The Blu-ray Thread - see first post for more BR information, players & region coding

[9warbane]

I have PNG versions and there's hardly any difference apart from the 2 MB in size.

[FrozenSoul80]

George Lucus crushes the hopes and dreams of virgins worldwide - causes strong disturbance in the force (http://www.highdefdigest.com/blog/star-wars-bluray-announced/#more-5176)

Needless to say I'm not impressed.

[Cubby]

They need to re-replace Jabba now they have good cgi.

[/backslash]

They mentioned elsewhere that to include the original scenes would require a remaster which would be very expensive. Probably because the original was last seen on VHS & would also require a seamless option to be put back into the movie as well as sound tinkering

It is a shame though that it won't be the definitive edition

[Cubby]

I'm sure there would be room on the disc for it to not even be a branching version, and at most an extra disc.

[/backslash]

There would be room but the restoring thing isn't cheap which is the main problem, its not something thats been recently remastered

[fishfishmonkeyhat]

Yeah if only Lucas had a lot of money and a guarantee of sales!

He'll do it eventually once these sell out.

[/backslash]

Lucas is just being a tightarse really :p

[Starscream]

Indy Trilogy on BR. Screw the fourth movie.

[Hemish71]

I call bullshit on his its too expensive to restore
He cleaned it up for the special editions and then for the dvd release
You cant say they wouldnt have archived the cleaned up versions either

[fishfishmonkeyhat]

It's funny you should mention that..

http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/215546543_AuWgB-L-2.jpg

[/backslash]

I'm a bit worried about the Aliens blu-ray remaster after reading this

During an interview to promote the Avatar theatrical re-release, director James Cameron also mentioned that he had just done "a complete remaster of Aliens" (included in the Alien Anthology scheduled for Blu-ray release on October 26), working with the same colorist with whom he had worked on Avatar. In what is sure to ignite some controversy, Cameron said he had completely removed all noise and grain from the extended version of the film.

The filmmaker said: "It's spectacular. We went in and completely de-noised it, de-grained it, up-rezzed, color-corrected every frame, and it looks amazing. It looks better that it looked in the theaters originally. Because it was shot on a high-speed negative that was a new negative that didn't pan out too well and got replaced the following year. So it's pretty grainy. We got rid of all the grain. It's sharper and clearer and more beautiful than it's ever looked. And we did that to the long version, to the 'director's cut' or the extended play.
"We got rid of all the grain", its not possible to remove grain without using DNR & if you do that you'll get a cleaner image but lose detail if you try to do too much & whilst sharpening helps its still not going to look as good as it could & you get cartoon characters

I'm guessing it'll look about the same as Terminator 2 Skynet Edition bluray re-release. I just hope he knows what he's doing...

[Starscream]

Soniq QPB301B Blu-Ray Player (http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/home%20theatre/blu-ray%20player/soniq-qpb301b-blu-ray-player/522974) - 1080p, BD Live, HDMI 1.3, $96 from JB Hi-Fi. Seriously, that's "upscaling DVD player" prices, right there.

You got that right.

However, what's in stock now is the Soniq QPB302B at JB. At $99 (now) it's a bargain.

So...after a bit of research, I bought 3 of them! One for my bedroom, the living room (to reduce wear on the PS3 because my parents watch their BRs on it) and one for my brother because.....

Overview

The good:
Price ($99 for a BR player? Too good to pass up!)
Can play mkv, avi (& DivX HD), mp3 files (I tested via USB stick. Don't have any DiVX HD files).
Can be made DVD region free for DVD playback
Can play BR from Region A & B after input code !

The bad:
no optical digital output
requires input code each time to change BR regions

Hooked it up to the living room LCD TV and PQ is amazing for a $99 machine (used Pixar's Cars BR as a reference) could not tell the difference between the PS3.

Excellent price, I think it might be region free for blurays too (requires a code for each time you want to change it) since apparently it uses a chipset that was in that Clive Peter's bluray player. I'm not 100% sure though

Unfortunately. But the positives outweigh this single negative of changing regions.

Not sure about the chipset though. At least I get a hard copy of the user manual..not like the Kogan BR player. :P

Build quality (sturdy) is what you would expect from $99 (RRP is $146), but in saying that I had a look at other standalone BR players (Pioneer, Sony, Panasonic,etc) and it's comparable. The same goes for the remote control.

Menu interface is okay for a standalone player (it's no Sony XMB or Xbox 360 Dashboard if you're looking for it).

If you do decide to buy one, make sure the serial number starts with : P36TF5B

If it's P36TF5A then it won't let you change BR regions. Reports on the interweb indicate that the majority of owners own the Soniq QPB302B that has P36TF5B in the serial number which can definitely change BR regions.

I read somewhere where one person bought a C serial and it can be made DVD region free and could also change regions on BR. Wasn't going to risk it (they had some C serial numbers at my local JB) so I bought three players that had a B in the serial number.

If you don't have a standalone BR player, without any doubt I would definitely recommend this player.

If JB only had an affiliation link for this BR player!

EDIT: Just remembered, don't have this connected to the web in the event some firmware update might override the user changing the BR regions.

[Pai Mel]

Centre Com have Lite-On Blu-ray drives (read only) for PC for $54.90 after using this code:

N252ZYLSVXHSHG

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=43605

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/images/product_liteonihos104.jpg

[/backslash]

Not bad but if I had to buy a blu-ray drive today I'd get the Samsung SH-B083A retail pack for $79 for its 8x reading speeds from Netplus
http://www.netplus.com.au/product/OP9/OPSABR-SH083A/Optical-Disk-Drives/Samsung-SH-B083A-Blu-Ray-Combo-Drive-DVDRW-&-BluRay-Reader-Blu-Ray-SATA-Retail-Black

Plus last time I tried, CentreCom had outrageous shipping charges

[Pai Mel]

CentreCom usually have two options for postage. I ordered a 2TB Samsung G3 external drive from them two weeks back and postage was only $9. The Blu-ray drive will cost the same for postage.

I'm not actually investing in one yet. I'll wait till I can get a burner for $50. Plus I don't have much Blu-rays yet, coz I usually resell them after the whole family has watched the movie.

[/backslash]

Could also depend on location too, CentreCom tried to charge me about $50 to ship a laptop

[Pai Mel]

They use those pre-paid Australia Post satchel bags for the cheap small parcel postage option. As long as the item is <3kg and fits in the bag, then it'll be $9.

[/backslash]

Korean movie 'Mother' (director of The Host) is only US$17.50 on Amazon.com atm, nearly half price. Sorta tempting but I still don't think I liked it enough for repeated viewings :(

[fishfishmonkeyhat]

I don't like most movies enough for repeat views.

I HAVE NO DVDS!

[Munky]

How do I find out if Chuck Season 3 on Blu Ray is region free?

Do I just have to wait for someone to test it? It's released on the 9 September in the US

[/backslash]

How do I find out if Chuck Season 3 on Blu Ray is region free?

Do I just have to wait for someone to test it? It's released on the 9 September in the US
Use this website:

http://bluray.liesinc.net/

And wait until its actually released. The first 2 seasons were released by Warner & Warner always makes region free titles so it should be fine to import

[Munky]

Use this website:

http://bluray.liesinc.net/

And wait until its actually released. The first 2 seasons were released by Warner & Warner always makes region free titles so it should be fine to import

Any idea how often they update the list?

Release date has passed.

[/backslash]

Any idea how often they update the list?

Release date has passed.
They update it when other people send in updates

Its been confirmed here though that its region free

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Chuck-The-Complete-Third-Season-Blu-ray/10891/#Review

As I mentioned, all WB titles are region free, Fox is the one you have to worry about

[Munky]

Awesome, thanks for your help Backslash.

Do Amazon US have any problems shopping to Australia?

EDIT: Just purchased Chuck S3, Shooter & The Departed on Blu Ray from Amazon.

Pretty awesome site to use.

[/backslash]

Awesome, thanks for your help Backslash.

Do Amazon US have any problems shopping to Australia?

EDIT: Just purchased Chuck S3, Shooter & The Departed on Blu Ray from Amazon.

Pretty awesome site to use.
No, there's no problems shipping to Australia, unless you want anything outside of books, dvds & blurays. Plus the shipping is bloody cheap now too :D

[/backslash]

Toy Story 1-3 upcoming blu-ray boxset for USA

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41H-9AOZIcL._SS500_.jpg

10 disc set containing 1x bluray, dvd & digital copy for each movie. Tbh I'm glad I didn't wait, seems way too bulky for my liking and contains too many discs I don't need

[/backslash]

Pre-order for John Woo's Hard Boiled for mid December is up, wonder if they'll get it right this time? <_<

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0041SI7AC/dvdbeaver-20/ref=nosim

[Australian Ninja]

No, there's no problems shipping to Australia, unless you want anything outside of books, dvds & blurays. Plus the shipping is bloody cheap now too :D

How cheap - what are their rates like for BD/DVD?

I've never bought anything from amazon yet, as every time I've almost bought something I found I was paying 2-3 times the price of the item with postage added in, and I can usually get the same elsewhere for half of that price (cheaper postage on other sites).

[/backslash]

Its like $6-7 for the first item & $1 for each additional

AU>US dollar is good too at $0.95

Sometimes I just import because of waiting lists for local releases

[pauljdavidson]

Toy Story 1-3 upcoming blu-ray boxset for USA

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41H-9AOZIcL._SS500_.jpg

10 disc set containing 1x bluray, dvd & digital copy for each movie. Tbh I'm glad I didn't wait, seems way too bulky for my liking and contains too many discs I don't need

Waiting for the (rumoured) 3D versions due shortly after.

[Starscream]

If the BR discs of the US version of Toy Story trilogy are all Region Free, then I might wait a few months for a price drop.

If the UK version is cheaper, then I might opt for that.