How do you guys feel about this release? I hope we get better luck with this pressing than with Children Of Men & The Good Shepard.

Haha yeah, I'm personally very nervous.

I think this movie is going to rock on HD DVD. If you enjoy movies like Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels then Smokin' Aces should be your cup of tea.

I was going to blind buy this but no way now. I got lucky with with CoM and GS both working fine on my A1, but I'm not going to push my luck. I'll try Netflix.

Haha yeah, I'm personally very nervous.
http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/7215/toughkillersqc5.jpg

I'm looking foward to this one as well.

I think this movie is going to rock on HD DVD. If you enjoy movies like Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels then Smokin' Aces should be your cup of tea.


This is nothing like those two movies. Snatch and LockStock are smart, wity, and stylish.

SA is more like a Tarantino wanna be version of Tom and Jerry played in slow motion.

And the ending. Ughhh.

But it probably will look nice in HD.

This is nothing like those two movies. Snatch and LockStock are smart, wity, and stylish.

SA is more like a Tarantino wanna be version of Tom and Jerry played in slow motion.

And the ending. Ughhh.

But it probably will look nice in HD.

I agree,I usually like these types of movies,but this one should probably be compared to Crank more than Snatch.Haha....I said Crank and Snatch :D
Anyway,this movie disappointed me,definitely rent it first if you are on the fence.

I wish BBO was better with stocking and shipping new HD-DVDs, because I would resign back up so that I could rent this. As it is I think I might have to just bite the bullet and buy it. I've never seen it, so it would be a blind buy for me.

I got my copy today, i hope to get a chance to watch it tonight. I do know that it comes with an alternate ending. I'll post thoughts when i get done.

Alternate ending? Interesting. Without revealing what it is, let us know if you prefer the theatrical or alternate ending. I agree with others here that the theatrical ending left me with an I-was-constipated-but-now-I've-used-too-many-suppositories look on my face.

This is nothing like those two movies. Snatch and LockStock are smart, wity, and stylish.

SA is more like a Tarantino wanna be version of Tom and Jerry played in slow motion.

And the ending. Ughhh.

But it probably will look nice in HD.

I agree Lock, Stock is a great, smart flick....Snatch, good but not as good.

BUT....don't sell Smokin' Aces short...it was very good and entertaining, and I thought the ending was pretty solid.

How do you guys feel about this release? I hope we get better luck with this pressing than with Children Of Men & The Good Shepard.
Mine should be on the way soon.

Not worried at all my Children Of Men & The Good Shepherd played flawlessly. :)

I agree Lock, Stock is a great, smart flick....Snatch, good but not as good.

BUT....don't sell Smokin' Aces short...it was very good and entertaining, and I thought the ending was pretty solid.

LS is clearly the better movie. But snatch has a mutch better soundtrack, and more stylish camera work.

Smokin Aces is slow and plodding. And the movie does fly along like Crank. But it lacks the fun factor. GoogleEarth= hilarity. SA takes itself way too seriously for a popcorn movie.

The worst thing about SA though is that the story is wrapped up in the first 10 minutes of the film. It is painfully formulaic, like directing straight from a how to book. There's no reason to sit through it.

Wait, I take that back. Alicia Keye's thighs in HD :D
and that shoot out probably sounds nice. For the whole .2 minutes it lasts.

I think this movie is going to rock on HD DVD. If you enjoy movies like Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels then Smokin' Aces should be your cup of tea.

Damn, i've been looking so forward to Smokin' Aces, but Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I certainly hope it is nothing like it.

Damn, i've been looking so forward to Smokin' Aces, but Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I certainly hope it is nothing like it.

Wow.

There is nobody in the world that knows how to respond to a statement like that.

Now that I think of it, Smokin' Aces is pretty much the 'best' movie I've ever seen.
You'll probably love it.


Is this release TrueHD or DD+?

Watched it last night and i thought the movie was pretty good. I even thought the ending was decent. The alternate ending sucks. If i had to rate the PQ i would probably place it in Tier 1. I didn't see this in the theater but i got that type of feeling from watching it. The audio is DD+ and it's solid as well. Another plus is that i didn't have a single problem with the disc at all.

Overall it's a solid disc all around.

My copy arrived this morning. Haven't seen the movie yet, will watch it tonight. I wonder if I'll have to upgrade the firmware on my A1 to version 2.1 to use the U-Control Google Maps tracking facility?

Don't understand the dislike for Lock Stock and Snatch. Both great movies, maybe you have to be British to understand the humour and brilliance of these movies. :)

Anyone with an A1/XA1 played this yet and what firmware are you on?

mine was on the A1 with 2.0, i haven't tried the U-Controll features yet though.

My Wife really wants this one so if it does not work there will be BIG-ASS trouble! She is inviting her friends to come over and watch it next week! :eek: I hope they got it right!!!

mine should be here monday, i cannot wait!! this is one of my most anticipated HD DVD releases!

My Wife really wants this one so if it does not work there will be BIG-ASS trouble! She is inviting her friends to come over and watch it next week! :eek: I hope they got it right!!!

Well, if its just as bad as Com and GS, maybe you can just play the SD side of Smokin' Aces when they come over.

mine was on the A1 with 2.0, i haven't tried the U-Controll features yet though.

Cool, thanks. Can watch with confidence later this evening. :)

I wont be testing the U-Control this evening either. In the process of running cat5 to my living room. I might be able to test in a few days.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6802

the firmware update adds support for “certain anticipated network delivered content” in future HD DVD discs.

I figured since there was a note in the package asking to update to the latest firmware that this disk may be one of the first titles to use the recently announced netword delivered content (Google Maps tracking)

Am I wrong, or did Amir announce that future Universal combos will not have a premium price? I thought he said something like that a month ago. So why is this movie still $30?

I'm not interested in buying this one, but it is nice to see the advertising picking up...just saw a cool little comercial during the Atlanta - NY NHL playoff game for "Smokin' Aces on DVD and HD-DVD." :)

Am I wrong, or did Amir announce that future Universal combos will not have a premium price? I thought he said something like that a month ago. So why is this movie still $30?

I had the same thought. Could it be that the retailers are taking advantage of this little known fact and pocketing the saving?

Just watched SA, pretty cool popcorn flick. Great PQ and AQ.

Could it be that Amir meant Universal Combos that are CATALOGUE releases...I'm not surprised at all that a NEW RELEASE combo still has the higher price....I think that's due to the fact it's a NEW RELEASE, not a combo disc.

How do you guys feel about this release? I hope we get better luck with this pressing than with Children Of Men & The Good Shepard.


I was able to get SMOKIN' ACES this past weekend. It played flawlessly on my Toshiba A1. The transfer was quite nice and the film was alot of fun. Thumbs up from me.

Is the google maps thingy working right now or will that take a firmware upgrade?

Where are you guys getting these movies before they come out?

I had the same thought. Could it be that the retailers are taking advantage of this little known fact and pocketing the saving?

Just watched SA, pretty cool popcorn flick. Great PQ and AQ.


Well since you can buy ANY warner disc direct from their site without using any coupons at all and pay less than Best Buy or Circuit City are charging for them that pretty much sums up the big retailers ideas of what they can do to consumers

The Google Map function on the Smokin' Aces HD DVD does not require network functionality of the player to work. But there will be at least/most 3 HD DVD titles to be released this year that will contain special features taking advantage of the network functionality of the HD DVD player. This is according to a report from Video Business online quite a number of weeks ago.

But since this is the first time such an application is used in U-Control experience package unlike Picture-in-Picture Instant Access, it maybe advisable to update the firmware to the latest release...

just thought id chime in, i recieved my copy this morning and it played great with my 360 add-on.

havnt tried the u-control yet unfortunately

I would love to get my hands on this HD DVD tomorrow, I'd even call in to work to stay home, crank it up, and check out the extras, but it is a Universal Combo Disc, and after the snafu (putting it mildy) with my hassles of "Children of Men", I may wait and see how it plays first.

I am curious how the Google map U-control "Assassin Tracker" feature works. Is it something like the race boat tracking feature on "Miami Vice"? (also don't own that one...and haven't seen it.)

I will be receiving mine from Netflix tomorrow! This will be my first time seeing the film.

Mine is in the mail. Crossing fingers.....I haven't had an issue yet. Hopefully, I won't get one.

Ordered mine from Amazon on the "Buy HD-DVD Day" last night, so I should be receiving mine tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to watching this movie, as the trailer was very stylish. And yes, Alicia Keys is looking m-i-g-h-t-y fine ;)

I'm also very surprised about the bad rap Snatch/Lock-Stock is getting. Now, I never did see all of Lock-Stock, but Snatch is a damn good movie. The clever, energized soundtrack combined with the stylized camera work and way out-there characters (I mean come on, Borris The Blade...he dodges bullets!) all led up to one very funny and entertaining flick.

And well, I still can't understand a word Mickey says...I f'in hate Pikeys :p

Can't wait to get our copy tomorrow! :)

I have a copy on it's way from Netflix due in tomorrow as well. Hopefully it will arrive in one piece. The last two HD discs I received were broken in transit and now the replacement discs have a very long wait.

just got done watching it (movie rocked!) , pretty good transfer, tier 1 i would say for sure although some scenes had a good amount of grain, but it seemed to me like it was suppose to be there because of circumstance, lighting, and mood of the scenes


the u-control is really sweet, and the assassin tracker updates in real time while its available , you can even see the elevators in the hotel moving on the map...

it is a nice feature because so much is happening at once in the movie imo

just got done watching it (movie rocked!) , pretty good transfer, tier 1 i would say for sure although some scenes had a good amount of grain, but it seemed to me like it was suppose to be there because of circumstance, lighting, and mood of the scenes


the u-control is really sweet, and the assassin tracker updates in real time while its available , you can even see the elevators in the hotel moving on the map...

it is a nice feature because so much is happening at once in the movie imo

Is it true that it uses google maps? That would mean it would need an internet connection.....

LOL, 7 minutes into the movie it locked up my player. Time to boil the disc! I can't complain too much, though, because I got the movie for $19.96.

EDIT: The picture looked very nice, though, right up there with Children of Men in contrast, sharpness, and level of detail..

Time Magazine called it an adrenalin rush...bang...bang! :D

Can't wait to get it.

Time Magazine called it an adrenalin rush...bang...bang! :D

Can't wait to get it.
I got it coming from BB online rental. One of the few new releases I'm fortunate enough to get from them within the first month of release. Still waiting on C.O.M.

I can't wait for this! After seeing it in the Theaters (3x) I posted it here hoping for a DOLBY TrueHD, U-Control...

Even better, this will be the cheapest Combo I bought...pre-ordered it from BestBuy.ca for $25.19 CAN (plus taxes), usually they range from $32-$44 CAN

I got it coming from BB online rental. One of the few new releases I'm fortunate enough to get from them within the first month of release. Still waiting on C.O.M.
You should see the ad on TV...AWESOME!

COM is a keeper...great movie.

I can't wait for this! After seeing it in the Theaters (3x) I posted it here hoping for a DOLBY TrueHD, U-Control...

Even better, this will be the cheapest Combo I bought...pre-ordered it from BestBuy.ca for $25.19 CAN (plus taxes), usually they range from $32-$44 CAN
It's a blind buy for me...how good was it???

Alicia Keys!!!

LOL, 7 minutes into the movie it locked up my player. Time to boil the disc! I can't complain too much, though, because I got the movie for $19.96.

EDIT: The picture looked very nice, though, right up there with Children of Men in contrast, sharpness, and level of detail..

Scitek, Are you serious??!! Another Universal Combo disc with lock-up issues...Is it as bad as "Children of Men" with "MSG", "Disc not DVD format, cannot play disc" or various 8 digit error codes?

I would love some feedback from other HD-A2 users about "Smokin' Aces" playback performance, before I rush out and pick it up tonight.

Is it true that it uses google maps? That would mean it would need an internet connection.....

I'm pretty sure the maps are just "playback" only, not interactive U-control on-line Google maps. I think it is much like the "GPS Tracking" U-control feature in "Miami Vice", which I haven't seen, but may just be a view only playback.

'Got my copy today at Walmart for 19.96 bucks and it's a combo format! 'Can't pass this one up for the price. :D

'Got my copy today at Walmart for 19.96 bucks and it's a combo format! 'Can't pass this one up for the price. :D

Same here. I thought it was a mistake.

It shows $39.97 on their (Mal-Wart) website, not 20 bucks, at least here in the US for the HD DVD Combo version.

Last time I checked with our local "Super Mal-Wart", they only had 2 BD discs in and no HD DVD.

I had similiar playback difficulties as I experienced with Children of Men and The Good Shepherd. I'm using HD-A2.

Treated the disc with boiled water twice. After first treatment the disc playback improved a little bit but I still couldn't browse after chapter 14. After second treatment it seems the playback problem is gone. I will watch the full movie this evening and will report back if the problem is still there.

Patiently waiting for UPS to drop off my copy later today. Here's hoping sooner better than later...

Any confirmation on whether the "Google Map" function uses an internet connection? I'm guessing that if it does, I wouldn't be able to use it on the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player.

But by all means, correct me if I'm wrong :D

Patiently waiting for UPS to drop off my copy later today. Here's hoping sooner better than later...

Any confirmation on whether the "Google Map" function uses an internet connection? I'm guessing that if it does, I wouldn't be able to use it on the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player.

But by all means, correct me if I'm wrong :D

Your xbox isn't connected to the internet? You are really missing out :)

I bought this today. Hopfully it plays fine on my A1. I've watched all the extras with no issues...

I noticed the back had 1080p and encoded in VC1 in bold lettering... kidda odd.
When I opened the disc their was a SA insert. I thought I'd be the first. But it was just U-control directions. Hopefully they start adding chapter indexes.

Anyone know the best place to buy it in the Portland, OR area?

Scitek, Are you serious??!! Another Universal Combo disc with lock-up issues...Is it as bad as "Children of Men" with "MSG", "Disc not DVD format, cannot play disc" or various 8 digit error codes?

I would love some feedback from other HD-A2 users about "Smokin' Aces" playback performance, before I rush out and pick it up tonight.

Yes, I'm serious, but I'm using an A1. I tried the boiling water trick and when I put the disc in the player, it said "CD" and would never play again. So, I exchanged it and my second copy played all the way through, but it still skipped twice. CoM gave me some issues, too, but it plays through without a hitch now.

I picked up my copy at Best Buy today for a mere $16.99! I brought in a print-out from the Target website, and the nice young lady at the register rung up the cost of the SD version instead. Needless to say, I'm quite content with the price and I look forward to watching it on my A2. :)

Your xbox isn't connected to the internet? You are really missing out :)

Oh it is. I've had Xbox Live ever since it was in the beta phases back on Xbox V1 (Spring 2002, methinks).

Though I'm not sure if the "internet" functions of the XBox itself only allow it to access things form their own servers (for the marketplace content and whatnot), or if it allows general internet access for the HD-DVD add-on (in this instance google maps).

That's all I was asking. Sorry about the misinterpretation. :o

It shows $39.97 on their (Mal-Wart) website, not 20 bucks, at least here in the US for the HD DVD Combo version.

Last time I checked with our local "Super Mal-Wart", they only had 2 BD discs in and no HD DVD.

Yea it's 20. I got it at lunch. When I saw it I had to make sure that it is the HD version and it was. Pretty cool, I think they made a mistake, but maybe not.

Thanks for the feedback from people who have actually had time to see if this Universal Combo disc has issues. It sounds like it does, just like "Children of Men", so I'll save myself another Universal headache and pass on "Smokin' Aces".

!@#$, I was really wanting to own this one, but just had a feeling there would be playback issues. WTF Universal? What players do they test these discs on before release to the public?

QC anyone???

Thanks for the feedback from people who have actually had time to see if this Universal Combo disc has issues. It sounds like it does, just like "Children of Men", so I'll save myself another Universal headache and pass on "Smokin' Aces".

!@#$, I was really wanting to own this one, but just had a feeling there would be playback issues. WTF Universal? What players do they test these discs on before release to the public?

QC anyone???

I had issues with my discs, but they were simple stutters and really didn't effect the viewing experience all that much. I'm pretty sure I screwed up my first disc by boiling it because my player at least recognized it as an HD DVD before that.

If you're near a Wal-Mart that sells it, I'd recommend you go ahead and take advantage of their pricing mistake and get it for $20 while you can. It really rang up for $29.96 at my store, but the electronics clerk was nice enough to override the price for me.

I bought this today. Hopfully it plays fine on my A1. I've watched all the extras with no issues...

I noticed the back had 1080p and encoded in VC1 in bold lettering... kidda odd.
When I opened the disc their was a SA insert. I thought I'd be the first. But it was just U-control directions. Hopefully they start adding chapter indexes.

I have a A1 and Smokin' Aces played perfectly fine for me. Ditto with Children of Men and The Good Shepherd.

Smokin' Aces was alot of fun. I wish I went to a theatre to see it.

Snagged a copy today from BB. Got them to price match Target.com so I saved a few bucks. I would have ordered this from Amazon on the 15th but thought the 15 was a Monday and missed the statement effort sorry :( .

Saw this movie twice in theater's once with my wife and then with some friends who like alternative action flicks like this and Running Scared, Domino, etc.

Different strokes for different folks...some don't like this flick I sure did. Look forward to watching this again tonight and exploring the disc and alternate ending.

I was going to netflix this but............I couldn't resist, just bought this one. Will check it out this weekend.

Oh it is. I've had Xbox Live ever since it was in the beta phases back on Xbox V1 (Spring 2002, methinks).

Though I'm not sure if the "internet" functions of the XBox itself only allow it to access things form their own servers (for the marketplace content and whatnot), or if it allows general internet access for the HD-DVD add-on (in this instance google maps).

That's all I was asking. Sorry about the misinterpretation. :o


Since the HD DVD spec mandates that there must be a network connection on every player, I am pretty sure the HD DVD add-on drive would have to have internet access should any titles call for it right now.


Also I just went to my walmart and it scanned at $29.99. So this is very YMMV.

Even better, this will be the cheapest Combo I bought...pre-ordered it from BestBuy.ca for $25.19 CAN (plus taxes), usually they range from $32-$44 CAN

When did they have it that cheap?!?! I ordered it from Amazon.com on the weekend, because the best price online in Canada I could find was $37.99... BB has had it for like $39.99 forever...(glad I ordered online, since again, as usual with Universal titles - it wasn't in ANY stores today).

Received my Netflix copy today. I'm gonna watch this one tonight, hopefully my XA2 with 1.5 can handle it. Do I sound nervous? :)

BB here in Cincinnati had it for $29.99. Not a great price but surprised they weren't charging the usual $34.99 they usually do for combos. I haven't looked, maybe this one lists for less.

I was tempted to buy it but seeing a 29% at RottenTomatoes.com turned me off. My gut says it is worth a rental but not worth a purchase. I guess I will know the answer to that after getting it from BBO unless I get a bug up my butt and buy it.

Received my Netflix copy today. I'm gonna watch this one tonight, hopefully my XA2 with 1.5 can handle it. Do I sound nervous? :)

As a second gen HD-A2 owner with v1.5 firmware, and it being a Universal Combo release, I'd be nervous too.

In Universal's defense after being on the market less than 30 days, they have sent out pre-paid Fedex mailers to get "Children of Men" and "The Good Shepherd" back for evaluation, while Toshiba just keeps putting blind firmware updates out there for us to install blindly at the drop of a hat, with no clue what it does or doesn't do. Their FAQ never changes!

There is a Mal-Wart on the drive home...Hmmm $30 for "Smokin' Aces", if they even stock HD DVD's yet, or just pass it by and avoid spending another $30 on HD DVD/ Universal Combo headaches...

I KNOW there is beer in the fridge at home, and it works! I'm thinking "Just drive home...just drive home..." :D

Well, I got Smokin Aces today from Amazon and it locks up my XA2 within 2-3 minutes no matter where I start it from. This is the first disc to give me problems. Children of Men played fine. I am tempted to go buy another copy just to be sure.

BB here in Cincinnati had it for $29.99. Not a great price but surprised they weren't charging the usual $34.99 they usually do for combos. I haven't looked, maybe this one lists for less.

I was tempted to buy it but seeing a 29% at RottenTomatoes.com turned me off. My gut says it is worth a rental but not worth a purchase. I guess I will know the answer to that after getting it from BBO unless I get a bug up my butt and buy it.

The BB by me had it for the same 29.99 price, even though their in store pick up price was the 34.99 price. Decided to go ahead and pick it up, since I had lots of reward certificates. Went to the HD section and did not see it. So, I then went to the main cardboard display near the front of the store with the regular DVD version. They had a good part of it filled with the HD version. First time I have seen an HD version so prominently displayed with the regular version at a BB.

Well, I got Smokin Aces today from Amazon and it locks up my XA2 within 2-3 minutes no matter where I start it from. This is the first disc to give me problems. Children of Men played fine. I am tempted to go buy another copy just to be sure.

You can return a defective disk to Amazon for a full refund - including shipping. I'll try my disk tonight to see if I have any problems on my XA-2.

No problems with Smokin' Aces on the 360 HD DVD drive nor the HD XA2.Plays beautifully on both.

Didn't load on first add-on (serial 07xx). It was then a random thing as with Hollywoodland.
Second add-on (serial 02xx) loaded but then started to stutter after I had let the screensaver come on from menu mode.

It's playing ok now after reloading.

Picture is great.
Will the A2 sound any better than the add-on? If so, why?

Thanks

Got mine through Netflix today. Watched it. Plays fine on my HD-A2. Nice transfer too.

I'm curious for those who have A2's. I just got my player a couple days ago and it hasn't had any issues with my discs. Has anyone with this player had any issues down the line playing the same discs (ie. months after they got the player)? I'm pretty nervous from all the the posts going on about jumps, stutters, and freezings.

I'm still waiting for my copy to be delivered. Damn UPS :mad:

And what's worse, whenever I have something delivered from UPS, the delivery guys just leaves it in front of my foor, without knocking or verifying anyone's home to collect it.

He better deliver it tonight, or else I'll have to open up a can.

Seems like a pretty good movie. Haven't seen the end. It crashed and gave the same error message that Children of Men was the other day. Crashed an hour in.

Keep in mind, I updated to 1.5 as soon as it came out. Perhaps that was my mistake.

Edit:

Yeah, now all I'm getting is "Cannot play disc. Error code: 408bc504." Same as with Children of Men and Hollywoodland.

Edit2: I've been playing King Kong for close to 30 minutes and it's running fine. So it seems localized to these new Universal flipper discs. King Kong, as you know, has U-control, so if it were related to some advanced programming, I'd expect it to show here.

It's a shame. I really wanted to see the end of Smokin' Aces. I refuse to finish it in SD. I wish Universal sold these as both flipper and non-flipper. At least that way I wouldn't be dealing with buggy flippers I'm paying extra for and actually getting errors for my trouble.

Sigh.

Watched this movie on my A2 with 1.5 firmware. Unlike COM, No Problems with SA here.

popped in my Netflix copy on my A20 and it loaded very fast and I was able to skip around without issue.

Sure enough, I drove home right past Mal-Wart, and the cold beer was tasty and the BBQ pork chops even better.

I am so glad I didn't stop to pick up "Smokin' Aces", but maybe after a poll of troubles or no troubles.

BTW, "A Scanner Darkly" HD DVD arrived from Amazon.com and so far, it is freaking AWESOME!!!

Just finished watching it on my XA2 with 1.5, no problems. Pretty good flick.

Sure enough, I drove home right past Mal-Wart, and the cold beer was tasty and the BBQ pork chops even better.

I am so glad I didn't stop to pick up "Smokin' Aces", but maybe after a poll of troubles or no troubles.

BTW, "A Scanner Darkly" HD DVD arrived from Amazon.com and so far, it is freaking AWESOME!!!


Agree on A Scanner Darkly. Very nice.

Just finished watching it, and played flawlessly up until about the 1 hour and 40 minute mark, then it went tits up on my A2. Finished the last two or three minutes on the SD side. Had to turn off the machine and restart before it would recognize the disc. Won't be buying this one until there's either a firmware fix or Universal stops with these seemingly faulty combo discs.

I let it play from the beginning instead of flipping around, and this time it lasted about an hour before it froze and gave an error. Had to unplug the machine and back in to get the disc out. What a waste.

Recieved it from Netflix today (release day, Tuesday) along with The Game.
[Quietly wonders why some folks have such trouble with Netflix and feels bad for them.]

The Movie is pretty different so you might want to read some reviews from earlier in the thread or IMDB. I'm pretty twisted so I liked it.

The PQ and sound we're great. I'd guess tier one... It's one of the best I've seen PQ-wise.

No glitches on the ol' A1 (2.1, HDMI to HDMI).

I hope eveyone else has good luck with it. Enjoy the movies,
-- rio

Well, halfway into the movie it locked up! Same damn code! :mad: No more Universal titles for me for a LOOOOOOOONG time! :mad:

Well, halfway into the movie it locked up! Same damn code! :mad: No more Universal titles for me for a LOOOOOOOONG time! :mad:


Forget "a long time," I suggest "never ever"!

WTF my copy comes tomorrow...I sure hope this title plays through on my A2. :)

Just saw the movie, no problem with playback. The movie is better than I thought.

I had similiar playback difficulties as I experienced with Children of Men and The Good Shepherd. I'm using HD-A2.

Treated the disc with boiled water twice. After first treatment the disc playback improved a little bit but I still couldn't browse after chapter 14. After second treatment it seems the playback problem is gone. I will watch the full movie this evening and will report back if the problem is still there.

Just saw the movie, no problem with playback. The movie is better than I thought.
x2

hda2
flawless
fw 1.3

no problems here either start to finish. better movie than I thought it was going to be too. xa2 1.5.

one of the worst hd-dvd releases in my opinion..
first of all when I played the movie in the xbox 360 "strap-on", the video skipped but the audio was fine. So guess what, after further examining the disc, I see all the "gunk" around the center. Now, I do the boiling water trick..it freaking worked! Okay, now on to the movie; I saw this in the theater and actually liked it, but now I can't really say I do. It just doesn't seem to keep it's fire the second time around. Now the p/q....ughh....no sharpness, not much clarity, this look's like 1 notch above a upconverted sd dvd. I just can't believe people have said the p/q is good. Overall, totally disappointed. And if universal keep's releasing these over priced faulty discs that have to repaired by running scolding hot water on them I don't expect to be buying anymore hd-dvd movies. And just think, I haven't had one issue with any of my bluray discs.

Just venting

i have no idea where everyone is getting this "goo" idea... I just received smoking aces and children of men last night gooless and watched children of men last night and smoking aces this morning and they look wonderful. no stuttering or playback issues and i played them both on my 360 add on

i have no idea where everyone is getting this "goo" idea... I just received smoking aces and children of men last night gooless and watched children of men last night and smoking aces this morning and they look wonderful. no stuttering or playback issues and i played them both on my 360 add on


There obviously is a problem with the production on alot of these discs. Not everyones. Mine had some defects in the center ring.

Just got S A last night and watched it and it played perfectly.

Great movie btw, and one of those underdog films that pulls off something, that is more the others. Jeremy Piven was amazing, he is true charater actor to boot.

~Bobby

How Is The PQ???

Never had a problem with COM, Happy Feet, Hollywoodland, or any other disc on my A2 before or after the 1.5 update. When I played Smokin' Aces there was a pause that looked just like the typical longish layer change I get when playing an SD disc, always in the same place and always resumed just fine. I've never noticed a layer change pause on an HD DVD before, but haven't really looked for one.

PQ is in there with Departed, nothing spectacular like King Kong but good non the less.

Tier1 or high Tier 2 IMO

~Bobby

Review:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/smokinaces.html

Review:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/smokinaces.html

Waits for the Bracke attacks....5...4...3....2.......

1st bracke attack....bracke is wrong, the transfer is not great, nor did I see the 3-D stuff he was mentioning, unless I played the whole movie on the sd side!! Naw!

Anyways, how could the p/q be only a half a star away from what king kong is?? king king's pq makes this one look like it was filmed through a lense that that someone sneezed all over.

No problems with playback including U-Control.

HD-A1 - fw 2.1

worked fine with my A1. Looked really good. only universal problem I have had is with Children of men

Scanned through all the chapters on Smokin' Aces and no problems so far. Now I'll watch it and see how far I get. :D

My copy won't even play. That makes a total of 4 Universal combo discs that are only good for the SD side.

Played fine for me on my XA2, used the U-Control
Fun movie, too...great segues from scene to scene...really fun

Smokin Aces would not play on my 360 add on. I tried the "boiling water" trick on it and it worked. You can see the gunk on the disc as you dip it in the water.

Amazing. I still can't believe that worked.

Mine played from top to bottom without a problem. I was more affraid I wouldn't like this movie...but I did I found it quite entertaining and different. A lot of stuff going on all over the place...hard to follow at times. But overall I would recommend it for at least a rental.

XA2 1.3 FW updated Smoking Aces would not play until I washed the disk with dish soap and warm water ! Locked up 3/4 way through movie. Hard reboot rewashed disk as I could see haze on it and finished the movie. Picture was good but not King Kong quality.

Call me old fashioned but these full out modern shock/ultra violent movies ain't my cup of tea. A waste of a good cast in my humble opinion ! Johnathan

Glad I rented it ! But hell I didn't like the movie Confidence either along the same style.

PQ=Good
Movie= BAD

I actually did get my copy on the 17th, and it seems I was one of the lucky ones.

No problems whatsoever when played on my 360 add-on. PQ was good overall, though this movie does have it's share of grain and saturation, especially with the later shots of Buddy Israel. I must say, I even felt woozy when watching him all coked up with his bloodshot eyes. HD euphoria, I guess :confused:

I must say, the Tremor Brothers definitely stole the show. And the crazy part seems that those aren't just characters, but that's how these guys really act.

I did answer my own question as well; U-Control works on the 360 add-on. Blister72 was right on the money there :cool:

Last but not least, Alicia Keys....wow. More importantly, some HD Alicia Kleavage ;)

PQ=Good
Movie= Good
Pretty much :p

I got my copy of Smoking Aces and Children of men last Monday and both played flawlessly on my HDA1 with updated firmware version 2.0. Stunning PQ and AQ for both. Top tier 1 for sure.

No problems with mine either. I have an A-2 with 1.5 firmware. U-control & everything else worked perfectly.

I'm glad I'm not the only one...whew. Well I got my copy last night from Amazon. Loaded up the disc and it was fine until the scene at the end (not sure of the chapter #), it's when one of the three brother's is in the parking lot with the ex-cop.

The disc just froze and did nothing, I couldn't even stop it or eject. So, I unplugged it, initialized it, powered off and tried playing again from when it froze. It played for about a minute or two then froze again. At this point I was felling a little frustrated, I was almost done with the movie and getting really into it then BAM---SUCKS A$$, I had to finish the movie on the SD side. (I liked the movie by the way, better than I thought it would be)

It made me think twice that it might be my player (XA2 FW 1.5)-- so, I tried other discs King Kong, Fearless, Miami Vice, The Departed but no freezing. Is the QC really that bad on Universal discs? I purchased CoM last week and I had to return it because it would not play at all. Anyway, I tried playing SA again after playing the other Paramount and Universal discs and this time it wouldn't play at all.

Any advice on what to do next? I don't think it's XA2 since other movies were fine and w/o glitches. Should I just get another copy and hope for the best? Or send in my XA2 to Toshiba? What are other folks doing with similar issues?

Thanks in advance,
Frustrated Mel !

Watched Smokin' Aces on my '360 add-on last night. I had turned U-Control on and off several times and the video froze at times then caught up on its own, then eventually locked up. Note the freezing up happened way after I was messing around with U-Control, not during. I ejected the disc which sent me back to the dashboard, reinserted and got an unreadable disc error. Rebooted the xbox and it played flawlessly, I even went back and checked all the scenes that had frozen. I'm chalking this one up to me screwing around with u-control and hopefully the update isn't vaporware too much longer.

[QUOTE=ShinBojack]

I did answer my own question as well; U-Control works on the 360 add-on. Blister72 was right on the money there :cool:

[Quote=ShinBojack]

What's this??? I'm home one day from work, drinking and watching tons of HD DVD's, and then I come back and I'm "right on the money there"...Niiiiice!

Thanks!

Beyond my better judgement and hate for Universal and their combos, and after reading mostly flawless playability reviews, I picked up my copy of "Smokin' Aces" late last night. No time to watch it, but it DID load and even played some extras.

I haven't tried watching with U-control yet, but keeping my fingers crossed that it loads again tonight, and Universal puts the $30 towards figuring out the "Children of Men" HD DVD issues.

My copy froze in my XBox 360 player in Chapter 18, just a couple minutes from the end, during the argument in the hospital room. I ejected the disc and tried to replay it, but this time it wouldn't even boot. The 360 seems to have trouble recovering from an HD-DVD problem during the same power cycle, so I turned the system off and back on. This time the disc loaded, and it played through Chapter 18 fine.

I'm not convinced the disc is fine - what I just described above is not normal behavior. I'll have to do more testing. I'm still fighting with Children of Men, I haven't even gotten one good playthrough on that stupid disc...

My copy froze in my XBox 360 player in Chapter 18, just a couple minutes from the end, during the argument in the hospital room. I ejected the disc and tried to replay it, but this time it wouldn't even boot. The 360 seems to have trouble recovering from an HD-DVD problem during the same power cycle, so I turned the system off and back on. This time the disc loaded, and it played through Chapter 18 fine.

I'm not convinced the disc is fine - what I just described above is not normal behavior. I'll have to do more testing. I'm still fighting with Children of Men, I haven't even gotten one good playthrough on that stupid disc...


Exact same thing happened to me with this disc on the 360 add-on. I had to finish the last two chapters on the DVD side of the disc.

Flawless on my A2 with 1.3. Pretty fun movie to boot. :)

i have no idea where everyone is getting this "goo" idea... I just received smoking aces and children of men last night gooless and watched children of men last night and smoking aces this morning and they look wonderful. no stuttering or playback issues and i played them both on my 360 add on

I have both the XA2 and the 360 add-on. Got these movies yesterday and my son watched them both today on the 360 add-on. He reported no problems at all and he loved Smoking Aces and COM. They'll be running on my XA2 tommorow.

Both CoM and SA played perfectly on my A1/2.1 FW.

Blister, it's a shame that being right on the money couldn't get you some more drinks!!

I'm telling ya', there's nothing like going through an HD-DVD marathon with some cold ones by your side :cool:

Happy to report no problems playing SA on my 360 add-on. I played it 2 times over; once normally, and the second time with U-Control activated. Played perfectly both times.

Now perhaps I may have jinxed myself and it'll lock up the next time through :p

I still haven't opened up my copy of CoM; a little nervous after reading all the posts thus far on it. I would hope my "lucky" streak still pulls through on this one...

Got this from Amazon today and tried to play it tonight on my XA2. Tried loading it a few times, nothing. Decided to do the boiling water trick, worked like a charm. Until about 30 seconds from the end, then it stopped reading it. Tried to get it to work again, nothing. So then I try the dish soap and water trick and it's working again.

Anyway, despite the problems I really liked the movie. Loved the color pallette too. Piven is great, as is Reynolds. Overall really pleased with the movie itself, with Universal QC...not so much.

Well I just finished watching this with the U-control activated. I love this feature! No problems, made it all the way the first time! Amazing PQ. High Tier 1 for sure.
Edit: XA1 with 2.1 firmware

No boiling was required!

SMOKIN ACES freaking rocked!!!! :) :D

We just finished watching it. The PQ and AQ were great!!!

Action galore! AAAAA+++++

I had a strange experience with this disc. Played fine the first time around on my son's 360 add-on and the XA2. The second time on the XA2 I had to do the hot water fix. This combo discs are weird. I did notice some build up on the inner ring of the disc. Looks like they are putting some sort of coating that may be affected by the spinning or temperature.

I had not seen this movie and found it quite entertaining. Certainly deserves more credit that the reviewers give it

had to wash the disc with soap and hot water for it to play..froze about 3/4 way through went back a couple of chapters and the disc played to the end....
the 50 cal rocked

The boiling trick didn't work for me either. I just decided to return it... Maybe one day if universal gets it right I will try it again...

I'm going to start positing this theory:

It's NOT the discs so to speak, but rather a certain batch of add-on players at least.

I have 2 add-ons - only ONE of them poses the non-loading issue of certain combo discs.
My conclusion is that these drives (Toshiba OEMS), weren't fully updated to recognise combo discs - how it tells the difference I don't know (thickness?), and that a firmware patch isn't available that distinguishes these faulty drives.

The ONLY bung disc so far across the board is Relentless Enemies.

noice movie

SMOKIN ACES freaking rocked!!!! :) :D

We just finished watching it. The PQ and AQ were great!!!

Action galore! AAAAA+++++Me too! And it actually had a pretty good plot and ending once you started putting the pieces together. I don't know why everyone said it was bad when it was in theaters.

P.S. The picture and sound quality rocked as well. Probably the best DD+ track I have heard yet. No problems playing it on my XA1 with fw2.10

I haven't seen it yet and my copy has already shipped sometime last week so I should get it soon....Looking forward to seeing it in HD.

I bought this movie on Saturday and watched it on my HD-DVD add on. I was pleasantly surprised. Pretty decent movie, and the pq wasn't bad either. The only problem I had with the Add-on was, I paused the movie halfway through to watch some of the Yankees-Redsox game, and when I went back to it, I couldn't get it to unpause. I had to reboot my console, and everything worked fine from there.

Received my copy today, put it in and it played flawless from start to end. No glitches or hangups.

The movie itself rocked for sure. Nice weird twisting plot.

The boiling trick didn't work for me either. I just decided to return it... Maybe one day if universal gets it right I will try it again...

This does not sound good at all, but I have a supply of "GREEN" markers that may help if you apply it to the edge of the disc(s)? Maybe "BLUE" would work better than "GREEN"?

ROFLOL, but not at folks who are having issues with HD DVD's playing properly. :(

I paused the movie halfway through to watch some of the Yankees-Redsox game, and when I went back to it, I couldn't get it to unpause.

I also paused this movie for about 3-4 minutes and noticed that it went to a "Universal" screen saver type page. Anyone else notice this with Univeral titles?

mine played fine with the 360 addon good movie.

My experience – A1, firmware 2.1:

Mine was a Netflix copy, shippped out on release day. About 5-6 minutes into it, I started getting crazy-bad skipping. I tried to pause, but the player was unresponsive. Then, at around 7 minutes, it started playing smoothly. It coninued to do so, but at the same time, my player was sort-of-crashed. The time display did not move from the 7 minute mark, the player was completely unresponsive to any and all button pushing. 45 minutes later, I had to turn it off to do some other stuff, so I had to yank the power cord. Later, when I was ready to continue, I decided I would try boiling the disc first. After boiling, cooling and drying, I threw it in the player. Now my player says it's a CD and gives an error. It's unplayable. I reported itas unplayable to Netflix, so hopefully they take this copy out of circulation.

Universal Combos are the ONLY HD DVDs that I've had problems with.

Mine booted up fine the first time. It got about 3/4 done, then just froze. I ejected the disc and tried to reinsert it, and the XBox 360 just said "Reading" forever. Ejected, tried again - same thing.

I turned the 360 off, unplugged the HD-DVD drive, reconnected it, and turned the 360 back on. This time it got past "Reading" but then froze at that initial black screen and said "Can't Read Disc." I fought with it for another 5 minutes but had zero luck. I eventually just resigned myself to finishing it on the SD side since my girlfriend was impatient at this point and just wanted to finish the movie (which I can't blame her for wanting to do).

I can't wrap my head around this problem - I'm trying to be so scientific about it and figure out what circumstances cause it to crash, but it seems totally random.

I also paused this movie for about 3-4 minutes and noticed that it went to a "Universal" screen saver type page. Anyone else notice this with Univeral titles?
Yep, thats what it froze on. The universal screensaver.

My copy from Netflix was playing fine on my A20 1.5 until just about the Chapter 10 mark, and it started stuttering a freezing like crazy.

I put it in my A1 2.0, and except for slight hiccup it played OK to the end.

So chalk up another crap disc for Universal.

Movie sucked too. How does a 2 hour action movie only have like 20 cumulative minutes of action? Maybe I don't "get it".

One thing I noticed with my A1/2.1FW with this disc:

On a fresh start-up, once I reach the main menu, if I go to the scene selections and choose one, I get terminal shuttering after a couple minutes of playback.

On a fresh start-up, once I reach the main menu, if I select to play the film from the beginning, the playback is flawless, even if I decide to skip around or enable U-Control after this.

It's so weird reading about all these issues with Universal hd-dvds. I have an hd-dvd player and an hd-a2, no problems. Ever.

*knocks on wood*

I also paused this movie for about 3-4 minutes and noticed that it went to a "Universal" screen saver type page. Anyone else notice this with Univeral titles?All universal HD-DVD's dump to their logo screensaver after a few minutes on pause. Of course, it should rsume as normal when you hit play.

I put through an RMA request on my old copy and they shipped me another overnight. I just got around to trying it a few hours ago. No dice. It plays fine through most of the movie, but I skipped to a few scenes before where I was dumped out by the old copy. It crashed again a few scenes earlier, then refused to play.

I'm beginning to think that something in the 1.5 firmware did not like my XA2. I'm hoping they update the firmware again sooner rather than later. I watched Superman Returns afterward and it had a few glitches, but it never crashed. It paused twice, had garbled audio. I skipped ahead and it was fine, so I put that one off as something on the disc.

But no matter what I do, these new Universal discs refuse to play all the way through now and the only thing that has changed is the new firmware. Before, at least Hollywoodland and Children of Men would work after I kept trying.

Now, they just refuse. If only the PS3 could play them instead...

I'm tempted to get out my A1 I kept for just this sort of thing and see if it has the same problems.

Just watched this on my AX2 - no problems at all!

GREAT movie IMHO...

Thank God I saw that awful mindless no plot movie on a bootleg DVD-R at a neighbor's house first. :eek:

John

had to wash the disc again after i updated my firmware to 1.5 ....used liguid handsoap and hot water there was a slight film on the disc ...i must of didn't do a very good job the first time.this is the first disc i've had a real problem with.the movie played from beginng to end with out a glicht...now i can't stop dreaming about alecia keys...

great movie, no playback problems here on my HD-A1 with latest firmware.

Although this movie was pretty terrible,that little karate kid and his grandma were hilarious."I feel like you're eyeballin me dog!"

This is my first report of problems. In my A2 V1.5, the disc absolutely would not play. It would get through the "Universal" splash screen, then lock up with the "cannot play disc" error message. Tried 5 times, with same results. Then I tried it on my 360 addon, and, (wtf?) no problems at all. U control worked, no skips, no hangups, no error messages. In fact, my 360 addon has played every so-called "problem disc" with no problems at all. Now I'm going to have to try some of them on the A2 and see what happens.
Just curious, is there any way to roll back the firmware on the A2 to 1.3? Wondering if that might make a positive difference?

I never thought I would say this, but thank god for the Combo disc. Smokin Aces stuttered and locked up several times and right when I was about to give up, I realized it was a flipper. Turned it over and the SD side played just fine. Yet another reminder that the whole hi-def disc thing is overpriced not-ready-for-primetime crap. Thank you Netflix for keeping my from buying movies.

Oh, I have a XA1 w/ FW 2.1

Well it played once on my XA2 but not again??? Same issues I had with Children of Men and The Good Shepard. Error 480bc590 or something like that. Will wash the disk I guess but that is retarded. I sent both my CoM and Good Shepard back to Universal but they don't seem to be in any rush to send them back to me.

I don't understand why it will play once but never again????

Loved this movie and everything about it, very entertaining imo. Great PQ and audio. I did have one problem during the movie where I guess it shut down my xa2. I heard a pop come from the speakers like a surge then the screen went blank and I turned it back on and started from the seen just before and it played fine all the way through. Im still waiting for update, disk couldn't do ver1.5 with my modem for some reason. Im hoping this was a one time thing.

Well the Dawn bath and hot water seems to have worked. I wish I stall had my copies of CoM and Good Shepard as I never got to see either movie in it's entirety.

My copy of Smokin' Aces played fine. I still haven't tried The Good Shepherd yet. *fingers crossed*

This is my first report of problems. In my A2 V1.5, the disc absolutely would not play. It would get through the "Universal" splash screen, then lock up with the "cannot play disc" error message. Tried 5 times, with same results. Then I tried it on my 360 addon, and, (wtf?) no problems at all. U control worked, no skips, no hangups, no error messages. In fact, my 360 addon has played every so-called "problem disc" with no problems at all. Now I'm going to have to try some of them on the A2 and see what happens.


Odd stuff here. I tried to play Smokin' Aces again on my A20, and the first 2 times, it failed again. Both times, the audio, through both optical and analog, was terribly distorted; as though the decoding was 'out of synch'. The third time, however, the disc read properly, and played all the way through with NO ISSUES. U control worked, too. Now I really don't know what's going on with these discs/players. I have emailed both Universal and Toshiba about this, and I'll let you know what they tell me. How bizarre, no?

All universal HD-DVD's dump to their logo screensaver after a few minutes on pause. Of course, it should rsume as normal when you hit play.

OK, good to know. Mine did play fine after hitting the play button from the screensaver page.

My rental copy of Smokin' Aces played fine on my A1 with 2.0 firmware.

No Problems for me on my XA2 running 2.0 firmware

Greg

I never thought I would say this, but thank god for the Combo disc. Smokin Aces stuttered and locked up several times and right when I was about to give up, I realized it was a flipper.

Yes, but if it wasn't a stupid combo disc, I bet it would play.

I had a ton of problems with this disc. I played it on my HD-A1 with fw 2.1 and for the first 35 minutes it skipped like crazy. I pressed the Eject button and the disc did not eject, but instead played flawlessly afterwards. It locked up my player, though, and I had to disconnect the power cord in order to take the movie out once it was finished. Btw, I washed this movie with hot water in my sink before playing it and this did not fix the problem. I emailed Amazon.com and they are sending me a new disc. I also told them I would be sending them Children of Men. For that one, they are giving me a full refund, since they don't carry it anymore. CoM skipped twice for me, but I played that movie with fw 2.0, so it might skip more now that I have fw 2.1 installed.

Would not play in my A2 with FW 1.5.

No problems at all on my HD-A1 2.1.

Great PQ and AQ and a fun movie to boot. If you approach it with the proper lots of action and little dramatic acting and plot perspective/expectation as I did then I think you will enjoy it.

I will be watching it again soon. Louder this time hahaa.

Cheers,

Richard

Watched this weekend with my A1 2.0 firmware and it played flawlessly.

Not much here, but I heard back from Toshiba today:
Dear Neil:



Thanks for writing!

I do apologize that the discs are not playing. We at Toshiba are aware of the combo format discs not playing in the machine and are working toward a fix for this.



We appreciate your patience.

Got the disk from Amazon a few hours ago.Plays flawlessly on my (PAL)xbox360 add-on.

Works great including U-Control on my XA1 with FW2.1.

No problems with the rental copy of Smokin' Aces on my XA2 with 1.5 firmware.
____
Axel

Took a little longer to load on my HD-A1 but playback was fine. Liked the movie even more the second time around. The disc is also a staple of what the format can do in terms of features.

Watched this weekend with my A1 2.0 firmware and it played flawlessly.

Same here. No problem at all on my A1 (with 2.0).
PQ and SQ were quite good
Movie itself was just ok for me; I didn't like the shift in tone from comedic/non-serious in the first hour + to very serious in the last 15 minutes or so; also wish they focused more on the Alicia Keys character :)

Ok so remove it from the player and try it again. Mine played fine the first time but that was it???

So I tried again. The Smokin Aces played pretty well until the middle of the movie then had near-continuous problems. The first time I played it, there were problems within 5 minutes of the movie starting. I have an XA1 FW 2.1 and this is the first time I have had any real problem. The disc itself has no discernible scratches or smudges.

Thank you for trying it again. I had the same issues. A good Dawn bath with some hot water seems to have helped as the disk played start to finish the other night.

played fine for me. not a bad movie either. PQ was outstanding

I just attempted to watch my second copy from Netlix on my A1 with fw2.1 ... Stuttering and freezing on this one too. Eventually I just gave up.

I got lucky, played PERFECTLY on my HD A2. Much appreciated after my CoM debacle.

I received mine yesterday and watching it...pretty good. I love the assassin tracker feature.

Finally watched this last night, no problems on the 360 drive. I enjoyed the film a little more than I thought I would too.

I just watched this tonight. No problems on my A2, but I've had no problems with other titles and I recently upgraded to the latest firmware "just in case".

I very much enjoyed the movie - a bit mindless, but that's OK, I don't need Children of Men or Good Shepherd every time!

shinksma

My copy stuttered in a few spots and then froze up completely about 2/3 of the way through. Soap and water didn't work, so I tried boiling and it didn't work either. I guess it's time to setup a replacement.

Hi all,

is anyone having troubles with the subtitles? i use the 360addon but the subs wont work properly, i see them for 0.01 sec and then they dissapear again:) I have the same problem with lucky number slevin