Star Wars on Blu-Ray 2007.

[Rob20]

Taken from teletext page 547 on bbc1, George Lucas has stated he will be releasing all 6 films in hi-definition format. USA sources are reporting that an improved version will come out on Blu-Ray in 2007.

Lucas states that he didn't want to release episodes 4-6 before episode 3 had been released, and that he intended to release the whole sereies in 2007. He decided to bring it forward not due to fans pressure, (as he had originally stated), but over his fears of piracy within the dvd market. He feels that the market has 'shifted dramatically', and that piracy is eating into sales. Just as likely he feels the market has grown more quickly than he expected, and there's enough money to be made now? He told CNN that he was worried there migh not be a market in 2007! Personally I think he's looked at the size of the dvd market, then considered how fast it has grown in 6 years or so. Blu-Ray was released last year, so by 2007 it will be almost 4 years old. What's to say that people won't hold out for the blu-Ray version, and not buy the dvd at all. This way he maximises his prifits by selling the dvd now, only to sell the Blu-Ray version to the same people in 2007/8. The bbc1 report implies that certain dvd features like the 'famous deleted scenes', may well have been left out to give consumers something extra on the Blu-Ray discs. Also, there's already rumours, (whether accurate or not), that there will be a 30th year anniversary set. Inevitable really I suppose.

[Brogan]

Bugger!
Well that's another £30 wasted.
I knew I should have waited another 3 years...

[Rob20]

Ha, me too.

I wasn't implying that he shouldn't have released the set now, or that people shouldn't buy it on dvd. Just that Lucas is financially astute. i.e. he was one of the first people to realise there was a lot of money to be made from selling merchandise. Frankly, dvd Blu-Ray players will be far too expensive in 2007 for the average consumer, and not many people will have a hi definition tv to play the films on anyway. According to a report, players will still be an average of $500 in 2009. That could easily be read on a £ for $ as £500 in the uk. What's £28 for 3 top films and decent extras disc anyway.

[mooro1973]

Silly question, but I am already playing the new dvd's through a home theatre pc and a high def projector at 1280x720. Does look stunning.

Would I get any improvement with these new discs?

Cheers,

john

[inzaman]

Blu Ray should/will be better when it comes out as it will be totally hidef as opposed to current resolutions upscaled to hidef via a scaler.

[electro_man]

well seeing as the playstation 3 will have blu ray playback as standard I doubt that it will cost more than £300 so that could be the first truly affordable player. as for high definition tvs at a reasonable price well thats another story.

[Gary D]

Originally Posted by Brogan

Bugger!
Well that's another £30 wasted.
I knew I should have waited another 3 years...

yeah you should have, with your move to Turkey you probably wont watch them for 3 years anyway

Gary

[Brogan]

Well if we get out there when we plan to by next May, I might even have to watch EP3 at the cinema in Turkish!

[Rob20]

Originally Posted by mooro1973

Silly question, but I am already playing the new dvd's through a home theatre pc and a high def projector at 1280x720. Does look stunning.

Would I get any improvement with these new discs?

Cheers,

john

Simply, yes. Look at the difference between a tape being played on your projector, and a dvd. DVD offers double the number of lines, and more information about the picture. Dvd Blu-Ray wil offer a similar jump. Hi-Def tv is often described as being like 'looking through a window'. Hi-def broadcasts in USA have 1080i lines of info. I guess this would then be downscaled to fit the 720 lines of your projector. Still, that's far better than the upscaler in your Proj. trying to guestimate in real time to fill in the 200+ or so lines on not used by dvd.

[BadAss]

What GL means is he needs another 3 years to tweak a few more scenes hes been working on. So he can re-sell the whole six movies over again.

[MikeTV]

So I waited 27 years for version that was worth owning, and he goes and brings out a better version (high definition). I'm sorry, but if there ever was a case for "file sharing"...

You better make sure you download the DVD versions

as i wouldn't like to download the Blue ray set at 50GB a disk

[Rob20]

Originally Posted by betamac

You better make sure you download the DVD versions

as i wouldn't like to download the Blue ray set at 50GB a disk

Perhaps by then we'll have 2MByte conections and sites will actually upload near that speed. Though I doubt it.