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Bryant Frazer wrote:I don't think it was Saawariya that killed my console. I think it was the hours and hours I had been putting into Grand Theft Auto IV that revealed whatever shortcoming in workmanship led to the drive failure. I probably spun my PS3's drive more in the last two weeks prior to its failure than I did in the six months previous.

I think one of the biggest risks the smaller producers like criterion took is the fact that they're competing with games since the vast majority of blu-ray machines are PS3's. With the US Dollar plummetting in value, I wonder if we'll see "name-brand" consumer electronics manufacturers take the loss and start releasing the profile 2.0 standalones well below $200. Besides HDTV's, another incentive for them is to encourage consumers to spend more on new audio hardware to support the next-gen sound formats.

counpk39 wrote:

Bryant Frazer wrote:I don't think it was Saawariya that killed my console. I think it was the hours and hours I had been putting into Grand Theft Auto IV that revealed whatever shortcoming in workmanship led to the drive failure. I probably spun my PS3's drive more in the last two weeks prior to its failure than I did in the six months previous.

I think one of the biggest risks the smaller producers like criterion took is the fact that they're competing with games since the vast majority of blu-ray machines are PS3's.

Competition with videogames is going to be a problem for all producers of any media from now on, and won't be limited to Blu-ray. Eg, Sony said last fall that it sold fewer Spider-man 3 DVDs that it expected last fall because it came out the same day as Guitar Hero 3.

Yeah, but Spiderman 3 was an incredibly shitty movie... and again, thanks to Sony, many of us PS3 owners now own a Bluray of it that has "NOT FOR RESALE" printed all over the back. Worthless.

"Not For Resale" doesn't mean much to the numerous places who will take it on trade-in... I think I got $10 for mine, which came out of the PS3 box and hit the counter as the system was being rung up.

I'm wondering what CC could do with the BR of The Man Who Fell To Earth that would make me rush out and buy this.

Si Parallel Universe wrote:I'm wondering what CC could do with the BR of The Man Who Fell To Earth that would make me rush out and buy this.

I imagine they won't do anything to the existing (excellent) package except make it high def. What would you want, for it to come with a voucher for dinner with Bowie and Rip Torn?

Damn man, it even came with a book.

Yes, I forgot how irony and tone doesn't come across well in type. Though the dinner invitation sounds great.

What I meant was apart from the HD Transfer I already have the best version available

Rip Torn will beat you senseless with the source novel for no extra charge.

Are the Criterion Blu-Rays still coming in October? I just noticed that they released the October list of films and there aren't any BRs mentioned.

There's no newsletter yet either. I'd give the blu-rays at least a week to make an announcement before pronouncing them delayed.

I wonder if the order of the blu-ray films in Criterion's original release is also the order in which the blu-rays will be released. They can't all come out in a deluge.

Svevan wrote:I'm terrified that the Criterions I buy during the upcoming bi-annual sales will become Blu-Rays in a month. What do I do?

If you're that worried, just make do with the occasional NetFlix rental. Wait it out for a year or so, see how many Blu-Rays make it on to their schedule. You'll have a better idea of what to do then.

I'm guessing these arent coming in October, and I wonder if they are planning on releasing all the proposed at the same time? Probably not because Bottle Rocket and Chungking Express have not been put into the Standard releases. I would guess they are all released in November from that list to give the Blu-Ray fanboys some options, the only ones I would really be interested in having are Third Man and 400 Blows, but to each their own.

This has been answered elsewhere. Per Mulvaney, they will probably start rolling out in November now. And all the ones that are not previously in the collection will also see standard releases. No word on how many will come at first, but I would seriously doubt that they would do them all at once.

Well that list was pretty small on the ones going Blu, and it would be smart of them for the Blu-Ray purchasers willing to shell out the cash to get them out ASAP. I will be purchasing both Chungking and Bottle Rocket in standard and I hope that is Nobember, but who knows? I guess only Jim Mulvaney and a couple of insiders.

One would think they are going to try to get as many out before Xmas as they can.

Perhaps the typically bare month of December will finally have something substantive (barring the wonderful Two-Lane Blacktop and Symbiopsychotaxiplasm releases from the past two years).

December is the worst month to release a new title on the market, there's a reason it's always sparse.

How counter-intuitive. Well, maybe not. Everyone's buying all the shit that gets put out mid to late November, I guess.

kaujot wrote:How counter-intuitive. Well, maybe not. Everyone's buying all the shit that gets put out mid to late November, I guess.

What's counter-intuitive? Black Friday, frequently called the busiest shopping day of the year, is in November. Why would you hold back your ace product until slightly after that?

Well, because I do all my shopping two days before Christmas. Obviously, so does everyone else.

kaujot wrote:Well, because I do all my shopping two days before Christmas. Obviously, so does everyone else.

I agree. But I think everyone does their Criterion shopping online which would better suited for November. The Dark Knight comes out in December will most likely be the biggest seller of the year.

I emailed Criterion and asked, if their Blu-rays will be Region free, or locked to Region A and they replied:

The details of our Blu-ray releases are still being worked out, but I would be surprised if they weren't region A. I'm sure that as the debut of our BD releases draws nearer there will be more information on the website and in the blog/newsletter, so please keep checking back.

So, now would be a time to send them enough feedback to convince them to release blu-rays as region free, for us European customers.

Jarpie wrote:So, now would be a time to send them enough feedback to convince them to release blu-rays as region free, for us European customers.

They may not have a choice - region coding is often contractually imposed by the rightsholder as a condition of granting a licence for a particular territory.

Do you seriously think they'd want to cut off a fair chunk of their market if they could avoid it?

oh, I hadn't even thought of the discs as being region locked - this will be a massive shame, as I am in a mojority of excited (for CC Blu) non region a'ers!

fingers crossed on this one!