What arrived for you today?

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

- A lot of titles aren't available on Blu.

Very true and it's killing me (True Lies, The Fog, 24 (S1-6), The Mentalist Season 2-6 and others)! Why not to release those ones?! True Lies is still so popular.

- Sometimes I buy a DVD for the extras (not included on the Blu), and then wait for the Blu to drop in price.

I never watch extras.

- Sometimes I'll pick up the DVD if I see it very cheap used, so I can see if it is a film I'll like.

Yeah, some movies hard to download as full DVD copies to try'em out. Renting may be expensive, so not very viable.
Borrowing can be difficult as not many people actually buy movies these days. I had to buy many DVDs just to watch a movie...

- Sometimes I'll buy a DVD if it is a company whose releases I 'collect'.

And whose releases do you collect?

[Samuel_Scott]

And whose releases do you collect?

It varies from time to time, but grabbing plenty of Artificial Eye, Soda Pictures, and BFI back catalogue titles lately.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

but grabbing plenty of Artificial Eye, Soda Pictures, and BFI back catalogue titles lately.

I don't recall ever buying one of those... Probably UK companies, right?

[Samuel_Scott]

Yep.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

Yep.

I guess they publish only low budget/indie movies a few heard of?

[Samuel_Scott]

Nope. They release world cinema titles that are very well known and have won awards.

Soda tend to stick to more indie stuff, but have recently released Only Lovers Left Alive.

Artificial Eye's catalogue includes Nymphomaniac, Zatoichi, Three Colours Trilogy, Winter's Bone, Russian Ark, and various films from Wong Kar Wai and other award winning directors.

BFI is the British Film Institute. They release important British films mainly, and cover a very very wide spectrum, from Godzilla, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, The Devils, the Kurosawa films etc.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

Nope. They release world cinema titles that are very well known and have won awards.

Soda tend to stick to more indie stuff, but have recently released Only Lovers Left Alive.

Artificial Eye's catalogue includes Nymphomaniac, Zatoichi, Three Colours Trilogy, Winter's Bone, Russian Ark, and various films from Wong Kar Wai and other award winning directors.

BFI is the British Film Institute. They release important British films mainly, and cover a very very wide spectrum, from Godzilla, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, The Devils, the Kurosawa films etc.

How's A/V quality?

[Samuel_Scott]

Like any company, they have their occasional cock-ups, but generally their A/V is of an extremely high standard.

[Samuel_Scott]

11351 - Hero of Shaolin (UK DVD, Terracotta) £0.00
11352 - Bottoms Up (German Blu, Marketing Film) £2.68
11353 - Personal Effects (German Blu, HMH) £2.81
11354 - Identity (South African Blu, Sony) £3.00
11355 - Origin: Spirits of the Past (UK Blu, Manga) £3.00
11356 - Moonrise Kingdom (Scandinavian Blu, Nordisk) £3.00
11357 - Bad Santa (UK Blu, Sony) £3.00
11358 - The Christmas Candle (UK DVD, Koch Media) £0.00

[Alister_Manson]

Ip Man - Hong Kong BD


Talk about spoiled for choice with the audio... 3 different 7.1 mixes in Cantonese and another in Mandarin... plus DD5.1 for the technologically impaired

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

Ip Man - Hong Kong BD


Talk about spoiled for choice with the audio... 3 different 7.1 mixes in Cantonese and another in Mandarin... plus DD5.1 for the technologically impaired

All tracks are the same.

Moonrise Kingdom (Scandinavian Blu, Nordisk) £3.00

How come it's so cheap? Scandinavian Blu-rays are usually much more expensive.

[Alister_Manson]

All tracks are the same.

There's significantly more frequency range in the DTS-HD tracks and they're all mixed slightly differently in terms of EQ. The LPCM is only 16 bit which is never optimal. It would be a ridiculous waste of space to encode three identical sounding audio tracks.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

There's significantly more frequency range in the DTS-HD tracks and they're all mixed slightly differently in terms of EQ.

They probably came from different sources.

The LPCM is only 16 bit which is never optimal

This 16 bit vs 24 bit debate will never be over, ha-ha! That's for sure.

It would be a ridiculous waste of space to encode three identical sounding audio tracks.

Agree.

[Alister_Manson]

They're just mixed differently. Same with how CDs get remasters - same master tape, different EQ, results in different frequency gain. I definitely prefer the sound of the 24-bit PCM tracks that I have heard, they sound more "open" and seem have more dynamic range than 16-bit. But it's an obsolete format, especially when there's 7.1 channels and they're all using 1mbps even when virtually no sound is being reproduced.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

I definitely prefer the sound of the 24-bit PCM tracks that I have heard, they sound more "open" and seem have more dynamic range than 16-bit.

I can't recall any 24 bit PCM tracks at all. Only 16 bit.

But it's an obsolete format, especially when there's 7.1 channels and they're all using 1mbps even when virtually no sound is being reproduced.

Not many 7.1 tracks are that different from 5.1. Such amount of channels is rarely justified.

[Alister_Manson]

I can't recall any 24 bit PCM tracks at all. Only 16 bit.

Flags Of Our Fathers UK BD and most BD releases of Apocalypto are two I can name off the top of my head. It's also quite prevalant on a lot of music DVDs and BDs, Eagle Vision uses it frequently but that's just 24-bit PCM Stereo. Trouble is it increases the bitrate even further which hogs a lot of space since it's a constant rate, so video bandwidth suffers, especially with multitrack surround.

Not many 7.1 tracks are that different from 5.1. Such amount of channels is rarely justified.

It's good for action or war movies, or horrors which often use a lot of directional effects. I haven't watched Ip Man yet so i've yet to determine how useful the extra channels are. I did watch Sushi Girl the other day in 7.1 and that was rather pointless, since the film is a dialogue-centred crime/revenge flick and soundwise is 95% dialogue. There were maybe 3 scenes in the whole thing where the surrounds really came into play. But for something like Transformers or Saw, it's definitely cool to have extra directions for explosions or unpleasant splattering noises.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

Flags Of Our Fathers UK BD and most BD releases of Apocalypto are two I can name off the top of my head.

Ah, yeah, though the movie itself was quite boring.

It's good for action or war movies, or horrors which often use a lot of directional effects.

Unfortunately well mixed tracks are quite are.

I haven't watched Ip Man yet so i've yet to determine how useful the extra channels are.

Hardly useful. Or maybe it's just such sound design itself, dunno.

I did watch Sushi Girl the other day in 7.1 and that was rather pointless, since the film is a dialogue-centred crime/revenge flick and soundwise is 95% dialogue. There were maybe 3 scenes in the whole thing where the surrounds really came into play.

Totally agree. Watching it in 2.1 would be just fine. I still can't understand why such movie needs so many channels...

But for something like Transformers or Saw, it's definitely cool to have extra directions for explosions or unpleasant splattering noises.

Saw: Final Chapter is quite good (French Blu).

[Samuel_Scott]

Moonrise Kingdom (Scandinavian Blu, Nordisk) £3.00

How come it's so cheap? Scandinavian Blu-rays are usually much more expensive.

Every now and again, the UK seems to get flooded with certain Scandinavian releases. ET was £3 at a lot of sites for a while too.


Been away from home for a week and these were awaiting me when I got in:
11359 - The Final Sacrifice (UK DVD, Metrodome)
11360 - What Happens in Vegas (UK Blu, Fox)
11361 - Downton Abbey: Series 1 (UK Blu, Universal)
11362 - Downton Abbey: Series 3 (UK Blu, Universal)
11363 - Scotch and Wry 4 (UK DVD, SBL)
11364 - In the Mix (UK DVD, Fox)
11365 - All I Want for Christmas (UK DVD, Lions Gate)
11366 - New Port South (UK DVD, Buena Vista)
11367 - Arn: Knight Templar (UK DVD, High Fliers)
11368 - Love Crime (UK Blu, Arrow)
11369 - Dead in the Water (UK DVD, Boulevard)
11370 - After the Fox (UK DVD, MGM)
11371 - Five Minarettes in New York (German Blu, DTP)

[Samuel_Scott]

11372 - Human Capital (UK DVD, Arrow)

[Samuel_Scott]

11373 - The Great Fire (UK DVD, ITV)
11374 - Lewis: Series 8 (UK DVD, ITV)