yon Leveron blog

Hey, I was making the same arguments, but I had no idea thousands of others cared enough to say so as well on Amazon.

To quote :

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15,508 of 16,094 people found the following review helpful: 1.0 out of 5 stars “We won’t get fooled again…”

August 17, 2009    By     C. BURNS “The Dude”
This review is from: The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Theatrical Editions + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Some confusion among other reviewers that somehow we’re obligated to post a five star recommendation for the movie. This is an incorrect understanding of the review process. If I were reviewing the movie itself it would get a five. This review is for the product, as listed–in other words, I DO NOT RECOMMEND BUYING THIS PRODUCT/DVD. This product is being created FOR NO OTHER REASON than to dupe people into buying this movie twice…again. Those of us who were huge fans bought the original DVDs of the theatrical releases. THEN the studio FINALLY released the extended editions, even though they could have released both at the same time. Now that Blu Ray has won the High Def battle, the studios are salivating at screwing us all again the same way!

Please do not let them get away with pretending that Blu Ray can’t hold both versions on one disc–it certainly can! A simple menu option would let you watch the Extended Edition when you have time, or Theatrical Edition when you don’t.

Their other argument, that “Peter Jackson is busy working on The Hobbit and will work on Extended Editions later” is 100% total BS. He’s ALREADY DONE THE WORK–just copy what he did for the regular DVDs onto a new Blu Ray master!

BOTTOM-LINE: The studios will make whatever argument they think will fly to convince us they can’t put both versions on one disc, because they want to double their income on this movie. Which has ALREADY MADE THEM A BILLION DOLLARS. Don’t play along–let friends know not to buy ANY LOTR Blu Ray that doesn’t have BOTH versions on one disc.

Please do not let them get away with holding the extended edition hostage until everyone buys the theatrical versions.”

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Couldn’t have said it better myself, so there’s his quote.  BD technology is fine, but trying to truly double (I’m not talking a nominal fee, but doubling!) your sales, by running the same tired gag again is just sad. Of course, I was one of the many thousands who agreed with him, and so I hit the “Yes – Helpful Review” sort of button.

Great Trilogy, but disappointing release.  As much as I loved the films. I’ll pass until they can manage to fix this blatant fleecing policy.
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Now playing: AC/DC – Shot Down In Flames
via FoxyTunes

Stumbled across a standalone Blu-Ray player from LG called the BD390.  LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player

This looks to be a forward-thinking product, since it includes both wireless 802.11n capability, and an RJ-45 ethernet jack. I realize that wireless and ethernet are not new in this application, but I’m hoping the ethernet is gigabit to go with the current fastest consumer wireless speed.

The full array of features listed at http://www.lge.com/us/products/documents/h_lg_he_dav_ss_bd390.pdf sure sound good; it’s certainly not the least expensive of players, but if I want to be able to push .iso DVD images and HD .mkv files at it, I’d expect it to have some horses. Sometimes, having one of the home NAS’s at 6T capacity is nice

Haven’t found any good independent reviews for it yet but haven’t looked further than LG’s recommended review list either. Was a good morning stumble, tech wise.