Fingers crossed for this being a 'region-free' release. For those who don't know, despite Blu-ray having region encoding, a significant amount of the discs made at the moment don't actually bother with it, and so would work abroad. Of course, there are plenty more that don't. It's always a bit of a gamble until someone actually buys it and tests it out. I'm not sure what Fox's track record is with this . . .
'Cause if they do it right ( a la, "Lost" S3), it's so very pretty. Plus, we should get a surround track. FOX likes DTS Master HD, so, droool....
ETA: Color, detail, picture quality in general...all better. Plus, yes, you may see things in scenes you never noticed before because of the improved quality.
KS It really is a big difference, if you have the tech to play and see it. If you want to do a test, run down to your local electronics dealer that has a dedicated HD room. Best Buys with Magnolia usually have them (I think). Watch a BluRay or equivalent in that room and then try and watch the same thing on regular TV or DVD as soon as possible after. You'll notice the difference.
And yeah, it's not just the video, but the audio too.
MattK, as I understand it, Fox is the only major studio to pretty much region lock everything they release - recent Fox Blu-Ray titles such as Juno, The Fly, Predator and Commando have all been locked. Their track record in terms of quality has been excellent for new releases (such as Juno) not so much for those catalog titles I mentioned. I guess Firefly is a catalog title for them, but it's reasonably new, so fingers crossed, and I'll just have to be patient and wait for the local release...
Wow, that price strikes me as waaaay too high. I'm preordering to get the best price between now and release, but if it doesn't come down I may cancel.
As far as the art, I'm guessing that's just a rough mockup someone did. I imagine they will have new art.
On a different note, we won't be getting the CGI in high definition will we? Because they'd have to be re-rendered, which I think would be too expensive to be bothered with. This won't be too much of a problem, because we didn't see much in terms of space (in the sense that there were no space battles, like Battlestar), but it's still a bit of a shame.
Everybody's making a fuss! - CGI might look a little out of place but they can process the original imagery and give it a face lift if you like (it will be an upscaling of the video - it won't look as good as an original done in HD but it will be the next best thing, you've only got to look at DVDs which have been upscaled on Blu-ray players to see that).
Gossi confirmed in an earlier post that this will most likely be region encoded, but if we all have a little faith they will release internationally too.
p.s. even if you don't have a HD Input on your TV, you can still use component video (if you have that enabled on your Digital TV) to get 720P HD resolution ! [now there's a handy tip!]
Price-wise, I actually think this is pretty reasonable. Looking at how other TV-on-Blu-ray releases are priced, I expected to get slammed for anywhere between $100-120.
WOW blue ray is expensive--ya think they will go down at all
major question will blue ray at least play ((maybe not the high res part) on currect regular dvds and WILL my currecnt dvds play on a blue ray machine when I get one . . .
Nope blu-ray won't play on regular dvd players, but yes current dvd will play on blu-ray players. And in most cases the blu-player will upscale your standard disks to look prettier.
http://www.blu-ray.com/ for lots of answers to questions as well.
I don't know about region free blu-ray players, hadn't actually thought about it.... will investigate
Blu-Ray players play regular DVDs and upscale them. Prices will come down as economies of scale kick in. High Definition discs are still an incredibly niche market (even though disc sales are up 351% over this time last year, its still a small pool of people who are buying them). Multi-region BD players are starting to pop up, but they are mostly modified existing players. There will be region free players in the future, you can bet on that,
Looking at how other TV-on-Blu-ray releases are priced, I expected to get slammed for anywhere between $100-120.
I dunno, Weeds is only $23.95 per season (MSRP of $39.95)... though I see Rescue Me Season 3 s $52.95 now (had seen it for $20-something not long back).
ETA -
But you need a 1080p (HDCP complient) TV to see the difference.
Not at all true, 1080p is just the optimal way to view them.
Fingers crossed for this being a 'region-free' release. For those who don't know, despite Blu-ray having region encoding, a significant amount of the discs made at the moment don't actually bother with it, and so would work abroad. Of course, there are plenty more that don't. It's always a bit of a gamble until someone actually buys it and tests it out. I'm not sure what Fox's track record is with this . . .
This is quite a blow. Or a slap in the face, rather. Or maybe a blow, after all, as I feel pretty crushed by such a blatant act of sabotage. But it sounds like Fox alright: unite all Blurays under one Region, so that everyone can be interfered with or ignored equally.
danregal | May 03, 02:14 CET
[ edited by MattK on 2008-05-02 23:28 ]
MattK | May 03, 02:27 CET
kevingann | May 03, 02:36 CET
I'm not sure I get why I would buy higher res discs of TV series.
KS | May 03, 03:02 CET
ETA: Color, detail, picture quality in general...all better. Plus, yes, you may see things in scenes you never noticed before because of the improved quality.
[ edited by pat32082 on 2008-05-03 00:07 ]
pat32082 | May 03, 03:05 CET
And yeah, it's not just the video, but the audio too.
danregal | May 03, 03:07 CET
TamaraC | May 03, 03:39 CET
The world wonders why;)
Madhatter | May 03, 03:44 CET
Oops, guess I was too. :)
danregal | May 03, 03:45 CET
Madhatter | May 03, 03:56 CET
dcubed | May 03, 04:41 CET
DVD is 720×480 (480p)
Blu-ray is 1920×1080 (1080p)
But you need a 1080p (HDCP complient) TV to see the difference.
Zoic_Fan | May 03, 05:07 CET
Madhatter | May 03, 05:34 CET
reidca | May 03, 09:35 CET
As far as the art, I'm guessing that's just a rough mockup someone did. I imagine they will have new art.
jam2 | May 03, 10:02 CET
On a different note, we won't be getting the CGI in high definition will we? Because they'd have to be re-rendered, which I think would be too expensive to be bothered with. This won't be too much of a problem, because we didn't see much in terms of space (in the sense that there were no space battles, like Battlestar), but it's still a bit of a shame.
MattK | May 03, 14:29 CET
Gossi confirmed in an earlier post that this will most likely be region encoded, but if we all have a little faith they will release internationally too.
p.s. even if you don't have a HD Input on your TV, you can still use component video (if you have that enabled on your Digital TV) to get 720P HD resolution ! [now there's a handy tip!]
[ edited by Zol. on 2008-05-03 12:05 ]
Zol. | May 03, 15:03 CET
The Dark Shape | May 03, 18:19 CET
major question will blue ray at least play ((maybe not the high res part) on currect regular dvds and WILL my currecnt dvds play on a blue ray machine when I get one . . .
also do they make region free blue ray machines
dont even wanna ask about the price
rivergirl | May 03, 19:24 CET
Nope blu-ray won't play on regular dvd players, but yes current dvd will play on blu-ray players. And in most cases the blu-player will upscale your standard disks to look prettier.
http://www.blu-ray.com/ for lots of answers to questions as well.
I don't know about region free blu-ray players, hadn't actually thought about it.... will investigate
fmwt | May 03, 20:30 CET
I dunno, Weeds is only $23.95 per season (MSRP of $39.95)... though I see Rescue Me Season 3 s $52.95 now (had seen it for $20-something not long back).
ETA -
Not at all true, 1080p is just the optimal way to view them.
zeitgeist | May 03, 20:34 CET
720p and 1080i, standard hi-res, show a major difference.
The Dark Shape | May 03, 23:06 CET
Fingers crossed for this being a 'region-free' release. For those who don't know, despite Blu-ray having region encoding, a significant amount of the discs made at the moment don't actually bother with it, and so would work abroad. Of course, there are plenty more that don't. It's always a bit of a gamble until someone actually buys it and tests it out. I'm not sure what Fox's track record is with this . . .
Well, it's official now: *only* Region 1:
Firefly Bluray
This is quite a blow. Or a slap in the face, rather. Or maybe a blow, after all, as I feel pretty crushed by such a blatant act of sabotage. But it sounds like Fox alright: unite all Blurays under one Region, so that everyone can be interfered with or ignored equally.
rb | May 16, 16:35 CET