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AVS Forum Blu-ray Disc Reviews - General Discussion Thread - Page 4

post #91 of 440
9/3/09 at 1:25pm
Quote:


Greetings,

Gladiator and Braveheart arrived today from Paramount. I will watch them and get them posted as soon as possible.

Sorry for the delay!

Enjoy! Looking forward to your thoughts.
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post #92 of 440
9/3/09 at 5:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Potts View Post

Greetings,

Gladiator and Braveheart arrived today from Paramount. I will watch them and get them posted as soon as possible.

Sorry for the delay!


Regards,

Awesome I am really looking forward to your review!
early word was that Braveheart was amazing (for an older pic) and that Gladiator could have been better (although the Extended version is MUCH better than the theatrical). So I hope you take the time to compare both versions of Gladiator
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post #93 of 440
9/4/09 at 6:57am
Is there a list on here somewhere that says which Blu Ray titles include the DTS or Dolby Digital tracks? I seem to be getting a lot of discs lately that only have the HD audio track or stereo and since my receiver doesn't have audio over HDMI it would appear that in those cases I would be getting a better surround track with a regular DVD.
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post #94 of 440
9/4/09 at 7:45am
I picked up both on Tuesday morning and just test drove real quick to make sure they load, play etc etc...

My 1st take/impression is that Braveheart has the better jump up in picture quality (especially surprised due to it being older) ... I have not really gone to the reference scenes in Gladiator yet. Gladiator did look awsome as well.

9/1 was the biggest BLU day ever for me since Gladiator is my favorite movie and Braveheart is a top 5 for me in itself.

All I need is "Lawrence of Arabia", "Saving Private Ryan", the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the Indiana Jones trilogy and all "Star Wars" and I will be almost complete at upgarding the old std dvd library.

Awsome format.....still amazed.
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post #95 of 440
9/13/09 at 11:57am
Ralph, I would like to say thank you for your reviews. What distinguishes one web site from another is how much of themselves members put into the site. It is clear to me that you go far beyond what most members put into most sites. Your reviews help make AVS forums one of the best sites on the net.
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post #96 of 440
9/13/09 at 2:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by q3131a View Post

Ralph, I would like to say thank you for your reviews. What distinguishes one web site from another is how much of themselves members put into the site. It is clear to me that you go far beyond what most members put into most sites. Your reviews help make AVS forums one of the best sites on the net.

Greetings,

Thank you very much q3131a. I can't think of a nicer compliment..


Regards,
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post #97 of 440
9/14/09 at 6:21am
I have a Panasonic player and Crank 2 would not play, it would take forever to start anything and displayed a small graphic of something electrical looking with a download progress and eventually when an image did appear it was a super small display. I am guessing its an incompatibility software issue but never the less I am taking Crank 2 back and getting a refund, I'll wait until it comes out on cable.

I do not have any access to a high speed internet setup to upgrade software on my player.
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post #98 of 440
9/14/09 at 7:06pm
Something is wrong with Crank 2 and my Panasonic BD 601 even with another disc that I exchanged, this movie won't work on this player and I cannot upgrade it, I'm tossing this movie into the trash, any other BD movie will play.
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post #99 of 440
9/15/09 at 8:41am
X-Men Wolverine just came out today.

Hope you get a chance to review it Ralph. I appreciate all your hard work and putting your unbiased thoughts down on paper for us to read. It really does help when it comes to making a purchasing decision on some DVD you just don't know if you want them or not. Your doing great work.

Anyone else pick up this movie yet?
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post #100 of 440
9/15/09 at 10:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr D View Post

I have a Panasonic player and Crank 2 would not play, it would take forever to start anything and displayed a small graphic of something electrical looking with a download progress and eventually when an image did appear it was a super small display. I am guessing its an incompatibility software issue but never the less I am taking Crank 2 back and getting a refund, I'll wait until it comes out on cable.

I do not have any access to a high speed internet setup to upgrade software on my player.

Why not just call Panasonic and have them ship you the CD with the (July 2009) firmware update?

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-e...MP-BD601K.D#ts
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post #101 of 440
9/15/09 at 11:02am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalumberjack View Post

X-Men Wolverine just came out today.

Hope you get a chance to review it Ralph. I appreciate all your hard work and putting your unbiased thoughts down on paper for us to read. It really does help when it comes to making a purchasing decision on some DVD you just don't know if you want them or not. Your doing great work.

Anyone else pick up this movie yet?

Greetings,

This hasn't shown up from Fox as of yet. I will get push to get it done as soon as possible.

Regards,
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post #102 of 440
9/17/09 at 2:39am
Thread Starter 
Greetings,

X-Men Origins: Wolverine arrived. I will have the review up by weeks end. I also have Star Trek TOS Season 2 and hope to have that done in the coming days.


Regards,
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post #103 of 440
9/17/09 at 10:42am
Ralph,
How about starting a separate thread on Concerts or Music Videos? Looks like you have Video and Audio covered, but both are very broad and general.
I just got my HT setup and understand The Band's "The Last Waltz" is excellent and just ordered it.
Thanks
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post #104 of 440
10/7/09 at 5:26am
Mr Ralph sir,

Did the Charlie Brown Christmas special find its way to you? I'd like to know what you think, if it did.

Seggers
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post #105 of 440
10/7/09 at 7:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by seggers View Post

Mr Ralph sir,

Did the Charlie Brown Christmas special find its way to you? I'd like to know what you think, if it did.

Seggers

Greetings,

Yes it did. It arrived a few days ago. Look for my review in the next day or two.


Regards,
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post #106 of 440
10/9/09 at 11:44am
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in two weeks.
I hope they get it to you early so we can hear your impressions of it ralph!

I enjoy reading all your reviews. Keep up the great work!
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post #107 of 440
10/9/09 at 12:45pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalumberjack View Post

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in two weeks.
I hope they get it to you early so we can hear your impressions of it ralph!

I enjoy reading all your reviews. Keep up the great work!

Greetings,

Thanks! I will post back once it has arrived..


Regards,
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post #108 of 440
10/10/09 at 12:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Potts View Post

Greetings,

Thanks! I will post back once it has arrived..


Regards,

Looking forward in reading your review Ralph.
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post #109 of 440
10/12/09 at 7:44am
It would be nice if you could ask the webmaster (or whomever) if it could be arranged for your most recent reviews to be listed at the top of the page. Unless I'm missing something, there's the archive listing that's alphabetical, and the general review page that has the sticky section at the top, and beneath it a section that seems very random. Looking at the various titles, it's hard to believe that they represent even the most recently viewed.

Alphabetical is a very good way to display an archive, but for recent reviews, the review itself is sometimes my first exposure, leading me to seek out a particular title. In that regard, alphabetical is of little use.

Something on the order of another section at the top, about the same size as the sticky section, listing only the most recent reviews, which at some point would drop down into the general review section.
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post #110 of 440
10/14/09 at 1:43pm
Thread Starter 
Greetings,

I was just informed that due to limited availability I will not be receiving this disc for review. Sorry..


Regards,
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post #111 of 440
10/14/09 at 2:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Potts View Post

Greetings,

I was just informed that due to limited availability I will not be receiving this disc for review. Sorry..


Regards,

Limited availability? If this movie wasn't one of the summers biggest blockbusters then i can understand it being limited but hard to imagine this is limited.

In any case this is definitely a collect for me. Just hope i don't get disappointed in the A/V dept.
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post #112 of 440
10/14/09 at 2:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JamE55 View Post

Limited availability? If this movie wasn't one of the summers biggest blockbusters then i can understand it being limited but hard to imagine this is limited.

In any case this is definitely a collect for me. Just hope i don't get disappointed in the A/V dept.

Greetings,

James, the limitation is for review product availability. I am sure that consumer product availbility will be fine.


Regards,
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post #113 of 440
10/14/09 at 3:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Potts View Post

Greetings,

James, the limitation is for review product availability. I am sure that consumer product availbility will be fine.

Regards,

Hey Ralph,

Is there a difference between review product and the consumer ones? I would assume they're the same but maybe not since it's for review only?

Cheers
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post #114 of 440
10/14/09 at 3:49pm
I'm not Ralph, but I'll explain the rationale. The major Hollywood studios are in very dire straights right now. They're heavily tied to Wall Street financing their films and that money source has tightened-up and is virtually non-existent. So the "Cash Flow Machine" that has had an open spigot is now closed.

For those who don't understand, cash flow is the lifeblood of business. When it's limited (as it is right now for virtually all businesses), it inhibits growth opportunities. The studios have limited short-term funds to finance "new" projects, so in order to get their financial house in order, all budgets have been cut, particularly the PR budgets--hence, limited copies for review. In the past, the studios have sent out hundreds and hundreds of copies of movies to all forms of media--print, TV, radio, and online. Now they are having to select the "best" outlet for their films.

This is where common sense takes over. Do you think another poor review of "Transformers 2" will stop people from buying the disc? Probably not...it's a review proof movie as you could see by the box office success (19% favorable rating on Rotten Tomatoes) Regardless if it has great A/V or not, people are going to buy it. All a bad A/V review would do is stop some enthusiasts from purchasing the film, but J6P (Joe Six Pack) will buy it anyway...just look at the sales of "Wolverine," which wasn't a very good movie either.

Sorry for the long explanation...but I won't be reviewing it either. Here's a great article from the LA Times explaining the "horror" situation in Hollywood: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...0,702751.story
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post #115 of 440
10/14/09 at 5:01pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Vaughn View Post

I'm not Ralph, but I'll explain the rationale. The major Hollywood studios are in very dire straights right now. They're heavily tied to Wall Street financing their films and that money source has tightened-up and is virtually non-existent. So the "Cash Flow Machine" that has had an open spigot is now closed.

For those who don't understand, cash flow is the lifeblood of business. When it's limited (as it is right now for virtually all businesses), it inhibits growth opportunities. The studios have limited short-term funds to finance "new" projects, so in order to get their financial house in order, all budgets have been cut, particularly the PR budgets--hence, limited copies for review. In the past, the studios have sent out hundreds and hundreds of copies of movies to all forms of media--print, TV, radio, and online. Now they are having to select the "best" outlet for their films.

This is where common sense takes over. Do you think another poor review of "Transformers 2" will stop people from buying the disc? Probably not...it's a review proof movie as you could see by the box office success (19% favorable rating on Rotten Tomatoes) Regardless if it has great A/V or not, people are going to buy it. All a bad A/V review would do is stop some enthusiasts from purchasing the film, but J6P (Joe Six Pack) will buy it anyway...just look at the sales of "Wolverine," which wasn't a very good movie either.

Sorry for the long explanation...but I won't be reviewing it either. Here's a great article from the LA Times explaining the "horror" situation in Hollywood: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...0,702751.story


Greetings,

Thanks Dave, I couldn't have summed it up better. James to answer your last question, the answer is that review and consumer copies are generally identical.

Regards,
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post #116 of 440
10/15/09 at 6:42am
Dave and Ralph,

Thanks for the insight and good information guys.
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post #117 of 440
10/21/09 at 1:34pm
Ralph,

Thanks for all of the great work!

One thing I would like to see in the reviews is your opinion (when you have one) of whether the Blu-Ray release is a significant enough upgrade from a DVD release to justify the purchase when somebody already owns the DVD.

For example I know the Pixar films all receive excellent ratings with regards to their picture quality but the DVD releases were all solid too. Given a finite amount of money, is it worth it to upgrade? (right now I'm not asking specifically but more suggesting this type of info as valuable in future reviews).
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post #118 of 440
10/22/09 at 1:49am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by another schmo View Post

Ralph,

Thanks for all of the great work!

One thing I would like to see in the reviews is your opinion (when you have one) of whether the Blu-Ray release is a significant enough upgrade from a DVD release to justify the purchase when somebody already owns the DVD.

For example I know the Pixar films all receive excellent ratings with regards to their picture quality but the DVD releases were all solid too. Given a finite amount of money, is it worth it to upgrade? (right now I'm not asking specifically but more suggesting this type of info as valuable in future reviews).

Greetings,

Thanks for your comments.

I already include that information in most cases where I own or have seen the DVD release of a Blu-ray Disc that I am reviewing.

Regards,
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post #119 of 440
10/22/09 at 1:48pm
I guess I haven't been reading the right reviews or I'm having speed-reading issues again.

Sorry.
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post #120 of 440
10/22/09 at 2:22pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by another schmo View Post

I guess I haven't been reading the right reviews or I'm having speed-reading issues again.

Sorry.

Greetings,

Not at all. Remember I can only offer comparisons on those discs that I am reviewing that I have previously seen/own on DVD. Of the hundreds of reviews I have written this ony represents a small percentage.

Regards,
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