Movies on the new HD disks... why?

[Marco33]

I find it very interesting at some of the movie choices by the studios. I can see NEW movies making it to the new formats but, some of the old movies...? Who's buying this garbage.

Seems to me they are just flooding the market trying to get what they can. More poorly encoded poor movies rushed out the door.

Seems to me that better movie choices would bring more people to a format rather than overall titles.

5 years from now those movies will be sitting in a bargain bin right were the dvd bin now resides.

[guns1inger]

Frankly I would rather have a good quality HD version of Lawrence of Arabia than most of the films released in the last couple of years. It always boggled my mind that the first releases of SuperBit discs were movies like XXX and Hollowman, instead of good movies. Each to their own, I guess.

[SquirrelDip]

If someone will buy it then someone will sell it...

[Conquest10]

If someone will buy it then someone will sell it...

Not really. There are tons of programs, tv shows, and movies that I would like to own but not available on DVD.

[zzyzzx]

Frankly I would rather have a good quality HD version of Lawrence of Arabia than most of the films released in the last couple of years. It always boggled my mind that the first releases of SuperBit discs were movies like XXX and Hollowman, instead of good movies. Each to their own, I guess.

Since when is porn not considered to be good movies?

[thecoalman]

If someone will buy it then someone will sell it...

Not really. There are tons of programs, tv shows, and movies that I would like to own but not available on DVD.

Maybe because you're the only one that is going to buy it. :P Most likely a lot of titles aren't going to have a big profit margin so they don't offer them. Yet another reason for offering high quality downloads because the start up expenses would be trivial. Imagine this fantasy world.... a media company with huge library offers all their shows for free. They are missing the boat yet again, if for example they offered them in a similar fashion to the youtube setup they'd make a fortune on advertising. They could also have a high quality download version that you pay for, of course that's something the consumer would be interested in so forget it. :P

[hummer]

Frankly I would rather have a good quality HD version of Lawrence of Arabia than most of the films released in the last couple of years. It always boggled my mind that the first releases of SuperBit discs were movies like XXX and Hollowman, instead of good movies. Each to their own, I guess.

you are absolutly rigth i have the "American werewolf in london" and it beats the hell of the dvd`s versions

[hummer]

Frankly I would rather have a good quality HD version of Lawrence of Arabia than most of the films released in the last couple of years. It always boggled my mind that the first releases of SuperBit discs were movies like XXX and Hollowman, instead of good movies. Each to their own, I guess.

Since when is porn not considered to be good movies?

XXX like triple X .... Vin Diesel

[rallynavvie]

I agree the selection available on BRD and HD-DVD are all over the place. With old films I'm sure it is partly due to those who have good prints that a lab can work from to create a 1080p feature that looks better than a simple up-converted DVD source. I, too, am waiting for a BRD of Lawrence of Arabia and a lot of the other classics that had native 70mm prints. And of course the film selection also has to do with which studio owns the rights since Sony pictures are likely to be released on BRD rather than HD-DVD and so forth.

I'm holding my breath to see which format Criterion chooses. Being a Sony whore I'm already in on BRD but if Criterion were to release solely on HD-DVD then I'd be out getting an Xbox 360 shortly after the announcement.

[Super Warrior]

Since when is porn not considered to be good movies?

Your joking right? Porn is not "movie" nor is it "good".

[yoda313]

Imagine this fantasy world.... a media company with huge library offers all their shows for free

Free would be good but I would pay if it meant no drm and burning rights to dvd.

I like the attempt by amazon and others for digital downloads. DRM sucks but at least you could get it and amazon does offer portable licensed versions for players like archos, zune, ipod etc...

What I would love to have is an infinite database to download a movie/tv show at a fixed price for burning or subscription fee for watching only (but must have option to pay more for burning!!!). What I'm thinking about is all of the out-of-print movies and tv shows that you can't get anywhere.

If only the could unleash the copyright/license monster and get the shows available for purchase I'd love it. I mean I had to buy an import japanese only version to get godzilla 1985 on dvd (aka godzilla returns). And it wasn't the american verison - which actually seemed to be edited better - I wasn't particuarly blown away by the scenes that were left out, they really didn't add much to the story.

Anyway I'd like to be able to get shows like Perfect Strangers or a rerelease of the G1 Transformers cartoon. But things like licensing and copyrights get in the way.

If there was a foolproof no drm or watch only drm system available FOR EVERY MOVIE/TV SHOW then we would finally be set. Plus the option for both 5.1 tracks if available PLUS commentary tracks. I don't think any of these download services offer commentary tracks with the movies - now I don't know that for sure but I would be pleaseanly suprised if you were able to get the commentary tracks - again where applicable.

(I'm also thinking of the whole MST3K licensing issue. I would go bannanas if they would finally be able to release season sets!!!! But NOOO! all those movie holders are holding back. I mean ONLY MST3K fans would ever want to watch those horrible B and C movies in the first place just to make fun of them!!! Who in the world would buy those movies in the "original" unedited format???? Just sell the damn rights to RHINO and be glad to get any kind of money for these things.... jeesh...)