Criterion Blu-ray Plans Revealed
08-05-2008 00:19 | 11320 views | Dave Foster | Show Backlinks
The latest newsletter email sent out by Criterion reveals their future Blu-ray Disc plans. Rather than summarise we’ll just quote verbatim…
Thanks to SimonI for sending over this news.
We’ve got some exciting news for this fall, and we wanted you to hear it first.
Our first Blu-ray discs are coming! We’ve picked a little over a dozen titles from the collection for Blu-ray treatment, and we’ll begin rolling them out in October. These new editions will feature glorious high-definition picture and sound, all the supplemental content of the DVD releases, and they will be priced to match our standard-def editions.
Here’s what’s in the pipeline:
The Third Man
Bottle Rocket
Chungking Express
The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Last Emperor
El Norte
The 400 Blows
Gimme Shelter
The Complete Monterey Pop
Contempt
Walkabout
For All Mankind
The Wages of Fear
Alongside our DVD and Blu-ray box sets of The Last Emperor, we’ll also be putting out the theatrical version as a stand-alone release in both formats, priced at $39.95. Our Blu-ray release of Walkabout will be an all-new edition, featuring new supplements as well as a new transfer; we will also release an updated anamorphic DVD of Nicolas Roeg’s outback masterpiece at the same time.
Thanks to SimonI for sending over this news.
Comments
Member
Posts: 1815
Now this is the sort of news which makes me finally start seriously considering getting a Blu-ray player.
The Wages of Fear and Walkabout in HD! Very tempting. If they give the same treatment to The Spirit of the Beehive and their Tati and Fellini titles, that'll swing it...
Administrator
Posts: 412
Damn - I only recently bought the DVD Criterion edition of The Last Emperor! The Blu-ray will be the third copy of that film I'll own!
Member
Posts: 813
This is fantastic news.
Member
Posts: 77
What wonderfully good news this is. And they won't be charging extra for the BD editions. Bravo!
Member
Posts: 50
I wonder if they will revert back to the original aspect ration for the blu-ray release of The Last Emperor.
Blu-ray.com
Posts: 189
The news that negated the Paramount/Universal comeback/introduction to BR.
Pro-B
Member
Posts: 38
Please let them be all-regions!. I'm not holding my breath though. It would be too good to be true.
Member
Posts: 46
Yes, I agree Rodrigo. No point if they stick to region A and I can't get a crack for my Samsung BD-P1400 ! Criterion are pretty fussy ... the Criterion store won't even ship their DVDs to any country other than USA and Canada. Thank goodness for DVD Pacific
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Member
Posts: 207
Now this is the kind of news that may push me into Blu-Ray.
Though annoying also because I've invested quite a lot in Criterion titles and I'm not looking forward to spending a premium for Blu-Ray versions which I'm sure won't be discounted much. Worse is I haven't even watched the Criterion release of The Man Who Fell To Earth yet on DVD! (I wonder if the Blu-Ray will come with the book though?).
Thank god for the current $ to £ exchange rate though. But it will be a huge pain if they region code. Sadly this may be down to the licence they have with the studios to distribute the films. If they insist on coding, they have no choice, which is what's happened with their DVD releases.
For All Mankind might be region free though. It was on DVD (and thus plays on my Tosh HD DVD player, nicely upscaled :)). Would probably buy that again, though need to see how much of an improvement it is given mostly 16mm footage.
Also I doubt we'll see all Criterion releases on Blu-Ray as they no longer have the rights to many of them. I'd love a Criterion Blu-Ray of Robocop for example (yes, in anamorphic 1.66:1, much that it would annoy HD fans who seem to want their LCDs and Plasmas filled to the limits).
Member
Posts: 10
This is my main reason for joining the BD camp, as the quality of titles will now improve (add Tartan, Blue Underground and others to the mix; wonder if Artificial-Eye and Mastersofcinema will join ranks also!).
Region Coding is obviously a problem. The minute the announcement came through, I was scouring websites looking for the best deal on BD players/PS3 but I guess if they're locked for the majority of releases, I'll have to go the way of import.
Also, I wonder if windowboxing will discontinue in BD?!
Member
Posts: 107
Fantastic news! But as a PS3 owner who owns a Toshiba HD-DVD player, I am NOT buying a standalone BD player modified to play all regions. They are available but I just can't have another square box under my TV.
Member
Posts: 119
Originally Posted by dovzhenko:
This is my main reason for joining the BD camp, as the quality of titles will now improve
There's not much wrong with the existing titles but whatever films you enjoy they were always destined to come out on Blu-ray. It's odd that people say "I'll wait for such and such a film" before I buy blu-ray as if the films they bought on DVD are never going to see a Blu-ray release (unlikely)
Guys, do yourselves a favour and get a Region A Blu-ray player, why limit yourselves to high cost British discs and a narrower selection?
Member
Posts: 1815
On the subject of region A or B Blu-ray players, are they also locked in to region 1 or 2 for SD DVD playback?
I'm wondering just how many players I'm going to end up needing.
Administrator
Posts: 412
Originally Posted by Phil Q:
On the subject of region A or B Blu-ray players, are they also locked in to region 1 or 2 for SD DVD playback?
I'm wondering just how many players I'm going to end up needing.
Keep an eye on this.
Member
Posts: 603
Originally Posted by rodrigo obon:
Please let them be all-regions!. I'm not holding my breath though. It would be too good to be true.
This isn't under Criterion's control - if the contract with the rightsholder specifies a region, then Criterion is legally obliged to author the discs accordingly. Sadly, I predict we'll see more Blu-Ray region coding as the same titles start getting released across different territories.
Member
Posts: 10
>There's not much wrong with the existing titles but whatever films you enjoy they were always destined to come out on Blu-ray.
Well, I originally bought into HD DVD so a number of the titles that interest me I probably already own. What remains is either polyfilla or not worth swapping my SD DVD for. Now that Criterion have entered the game (and hoping other arthouse/World/avant-garde distribution companies will later on), there's more incentive to purchase a BD player. Not gonna sell my HD DVD machine because as it currently stands, it plays the red discs fine and has been modified for complete multiregional SD DVD upscaling.
>It's odd that people say "I'll wait for such and such a film" before I
buy blu-ray as if the films they bought on DVD are never going to see a
Blu-ray release (unlikely)
That entirely depends on the type of films you want, of course. I'm still waiting for first releases of many films on SD DVD, let alone High Def.
Member
Posts: 1815
Originally Posted by Colin Polonowski:
Originally Posted by Phil Q:
On the subject of region A or B Blu-ray players, are they also locked in to region 1 or 2 for SD DVD playback?
I'm wondering just how many players I'm going to end up needing.
Keep an eye on this.
Member
Posts: 107
I just remembered that I have some Region 0 Criterion discs, so I suppose it could be possible that they don't region code their BDs.
Member
Posts: 813
Originally Posted by rodrigo obon:Please let them be all-regions!. I'm not holding my breath though. It would be too good to be true.
Agreed. I hope they are Region Free. It does add credence to the evidence that importing an American Player is the best way to go.
The players which you can switch between RA and RB tend to be sold at a premium price, and have to be bought from specialist dealers.
Originally Posted by camaj:
Guys, do yourselves a favour and get a Region A Blu-ray player, why limit yourselves to high cost British discs and a narrower selection?
Exactly. I don't know of any Region B Exclusives that are worth owning (unless you happen to love EIV discs) but there are several Region A Exclusives already.
Contributor
Posts: 370
It'll be interesting to hear what Gimme Shelter and Monterey Pop look like on BD, as they were shot in 16mm - higher definition grain perhaps?
Member
Posts: 207
Originally Posted by camaj:
Guys, do yourselves a favour and get a Region A Blu-ray player, why limit yourselves to high cost British discs and a narrower selection?
I refuse to import a player partly on principle. I shouldn't have to.
Besides, I know only too well from DVD that US doesn't always get the best releases and although currently most region Bs are region free, it won't stay that way. There will always be that one off title that's better in region B or even region C.
So really I need three players!!!
Why region coding isn't considered an anti-trust case and yet other anti-competitive and market restricting actions by industries are, beats me. Thank god the EU at least sees sense.
Anyway, the other points about importing a player is a) the hassle, b) warranty concerns, c) potential for firmware updates to be restricted to US, especially if distributed via the Internet, d) same goes for Internet content on discs.
Of course if you'd all picked the right option in the first place we wouldn't have had this problem, but you've made your bed so... ;)
Oh, as for high cost British discs, have you seen the price of DVDs these days in the UK high street? I stopped importing DVDs a long time ago for price reasons because even with the exchange rate, UK prices were cheap enough. Of course I still imported because of superior versions, but there too the UK market was catching up and in many cases offering better versions.
Blu-Ray of course is expensive just by the fact of being Blu-Ray and a niche market format. With little demand and competition, there's no push for UK retailers to drop prices, hence bargains to be found by taking advantage of the exchange rate (which won't always be so good in the future).
Member
Posts: 813
Originally Posted by DeadKenny:I refuse to import a player partly on principle. I shouldn't have to.
I agree but the sad fact is it's the user who will suffer but not going RA, if you like importing.
Originally Posted by DeadKenny:Besides, I know only too well from DVD that US doesn't always get the best releases and although currently most region Bs are region free, it won't stay that way. There will always be that one off title that's better in region B or even region C.
That's a theory, exclusive Region A BDs are fact. All the small/interesting UK labels (e.g - Tartan, Optimum) release Region Free BDs.
Originally Posted by DeadKenny:Why region coding isn't considered an anti-trust case and yet other anti-competitive and market restricting actions by industries are, beats me. Thank god the EU at least sees sense.
That is a strange one, at least in the case of the EU. Who oddly haven't stopped it. I'm not surprised the American government hasn't done anything to stop it though.
Originally Posted by DeadKenny:) warranty concerns
That is a big one, along with using a voltage convertor. I guess it boils down to:
Warranty/Voltage converter vs. If you want any of the Region A exclusive titles.
Originally Posted by DeadKenny:c) potential for firmware updates to be restricted to US, especially if distributed via the Internet, d) same goes for Internet content on discs.
Again I think I'm right in saying so far that's just a theory.
Originally Posted by DeadKenny:Of course if you'd all picked the right option in the first place we wouldn't have had this problem, but you've made your bed so... ;)
It was never a decision for us to make, the studios decided for us.
Originally Posted by DeadKenny:Oh, as for high cost British discs, have you seen the price of DVDs these days in the UK high street? I stopped importing DVDs a long time ago for price reasons because even with the exchange rate, UK prices were cheap enough.
UK DVD prices are good but UK BD prices mostly stink.
Member
Posts: 813
Maybe there is something in lumping the cost and importing a BD Player that you can switch between RA and RB. I wouldn't worry about RC it covers no countries of interest.
Member
Posts: 158
I too was excited by Criterion's announcement. And then immediately thought of the region coding issue. Criterion have issued both R0 and R1 DVD discs, and as everyone says, Criterion have to code the discs according to the wishes of the licencees.
However, it was only three years into DVD (or earlier!) that first region-free hacks and then region-free players began to become widely available, and I don't see any particular reason for Blu-Ray to be any different, regardless of its much touted superior security measures.
It's still chips and ones and zeros; there's always going to be ways around them.
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Gun crazy
Posts: 122
When you get dozens of Blu-ray players with mostly the same features, you'll get a company that will try to distinguish itself with some magical code on remote that will remove any region locking, then everybody else will follow.
Concerning software, even Sony has released some titles that are region-free (Walk Hard, for instance).
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