Star Wars Coming To Blu-ray In September 419
wiredog writes "A bundle of all six movies will sell for $139.99, while sets of the original three films, and the three prequels, will go for $69.99 apiece. Obsessive types can pre-order them on Amazon now. Han shot first!"
Finally.. (Score:5, Funny)
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Well, I won't be replacing my eight year old TV until it croaks, but I do plan on buying a Blu-Ray. Why? My DVD player is on its last legs; it's been incapable of playing a rented movie for a while now, and has even started stuttering on my own discs, so it's time to replace it.
With Blu-Ray's smaller beams, it seems to me that it should play DVDs a lot longer than Blu_rays, since the beam target is so much smaller on a Blu-Ray.
But I won't be buying Star Wars on Blu-Ray even if my TV goes titsup and I buy a
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This Xmas, I gave myself a gift....a bluray player, but in the form of a Sony Playstation.
I looked at prices, and a standalone, wireless, 3D bluray player that can stream netflix..was in the $200 or so range. (roughly, name bran
Re:Moichandising! (Score:4, Insightful)
sets of the bastardized, chopped up, mutilated corpses of the original three films, and the three prequels
There, fixed that for ya.
And somehow my .sig feels oh-so-appropriate today...
The Right Way (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:The Right Way (Score:4)
Re:The Right Way (Score:4, Insightful)
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No. That will be later on a different BluRay edition so you can but it again.
quite Freudian there.
Actually, it's Greedo who shoots first. Again. (Score:5, Insightful)
It was hand-waved months ago, when they first made the announcement.
http://geektyrant.com/news/2010/8/14/george-lucas-star-wars-blu-ray-coming-in-2011-and-watch-a-de.html [geektyrant.com]
Lucas also went on to explain that the original trilogy films included on the Blu-Ray release will be the remastered special editions.
Releasing the originals is kind of an oxymoron because the quality of the original is not very good. You have to go through and do a whole restoration on it, and you have to do that digitally. It’s a very, very expensive process to do it. So when we did the transfer to digital, we only transferred really the upgraded version.
In other words, no ORIGINAL original trilogy, cause that would mean some "people" would actually have to be "hired" to do some "work" on those and they would presumably require to be "paid" in return.
But have no fear. Few years down the road, and Lucas will have his slaves do that for free.
Or for more actual coffee in their coffee and an additional bathroom brake.
Cause nothing is too good for his slaves if it will help sell everyone yet another "very, very expensive" set of plastic discs.
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Releasing the originals is kind of an oxymoron because the quality of the original is not very good. You have to go through and do a whole restoration on it, and you have to do that digitally. It’s a very, very expensive process to do it. So when we did the transfer to digital, we only transferred really the upgraded version.
This is such BS it's hard to even understand. How much has changed since the originals? 3%, 5% tops? That means they have already remastered almost the entire movie. What the fans want from Lucas is to spend a little extra cash (which we will obviously end up paying for) and remaster the few scenes that you didn't from before (which should be minimal).
Then you need to go through and remove the crap you put in before, we want the original theatrical versions - Han shoots first, remove the crappy Jabba
Re:The Right Way (Score:5, Funny)
No, in this version Han reaches for his blaster, and finds a walkie-talkie in the holster.
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And Jar-Jar ducks out from under the table with Han's Blaster "Yousa dropped something", and then both Han and Greedo Shoot Jar-Jar and then drink a beer together.
Which Verson??? (Score:5, Funny)
Can I see the original theater version or do I have to watch parodies of the original?
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It's hardly stealing if people are handing over the money willingly.
On the other hand I am a little annoyed at this. I got fed up of waiting for the original Star Wars on blu-ray and just bought the DVDs last year. The last version I bought was the VHS "Special Edition" with the case that made farty noises when you put the lid back on.
I think this is one of those things where I'll be happy with the DVD for now though. Old live action films aren't usually worth getting on blu-ray. If I were inclined to buy E
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The last time Emperor Lucas included the theatrical version, he did a nice little underhanded (and spiteful) trick. The Special Edition versions were anamorphic DVD's. The theatrical versions were non-anamorphic widescreen (which, for those who don't understand the distinction, look like shit on widescreen TV's).
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Whether the Emperor...uhhh..
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Re:Which Verson??? (Score:4, Interesting)
Which version of the original theater version? You do realize there were like 5 of them, right? Not to mention that the VHS and LD versions, usually touted also as being the "original" versions, also had discrepancies in things like the audio mix, etc.
You know, I don't care. So long as it's one of the versions that's not overloaded with tacked-on CG creatures and such, omits the superfluous Jabba scene and leaves the Greedo scene alone, I don't care if it says "Episode IV: A New Hope" or not.
But it sounds like they're not prepared to do a decent remastering of such a version any time soon. Oh, well. I'll just wait longer, then. There's other movies I can buy.
No, NOT Star Wars (Score:4, Informative)
The original theatrical releases will NOT be included, only the heavily edited "Special Editions" from the 90's (no doubt with even *more* edits from Lucas piled on, as if he didn't fuck them up enough already).
Re:No, NOT Star Wars (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No, NOT Star Wars (Score:4, Funny)
I would not mind seeing Jabba go Hentai on Leia. Come on George, do it for the fans!
Re:No, NOT Star Wars (Score:4, Funny)
during Gungan cunnilingus, that tongue would be long enough to come out her nose......
Re:No, NOT Star Wars (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:No, NOT Star Wars (Score:5, Informative)
You obviously haven't seen them, or you would know that they did a *lot* more than just some "retouches." Entire sequences on Cloud City and Tatooine are now unwatchable because of all the distracting CGI shit in the background. And it isn't even *good* CGI (you would think they could have at least sprang for some decent work).
Re:No, NOT Star Wars (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No, NOT Star Wars (Score:4, Insightful)
I have seen them. And no, they didn't do a lot more than retouches. There's no "unwatchable" scene because of "distracting" CGI. It fits nicely into the background, like it should. The reason you get distracted is because you're looking for reasons to hate, not because they are actually distracting.
Have you seen Jabba's scene in A newh hope?
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So This Will Be the ... (Score:5, Interesting)
If I'm going to respect copyright, tell me why I don't deserve to have these movies on my Nintendo DS, Netbook HDD, PS3, etc in whatever the latest resolution is. I've cumulatively shelled out hundreds of dollars (with inflation adjustments) for these three movies and yet I'm continually paying for them in the latest format. I bet if they figured out a way to approve lifetime licenses to this media, a lot more people would feel okay buying a copyright. Right now, I'm 28 years old and I've been nickel and dimed since age 12. Also, for those who didn't like the sequels, there appears to be a cheaper subset for $45 of the original three [amazon.com].
I'm sad that there isn't BD-Live for these in the Amazon description, I'd love to listen to fan commentary and possibly add my own. Has anyone had good/bad experiences with BD-Live commentaries? I was hoping that'd be used to do MST3K versions of popular movies or add insight to movies like Donnie Darko or Lost maybe. Unfortunately, having only received my PS3 this last holiday I've discovered that very very few movies are BD-Live.
Re:So This Will Be the ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So This Will Be the ... (Score:5, Funny)
"Who's the more foolish, the fool, or the fool who follows him?"
Re:So This Will Be the ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So This Will Be the ... (Score:5, Funny)
Merchant: "You really need another copy of the trilogy."
Fool: "I really need another copy of the trilogy."
Merchant: "It's only $189.00."
Fool: "It's only $189.00."
Merchant: "It's Blu-Ray this time."
Fool: "It's Blu-Ray this time"
Merchant: "It's Better."
Fool: "It's Better"
Merchant: "I'll take your money, thanks."
Fool: "Take my money, thanks."
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so, since you multiply-paid for the set, that means to balance things out, a few of us will have to, uhhh, 'download'.
just to balance things out.
I'll ACK when I've done my part.
DS and DS Lite r 4 games, not movies (Score:2)
If I'm going to respect copyright, tell me why I don't deserve to have these movies on my Nintendo DS
Because Nintendo made the DS and DS Lite for games, not movies. Homebrew is piracy according to Nintendo, even though I disagree with Nintendo's stance. Otherwise, it wouldn't have successfully sued distributors of R4 and R4i style microSD adapters in multiple countries.
I've discovered that very very few movies are BD-Live.
That's because BD-Live is an ongoing cost center: the publisher has to keep servers running.
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other than the fact that you're a fanboy and GL's core customer, it takes time and money to transfer them to each new format. you have to buy the workstations, software and pay people to do the transfer and the work of taking a 30 some year old movie and upgrading it to HD quality
Re:So This Will Be the ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Fifth time I've paid for a license to three of these movies.
If I'm going to respect copyright, tell me why I don't deserve to have these movies on my Nintendo DS, Netbook HDD, PS3, etc in whatever the latest resolution is. I've cumulatively shelled out hundreds of dollars (with inflation adjustments) for these three movies and yet I'm continually paying for them in the latest format.
You're not paying for the license 5 times. You're paying Lucas off to keep screwing with Star Wars, thus keeping him too busy to go and retroactively ruin "American Graffiti".
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Here's an idea; chaulk it up to an expensive lesson...AND THEN NEVER REWARD THE BAD BEHAVIOR AGAIN. Obviously you didn't realize that you are only buying a license for the current format and hard copy. Now that you do....
Sure, that means you will be going with out whatever the latest HD is. Is it necessary? Really? What are you gaining?
The Answer (Score:5, Interesting)
I've been saying for years that ultimately, the system I describe below is the most fair and equitable for both consumers and studios.
Someone--probably either the government or a government-regulated entity--should set up a "copyright clearinghouse" for media such as movies. If you want to buy a movie, you play a license fee plus a media fee. So say you went out and bought the original Star Wars movie (Episode IV) on DVD for $15. That $15 would technically be, say, $12 for the unlimited private viewing license, plus $3 for the cost of the box, media, distribution, etc. Inside the DVD case you would get a code that you register with the clearinghouse so that they now know that you own the rights to watch Episode IV.
Okay, now let's say that you want to be able to stream it online. Instead of paying another $15, you only pay $3, which covers the cost of hosting and bandwidth for whoever it is streaming it to you. Want to Blu-ray version? Okay, that will be an extra $5. $2 of that $5 is the cost of upgrading your license to the high-def remastered version, and $3 of it is for the cost again of the media and distribution. Oh, now you want the whole original trilogy? Well, normally it's $45, but since you already own a license for Episode IV, you get $8 shaved off the license cost and only pay $37.
Content providers could offer discounts on license fees for things like stores that buy the licenses in volume, or for customers who buy several licenses for different products (e.g. a Star Wars/Indiana Jones bundle) at once. Retailers like Amazon could pass those discounts on to customers, or have bundle discounts by applying some of their cut of the media fee to the license fee as a loss leader.
Content providers win because there would be a shitload more legal copies of the premium editions of their products sold. Retailers win because their profit comes from a cut of the media fee, not the license, and more sales--even for lower amounts--means more money. Consumers win because when you buy a movie on physical media x today, you don't get screwed from having to re-buy it on media y tomorrow or media z in five years.
Some of you may have had pause when I mentioned the government being involved. The reason why the government needs to be involved is twofold. First, for this idea to work, there needs to be one and only one clearinghouse. Because it would be a monopoly, it would need to be regulated as such. Second, if it's solely a private company endeavor, it would take exactly three nanoseconds for that company to say, "Hey, you know, with all of this data on what media people own, we could make a killing if we sold it to marketing companies," and it would take either direct government ownership or strict government regulation to ensure that privacy is upheld.
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No, I' guess there are different things if I'm using a theater: I'll be using again things such as HVAC, electricity, the seat, the guy that opens the door and proyects the movie. I should be able to get a discount if copyright stands. Otherwise, the copyright thing is just mumbo jumbo. I guess a format that wanted to charge every time I saw a movie died for a reason.
In any way the original poster is say
oh good (Score:5, Funny)
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He acts more like the Emperor these days. Too bad someone couldn't have tossed him down a shaft before he raped Indiana Jones with a crystal skull.
Han Shot First (Score:2)
Han Shot First!
Also, not giving another dime to Lucas ... EVAR ... if I can possibly avoid it.
The Ewocs were rubbish, but JarJar was unforgivable.
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The Ewocs were rubbish, but JarJar was unforgivable.
They would make great targets for a Doom 3 mod.
Who cares? What about the Original Editions? (Score:2)
All I have is a grainy copy from the 1980s analog LaserDisc (better than VHS but not as clean as DVD). I want to see the ORIGINALS released in high-def, not these idiotic bastard-ripped, CGI-damaged special editions.
Re:Who cares? What about the Original Editions? (Score:5, Informative)
I think those DVDs were covered here on Slashdot a couple of years ago. Again, not Blu-ray (and hence not high def), but the best quality purists among us are going to get of the original releases for the foreseeable future.
Re:Who cares? What about the Original Editions? (Score:5, Informative)
Yes that's what I was talking about. - The Original Edition DVD is a copy of the 1988 analog Laserdisc. Literally. George Lucas claimed the laserdisc was the only copy of the OE that still existed.
Unlike some people here, I've not bought Star Wars multiple times (and therefore saved money). I bought 3 of them on VHS which I later sold on ebay to recoup my money. Then I bought the Laserdisc-to-DVD from Lucas. And that's it. (Yes I'm a cheapass.)
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yet another version (Score:2)
So is this version still going to have the new actors replacing the original actors at the end to Return of the Jedi
So you save 1 cent (Score:5, Informative)
by buying the two boxes separately?
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Indeed... (Score:2)
My guess is that you save on postage when buying the 6-in-1 bundle online as most shops (Amazon definitely) charge per shipment AND per item postage.
Also... (Score:3)
Just checked on amazon.
Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) [Blu-ray] [amazon.com] comes with 9 discs - for $89.99.
Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (Episodes IV - VI) [Blu-ray] [amazon.com] and Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy (Episodes I - III) [Blu-ray] [amazon.com] are both 3 disc sets for $44.99 each.
So, you get 3 extra discs in the complete set for 1 cent more, and you save on the shipping if you don't want or don't qualify for the FREE_Super_Saver_ShippingTM.
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Unless you're REALLY in a hurry and can't wait a few days, shipping is already included with all media purchases from Amazon anyways (at least over $25, which these would definitely qualify for).
Or, if you are not in USA... (Score:2)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=mk_sss_dp_1?ie=UTF8&nodeId=527692&pop-up=1 [amazon.com]
# Applies to U.S. delivery addresses in the 50 states only, including Alaska and Hawaii.
Geographic shipping restrictions may apply to particular products; for example, some Tools & Hardware items may not be shipped to Alaska and Hawaii using FREE Super Saver Shipping.
# Applies to APO/FPO addresses when using a United States ZIP Code only.
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It's like how at movie theaters or fast food joints they don't always show individual item prices so you don't see that the 'combo' saves you nothing
Either saves you nothing, or at places like Taco Bell costs MORE than my normal order.
I typically always get the small drinks at a fast food place. They all have free refills anyways and I'm not likely to go back more than once for a refill - if that. Taco Bell combos all include their large drinks - which are much bigger than any amount of soda I'd actually want. If you order the combos piecemeal with the large drinks then it's a wash - but if you order separately and get the small drink instead of larg
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Dead horse (Score:2)
Re:Dead horse (Score:5, Funny)
Imagine if you will a dead horse that deposited millions of dollars into your bank account every time you beat it.
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Releasing moves in the updated format (Score:3)
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George is more heavily scrutinized on this issue because of past transgressions. There were at least 3 (probably more) VHS versions of the originals, then the laserdisc versions, then the DVD versions (sure there is more than one DVD set out for them), etc, etc, etc.
It's not that releasing on BluRay is a bad thing - it's just that based on past experiences, most people see this as the inevitable FIRST OF MANY BluRay releases of these movies.
Truth be told . . . my only copies of the original trilogy are sti
That's no moon! (Score:3)
Better never than late (Score:2)
Does this mean we're a year away from the next-gen successor to Blu-ray coming out?
Blu-ray not just for Clone Wars any more! (Score:2)
Nice to see the films joining Clone Wars on Blu-ray, currently the only Star Wars content available in that format.
I would pay... (Score:3)
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Anakin's Dramatic Turn to the Dark Side (Score:4, Funny)
Episode 3 was the biggest cinematic missed opportunity I can think of. The whole point of the movie, and the whole point of the prequel trilogy, was to see how and why Anakin went to the dark side. It was the reason we stomached the first two awful movies and should have helped us find new way to look at the original 3 movies. If they could nail that scene, the rest of the garbage might have just been worth it. Instead, the big payoff scene was clumsy and unbelievable and it manages to make all of the prequels all the more pointless. Unless they can get that aspect right, tweaking the rest hardly matters.
Palpatine: So you see, Anakin, being evil offers terrific health benefits. If you needed, say, extensive prosthetic work, that would be covered with zero deductible. The pay is good, plus you have the opportunity to study obscure black arts and transfer the credits toward a degree program.
Anakin: I don't know... I'm not sure about the whole "conspiring to kill all my friends and comrades" thing. Won't that sort of go against everything I've stood for all my life?
Palpatine: Oh, let's not dwell on that... Think of the opportunities! Oh, and don't forget your lady is gonna die unless you take drastic, horrifying measures to save her. Remember what happened to your mom? How she was kidnapped and tortured in such a way that the timing of her death coincided exactly with your effort to rescue her? That's what happens if you delay your decision too long.
Anakin: Well, I know Padme is gonna hate me for this, but OK, you have a deal.
Palpatine: Good, good! Now, you need a cool Sith name. How about "Vader"?
Anakin: You seem to have given this some thought...
Palpatine: Oh, my, no... I'm just really good at this sort of thing... "Vader", "Tyranus", "Sidious", "Maul"... I could come up with names all day long.
Anakin: Wait, haven't I heard some of those before?
Palpatine: No, and neither have I. Now, for your first assignment, I'd like you to go slaughter a room full of children. This is a very important and challenging job, so I need to send someone who I know will be capable of seeing it through...
$69.99+$69.99=$139.98 (Score:2)
Hmmm, buy separately and save a penny. Sounds like the groundwork for a new economic policy...
so how's the TV show coming? (Score:2)
Uh oh! (Score:2)
"Guess I'll have to buy the White Album again..." (Score:3)
These are not the movies you're looking for. (Score:3)
I have a bad feeling about this.
Re:BluRay? Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
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but the long wait at the start, the forced commecials and the draconian DRM are complete show-stoppers.
not to mention that if you rip them to your NAS, the industry has now just DOSd your storage system with extra data bits that you can't even see or resolve on the tv and definitely 100% guaranteed that your audio system isn't up to 'linear track 24bit' standards. ie, they force you to take 40-50gb for a movie when its just not reasonable. reduced down to 10gig or so and that's more reasonable (like dvd9
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Upscaling's a funny old business. My (1st gen US 60gig) PS3 upscales PS2 games and does a pretty decent job of it. Certainly, on a dull afternoon, I got my TV to display Final Fantasy X running on:
a) a PS2
b) the PS3, with upscaling to 720p
c) ePSXe2 via my laptop (with HDTV adapter), with upscaling to 720p
Of the three, b) looked by far the best. The worst was a), which looked very blurry and muddy on a 38 inch HDTV. Meanwhile, c) just looked odd, with a very sterile and angular look. I think the point I took
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Go to your friend's Bluray Player and click "zoom" on the picture. It brings-up details in the movie you can't see on DVD or Upconverting DVD. (Zooming on dvd just shows a blur of MPEG2 artifacts.)
>>>2. you can buy a upconvert dvd player for $35
This past Christmas I saw Bluray players for almost as cheap ($50), so might as well buy the better player. BD players also upconvert your current collection.
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Yeah, but if you watch the movie at normal size, as I tend to do, it not such a big deal. Sometimes you do want to slomo and zoom for a gratuitous nipple slip, say, but otherwise I'll just wait till my old player dies before upgrading.
Not to say that I can't tell the difference; just that it's a small factor in my enjoyment of a movie.
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Go to your friend's Bluray Player and click "zoom" on the picture. It brings-up details in the movie you can't see on DVD or Upconverting DVD. (Zooming on dvd just shows a blur of MPEG2 artifacts.)
Oh yes ! Because I like very much stopping and zooming on movies. In fact I always do that each 5mn, so I can watch details, *that* is really much more entertaining - even if my GF disagrees.
Thanks you for proving it's bullshit.
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every disc and bd player you buy makes fat old sony corp richer.
don't you guys remember - sony is a bad guy! how soon we forget about all the evils sony has done.
for the past 5 or more years (maybe even 10) I've had sony on my do-not-buy list. many reasons but mostly they are enemies of what we typically want. if we want it, they oppose (drm issues, rootkits, supporting hollywood laws, removing fair use, inventing useless proprietary/expensive solutions and the list goes on and on).
I DO NOT BUY SONY.
you
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I still chuckle when someone tells me they just bought a bluray player.
I ask why because
1. powerdvd (and it's equivalents) will upconvert
2. you can buy a upconvert dvd player for $35
My tinfoil hat tells me that they just want us to buy the same shit in a different format.
Up converting will never give the same quality as a source image in the correct format.
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US broadband still sucks (Score:2)
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Top image is HD, bottom image is upconverted.
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- Blu-ray players still play DVD discs.
- Blu-ray players are also upconverting DVD players.
- Unconverted DVDs have nothing on Blu-ray discs.
At 100$ for a decent Blu-ray player, you'd have to be dumb not to buy one. I chuckle when people think they saved 65$ by buying a rubbish Chinese DVD player.
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I still chuckle when someone tells me they just bought a bluray player.
I ask why because
1. powerdvd (and it's equivalents) will upconvert
2. you can buy a upconvert dvd player for $35
My tinfoil hat tells me that they just want us to buy the same shit in a different format.
Well, Yes, of course they just want you to buy the same crap again.
That said, things really do look better when they're less compressed, assuming your display is capable of showing the higher resolution images. In spite of the impression people may get from movies and TV, you can't just "expand" an image and have the same quality as one created at a higher resolution, no matter how much smoothing trickery you use.
My take is that the only justification for having a 1080p display is that you're going to displ
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If you had a decent TV, you would know why. But, you're right that it won't make any difference on your 27" Sanyo.
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or maybe you don't VALUE the higher res on video since that contributes maybe 5% to the actual movie watching experience.
you guys always forget this: content matters more.
ever hear your favorite song on a portable 1-spkr radio? well, bad analogy: no one here is old enough to remember before earbuds and stereo. but suppose that you heard an old 1970's mono FM radio playing your favorite song. does it matter so much that its not on the best playback equipment? you still like that song and your mind connec
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Man waiting for technology to stop is still waiting.
Re:ive bought them several times (Score:4, Insightful)
How are you VHS copies compared to DVD?
Blissfully lacking in producer interference.
New censored version (Score:3)
Some of the changes include
- The word "slave" will be replaced with "indentured servant"
- Princess Leia no longer in metal bikini in episode VI, wearing a Victorian dress
- All ewoks,