Another pair of films starring Bob Hope, 'My Favorite Brunette' (1947) and 'Son Of Paleface' (1952), will be available to own in high-definition exclusively on the Bob Hope Double Feature Collection HD DVD, come March 25, 2008, for $19.98 SRP per set.

http://hddvdformat.blogspot.com/2007/12/michael-clayton-another-pair-of-bob.html

A pity they didn't pair Paleface and Son of Paleface. I will be grabbing this when it comes out. So we can now see Roy Rogers and Trigger in Hi Def. Now if they'd only release Dark Command with John Wayne and Roy Rogers....

Gary

Still it's nice to see some older catalog titles.

Speaking of Hope movies has anyone picked up the "Road" double feature disc?
Reviews please.

Gary

HighDefDigest has removed this from the Upcoming Releases list.


I am fearing that it's been cancelled. BestBuy, Amazon, etc still have it up for pre-order. Scheduled for Tuesday. With the previous BCI titles, they shipped well before the official release dates.

I received the Road to Rio and Road to Bali double bill and discovered to my disappointment that their 4:3 ratio are inside a 16:9 window. When I watch them on my 4:3 screen with my 4:3 projector they do not fill up the screen. Not remotely close! I'd say that roughly half the available screen space is being used. This does not happen with any of my other 4:3 ratio movies (and I've got plenty: Casablanca HD, Laura, Adventures of Robin Hood HD, Razors Edge, the list goes on and on...) Corner to corner is utilised. My HD-A2 is set to 4:3 and so is my projector. The only conclusion I can draw at this point is that the 4:3 image of these 2 Road pictures are encoded on the disc inside a 16:9 window. Can anyone else confirm this? Thanks.

-Mike

Amazon shipped my copy of this disc today. Apparently it wasn't pulled...

Speaking of Hope movies has anyone picked up the "Road" double feature disc?
Reviews please.

Gary

Technical aspects aside Road to Bali is hysterical. It's quite obvious that Bob Hope was a huge influence on the comedy style of Bruce Campbell. Road to Rio was ok, but not nearly as funny as Bali.

Amazon shipped my copy of this disc today. Apparently it wasn't pulled...


Thanks! Better place an order quick, then. :) I really want this one.

I received the Road to Rio and Road to Bali double bill and discovered to my disappointment that their 4:3 ratio are inside a 16:9 window. When I watch them on my 4:3 screen with my 4:3 projector they do not fill up the screen. Not remotely close! I'd say that roughly half the available screen space is being used. This does not happen with any of my other 4:3 ratio movies (and I've got plenty: Casablanca HD, Laura, Adventures of Robin Hood HD, Razors Edge, the list goes on and on...) Corner to corner is utilised. My HD-A2 is set to 4:3 and so is my projector. The only conclusion I can draw at this point is that the 4:3 image of these 2 Road pictures are encoded on the disc inside a 16:9 window. Can anyone else confirm this? Thanks.

-Mike

I have this and it's the same 4:3 aspect ratio as the HD DVD Casablanca and Robin Hood. At a 4:3 AR, it fills up approx. 75% of my display.

My copy of the latest Bob Hope double feature also shipped yesterday, so I don't know why HDD pulled it from its release schedule.

"I have this and it's the same 4:3 aspect ratio as the HD DVD Casablanca and Robin Hood. At a 4:3 AR, it fills up approx. 75% of my display."

I assume that you're viewing on a 16:9 display, such as a plasma set, in which case filling up 75% of your display makes sense. To be clear, I'm viewing on a 4:3 screen with a 4:3 projector. At best, the image (Road to Rio & Road to Bali) only takes up about 50% of my screen, whereas, any other 4:3 movie I have (HD or DVD) takes up the FULL 4:3 screen, corner to corner. I'm stumped (frustrated is more like it) as to why this is!

-Mike

I assume that you're viewing on a 16:9 display, such as a plasma set, in which case filling up 75% of your display makes sense. To be clear, I'm viewing on a 4:3 screen with a 4:3 projector. At best, the image (Road to Rio & Road to Bali) only takes up about 50% of my screen, whereas, any other 4:3 movie I have (HD or DVD) takes up the FULL 4:3 screen, corner to corner. I'm stumped (frustrated is more like it) as to why this is!

-Mike

Yeah, I have a 50" plasma, and I'm even more stumped why the Road to Rio/Bali is shrunk down on your display. Is the AR correct and you're seeing bars on all four sides?

Yes, bars top, bottom and both sides. HD-A2 player is set to 4:3 as is the projector. This baffles me, as it does not happen with any other 4:3 movies I have.

-Mike

For those that have My Favorite Brunette, how's the transfer?

For those that have My Favorite Brunette, how's the transfer?

I watched about 30 minutes of Son of Paleface and it looks pretty good. Better than either Road to Rio/Road to Bali. I haven't checked out My Favorite Brunette though.

Yes, bars top, bottom and both sides. HD-A2 player is set to 4:3 as is the projector. This baffles me, as it does not happen with any other 4:3 movies I have.

-Mike

HD-DVD's aren't made for traditional square box 4.3 TV's, they're mfg in 16.9 format and a 4.3 movie is 16.9 window boxed.

Anyway the Player s/b set to 16.9 not matter what, you'll lose 1/3 resolution setting a player to 4.3 or letterbox 4.3. So set the player to 16.9 and use the display to compress or anamorphic squeeze the image. You could try the display zoom feature if you want the image bigger, if it's a well done zoom feature your image won't be softened too bad.

Yes, bars top, bottom and both sides. HD-A2 player is set to 4:3 as is the projector. This baffles me, as it does not happen with any other 4:3 movies I have.

-Mike

Ok I did some checking for you and have an answer for you. I have an A2 hooked up in the bedroom to a 4:3 tube tv. I checked and sure enough it did the same thing to me, black bars all around no matter the setting. So I got to thinking and figured it out and just confirmed it. I put in my copy of Discovery Atlas Australia Revealed and it did the same thing. Its not your player or projector but that the disc is authored in standard content. That is why when Robin Hood or Casablanca are put in and set to 4:3 it works right since they are authored in advanced content.

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/news/show/BCI/Industry_Trends/BCI_Moves_to_Blu,_Cancels_Upcoming_HD_DVD_Slate/1594

I ordered mine (along with an additional pre-order). Hopefully it will ship. :(

"HD-DVD's aren't made for traditional square box 4.3 TV's, they're mfg in 16.9 format and a 4.3 movie is 16.9 window boxed."

My copy of Casablanca and Adventures of Robin Hood (w Erroll Flynn) are both HD discs and fill my whole 4:3 screen corner to corner. At least with these 2 examples, the above quote does not apply or makes sense.

-Mike