Cinderella Man, a Universal movie is only available on HD DVD in the US, but is available on Blu-ray in Japan.

See Amazon.co.jp

I believe some Universal movies are distributed by other companies overseas.

looks like Japan got more blu-ray movies than the north america, I wonder why :mad:

hey guys i hear that HD-DVD is basically already dead in Japan.

I don't know about USA and EU, but blu-ray will win the format war in Japan.

So if Universal wants to sell their movies there they gotta release on blu-ray.

Cinderella Man, a Universal movie is only available on HD DVD in the US, but is available on Blu-ray in Japan.

See Amazon.co.jp

I believe some Universal movies are distributed by other companies overseas.

What are the specs on that?

That will surely be interesting.

Universal is the distributer of Cinderella Man only in USA

The other belongs to Disney

hey guys i hear that HD-DVD is basically already dead in Japan.

I don't know about USA and EU, but blu-ray will win the format war in Japan.

So if Universal wants to sell their movies there they gotta release on blu-ray.

Japan is trending as strong towards BD as the rest of the world is to HD DVD. Saying its dead in Japan is akin to giving up on BD in the rest of the world. There is plenty of time for one to make a move anywhere in the world.

U-571 and Spy Game are two Universal movies coming to Blu-ray in the UK. Looks like Universal is not so HD DVD exclusive, as some of their movies are distributed by other companies outside the US.

Warner also announced they are releasing all their initial HD DVD titles on Blu-ray in 2007.

Japan is trending as strong towards BD as the rest of the world is to HD DVD. Saying its dead in Japan is akin to giving up on BD in the rest of the world. There is plenty of time for one to make a move anywhere in the world.I have a question, other than US and Japan, are HD DVD players available in "the rest of the world"? I heard Xbox360 add-ons started shipping from last week or so. I also heard that in Europe, there are Samsung, Philips and Panasonic available for months. In Australia, at least Panasonic I heard.

I have a question, other than US and Japan, are HD DVD players available in "the rest of the world"? I heard Xbox360 add-ons started shipping from last week or so. I also heard that in Europe, there are Samsung, Philips and Panasonic available for months. In Australia, at least Panasonic I heard.No standalone HD-DVD players available in the UK yet, but the cheaper model is imminient. The XB360 add-on has been available for just over a week and is pretty much sold out. Not sure about the Philips, but the Samsung and Panasonic BD players have both been available for at least a few months now. Also saw a Sharp BD player in one store, but don't think its available yet.

So why does Universal decide to go exclusive for HD DVD when most others go for Blu Ray?

lfletcher, thanks for the info.
So in UK, is the trend to HD DVD, does BD camp seem giving up? How many titles available in UK for both formats?

No standalone HD-DVD players available in the UK yet, but the cheaper model is imminient. The XB360 add-on has been available for just over a week and is pretty much sold out. Not sure about the Philips, but the Samsung and Panasonic BD players have both been available for at least a few months now. Also saw a Sharp BD player in one store, but don't think its available yet.

Is the LG player for sale there yet?

U-571 and Spy Game are two Universal movies coming to Blu-ray in the UK. Looks like Universal is not so HD DVD exclusive, as some of their movies are distributed by other companies outside the US.

Warner also announced they are releasing all their initial HD DVD titles on Blu-ray in 2007.

This duality of distribution is common with both HD DVD and BD. The exclusive titles from Fox, Disney, LG can be imported from elsewhere in the world and played. HD DVD has no regions and likely won't get regions placed so all titles work everywhere. Many more "exclusive" BD titles are available if you don't mind paying like 35-50 bucks and waiting a 5 days. Studio Canal and Toshiba have released the most titles that are exclusive in the US. Europe seems to have the best pick so far as Studio Canal is releasing all their titles with DTS-MA.

I have a question, other than US and Japan, are HD DVD players available in "the rest of the world"? I heard Xbox360 add-ons started shipping from last week or so. I also heard that in Europe, there are Samsung, Philips and Panasonic available for months. In Australia, at least Panasonic I heard.


we have down here

HD-DVD players 2nd gen (we never got the first gen)

Panny Blu Ray, Sammy & PS3 Blu Ray players (BDP-HD1/ BDP-S1 not available in australia)

We have the 360 add on and best of all....

no fricken content :D

Can us USA BD folks play BDs from Japan ??

Japan is trending as strong towards BD as the rest of the world is to HD DVD. Saying its dead in Japan is akin to giving up on BD in the rest of the world.How do you figure that? From what I've seen BD had something like 60k Blu-ray recorders sold in 2006 and has over 800,000 PS3s in customers hands, while HD DVD didn't seem to be selling many players at all. Even just a portion of those should account for a pretty big absolute lead for Blu-ray. Can you name anyplace in the world trending as strong toward HD DVD as Japan is toward BD? Are you counting things like 4k players to 1k players trending as strong as those much larger numbers? What do you think the HD DVD camp will do to try to turn things around in Japan. Even Amir went from understanding that Japan mattered maybe 6 months ago to brushing them off later. Not much of a sign of somebody willing to put up a fight for a spot and we already know that the Blu-ray camp will be starting their big part of the fight in Europe in a couple of days (with the PS3 launch).

I think it is quite a stretch to compare HD DVD's situation in Japan with BD's situation in the rest of the world with things barely off the ground elsewhere and the PS3 just about to come out, as if BD's situation elsewhere is even close to as dire. If you believe the two are pretty much the same, do you think HD DVD will be leading for software sales in places like the UK in a couple of months? What about BD in Japan in a couple of months?

--Darin

Can us USA BD folks play BDs from Japan ??
Yes. They are the same region.

Josh,

when you get it, in addition to checking video codec, can you please check if the PCM track is 48/24 or 48/16 as well?. ;)

By any chance, did you get Face/Off too?

I'm interested to hear about this as well!

I have a question, other than US and Japan, are HD DVD players available in "the rest of the world"? I heard Xbox360 add-ons started shipping from last week or so. I also heard that in Europe, there are Samsung, Philips and Panasonic available for months. In Australia, at least Panasonic I heard.

The player available in Singapore:

Blu-ray: Samsung P1000, PS3
HD DVD: 0

Microsoft will launch HD DVD add-on end March. Toshiba will launch HD DVD player May/June.

Miramax split the distribution with Universal on Cinderella Man. They have international rights. Same with Hollywoodland.

I don't have a PS3, so if its not listed on the cover I won't be of much help.

Face/Off won't be released until May 23rd, but I don't have any current plans on purchasing this title. Though, it is two months away, so plans can change.

I hadn't seen it was pushed back this much. Untel a couple weeks ago it was scheduled to hit the market on the 21st now, aong with Cinderalla.

From my record, Disney jp branch doesn't list sampling rate on the cover like their us one. Well maybe they have changed.

Anyway, please get back to us with your impressons when you watch it, OK?

The Prestige and First Blood 1-3 are on BlueRay here in NA but in Britain and the rest of Europe they are exclusivvely on HD DVD.Very often movies are cofinanced by two studios.When this is done and the time comes to release the flick on video/dvd/HiDef, they usually split the distribution rights down the middle.One studio may gets the North American distribution rights and the other gets the rights to the rest of the world.When one of those studios supports BlueRay and the other HD DVD, that's when you'll see the movies released in one format in NA and the other in the rest of the world.

I had my hopes up when I saw this thread, but Cinderella Man is being released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment in Japan, not Universal.

Japan is trending as strong towards BD as the rest of the world is to HD DVD. Saying its dead in Japan is akin to giving up on BD in the rest of the world. There is plenty of time for one to make a move anywhere in the world.

I'm sorry, but this is just plain WRONG. Most estimates put BD as holding more than 90 percent of the Japanese market and I've seen nothing in my discussions with hobbyists or visits to many (and I mean MANY) consumer electronics shops that would make me think otherwise. There are multiple models of Blu-ray recorders (no BD players are currently sold here), but only two HD-DVD models (one recorder and one player). In the Japan market, HDD/disc recorders are more popular than standalone players, and it's been this way for years. A lot of my closest friends are home theater hobbyists. Only ONE has an HD-DVD player, and even he has a PS3. And he recently told me he's considering selling the Toshiba because getting movies for it takes too much effort. Everyone else either has PS3s and/or BD recorders. And unlike some western consumers, Japanese PS3 owners have no problem with using their gaming device as a movie player.

The software situation is even more desperate for HD-DVD. You can walk into any major CE shop or video store in Japan and find Blu-ray movies for sale. But just TRY finding an HD-DVD movie. Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara is the nearest "brick and mortar" store that I can find that actually has any HD-DVD discs in stock. Anyone looking for HD-DVD software has to resort to Amazon or other online sources.

From where I stand, it would take a major screwup by the BD camp or an act of God for HD-DVD to ever catch up.

What are the specs on that?

That will surely be interesting.

I picked this up yesterday at my local BIC Camera store. It's VC-1, with 5.1 channel linear PCM, DD and DTS. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but I'll try to put in on tonight if I have time.

BTW, it's listed as "All Region" so it should be playable anywhere.

Ktak,

can you please check the bitrate for the PCM track when you get the chance?

Thanks,
Alex

Japan is trending as strong towards BD as the rest of the world is to HD DVD.Just wanted to mention that the eproductwars.com site now has listings for Amazon in the UK, Germany, and Japan. They can be reached by going to http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/ and then bringing up the list of things under "Product Wars" at the top. They are near the bottom. Or here are direct links (with a warning that the Japanese one may show a topless woman on one of the cases, so not necessarily work safe):

UK: http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd-uk/
Germany: http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd-de/
Japan: http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd-jp/

These are done like the US site and so include preorders. Currently the averages for the top 10 are:

UK:
Blu-ray: 994
HD DVD: 1147

Germany:
Blu-ray: 679
HD DVD: 1144

Japan:
Blu-ray: 369
HD DVD: 6408

The number of discs in the top 1000 all show Blu-ray with more right now. Those are:

UK: 5 to 3
Germany: 8 to 3
Japan: 12 to 0

It would be interesting to see France with Studio Canal there and the numbers above might be people preordering titles to use with the PS3. So, it will be interesting to see how they look in a month or two and see if they have moved up for Blu-ray more, like what happened in the US. Looks different than the US though because Blu-ray was way behind on Amazon on the day the PS3 shipped and not ahead on there. From looking at the eproductwars chart for the top 10 average it looks like HD DVD was ahead about 600 to 3000 on the day the PS3 shipped.

--Darin

Ktak,

can you please check the bitrate for the PCM track when you get the chance?

Thanks,
Alex

Will do, as soon as I get home tonight.

Just wanted to mention that the eproductwars.com site now has listings for Amazon in the UK, Germany, and Japan. They can be reached by going to http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/ and then bringing up the list of things under "Product Wars" at the top. They are near the bottom. Or here are direct links (with a warning that the Japanese one may show a topless woman on one of the cases, so not necessarily work safe):
Japan:
Blu-ray: 369
HD DVD: 6408

The number of discs in the top 1000 all show Blu-ray with more right now. Those are:

UK: 5 to 3
Germany: 8 to 3
Japan: 12 to 0
--Darin

Nice find Darin. These numbers are especially telling considering that most Japanese HD-DVD recorder/player owners have to rely almost entirely on online outlets like Amazon for their HD-DVD software needs. As I stated earlier, finding HD-DVD movies in brick-and-mortar stores is almost impossible in most places.

Yes. They are the same region.
Sweet! I'll have to pick up Cinderella man (and anything else that looks good) when I'm there in a few months. Thanks for sharing. Does anyone know of any other big name titles available in Japan I should also keep an eye out for?

We are getting Bruce Almighty on Blu-ray in Australia

http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/792584

I live in Tokyo and honestly speaking these people are yet to adopt any next gen standards. The titles are extremely expensive (30-40 USD) forcing many consumers to buy from amazon US or dvdpacific or wait for discounts (yet to see one). There are no stand-alone Blu-ray players available in Japan and most of them come in the form of BD recorders which costs atleast 1500 USD. Homegrown Toshiba and Sony are yet to make announcement on price-cuts and on their product-lineups which proves how much the next gen formats have penetrated into the customer's minds.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm curious. Have you been living in Japan long? The reason I ask is that a lot of your observations sound like those of someone new to the country, and differ greatly from my experience.

For example, the software prices you quoted are correct, but it doesn't take into account that movie software prices (even SD-DVD) have ALWAY been higher in Japan compared to the U.S. equivalent. For example, on Amazon.co.jp, the recent film World Trade Center is selling for 3,948 yen ($33.45 U.S.). But even the SD-DVD sells for 3,268 yen ($27.70), much higher than what we'd pay in the States. Japanese consumers are used to these higher prices, and in fact often pay even more for Japanese titles. Discounts on BD discs can be found in brick-and-mortar stores like BIC Camera, which sells most of their titles at 10 percent off. True, it's still not as cheap as Amazon Japan, but once you factor in shipping, it's almost a wash. As far as buying from Amazon U.S. or dvdpacific is concerned, it's really only an option for Japanese consumers who posess very high-level English skills as none of the U.S. produced Blu-ray discs have Japanese dialog or subtitles.

Your comments on standalone players are also misleading. Manufacturers here never intended to introduce the format with standalone players because it's counter to consumer preference. The Japan market has been moving away from standalone players for years, especially in the high end. The popularity of HDD/disc recorders in Japan is very high, and despite a population roughly only 40% that of the U.S. (127 million vs. 300 million), almost three times as many BD recorders have been sold in Japan than BD players have been sold in the U.S. This doesn't even take into consideration the PS3 factor. Also, the prices you quote for the hardware don't reflect actual street prices. Do a check on Kakaku.com and you'll be able to find dealers selling the Panasonic DMR-BR100 Blu-ray recorder for as little as $1,145 U.S. That's almost the price we pay for a PLAYBACK-ONLY unit in the U.S. When combined with the massive popularity of HD flat panel displays (just TRY finding a non-HD TV over 20-inches in Japan) and the recent start of terrestrial HD broadcasting, it's not surprising that an HD recording device would be desireable.

All I can say is that whenever a popular new title comes out on Blu-ray, I have to either rush to my favorite store to pick it up, or place a pre-order. If not, I risk having it sell out before I can get it. It happened with Ice Age II, Mission Impossible III, and even an older title like the recent Black Rain reissue. In all three cases, I had to wait for new shipments to get my copy. Doesn't sound like a format that's being ignored by the general public to me. And unless you don't watch Japanese TV or read the newspapers, I don't think you could have missed all the advertising that BD manufacturers have been putting out there. My neighbor is a retired 70-something year-old guy, and when he found out that I'm using a Hi-vision front projector on an 80-inch screen, the first thing he asked me is if I had a Blu-ray player.

I live in Tokyo for nearly 3 1/2 years. I am aware of kakaku.com and coneco.net which offers stuffs at very low price. I agree that there ain't much of cost difference between the new SD releases and HD titles but even then I still feel the titles to be priced very high. The least price I have seen for next gen title was in amazon co jp that offered Superman returns HD DVD / Blu ray edition for 2980 yens (26 USD). I can't afford to pay $1,000 for a next-gen gadget which is not worth the price. I am anxiously waiting for announcements from Sony and Toshiba on price cuts and on new players but these good things seldom happen in JAPAN. The guys in the big stores out here donno a sh*t about what these things are. They just know certain aspects of the product and swallow important information which puts a heavy burden on aliens like us to dig out more information about a product ourselves. For ex, I was told by 3 sales person in Yodobashi camera that PS-3 and Toshiba HD DVD players doesn't feature English menu but after meddling the players myself I was able to get the menus in English. People here can't even spell out the words "Blu ray" "HD DVD" !!! The worst was when the store person mentioned that HD DVD Region Encoding as 2 !!! Just drives us berserk.

May be a very few segment of the population wants to switch to next gen formats but the average Japanese consumer still sticks on to what is proven and cheap. It's up to the companies to aggressively promote their products with reasonable pricing like they do in the US.

You are talking about ads in the newspapers but what's the use when it's not reflected in the product pricing. I appreciate the developments that is happening but to the end user all that matters is product pricing and usability.

For the moment I totally disagree that next gen formats have taken a front-seat in Japan though there is a passion for it. May be my verdict will automatically get falsified in another 6 months.

Rather than going for pre-orders from these stupid stores out here you can place the order in amazon.com or dvdpacific.com and save your hard-earned money.

Ktak,

can you please check the bitrate for the PCM track when you get the chance?

Thanks,
Alex

According to my PS3, it's 48 kHz with a bitrate of 4.6 Mbps, making it a 48/16 recording.

The least price I have seen for next gen title was in amazon co jp that offered Superman returns HD DVD / Blu ray edition for 2980 yens (26 USD).

Actually, $26 isn't much different from what I paid for my copy of Superman Returns in the U.S., so all things considered, it's a pretty decent price for a Blu-ray disc, especially in Japan. And if you do order discs from the U.S., what will the total be once you factor in shipping? Besides, do you really expect the HD discs to be the same price or less than SD-DVD this early in the format's lifespan?

I can't afford to pay $1,000 for a next-gen gadget which is not worth the price. I am anxiously waiting for announcements from Sony and Toshiba on price cuts and on new players but these good things seldom happen in JAPAN.

You could always do what I did and buy a PS3 for less than $425 U.S. And I can almost guarantee you'll see price cuts on the higher-priced units...once the replacement models come out later this year. Both the Sony and Panasonic units have been out for less than 5 months. Give it time.

The guys in the big stores out here donno a sh*t about what these things are. They just know certain aspects of the product and swallow important information which puts a heavy burden on aliens like us to dig out more information about a product ourselves. For ex, I was told by 3 sales person in Yodobashi camera that PS-3 and Toshiba HD DVD players doesn't feature English menu but after meddling the players myself I was able to get the menus in English. People here can't even spell out the words "Blu ray" "HD DVD" !!! The worst was when the store person mentioned that HD DVD Region Encoding as 2 !!! Just drives us berserk.

I'll agree with you on this one. But it isn't any different in Japan than it is in the U.S. That's what makes places like AVS Forum so important. I arm myself with as much information as possible so that all I need to know from salespeople at places like Yodobashi and BIC are "Do you have it in stock" and "How much is it?"

May be a very few segment of the population wants to switch to next gen formats but the average Japanese consumer still sticks on to what is proven and cheap. It's up to the companies to aggressively promote their products with reasonable pricing like they do in the US.

But as I pointed out earlier, if you shop around you can get a BD RECORDER for only slightly more than the cost of a BD player in the U.S. Sounds like pretty aggressive pricing to me. And as far as the "average" Japanese consumer is concerned, they don't have any more to do with either HD-DVD or Blu-ray at this point than U.S. consumers do. It is still in the early adopter stage, just as SD-DVD was in December 1997 (9 months after format introduction).

You are talking about ads in the newspapers but what's the use when it's not reflected in the product pricing. I appreciate the developments that is happening but to the end user all that matters is product pricing and usability.

For the moment I totally disagree that next gen formats have taken a front-seat in Japan though there is a passion for it. May be my verdict will automatically get falsified in another 6 months.

First of all, I never implied that next gen formats have taken a "front-seat" in Japan. I just disagreed with your implication that Japanese consumers are less aware of its existence than western consumers. And after being in Japan as long as you have, you have to know that the "pricing is king" argument doesn't apply to Japanese consumers the same way it does to U.S. consumers. Japanese consumers are more than willing to spend more if they think they're getting something that's worth the extra money or if it's something that's in fashion. How else would you explain flat panel displays taking over the market so quickly, despite higher prices compared to the U.S.?

Rather than going for pre-orders from these stupid stores out here you can place the order in amazon.com or dvdpacific.com and save your hard-earned money.

Because I often have movie parties at my home with Nihonjin friends, it's often necessary to have a BD disc with Japanese subtitles. The extra money I spend on the disc is more than made up for by the free food and drinks that they bring with them. The agreement is I supply the movie and the home theater, and they bring everything else. I still do sometimes end up buying BD discs from the states though, especially when it's a film that won't be in Japanese theaters for a while like Rocky Balboa or The Prestige. Fortunately, my wife flies to the States a couple of times a month for work, so there's no special shipping charges involved.

Check out the link in my sig.
Thanks for the link. Looks like Cinderella Man is it for now. :D

According to my PS3, it's 48 kHz with a bitrate of 4.6 Mbps, making it a 48/16 recording.

Thanks Ktak ;)

I was foolishly hoping it would be 48/16 given VC-1, BD-50 and Japanese track record for bumped up audio specs. :o

Oh well, I guess I'll order it anyway, it's such a good movie.

Do you know if it features all the extras from the Universal HD-DVD or DVD disc?

Another title wroth importing from Japan is 16 Blocks, which was given Dolby Digital only by Paramount in North America.

The Japanese version has an English PCM 5.1 track on the Blu-ray release.

Great Josh, thank you.

If you can get bitrates readout, could you please inform the average bitrate for video?

Thanks for giving out the syntax for the Blu Ray Import Guide, Joshd2012. I am impressed enough to bookmark the site.