[stuart1976]

Just saw this HMV today for £27

No way was I going to buy it at that price, but had a look at the extras and it's very poor compared to the Special Edition DVD released years ago.

I had hoped that Fox would do what any movie fan would do, cram everything from the best edition currently available - in this case, the Region 1 Five Star Collection 2-disc DVD in THX, which not only has the extended edition of the film (9 minutes of deleted scenes restored) AND the original theatrical cut, but has a ton of extras, including the excellent Jeff Goldblum-hosted HBO 'making of' from '96, and much more. Here, the only extras are a scene-by-scene (euphemism for 'scrappy') Emmerich/Devlin commentary, seperate FX commentary, and HD trailers.

What's up with FOX BD releases, most of them seem very poor compared their DVD counterparts.

[Goooner]

Fox have got to be just about the worst of all the Blu Ray studios, lack of extras, guaranteed to be region-locked and totally ridiculous price-structure, it's almost as if they don't want HD to take off

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by Goooner

Fox have got to be just about the worst of all the Blu Ray studios, lack of extras, guaranteed to be region-locked and totally ridiculous price-structure, it's almost as if they don't want HD to take off

I agree, Fox are a real nightmare when releasing their titles early in the formats life imo; they were the same with DVD if i can remember correctly, I wish their first attempt were up to their 5 Star editions that will no doubt eventually be released

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by stuart1976

Just saw this HMV today for £27

No way was I going to buy it at that price, but had a look at the extras and it's very poor compared to the Special Edition DVD released years ago.

I had hoped that Fox would do what any movie fan would do, cram everything from the best edition currently available - in this case, the Region 1 Five Star Collection 2-disc DVD in THX, which not only has the extended edition of the film (9 minutes of deleted scenes restored) AND the original theatrical cut, but has a ton of extras, including the excellent Jeff Goldblum-hosted HBO 'making of' from '96, and much more. Here, the only extras are a scene-by-scene (euphemism for 'scrappy') Emmerich/Devlin commentary, seperate FX commentary, and HD trailers.

What's up with FOX BD releases, most of them seem very poor compared their DVD counterparts.

It is a shame but I have come to expect it from Fox, they were the same with their first DVD releases and while I wont pay £27 I am happy to buy their releases as I want to see the films in the very best picture and sound quality.

[Markoos]

Anyone know what the specs for this release are? Obviously not going to buy it at that price, but wouldn't mind picking it up down the line if it's a decent encode.

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by Markoos

Anyone know what the specs for this release are? Obviously not going to buy it at that price, but wouldn't mind picking it up down the line if it's a decent encode.

Its an MPEG-4 AVC encode with English DTS-HD audio, sure there are some reviews of it about and hopefully my Japanese copy will turn up tomorrow so will let you know what I think of it.

[BenchyUK]

That baffles me too. Fox are always raving about their support and comitment to Blu-Ray but they release the shodiest transfers there is compared to the other BR backers

[pjclark1]

Bluray B United Kingdom - (Fox)
Commentaries:
Audio Commentary by Director Roland Emmerich and Producer Dean Devlin
Audio Commentary by Visual Effects Supervisors Volker Engel and Douglas Smith
Extras:
Teaser
3 theatrical trailers
Bonus trailers
High Definition Exclusive Bonus features:
-ID4 Datastream -trivia track
-Alien Scavenger Hunt BD-Java interactive game
Subtitles:
English HoH, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish
Aspect Ratio:2.35:1
Picture Format:1080p 24fps
Soundtrack(s):
English DTS-HD Master 5.1
Case type:
Amaray (Keep) Case
Notes:
Using AVC MPEG-4 compression.

screen caps here
http://home.worldwidedvdforums.com/f...p?f=59&t=14956

[Jakeh1969]

Fox prices in retail stores are a complete joke.

I pre-ordered it from www.thehut.com when they had a 10% discount voucher promotion running so got it (I think) for about £14. I wasn't intending to buy it at the time but it seemed too good a deal to pass up.

If you go onto one of the DVD price comparison sites then you should be able to pick this up for below £15. Still not great for what is a back catalogue title but a whole lot better than £27 in HMV!

[Dave H]

I got it for £14 from the Hut as well.
and the picture and sound are great
I don't watch the extra's so that doesn't bother me.

Dave.

[Urien Rheged]

£14.95 at DVD.CO.UK

What's the PQ like? Amazing, very good, good, average?
I'm tempted but only if the PQ is excellent.

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by R1PLEY

£14.95 at DVD.CO.UK

What's the PQ like? Amazing, very good, good, average?
I'm tempted but only if the PQ is excellent.

I have the Japanese release and compared to my R2 DVD its a big step up and definitely worth £15 butfor me the audio was the biggest improvement.

[pjclark1]

Originally Posted by R1PLEY

What's the PQ like? Amazing, very good, good, average?
I'm tempted but only if the PQ is excellent.

Picture is good, sound is very good
Look for yourself plenty of screencaps here
http://home.worldwidedvdforums.com/f...p?f=59&t=14956

[Urien Rheged]

Originally Posted by pjclark1

Picture is good, sound is very good
Look for yourself plenty of screencaps here
http://home.worldwidedvdforums.com/f...p?f=59&t=14956

Thanks. Yes, I've seen them before. From what I've read the PQ is 'good' but not 'great'. That's what worries me. Decisions, decisions...

[BenchyUK]

At £14.99 from dvd.co.uk, I am very tempted

Never bought it on dvd so if they picture is decent then i too will buy it. Highdef digest haven't got a review for it. Also they have the US release (next month) as an MPEG2

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by BenchyUK

At £14.99 from dvd.co.uk, I am very tempted

Never bought it on dvd so if they picture is decent then i too will buy it. Highdef digest haven't got a review for it. Also they have the US release (next month) as an MPEG2

The UK and Japanese releases are AVC so I doubt they will re-encode it to MPEG2 just for the US release, probaley just a mistake on their part.

[KeanosMagicHat]

I noticed this in the disc specs posted earlier;

-ID4 Datastream -trivia track
-Alien Scavenger Hunt BD-Java interactive game

It implies it may have the same BD-J features / menus as the US version.

Demo videos of those here;

See what's coming with BD-J (Blu-Ray Java) !!

I think they are pretty cool, especially as it's early days for BD-J.

Does the UK version have all these?

[paulst10]

Independence Day review is up

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/612/...ndenceday.html

I got my UK version earlier as well, perfect timing

[Home PC Nut]

Never ever buy Bluray's @ retail as the price is just stupid.

I have been buying UK blurays (which are not available in Region A for ages and most I have ever paid is £17.99 including ID4 which I saw recently. The PQ is the best its likely to ever be. Sound as well is just awesome with some very deep bass right from the main titles onwards. Lack of extras but anyone who buys this movie most likely has it on DVD already anyway and who buys HD for extras!

[Indiana Jones]

I didnt know my Region A copy even had any extras due to not being able to read Japanese but had a look last night and it has everything that the US release has.

It seems odd that the US release was delayed until March even though the UK and Japanese releases have been available since December

[pj]

Originally Posted by Indiana Jones

I didnt know my Region A copy even had any extras due to not being able to read Japanese but had a look last night and it has everything that the US release has.

It seems odd that the US release was delayed until March even though the UK and Japanese releases have been available since December

might have been delayed so they could cash in on the home release of i am legend around the same time and also bring it out the same time as i-robot

[Sonic67]

Things we did not know until we saw ID4

• It is reasonable to assume that the quality of the training of United States Marine Corps pilots is such that any Marine fly boy could hop into an alien spacecraft and immediately be able to fly it into deep space
• The White House press secretary has a listed phone number
• When stuck in a tunnel and faced with Armageddon in the form of a fireball that is capable of obliterating all life in Los Angeles, simply duck into a maintenance closet and let the end of the world pass you by
• Despite the fact that we are able to send a fax from a beeper on our hip while walking down a street in San Francisco to a Range Rover in Johannesburg, alien spacecraft need to be hardwired to a satellite to speak to each other
• High class strippers with a heart of gold can operate most heavy equipment
• It is not beyond the realm of imagination that the President of the United States would be a fighter jock and would be willing to return to active duty to do battle with invincible alien bad guys
• Alien spacecraft the size of Australia can be taken out with one well-placed sidewinder missile
• Most laptops are configured with interfaces powerful enough to override the communications systems of the most sophisticated futuristic societies
• Despite the fact that they wear biomechanical body armor that can only be removed with a scalpel and the fact that they possess hyper-developed brains that allow them to destroy their enemies simply by thinking about it, alien fighter pilots have a glass jaw and can be knocked unconscious for hours with one punch
• If you are a woman who: 1) survives a blast from an alien spacecraft that wipes out Los Angeles 2) lives through the ensuing helicopter crash 3) survives while buried by rubble 4) survives despite being transported by open backed diesel truck across the worst terrain ever created...do not check into a military hospital with the best medical help money can buy because YOU WILL DIE
• Despite the fact that no living person, even on a clear day with a map and two state troopers providing an escort, can negotiate the Los Angeles freeway system without getting lost, nearly-blown-up women can drive through the shattered ruins of a decimated Los Angeles straight to El Toro
• When you crash an alien spacecraft into the high desert because you were hurtled back through the earth's atmosphere by an atomic blast you set off, the fact that you do not have a parachute or any other visible means of slowing your fall does not mean that you should not walk away from the wreckage completely unscathed and straight into your girl's arms
• The standard trip home from space, when assisted by an atomic blast, lasts approximately two to three pulls on a cigar
• Although aliens possess technological capabilities millions of years beyond our own that enables them to embed secret codes in our satellite network, they can be stymied by Morse Code, which is generally printed on the front panel of a child's walkie talkie
• The most sophisticated labs in the world have impenetrable vault doors buried 30 stories into mountains but use regular hardware store glass panes for observation rooms in the lab nerve center
• Although aliens possess tentacles dexterous enough to manipulate human vocal cords from outside the throat when the need to speak strikes them, they can not open a door for themselves
• The correct military honour for a hero who saves the world by sacrificing his own life by flying directly into the alien death ray is to clap and cheer wildly in front of the hero's family immediately after he perishes
• Any vehicle, including clunkers, can make the trip down from Manhattan to Washington D.C. in just a few hours in gridlocked end-of-the-world type traffic