Sony announces first Blu-ray movie titles (more info later?)

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=SNE:US&sid=a4XbzWorssK0

Not sure if this is a mockup or how the movie cases will actually look:


Since CES seems to be the place where the Blu-ray group will release most, if not all, the info regarding the Spring release, I'd expect some more info (launch titles from other studios, BR players, some release dates, prices?) later on. I might post any new info here instead of in a new thread so keep that in mind.

edit: Crap...I hate it when I find new info just after I make a post.

Here's a list of titles from Paramount:
http://home.businesswire.com/portal...d=news_view&newsId=20060104005375&newsLang=en

Since Paramount is supporting both formats, those titles were also announced for HD DVD:
http://home.businesswire.com/portal...d=news_view&newsId=20060104005378&newsLang=en

edit2: Sigh...if I only waited just a few more minutes.

Titles from Fox:
http://www.ccnmatthews.com/news/rel...earchText=false&showText=all&actionFor=574032

Some other movies that may not have been announced yet (probably officially announced 5 minutes from now):


edit3: Some info regarding some of the other studios:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR1117935452&categoryID=20&cs=1

I read on another forum that Disney won't be announcing their titles until Thursday evening, although you can see some of them in the screen above with all the BR movies.

So let's see if I can clean this up any:

Sony Pictures
The Fifth Element
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Desperado
For a Few Dollars More
The Guns of Navarone
Hitch
House of Flying Daggers
A Knight's Tale
Kung Fu Hustle
The Last Waltz
Legends of the Fall
Resident Evil Apocalypse
Robocop
Sense and Sensibility
Stealth
Species
SWAT
XXX
Black Hawk Down (Summer 2006)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (Summer 2006)
Stargate Atlantis (Summer 2006?)
Underworld Evolution (2006?)
Into the Blue? (from pic)

Paramount (following titles also on HD DVD)
Four Brothers
Sahara
Aeon Flux
Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow
The Italian Job
Tomb Raider
U2: Rattle and Hum
Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow
We Were Soldiers
Manchurian Candidate
Mission Impossible trilogy (2006?)

Fox (first wave titles???)
Fantastic Four
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Behind Enemy Lines
Kiss of the Dragon
Ice Age
2 "Sci-fi titles" that will use the full 50GB
13 other titles in the 1st wave (20 total)

Liongate (may not release at the same time as BR)
Lord of War
The Punisher
The Devil's Rejects
Saw
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Reservoir Dogs
Total Recall
Dune
Rambo: First Blood
See No Evil (1st DVD and BR release for LG later in the year)

Warner/Universal/HBO/New Line/Disney/Other
King Kong (Universal still needs to pledge support for BR)
The Bourne Supremacy
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Batman Begins
Friends
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Seven
Band of Brothers
Kill Bill? (from pic)
Troy? (from pic)
Hero? (from pic)
Pirates of the Caribbean? (from pic)


I think that's all of them, although it isn't an official list, especially since some of them were a bit of a guess (either because of the pic of the movies or due to strange wording by these articles). Seems like a lot more titles than I thought there would be.

I'm about to go to sleep. I've been taking this info from GAF for the most part (like usual ), so you guys can check that out in case any info is released while I'm asleep. Here's a link to the thread:
http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=79004

edit#whatever: I updated the movie list with some movies mentioned in the following articles:
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsA...2_RTRUKOC_0_US-FILM-BLURAY.xml&archived=False (new info on Lion Gate movies)
http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6296434.html (new info about the other Fox movies that include 2 "sci-fi" movies that take advantage of the 50GB discs)

They are also working on something that can read both formats:
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/01/03/broadcom/index.php

 

That may be about right (may be more), although I've always thought that the first BR devices would be aimed more at recording as well as playing BR discs, so the price may be more understandable. That said, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I think the Blu-ray group is supposed to have a meeting tomorrow (following a HD DVD meeting tonight); they might go into pricing then.

FWIW, I'm fairly certain the PS3 won't be anywhere near $899 and it should be out in the "Spring" as well. It will probably be in Japan first though; if you're desperate, maybe you can import it or something. IIRC, in the region coding for BR, Japan and NA are in the same region. Not sure if there would be any other issues.

As for the image quality, the following site is about the best example I can give (DVD resolution compared to HD-resolutions):
http://www.cornbread.org/FOTRCompare/
Some impressions on the DVD->BR jump specifically range from slightly better than DVD to as big of a jump from DVD as DVD was to VHS (even bigger in some cases). It may just have to be something every person needs to decide for himself/herself.

 

I really wanted to see a unified format happen last summer, although I guess the HD DVD group didn't want it bad enough (think it was their side that bailed out). I guess it is their loss since BR has only gotten more and more support since then, mostly from groups that were previously supporting HD DVD exclusively. For the most part, the war ended late last year, IMO. Although to be fair, there have been some rumors about Microsoft's plans regarding the formats, and it isn't good (IMO). It sounds like they're pushing some companies (EX:HP) to offer support for HD DVD, and MS may also bundle or subsidize the costs (about $30 each IIRC) of putting in HD DVD drives with PC's that come with Vista (not to mentioned the 360 rumors). They basically got HP to offer support, citing iHD as a factor, although they later said the Java offered in BR was much more "robust and mature" while iHD was still full of holes and needed some work. So needless to say, if MS decides to go full speed with this, there may be more of a war than I would have thought (and hoped).


BTW, there has been some additional info regarding the BR titles since I last updated the original post. I'll go ahead and edit it again with the new info in a little bit. I may just continue to do that from time to time, so check it out occasionally for more "launch" titles.

Also, on a semi-related HD note, Toshiba announced that they would use the Cell chip in all their TV's in 2006, as well as other devices IIRC:
http://homeentertainment.engadget.c...-cell-processors-for-all-tvs-in-2006-and-more

edit: Added some info regarding movies from Lion Gate and Fox in the original post, as well as some info regarding a chip that can allow a device to play both formats.

 

Basically a new DVD format for the HD era in a way. DVDs offer 4-9 GB (usually) of storage, while BR will offer 25-50GB (maybe more later on). DVD resolutions were usually 480p at best, while it seems like most BR movies will be 1080p (bit of a guess right now). I think there is some more info in one of the articles I posted earlier, and there's always Wikipedia as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray

BTW, has anyone heard anything more about whether or not you need HDMI to play back these movies? I thought this was the case, but now I'm reading about some issues regarding that in Japan I believe, and that won't happen until like 2011. So those with HDTVs and no HDMI might be able to watch these movies in 720p/1080p.

 

Check out the LOTR SD vs HD link I gave earlier in the thread. Going purely by pixels shown, I believe 480i/p->1080p provides a bigger jump ( or at least about equal) than the VHS->DVD jump (~280???->480i/p). I guess it is debatable whether that jump is actually really noticeable though. FWIW, I read a lot about people who no longer buy DVDs after they've watched a lot HD broadcasts (which probably won't look as good as BR/HD DVD movies). According to a number of them, DVD movies look "terrible" on their HDTVs. I imagine these people are a little more picky about video quality than most, but they seem to be VERY happy to have a HD disc format soon. Maybe that gives you an idea of what to expect.