubs, it will have to be split. With just a TrueHD track I think it would be feasible.

In the end, it's not a big deal, but it would be nice to have it on one disc. It may just be too long though.

Same here. I'm really hoping that it's just one disc.

Is the blu-ray version of Alexander 2 discs or 1?

Mine from Amazon did not.

Ugh now Saw III will look out of place.

The Bits has posted the actual standalone hardware numbers for each format over the past few weeks. These are set-top only players, NO PS3 or XBOX ADD-ON:

Here's how the January Week 1 unit sales looked for each format (week ending 1/5)...

Blu-ray Disc - 15,257 units
HD-DVD - 14,558 units

That was prior to the Warner announcement, which came on 1/4. Now here's how the January Week 2 unit sales data for each format looked AFTER the announcement (for the week ending 1/12)...

Blu-ray Disc - 21,770 units
HD-DVD - 1,758 units

While we're at it, here are the unit sales numbers for the month of December as well (weeks ending 12/8 to 12/29)...

Blu-ray Disc - 115,132 units
HD-DVD - 76,148 units

Can never figure out why companies can't keep to one style case for each series. It's like an unwritten rule or something that they keep changing shit around.

2, but Oliver Stone wanted it that way. Given that David Lean died before we had long-playing video formats (if you count DVD as the first), I don't know if he expressed a preference.

Last comment on LoA for now: I hope if they split it, they make the second disc immediately load a very simple menu with the highlighted choice to continue the film, or you can move it down to select the real menu with extras and options (no warnings). If they use TrueHD, that track (and parallel DD track) will be the default, so most people can just press enter without the need to adjust the audio option first.

You're right. It never was my strong point!

Holy shit, I can't imagine what it would be if you did include PS3s. That is the single most illuminating number I've seen to make me completely comfortable transitioning all of my HD purchases to BD.

Did anyone besides me get the Sister Street Fighter double feature? I watched it tonight on my PS3, and the picture would freeze for a second, or start stop, every few minutes, all thought both movies. It made for an interesting watch, like slo-mo kung fu :)

Of course, thats 1 week, the week that Warner went Blu and a lot of people went out and bought players because of it (HD DVD only owners). The real question is can they maintain that sales lead, or will it go back to the normal numbers we are use to? If the $299 PS3 rumor is true, Blu-ray SA will take a hit (unless they drop prices...which I fully expect they would). We never saw SA numbers after Paramount went Red (and I doubt TDB would post them anyway), so we have no idea if HD DVD faired as well as Blu-ray did like this.

That finally came out? I kept seeing that announced/delayed every few months along with other double features like the Zombie/Wolf one that keeps showing up day after day in my Amazon goldbox. Ive never heard of the movies before but I assume they got the cheese factor going for them :lol:

I don't get it either.

In Saw's case, Saw III had a slipcover while 1 and 2 did not. I understand them not having them since they were catalog titles, but why not IV? Disney seems to be the only studio that has been doing slipcases (POTC, Rat. Pixar, Cars), while Sony is hit and miss (Dracula), Fox never, Lionsgate a few times (Saw III, Employee of the Month). From my understanding, slipcovers are done for 3 reasons.

1. To help the movies stand out on release week against other movies
2. Theft Prevention
3. Collectors

In the DVD world, almost every other movie now a days has a slipcover (and there are anywhere from 10-100 releases a week). So they don't stand out as much as they use to. In Blu-ray/HD DVD (1-3 movies total?), it helps them stand out against the 1-5 other releases that week. I'm so bummed about Saw IV not having one. Anyone nab this at Best Buy or Circuit City that can confirm no slip cover? :-(

I just checked, no slipcover from my Saw IV at BB. I could have sworn that there was one and I was going to offer to mail it since I don't care, but a no go on my end.