Only U-571 for me in DTS-HD-MA :D

Universal Studios Home Video have announced the US Blu-ray Disc release of three catalogue titles on 26th August 2008. This ‘action’ wave comprises of End of Days, Miami Vice and U-571. Retail is $29.98 SRP each or you can buy them together as an Action Starter Pack priced at $59.98 SRP.

End of Days

* BD-25 Single Layer Disc
* 1080P Widescreen
* English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
* French and Spanish 5.1 DTS Surround
* English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles
* Feature Commentary with Director Peter Hyams


Miami Vice - The disc features the 120-minute Director’s Version of the film. Features include:

* BD-50 Dual Layer Disc
* 1080P Widescreen
* English and French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
* English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles
* Picture In Picture - Share PIP Stream; GPS - Share PIP Stream; Tech Specs; Cast Bios; Production Photographs (Share PIP Stream)
* Miami Vice Undercover
* Miami & Beyond: Shooting On Location
* Visualizing Miami Vice
* Behind the Scenes Featurettes
* Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Michael Mann


U-571

* BD-25 Single Layer Disc
* 1080P Widescreen
* English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
* French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus
* English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles
* Picture In Picture
* Feature Commentary with Director Jonathan Mostow

Only U571 for me in DTS-HD-MA :D

Me too.
That film is one of Universal's best audio work. I'm looking forward to it.

Me too.
That film is one of Universal's best audio work. I'm looking forward to it.
I'm kinda worried about the transfer on a 25gb disc though.

U-571 VC-1 1:56:03 21,508,499,456* 24,908,225,928 24.71 19.44 DDPlus 5.1 1536Kbps No DTS-HD 5.1 1509Kbps

I'm sure they will use the same video encode. If they dropped the 2 audio tracks and added DTS-HD MA then it still should fit fine... Its almost like they designed that title with a BD25 in mind.

How about fitting PIP ? :confused:

They'll make it fit ;) When it comes out, I will give it the full bitrate scanning treatment.

How about fitting PIP ? :confused:

The movie only has a couple of scenes that will really need extra bandwidth, not a lot of camera movement from what I remember. The rest is going to be Warner still VC-1(my guess). They might be using 16bit tracks too. Then again the sound is like the video, it's subdued most of the time.

They are giving Miami Vice a dual layer. That movie should be on the back burner, along with every other Michael Mann movie(except for Heat, and the Mohicans). So I'll give the benefit of the doubt that they won't bit starve their transfers.

I was thinking about this. Adding lossless sound to titles that didn't have it before is obviously attributed to disc size (though not stated by Universal as far as I know. Paramount mentioned this with TRANSFORMERS, but this is Universal we're talking about). But END OF DAYS already had a lossless soundtrack with TrueHD. In this case, it's going to be DTS HD-MA. So they switched from one lossless to a different lossless. Is it possible that Universal just decided to switch away from Dolby to DTS instead, having nothing to do with capacity being a factor before? Perhaps changing customer expectations, less licensing cost, etc..?

I just got my copy of Cloverfield which is awesome now I get back from vacation and I'm looking forward to U-571 in DTS-MA. Very cool news! I will also be getting Miami Vice.

Universal I think was tired of 1.5mbs DD+ encodes and TrueHD encodes because DD+ was required, since they didn't see much of a difference they stopped with the TrueHD. Thats why I think they switched to DTS HD lossless is because it includes the DTS core and they don't need to do it twice. Transformers may not have had it because of space but I am sure on most of their releases it was the same reason as Uni. Look at Warner instead of just doing all of their TrueHD movies in 640k just to make it easier they just did them all because it was the limit of BD for DD. Audio encodes above movie encodes just seem to be a hassle to studios.

I'm a sucker for U-571.

Formats that I have owned this movie on:

1) DVD

2) D-Theater

3) HD-DVD

4) (when released) Blu-ray!

I'd rebuy U-571 if it was DTS HD MA 7.1...the HD DVD I have is the bomb as it is.

End Of Days, finally! This wasn't even released as anamorphic by Fox on DVD along with True Lies which should be on BD asap.

End of Days was released anamorphic and by Universal no less(since they own it). I have that disc at home. I'm asssuming you were trying to say True Lies was not released anamorphic.

I'm looking to purchase the 3 BD set including all 3 films listed above. $60 MSRP is real reasonable.

I will be re-buying Miami Vice I already have the US and UK HD-DVD's as the UK was the original cut.
I wonder what version the UK blu-ray will be?

I'm a sucker for U-571.

Formats that I have owned this movie on:

1) DVD

2) D-Theater

3) HD-DVD

4) (when released) Blu-ray!



X2

End of Days was released anamorphic and by Universal no less(since they own it). I have that disc at home. I'm asssuming you were trying to say True Lies was not released anamorphic.

I'm looking to purchase the 3 BD set including all 3 films listed above. $60 MSRP is real reasonable.


Yeah I was thinking "Strange Days" which is a Fox title and so is True Lies, so disregard.

I guess we can assume these are direct HD DVD video encode/ports? I do remember U-571 looking good on HD DVD.

Anyone know how the U-571 BD import stacks up against the Universal transfer which has already come out on HD DVD? Was it a BD-25 also or a BD-50?

Wonder what Filmmixer would say about the diff b/t the dts, dd+ and DTS-Master audio. I think he might know;)
John

(Click to enlarge images)
End of Days 8/26
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc27/GeonosisMX/th_eod_bd.jpg (http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc27/GeonosisMX/eod_bd.jpg)

U-571 8/26
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc27/GeonosisMX/th_u_bd.jpg (http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc27/GeonosisMX/u_bd.jpg)

Miami Vice 8/26
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc27/GeonosisMX/th_mv_bd.jpg (http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc27/GeonosisMX/mv_bd.jpg)


Courtesy of Geonosis: http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=52690

Yay.. some news I wanted to hear!! I was debating picking up U571 on HD DVD if I could find it. I was questioning whether we would see every HD DVD title released onto Blu-Ray. I'm guessing we can at least count on it being ported over.

Miami Vice is also a buy for me, but it is only a great film for some as many did not like it... If you are a Michael Mann fan then you'll know what I'm talking about.

Universal I think was tired of 1.5mbs DD+ encodes and TrueHD encodes because DD+ was required, since they didn't see much of a difference they stopped with the TrueHD. Thats why I think they switched to DTS HD lossless is because it includes the DTS core and they don't need to do it twice. Transformers may not have had it because of space but I am sure on most of their releases it was the same reason as Uni. Look at Warner instead of just doing all of their TrueHD movies in 640k just to make it easier they just did them all because it was the limit of BD for DD. Audio encodes above movie encodes just seem to be a hassle to studios.

Having the accompaning DD+ track with TrueHD tracks was only a requirement for HD-DVD. TrueHD on BD has a similar packet extension formula with a core stream similar to DTS-HD:MA. This however did make TrueHD's max bitrate on BD lower then it was on HD-DVD, but from what has been on the Dolby site TrueHD offers the same core+extension on BD which was not offered on HD-DVD.

I think their initial choice in TrueHD was due to the hardware that it's titles were being manufactured to play on, now that they have players that support all the HD audio formats they can braoden and pick and chose whatever they want.

Not sure yet if this will be a double dip for me, probally not as I'm not very audio focused in my setup right now, but still an awsome release for an awsome soundtrack.

There wasnt mandatory for HD DVD to have a DD+ track to a TrueHD track, but most titles had it. My Blade runner HD DVD had a TrueHD track only.

In BD, it isnt mandatory decoding of TrueHD. So when they have a TrueHD track they must have a hidden Dolby digital track.

The difference is that DTS-HD MA has a core track of DTS baked in the signal while TrueHD on BD must have additional Dolby track. (TrueHD doesnt have a coretrack)

The perfect high-def movie experience ?? so now they are on BRD they are perfect ? lol

Having the accompaning DD+ track with TrueHD tracks was only a requirement for HD-DVD. TrueHD on BD has a similar packet extension formula with a core stream similar to DTS-HD:MA. This however did make TrueHD's max bitrate on BD lower then it was on HD-DVD, but from what has been on the Dolby site TrueHD offers the same core+extension on BD which was not offered on HD-DVD.


Can you post a link for this claim? The way I understood this and was explained here before in the insider threads, is that Dolby THD don't consist of a core plus extension, but the THD track has a companion DD[640kbps] track that is accessible to BD players that can't decode or bitstream Dolby THD tracks, this track is "hidden" from the sound menu. On HD DVD a DD+[also at 640kbps] was separately encoded[just like on the BD]but it was accessible from the menu.

On HD DVD a DD+[also at 640kbps] was separately encoded[just like on the BD]but it was accessible from the menu.

It wasnt mandatory to include a DD+ track on HD DVD. but it was a common practise.

Can you post a link for this claim? The way I understood this and was explained here before in the insider threads, is that Dolby THD don't consist of a core plus extension, but the THD track has a companion DD[640kbps] track that is accessible to BD players that can't decode or bitstream Dolby THD tracks, this track is "hidden" from the sound menu. On HD DVD a DD+[also at 640kbps] was separately encoded[just like on the BD]but it was accessible from the menu.

There is no core + extension in TrueHD, but on Blu-ray there is a DD track embedded within the TrueHD track. When you look at the structures using tools on a PC this becomes apparent. Even on Warner titles when they include a DD track separately in the menu. It's redundant, but I think its because of they way they did it on HD DVD. You can check this claim by picking the TrueHD track when bitstreaming over a PS3. It will give you the standard DD like a Sony or Paramount TrueHD track.

It wasnt mandatory to include a DD+ track on HD DVD. but it was a common practise.
Who said it was mandatory?

There is no core + extension in TrueHD, but on Blu-ray there is a DD track embedded within the TrueHD track. When you look at the structures using tools on a PC this becomes apparent. Even on Warner titles when they include a DD track separately in the menu. It's redundant, but I think its because of they way they did it on HD DVD. You can check this claim by picking the TrueHD track when bitstreaming over a PS3. It will give you the standard DD like a Sony or Paramount TrueHD track.

??? Is anyone can read here or what? I said the same thing you posted here.

??? Is anyone can read here or what? I said the same thing you posted here.

You (and me) are right. The other person is not.. When you play around with the disc structure it becomes apparent.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc27/GeonosisMX/th_bd_action.jpg (http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc27/GeonosisMX/bd_action.jpg)

Credit to Geonosis as always. (http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showpost.php?p=1033948&postcount=56)

Damn it. The pack is $42 @ amazon. End of Days is garbage. Miami Vice might not be, but I still hate it. I wouldn't watch U-571 for a while(McConaughey leaves his shirt on, and the depth charges are in MA,ahh).

But the price is so freaking right. Then again I would rather have the comedy pack.
But Transformers and Speed Racer release in Sept.

What do I do? I don't pass up 3 new BDs for $40, it just sounds wrong. help.

Are these going to be HD DVD ports ?:confused:

Position of the action pack titles in the HD DVD PQ tier thread

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=942015

3.5-3.99 Stars Very Good - Above Average HD DVD Picture Quality

U-571 - Low amplitude edge enhancement ringing and dirt / speckles
Miami Vice - No major film artefacts reported
End of Days - Bottom - dirt, speckles, and at least one visible reel change mark, Low amplitude edge enhancement ringing

Miami Vice - No major film artefacts reported


Well since it was shoot on video, I would be very suprised if it had any film artifact.

U571 on HD DVD has some pretty glaring EE when viewed on a large FP setup. No new transfer = keep the HD DVD for me. I am much more of a video guy so the sound upgrade doesn't seem worth the cost.

Nice 42$ is cheap. End Of days had TrueHD track. U571 was lossy anyway 42$ for 3 movies is way better than FOX charging 27.99$US (amazon.com price) for 1 title :)

Well since it was shoot on video, I would be very suprised if it had any film artifact.

only some footage was shot on video.

U-571 review is up at HDD

PQ: 4.5/5
SQ: 5/5

BD-50 ?

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1572/u571.html

U-571 review is up at HDD

PQ: 4.5/5
SQ: 5/5

BD-50 ?

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1572/u571.html


No, BD-25. I am looking at my copy right now and it clearly says BD25.

At least they didn't get the codec wrong (Miami Vice) :rolleyes:

My review is up at HTF of MV and my U571 should be up tonight or tomorrow. MV got the codec wrong on the packaging? If so I missed that, I wrote up what was on the box.

U571 Audio is AWESOME if you can tolerate 2 hours of thunderous bass =)

Read nothing but good things so far. It appears some Blockstores may have put their copies out early so check there if you are interested in renting.

My review is up at HTF of MV and my U571 should be up tonight or tomorrow. MV got the codec wrong on the packaging? If so I missed that, I wrote up what was on the box.

U571 Audio is AWESOME if you can tolerate 2 hours of thunderous bass =)

Miami Vice is VC1. I don't see codecs listed anywhere on the cover art for it (or any of the other 2 Universal releases).

I watched my copy of U-571 Saturday night and was very pleased with the DTS-MA track...it's not a night & day difference but the bass is much more prominent. The depth charge scene is still pretty spectacular. PQ is very good for a catalog title, the print seems like it got a cleanup as I didn't notice any dirt or debris.

tk,

U-571 looked identical to my HD DVD. But that's just me of course :)

Which isn't a bad thing. It's a decent looking catalog title minus some banding in the underwater scenes. :)

Which isn't a bad thing. It's a decent looking catalog title minus some banding in the underwater scenes. :)

Yup, overall it is a great looking presentation on HD DVD.

Great to hear that Universal and Paramount upping the quality for blu-ray on the audio for a lot of titles :D