yon Leveron blog

John's musings on the Interknot cowpath

Looks like the marketplace listened – sort-of . . .

Posted by John on 7th March 2011

 

Update : From my previous take on the crappy initial Blu-Ray release of LOTR, it seems they are readying the Extended Editions . . . . you can click the pictures to expand them.

Pre-Order the set they should have released, $83.99 for the extended trilogy

You can now pre-order from Amazon.com

The Quest Is Over: All three extended versions in dazzling 1080p and DTS HD-MA 5.1 Audio. Deluxe set includes over 26 Hours of spellbinding behind-the- moviemaking material, including the rare Costa Botes documentaries.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition: With the help of a courageous fellowship of friends and allies, Frodo embarks on a perilous mission to destroy the legendary One Ring.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition: In the middle chapter of this historic movie trilogy, the Fellowship is broken but its quest to destroy the One Ring continues.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition: The final battle for Middle-earth begins. Frodo and Sam, led by Gollum, continue their dangerous mission toward the fires of Mount Doom in order to destroy the One Ring.

 

A short preview of LOTR – extended editions on blu-ray is available (opens in a new window, .mp4 format, you can also right click the link and “Save As” to your local computer).

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Now playing: Steely Dan – Hey Nineteen
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Wait for the Extended Editions / unified releases

Posted by John on 22nd November 2010


Market Pressure Works

Unfortunately, Amazon.Com has chosen to put up reviews for the ORIGINAL dvd’s for the new, crappy Blu-Ray releases .

epic greed = epic fail

I believe Amazon is probably to try to avoid the abysmal ratings (again) that were given to the current crop of crappy BD releases, which they are being forced to blow out at 7.99 apiece to get them to sell at all.

Eventually it’s said us consumers will be allowed to buy what I view as the proper versions.  [ahem]  And yes, I signed up for the wait list for the “Extended” editions.

As one reviewer noted, in the BluRay world, it would have been quite trivial to have release BOTH versions (theatrical and extended) on one disc, given the capacity of the new format, in double layer.  Keep in mind that Blu-Ray also has splice capability, to add and remove scenes as desired when you click on a Play Option in the menu.  This means that you do NOT need to have both full-length versions on a disc – just the shorter theatrical release, and then the “difference file” for the extended edition.

However, overly greedy studio folks apparently failed to learn the lesson from upset buyers from the DVD releases.

Hopefully, this sort of boycott will set the standard for the future in BD releases : “if you try to jab the purchasers too hard, watch us not buy your product at all . . .”

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Now playing: Talking Heads – Little Creatures – Stay Up Late
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Whoa, looks like folks agreed with me on Lotr – Theatrical BD release being terrible marketing

Posted by John on 28th April 2010


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

epic greed = epic fail

To quote :


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.”


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
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LG BD390 standalone Blu-Ray player

Posted by John on 9th September 2009

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

lg-bd390

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.

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