KINO goes Blu
 

LINK

EDIT:
A fellow dvdtalk forum member has brought to my attention that this Hidefdigest article contains some innaccuracies. "Kinowelt" is a German distributor unrelated to Kino Video. That said, It has been confirmed that Kino Video will begin releasing titles on Blu-ray this fall.

LINK to Blu-ray.com article.

Awesome choice for first blu ray title

Kino blows. I wished Criterion could snag up all of Kino's licenses for Blu-ray but I guess it's not going to happen.

*crossing my fingers for Masters of Cinema announcement.

Kino goes Blu
 

They don't have much choice. ;)

I'd like Nosferatu and Metropolis to start with if they do them right.

Kino is inconsistent to say the least, but Fallen Angels should look fine -- there's a new HD master already available (it was used for the R4/R2J/R3K DVDs) and it looks stunning even in standard-def. Given Kino's size and their tendency to scrimp, they'll probably just use the same master. And standards conversion (traditionally one of Kino's big problems) should be less of an issue with HD.

Pretty amazing to think that Wong Kar-wai will have over half his filmography out on Blu before the end of the year...

Kino is one of the reasons I had to import SD-DVD. They've fucked up many releases. I wouldn't be suprised if they released BD titles with burnt in / forced subs...lol

It will be interesting to see how this sort of thing unfolds. Blu-Ray is great. You can see details in the picture that gives you a real in-the-theater experience, especially with a projector. I love seeing a 1935 movie the way it was supposed to be seen. However, scratches and any other defects in the source print become very obvious. Not every film will receive an expensive digital do-over, and people are going to be disappointed.

I have to admit the first thing I think of when I hear Kino is cheap bad public domain stuff.

Definitely have to wait on reviews with their stuff.

I thought MoC had more or less announced, though I believe that cover is just an amazon mock-up.

Who?

I recognized maybe 3-4 movies from them...looks like its not so important for me, I'm sure others are thrilled.

Gizmo, if you were asking about the MoC/my comment, it is them, Masters of Cinema (rather than the them--Kino--that Adam Tyner linked to).

They're a niche arthouse R2 company. Similar goals (and sometimes similar/same releases) as Criterion.

I really hope they do a good job on FALLEN ANGELS, I love the film. But knowing Kino, I'm kinda worried. :(

actualy, the Kinowelt announced is far more exciting to me. These are the folks that have ALL the L&H films (silent and sound) on DVD right now in an expensive R2 box set. Would Germany be a non -R1 Blu-ray disc set? if so, then Grrr- I will have to wait for Oppo to come out with a region free Blu-Ray player?

If you're interested in Kino, you should be far more interested in Masters of Cinema. I've basically sold off all my Kinos to import the overseas releases including a few MoC.

Re: KINO goes Blu
 

I wonder whatever became of this?

Kino is about to release new DVD special editions of "Fallen Angels" and "Happy Together", both "remastered from new HD film transfers" (according to Amazon) -- but still no Blu-ray discs.

It's also been several months since I saw any news on supposed upcoming "Metropolis" BD restoration incorporating the newly-discovered footage.

Anyone know what gives here? A search on term "Blu-ray" at Kino's website yields zero results.

Re: KINO goes Blu
 

If Kino does eventually put out Blu-ray discs of these or any other titles, I'm sure they'll find a way to screw them up.

Re: KINO goes Blu
 

Any Wong Kar Wai films on Blu-ray warrant a definite purchase as long as the quality is good. :)

Edit: Whoops, didn't realize how old the initial post was.

Re: KINO goes Blu
 

Blu-ray has been kind to the man... My Blueberry Nights, Chungking Express, and Ashes of Time Redux are all available.

Re: KINO goes Blu
 

And so are As Tears Go By and Days of Being Wild.

Pro-B

Re: KINO goes Blu
 

I doubt there's anything to report. The rediscovered footage clearly requires significant restoration work, and Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung (who own the rights and are handling the restoration) already has other stuff on their plate, e.g. the endlessly-delayed Nibelungen. It's not going to happen this year and frankly 2010 would surprise me as well. In any event it's not up to Kino at this stage.

And as for the "where is Kino" question, beats me. The situation with the Wong titles is especially odd since fine HD source material obviously exists -- it's just that nobody has bothered releasing it in HD (Artificial Eye didn't issue Happy Together on BD either). It may just be that the economy prompted Kino to play it safe, although Criterion claims to be doing very well with their BDs. I hope they make the leap soon, since they're the biggest outfit in the U.S. with a particular interest in silent cinema and nobody else seems to be in any hurry to put that stuff on Blu.

Re: KINO goes Blu
 

It seems that Kino has no interest in updating anyone about whatever blu-ray plans they may or may not have...

I have been holding out on purchasing the AE "Happy Together" SD (a very well-reviewed disc) for the outside possibility that Kino's release next Tuesday might be better, or that the WKW interview exclusive to their disc is worth more than a rental viewing, or that perhaps we'll get an update regarding blu-ray plans. I suppose they don't send out review copies as the usual review sites have nothing up yet.

I just want confirmation that there's no good reason to pay Kino's ridiculously high prices.

Re: KINO goes Blu
 

Honestly, with a lot of their catalog I can't see how Blu-ray could make much difference. With something like <i>Casablanca</i>, sure, but is <i>Die Nibelungen</i> really going to look better on Blu-ray? I doubt it.

Re: KINO goes Blu
 

^

You might want to consider the AE disc more seriously, Rich - it is very strong.

Pro-B