Hi-Def versions of Criterion laserdisc titles.
Kev Haw
blu-ray is causing any die-hard laserdisc collectors to embrace the
hated Sony format?
I've picked up classics like The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Last
Emperor, and most recently, Repulsion on blu-ray.
They are priced at exactly the same price as the standard dvd
counterpart, which is fair.
Back in the day, Criterion was the prized version of any particular
movie, because you knew you were getting the best presentation of that
film possible(usually) on laserdisc.
I was curious if anyone has been holding off on collecting blu-rays,
until the fairly recent Criterion trickle of titles?
Kevin
bil...@yahoo.com
Hello Kevin,
The only Criterion disc I ever owned was the Japanese anime "AKIRA".
That pressing sucked balls compaired to the original Japanese
pressing. The one with the silver-foil Obi (Spine Card)? I have not
yet emberced Blu-ray. I used to work for a Loews Theatre that had to
old Interfilm movie-games system in it. That cabinet had 4 LD-V8000's
inside of it. I got 3 of the 4. With how short a time the system
worked, all four units only had 800 hours used of the 10,000 motor's
MTBF rating. That's real low mileage. Cosmetically they look like
they just came directly from Pioneer. My theatre had Mr. Payback and
Ride For Your Life, with Adam West. RFYL had a 2 min preview of
Bombmeister on it. *Then* the very first WTC bombing in Manhattan
happened. Needless to say, we never got Bombmeister and Sony pulled
the plug on the system about 2 weeks later. The only equipment Sony
ever pulled out of the theatre was the two giant RGB projecters they
had hung from the celing of the theatre. I was on duity the day the
two units arrived in Levittown, NY. The bill of lading said $25,550
declaired value each! Wow!!
Getting back to the issue............... Since I live on New York's
Long Island. The (in)famous(?) Book Off in East 41st St is just a
short train ride away. They have plenty of zone 2 DVD's bu no Blu-ray
yet. When they get more BR stock, perhaps I'll consider it. For now,
I'll pass.
Take good care,
Bill N.
Dealer's Room Staff
I-Con Science Fiction, Inc.
Proud to be returning to Stony Brook NY for 2010!
Kev Haw
That was a very interesting post!
I guess I was thinking along the lines that purists always coveted the
Criterion version of various important landmark films.
For, often, the simple reason that that presentation offered the best
possible version of the film.
I, for one, never dreamed of buying the standard dvd version of a
Criterion film to replace the laserdisc version.
It's only the blu-ray presentations -which, let's face it, are the
closest possible current representation of the film as it was meant to
be seen- that have tempted me to upgrade my personal Criterion laserdisc
collection.
There is only a small handful of Criterion blu-ray films out right
now. My guess is about a dozen titles or so are on blu-ray.
The few blu-ray Criterions that I do own, I do not have on laserdisc,
so they were a needed and welcome addition to my overall movie
collection.
As laserdisc collectors were a niche group that comprised many
purists, I'm interested in knowing how many are resisting or answering
the alluring call of Criterion blu-rays....
Kevin
bil...@yahoo.com
Kevin,
Seeing that I worked in the movie theatre for a little bit over 15
years, ( January 2, 1993 to November 7, 2009) I'm not really to
interested in mainstreem Hollywood movies. In fact, I think it's
kinda scary that I can go into Mr. Cheapo's Used Movies & Music in
Mineola, NY and find laserdiscs of movies that I saw when I was
working there. I didn't buy it, but I found an LD of "Interview With
A Vampire". IWAV was the absolute very first movie our movie theatre
ever had with Sony's SDDS Digital Sound. The very first showing was a
disaster. The projectionist missed one of the three rollers inside the
SDDS penthouse. It was worse that a badly dubbed 1970's Hong Hong
kartae movie. Oh................. People were sooooo upset. The
projectionist had turn it off and use the four channel analog.
Right now, I'm looking to thin out my collection of laserdiscs. I've
already sold off all of my Gatchaman LD's because I now have all nine
box sets. Now that I have all of the Space Battleship Yamato movies on
DVD, I can sell off some of the laserdiscs. I plan on keeping
Gatchaman II. I just wish I could have found Gatchaman Fighter (the
third TV season) on LD. I already have Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp now
I'm looking to complete my collection of ALG game discs. The only
issue I've found is that the people who have them now are real
assholes. If they sell on eBay, they want as much as $125 for an ALG
game disc. The fucking asshat rapists on eBay know that they can get
those prices because they know that the Daphnie Emulator has the
ability to run the footage directly from the LD if you wire your LD
player into your PC. <End of rant>
Take good care,
Bill N.
Dealer's Room Staff
I-Con Science Fiction, Inc.
120 Peachtree Ct.
Suite 103J
Holbrook, NY 11741
Marshall
"Kev Haw" <Kev...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:10960-4AC...@storefull-3172.bay.webtv.net...
> There is only a small handful of Criterion blu-ray films out right
> now. My guess is about a dozen titles or so are on blu-ray.
>
I just read this posting and was curious as to how many Criterions have been
released so far on Blu ray. Daily, I visit a site called High Def Digest.com
and Bluray.com
According to the database at Blu ray.com there are currently a total of 34
criterion blu ray titles released. 28 US editions and 8 Canadian for the
total of 34. And since Canada is also region A as is the USA, these will
play in your USA players. Here is the link to that Criterion blu ray titles
so far.