Universal Studios' Next Wave Of HD DVDs for January '08

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced both The Pianist and Mobsters available to own in high-definition exclusively on HD DVD, come January 8, 2008. Both are non-combo HD DVD releases priced at $29.98 SRP each. Specific details follow:

Mobsters (1991)


1080p High Definition Widescreen 1.85:1
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (English)
Dolby Digital Plus (5.1 English and 2.0 French)
English [SDH] & French subtitle options


The Pianist (2002)


1080p High Definition Widescreen 1.85:1
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (English)
Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (English & French)
English [SDH] & French subtitle options
Bonus Material include:
- The Story of Survival


Source: http://hddvdformat.blogspot.com/

Ooo, I'll take The Pianist.

good, i've been holding off the import of pianist for this.

TrueHD for The Pianist! :D

Woohoo, Pianist w/ TrueHD!!!

But will The Pianist do the Resume function like the Studio Canal version does? ;)

good, i've been holding off the import of pianist for this.

+1

Nice to see Universal continuing with TrueHD :)

Lame, I JUST imported the Pianist a couple weeks ago!

mark me down for pianist,what a great movie with great acting as well

I need me some Pianist.

no one else has love for mobsters?

patrick dempsey, richard grieco, costas mandylor, and christian slater kicking ass as bugsy, lucky luciano, meyer lansky, and frank costello. I'll definitely be buying this.

Mobsters is such an underrated movie. I'd love to see it again, hopefully it gets a good transfer.

no one else has love for mobsters?

Mobsters is such an underrated movie.

I have never seen it and just got excited seeing your posts praising it. Then I went to Rotten Tomatoes and saw that it only got 10%? Have you not seen it since it came out? Were you children then? This must be one of those guilty pleasure movies.

I have never seen it and just got excited seeing your posts praising it. Then I went to Rotten Tomatoes and saw that it only got 10%? Have you not seen it since it came out? Were you children then? This must be one of those guilty pleasure movies.

Rotten Tomatoes...people truly look to that site for info on whether or not a movie is good or not?

Rent Mobsters.....check it out at least..... :cool:

Mobsters is without a doubt an underrated movie. At least rent to see if you like it.

This movie is sooooooooooo bad.....and so much fun.:D

I will buy it for sure

anything with grico or slater is a pass with the exception of maybe pump up the volume

I have never seen it and just got excited seeing your posts praising it. Then I went to Rotten Tomatoes and saw that it only got 10%? Have you not seen it since it came out? Were you children then? This must be one of those guilty pleasure movies.

i just know what I enjoy and that movie I think still holds up today but everybodys different. I don't think it is anywhere near par with other gangster movies such as goodfellas, godfather, casino, etc but it is a very enjoyable movie. Many of the actors were very young at the time and put in good performances mainly Christian Slater as Lucky Luciano.

It could be a guilty pleasure for me who knows but I remember watching it again about a year ago and remembering how much I enjoyed it. I would think people should at least rent it and check it out. As far as the rotten rating I think people put all gangster movies in the same pot and every gangster flick is just going to be compared to Godfather , goodfellas, etc like I said before. It's just the way it is lol. So when you hold a movie up to those levels you will be disappointed.

The Pianist arrived in my mail Monday. I watched it that evening. Universal did a nice job on it, the PQ and AQ is top notch. It is a great film.

The Pianist arrived in my mail Monday. I watched it that evening. Universal did a nice job on it, the PQ and AQ is top notch. It is a great film.

Any EE or DNR?

The Pianist arrived in my mail Monday. I watched it that evening. Universal did a nice job on it, the PQ and AQ is top notch. It is a great film.

Excellent!
I am definitely getting it.:D

Absolutely picking up the pianist myself. Such a great movie. Now universal should release Schindlers List and I will be happy.

Any EE or DNR?

What is EE and DNR?

Edge Enhancement and Digital Noise Reduction?

The only thing I remember about Mobsters was the 360 degree camera pan that gave me vertigo in the theater.

As a lover of gangster fims . . . . pass on this one.

But will The Pianist do the Resume function like the Studio Canal version does? ;)

SC movies have resume? :eek: How does it work on, say, Les 3 jours du Condor?

Absolutely picking up the pianist myself. Such a great movie. Now universal should release Schindlers List and I will be happy.

Yep, that's one I'm waiting for too... :rolleyes:

What is EE and DNR?

Edge Enhancement and Digital Noise Reduction?

For a guy that doesn't know what those terms mean you sure did make a good guess. ;)

Yes - thats what those terms mean.

The Pianist arrived in my mail Monday. I watched it that evening. Universal did a nice job on it, the PQ and AQ is top notch. It is a great film.

Ehhh, based on your feedback I just ordered it.:cool:

I bought the import a year ago. I agree, excellent video and sound.

My Best Buy had The Pianist out Friday. I picked it up along with a few others since they still have the B3,G2 deal going on.

Just put in my order for The Pianist. Such a good movie. I saw it on Universal HD a week or so ago and it looked excellent. All the other movies I've seen on UHD have always looked better on HD-DVD, so I have high hopes for this one.

Looking forward to the Pianist. :)

Pianist will be my last HD DVD purchase UNLESS the HD DVD backing STUDIOS make any strong and positive announcement about their format's future.

My Best Buy had The Pianist out Friday...it's a great flick. Haven't watched it yet, though.

I guess I'm one of the few people who ordered or will be getting Mobster. I like underrated movies. :) I already own the import of The Pianist. Great looking movie/transfer on the import, btw. I'm sure this version will be just as good.

I guess I'm one of the few people who ordered or will be getting Mobster. I like underrated movies. :) I already own the import of The Pianist. Great looking movie/transfer on the import, btw. I'm sure this version will be just as good.

i will as well its a movie that brings back memories of going to the theater with my father which wasnt done that much

Mobsters and pianist on order. Saw mobsters on sat. last year and decided I'll get it now.

Any difference between the US and UK version besides the audio tracks? I'm wondering about the video quality and extras.

i didnt see mobsters anywhere or the pianist. Went to two circuit citys and 2 best buys in ny

I saw zodiac, white noise and white noise 2 though. I really think best buy just doesnt care for hd dvd especially older releases. I really wanted mobsters today thats why I didnt go for amazon.

I'm a bit curious as to how this release is generally getting very high marks in the picture quality department in this thread and others on this site, because I rented it from Netflix and to tell the truth I can't tell if the PQ looks like either the world's greatest up-converted DVD or the world's crappiest high definition.

Anyone else get this impression.

Great Movie but I'm puzzled/disturbed at the discrepancy of what I'm seeing and what others are saying. Wonder if I have a defective disk?

Is this title (the Pianist) available in Canada? I couldn't find it today at my local stores or Amazon.ca.

I can always order from Amazon.com ...

Pianist will be my FINAL HD DVD title :( unless the supporting studios makes any concrete announcements concerning the future of the format. FU Warner :mad:

Pianist will be my FINAL HD DVD title :( unless the supporting studios makes any concrete announcements concerning the future of the format. FU Warner :mad:

I'm not that upset with Warner...I kind of thought it would happen eventually. However, my last HD-DVD title purchases will be The Pianist, Zodiac, & Elizabeth:The Golden Age which im hoping doesn't get cancelled in February. I'm anticipating Universal and Paramount scrapping titles if they don't jump ship all together.

I have the UK import, so it's great to know that the US version has the same stellar picture quality. I recommend it to any fan of the film. Here is a snip of the review (http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1200/pianist.html) from High Def Digest for the US HD DVD release:

~Snippet~

Universal's domestic HD DVD edition of 'The Pianist' follows an import version issued in the UK (http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/pianist_uk.html) last year by Optimum Home Entertainment. Boasting a stellar 1080p/VC-1 encode, this new domestic HD DVD looks to be identical to that previous edition. I was happily impressed with how lovely and elegant 'The Pianist' looks in HD, particularly compared to the previous DVD, which was good but is easily trumped here.

'The Pianist' is narratively and visually structured into two halves. The early scenes of the film are vivid and natural, then slowly, as Szpilman's world is systematically decimated, contrast becomes more drab, with colors drained of vibrancy. The master handles it with ease. The source is pristine, with no defects. It's also worth noting that though the second half of the film is certainly not pretty, the film is not truly gritty, and grain is kept in check.
Detail holds firm throughout, with a richness and sense of texture readily apparent. Depth is also strong, and blacks never falter. Likewise, the transfer is quite sharp but not too edgy (though there does appear to be a very slight amount of enhancement applied). Compression artifacts are not an issue, and the image is always very stable and free from noise. Overall, an excellent transfer.

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1200/pianist.html - Hooray !!!

Mods,

Please merge the below threads.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=923607
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=973642

Same here but I don't want Universal to become neutral or switch to BD as it will really hurt the sentiments of millions of HD DVD owners and fans. I am angry with Universal on only one aspect COMBO.

I picked up Mobsters today. The Pianist is nowhere to found here in Canada.

Anyone have any comments on this disk? I know there are reviews but I like getting hands-on opinions.

Any bothersome edge enhancement on Mobsters?

Thanks,
Tom

I rented Mobsters on HD, doesn't look incredible, but somewhat decent. Also, the TrueHD didn't blow me away. I only have the import of the Pianist, and that one is great, so I probably won't be buying the US release.

Interesting thought here....for anyone who has a receiver that can decode DTS Master and Dolby True HD, and has the import and domestic releases of the Pianist, you could actually compare the DTS Master and Dolby True HD tracks. One of the rare, if only, chances I've seen where those 2 particular lossless tracks could be compared on the same title. I doubt if anyone has the domestic or import discs they would bother getting the other, since they are so close to being the same, but for anyone who does I thought I'd throw this out there. I would assume it would sound basically identical.

I'm not that upset with Warner...I kind of thought it would happen eventually. However, my last HD-DVD title purchases will be The Pianist, Zodiac, & Elizabeth:The Golden Age which im hoping doesn't get cancelled in February. I'm anticipating Universal and Paramount scrapping titles if they don't jump ship all together.

You're not buying American Gangster or Beowulf? :confused:

You're not buying American Gangster or Beowulf? :confused:2 must have titles...Looking forward to their release dates.;)

The Pianist is such a great movie, ordered.