hdnmickey

Ranks under the category of dumb IMO. I always figured most people didn't fall for it and paid less (in most cases far less) for the codes that are bundled with the physical discs.

Shannon Nutt

Even with all the complaining, I'm guessing these will prove to be the highest-selling digital download titles to date. It's not so much about finally releasing these movies on Download as it is getting more and more people to consider Download as a movie-buying option. Most studios would love to not have to worry about making/marketing physical product anymore.

islandclaws

I can't wrap my head around who would pay $90 for this bundle when the set containing all six films is $90. I just don't value digital titles, I guess, because that's an outrageous fee for something intangible.

Alan Smithee

Hopefully that won't happen til after I die! I'd rather buy a movie on VHS than through this digital nonsense!

E Unit

That's just it though, it won't die. It'll be a limited niche market perhaps, but it's not going anywhere. Just diminish to a limited market.

Dan

$140 CAD. That's $50 more than the complete Blu-ray set on amazon.ca.

I can understand the argument of buying digital if you don't own or want a Blu-ray player, but a $50 premium for compressed files with shitty sound?

Decker

These films coming to HD Digital is a lot like when The Beatles catalog finally came to iTunes. Sounds like kind of a big deal, but really isn't because everyone who wanted remastered copies of their favorite material already had bought them.

mcnabb

Question for anyone here who has downloaded movies: Is there a quality difference between downloading a movie and a BluRay movie?

If there is a difference in quality then I don't think physical media will ever die because there will always be atleast a niche market who wants the best quality of music, movies, etc.

E Unit

Just keep in mind you can't download the movies, only stream. And the quality isn't as good, but good enough for most people. The sound is definitely not good enough either.

kgrogers1979

You don't download movies that you buy? That's bullshit if true. Streaming is fine for rentals, but for actual purchases I would definitely not want to stream. That's why I hate digital media because you never actually truly own what you buy. If Amazon ever decides to delete a movie you own from their servers, then you're screwed. You're at their mercy, and really you're just fooling yourself if you think that they are going to keep every single movie on their servers forever.

But I guess downloading a digital media would be a huge pain as well. Aren't Blu-rays 50 GB? You would need a very fast internet speed to download 50 GB in a reasonable time (not to mention all that downloading is a cramp on data caps). You would also need a massive hard drive to store more than a handful of movies.

Pizza

I've little interest in digital only product and this price point doesn't make me want to embrace it. If physical medium ends then so be it. I'll just stick to catching things in the theater or eventual cable/TV showings.

hdnmickey

I don't understand the can't download digital copy statement. I most certainly have downloaded the HD version of many Disney movies, and many from other studios, via iTunes using the codes included with the BD's. Not how I prefer to watch movies, but my daughter makes use of them in her iPad.

But that said, I would never pay the crazy prices for the download only. She gets the digital copies that come with the BD's, nothing more.

stvn1974

If I could burn a movie or TV show to a disc like I can an audio file I wouldn't mind but just being able to download it to a device still isn't appealing.

davidh777

That's the thing. Collectors like us are accustomed to physical discs at a constantly dropping price point, with a digital copy as a free bonus. There's a different market that just wants to deal in digital.

See, this is a good example of the benefits of digital. I haven't used UV to the full extent I could, but I'm starting to explore it and I like it in addition to the streaming and physical options I already have.

That would be a great idea, like a season pass to bonus content.

Yes, the Beatles on iTunes (and for those of us old enough to remember, on CD) were a symbolic release that gave legitimacy to the format. iTunes wasn't as much of a big deal as CD as most of us had already ripped our CDs and might not have wanted the remaster. We're in a weird transition stage and Star Wars is a milepost along the way.

BD is better than digital, either streamed or downloaded.

Nope, as others have mentioned, you can download instead of stream. But as you say, it can be a pain. If I buy Star Wars movies, sure, I'll download them as a backup. But what if I have three seasons of Continuum? Not sure it's worth the trouble. For the record, though, one HD episode of Game of Thrones is about 1.5-2 GB so a digital movie is around twice that.

One of the things that annoys me about iTunes is that it IS download only. I've deleted a ton of free episodes because I can't afford to store them all, and I can redownload them later when I want to watch them.

Kal-El

I never bought the Blu-Ray collection or any other HD version of Star Wars since the Vader "NOOOO!" in Jedi was leaked. If these were the '97 SEs, maybe I would bite. But if it's the latest abominations, hell no.

hdnmickey

Huh? I've seen the option to stream anything I have entered as iTunes as a purchased title. I know this because I had to turn off this option on my daughter's iPad because only a quarter or so of the things that would be available for her to watch are age appropriate for her to watch.

davidh777

I don't have an ipad (or Apple TV etc.) so that's probably why I can't stream. I haven't looked too deeply into it, though.

Mr. Cinema

Vudu's HDX versions look very good on my 60" Samsung. I don't see much difference these days between HDX and BD when it comes to brand new films. BD still has the sound advantage, but Vudu uses DD+ on new releases and it's far from crappy.

hdnmickey

Could be wrong here, but I think any hardware capable of connecting to their cloud service can stream any purchase (code entered) done in iTunes. True for movies, tv, and music. The supposed advantage of their cloud system. But I end up disabling it all because there is movies, tv, and music I have "purchased" via iTunes that my daughter should not be watching. That's for when I borrow it and turn on cloud for the time I am using it.

invisiblegt

There's a rumor circulating that there's yet ANOTHER change for this release of A New Hope...

From Badass Digest: http://badassdigest.com/2015/04/09/t...-major-change/

davidh777

I'm sure you're correct but I don't use their cloud service so I'm probably the wrong person to provide any info on Apple even though I use their phone.

hdnmickey

If they also took out the Jaba scene, and the new "nooooo" in ROTJ, that would be a big deal. As much I would love the real originals, I have been generally good with the other changes.

Would be nice if they also eventually fixed the technical issues (saber colors!) only related to the SE's.

kgrogers1979

Don't forget the Hayden Christensen force ghost. Of all the changes, that bothers me the most by far.

The best change was putting Ian McDiarmid in place of the old woman in ESB.

Shannon Nutt

I've also heard these releases have a few small tweaks here and there (but are still the Special Editions), but I'm not expecting a change THAT big. Yes, it would certainly get Disney in the good graces of the fans, but since A NEW HOPE is still very much 20th Century Fox property when it comes to distribution, that's the one title I didn't expect to see ANY changes with.

banthafett

Jedi Rocks needs to fuck off along with that shitty song at the end.

Han/Greedo

R2 behind rocks

Boba voice

ewoks that blink

Noooooo

Haydens mug


Jabba

Those are the biggest offenders... oh fuck it, I hate all the changes. The lie of the changes were made to make the films better is bullshit. They are stupid, stand out, and helps nothing. Ewoks that have moist eyes carry a fucking movie!

Ok fanboy rant out of the way. If that rumor is true, why just that one? Han now "shoots first", now stare in total disgust at Jabba in the next scene, and laugh at the hijinks when Han steps on him. Then Boba walks in and stares at you with a look that says "yup, that just fucking happened"

Fix them all or don't bother. Every year a new digital version with one fix.