My brother-in-law gets the Voom channels with his HD converter, and I was watching _Sanjuro_ and _The Hidden Fortress_ last weekend on the Kung Fu channel.

HOLY CRAP.

I MEAN, SERIOUSLY. HOLY CRAP.

Knowing Criterion is still on the fence regarding HD releases, have there been any Japanese releases of Kurosawa films (with English subs)? Will Criterion ever get their head out of their ass and release some of those sweet HD restorations (I mean, they restored to what, at least 2K?!)? I mean seriously, just author the same damn disc but use HD video for the feature, doesn't HDDVD support DVD menus and structures but just add HD assets?

Then again, Criterion were lazy at the start of DVD too, judging by my NON-BLOODY-ANAMORPHIC _Brazil_...

RAN, but no English subs.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews31/ran_HD.htm

Yes, I'd like to see some Kurosawa in HD as well.

I hear ya, man (as you may know, since I posted a similar rant a few days ago). About half the titles I want in HD are under Criterion's rubric.

Hey, Janus! I can't give you money for 'em 'til you get off your ass and make 'em!

From your description, it sounds like Sanjuro looked delicious. Yojimbo is one of my all-time faves and I'd pretty much kill anyone in my way to get it, Rashomon, Ikiru, Kagemusha, Ran, Seven Samurai and Throne of Blood.

From your description, it sounds like Sanjuro looked delicious. Yojimbo is one of my all-time faves and I'd pretty much kill anyone in my way to get it, Rashomon, Ikiru, Kagemusha, Ran, Seven Samurai and Throne of Blood.

I've gone this far without a HD cable box (SD cable with Tivo all the way) because I hate Comcast so much, but if they have this channel available I may very well have to bite the bullet and upgrade.

Let's just say I'd never seen such detail on a Camellia on the DVD before ;)

And the sad thing is, I'm pretty sure this is actually Criterion's data file that Voom is using! All I want is that bloody file burned onto something that will play in my XA2!!!

It would be nice but Criterion would need big demand for such a thing to happen. Their sales numbers don't really favor the expenses so it will be a long time before you get what you want.

It would be nice but Criterion would need big demand for such a thing to happen.

Which is kind of sad, considering their LD-market origins. Who can argue with that juicy DVD paycheck, though?

I've gone this far without a HD cable box (SD cable with Tivo all the way) because I hate Comcast so much, but if they have this channel available I may very well have to bite the bullet and upgrade.

I believe VOOM is only available on Dish. It's freakin' great, though. They show a lot of Kurosawa in HD, probably most if not all of his Criterion catalog, including Seven Samurai, High and Low, etc.

It would be nice but Criterion would need big demand for such a thing to happen.

The jumped into both laserdisc and DVD early on without "big demand". According to their blog postings, they are mainly concerned with the two formats.

That's what they don't want -- to back the wrong horse. So they'll sit it out until there's a "winner". (I don't know what sort of internal criteria they're using for that... but we're apparently not there yet.)

I believe VOOM is only available on Dish. It's freakin' great, though. They show a lot of Kurosawa in HD, probably most if not all of his Criterion catalog, including Seven Samurai, High and Low, etc.

They have IO, which is Cablevision I believe?

Still, I'll have to visit them more often now!

The jumped into both laserdisc and DVD early on without "big demand". According to their blog postings, they are mainly concerned with the two formats.

Yeah, I got that in reply when I posted a request for _Rashomon_ in HDDVD.

But here's my question.. Do they do their own duplication in-house or do they have an outside shop do it? Even if they do their own manufacturing, the cost to upgrade their production lines to HDDVD is minimal when amortized over the _existing_ HDDVD player base (and presumably, you could still make SDDVDs with the same equipment, AND you have to replace duplicating equipment periodically due to wear-n-tear, new features, etc..) .

Sheesh, how about even 3XDVDs? Presumably 8-bit B&W doesn't take up as much space as 24-bit (or higher) color.. ;)


That's what they don't want -- to back the wrong horse. So they'll sit it out until there's a "winner". (I don't know what sort of internal criteria they're using for that... but we're apparently not there yet.)

The criteria is probably "who pays us more $$$" :(

Seen a few HD TV screen caps online compared to the dvds, they make the dvds look very low quality :D the detail is amazing on Seven Samurai TV shots.

I will be upgrading if someone gets around to making HD DVD's of some of the classic Samurai films, fingers crossed it does not take a few years :( but I just cannot see anyone jumping in yet with HD Samurai films.