DVD Beaver

Sounds like a candidate for release of the year.

Want to get it, but that price tag is too rich for me so I'll wait. PQ looks awesome though.

is the digibook just a 1-disc release and does not incude "Battle for..." and "RKO..."?

Ordered the Amazon exclusive because of Magnificent Ambersons, now I see Best Buy also has an exclusive version. Anyone know what's so special about it? I only notice different artwork.

This image shows 2 discs:
http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US...itkane0911.gif

It's the digibook, scott1598 mentions above. It APPEARS to have both discs, without all the extra fluff and packaging that the Ultimate Collector's Edition has.

it also loses the 3^rd disc with RKO 281, but the digibook is nice and will just netflix or DVR RKO if it is ever on HBO.

Shit, really? I wish I would've known - I wouldn't have ordered the box, and would've gotten the BB exclusive instead - though I didn't even see it when I visited BB today.

did you check the regular A-Z aisles? that is where i saw both the book and box. book is $29.99 and box is $49.99.

Just so it's clear (I finally understand it myself now):

Best Buy exclusive (digibook)
1 BD-50 - Movie in HD, plus SD extras
1 DVD - The Battle Over Citizen Kane
(basically, the same content as the 2001 DVD special edition, except the movie is in remastered HD)

Ultimate Collector's Edition
1 BD-50 - Movie in HD, plus SD extras
1 DVD - The Battle Over Citizen Kane
1 DVD - RKO 281
plus packaging and collectible junk

Amazon Exclusive
Same as UCE, plus
1 DVD - The Magnificent Ambersons (looks like a separate case)

Cancelled my amazon order. Interested in the digibook as that will allow me to upgrade my DVD without getting all the other space-killing stuff. Of course, then I have to hope Ambersons eventually gets released separately.

$30 for a digibook is pricey, but it is CK

I imagine the digibook version will become widely available in a few months, and will eventually drop in price to below the $20 mark.

Or it won't be available anywhere and they'll release a 1-disc blu-ray at a lower price point.

I think that's the more likely scenario. Probably $19.99 or $24.99 for a single-disc edition without the book in about six months.

I really, really want it but had to skip it for now in order to get the good sale prices for Thor, X-Men and SW this week. $5 off at BB the release week was a lot less of a savings than the others. Especially considering Xmas is right around the corner and it could go on sale a few more times - especially since it's an exclusive.

Can someone please tell me why they couldn't have put the bonuses in HD on blu as well? You've got the greatest movie of all time and yet you go dvd with the bonus discs?

You can't tell me, with a $64.99 msrp, that WB couldn't afford to put the bonuses in HD. Save the f'ing postcards and show the core product the respect it deserves. Complete BS.

I believe both the documentary and the tv movie are SD productions.

"Complete BS", meet "research".

A lot of new release catalog titles go straight to the aisles these days. I guess it's a sign of the level of interest some of these releases generate. Sad.

The documentary for sure is an SD production. RKO on the other hand was shot on film, but it's unlikely that an HD master exists. It was a tv movie, edited for tv, in a time when TV was SD only. It was probably edited on film, but with no output other than DVD/HBO there was no need at the time to create any other version.

It was made in '99 for HBO so I'd be surprised if they didn't have an HD master. I don't know when HBO started producing HD masters for their own productions but even if it was a few years after "RKO" its recent enough where it was probably done. I can't imagine HBO would have been editing their films on video in '99.

Determining if it has aired on one of HBO's HD channels in the past few years would put that question to rest. Still, authoring a new Blu-ray disc for what is essentially an extra costs more money than issuing an existing DVD disc no matter how you look at it so its not really surprising, though a BD would have been nice.

I'm pretty sure they could have included an HD version of "RKO 291" with all the other SD extras on a second Blu-ray disc but its hard to complain when "Citizen Kane" itself looks like it does on Blu. As I see all these people getting their "Star Wars" sets a day early from Amazon.com I get a bit jealous but then I remember I got my "Kane' set a day early and I'm not so upset.

Mine arrived today from CH, and after looking at it, decided to sell it. I don't need a bunch of lobby cards and other junk in a big DVD-sized box. I'm going to wait until the digibook hits $20 and pick that up.

Watched yesterday and it's stunning. I was surprised they did a DVD release though. How much better will it look on DVD as opposed to the last version? Besides the rain of course . . .

While it was impressive at the time, the original release went overboard on DNR. The rain in the window was just a notable example of how grain and fine detail were removed as a result of the process. Lowry even admitted they went too far. A new version on DVD would show improvement, if not as much as the BD.

Just seems if you were really hardcore about re-buying classic films like this you'd want it in Blu

I've read some complaining about the new Star Wars set not being on DVD though. I find that astounding.

Wrong. They were both filmed on 35mm. There's no good reason for them not to be presented in HD. Research, indeed.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120801/technical
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115634/technical

I agree with the BS post, by the way. When DVD started getting into the special edition business, you didn't see them packaged with "bonus" VHS tapes. This is just plain old cheaping out on the studio's part. For a $55 set to include DVD's most Kane fans already own is silly and is THE reason I will not buy this set and am holding out for the barebones Kane blu.