Studios Doing Blu-ray: What They’re Doing Wrong

Yesterday, I wrote about the merits of the different studios who are releasing - and will be releasing - movies on Blu-ray. Enough with the niceties. This time, I’m going in depth into exactly why they suck.

Sony

• Lack of special features on many older catalogue titles, especially when compared to their SD-DVDs (e.g. Stealth, Spiderman 1 and 2)

 

Fox

• Extortionately high prices

• Lack of features on most older titles – unforgiveable when you consider most of these titles were 2-disc releases on SD-DVD

• Most have been released in their theatrical cuts, not as director’s cuts, even newer titles such as Live Free or Die Hard

• Lack of secondary (HD?) audio as many people do not yet have dts HDMA capable players/receivers

 

Warner Brothers

• Use of HD-DVD encodes authored in VC-1, not the more advanced AVC video codec, though this should change from the beginning of June

• Slow to release some titles of BD that have been on HD-DVD for some time such as The Matrix Trilogy, Batman Begins, and V for Vendetta, though the last 2 are being released this summer

• Inconsistent use of HD audio (PCM/DTHD)

• General lack of hi-def in the added materials

 

Disney

• Many titles released in their theatrical versions only, even though they were released as extended cuts on SD-DVD (e.g. Crimson Tide, Con Air, Enemy of the State, etc.)

Lions Gate

• Picture quality on some older titles questionable

• Small number of titles released so far

• Ever growing catalogue of titles

• Most recent titles have profile V.2.0

 

New Line Home Cinema

• Very few titles released so far

• Still using VC-1 encode (but hopefully not for much longer)

 

Paramount/Dreamworks

• Current titles using HD-DVD VC01 encode, but hopefully this will change now that HD-DVD is no more

• Complete lack of HD Audio

• Dumped BD in favour of HD-DVD unceremoniously with no notice last autumn/fall, only to crawl back when HD failed

• Have made no announcements regarding title releases

 

Universal

• Too soon to say, though many of their HD-DVD releases have been lackluster at best

• No information on any titles to be released (actually, no info – full stop)

Hopefully, they’ll clean up their act soon enough. Blu-ray, after all, deserves great things.

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