Erikstormtrooper said:
See if you can find a small cheap ($30) DVD-only player from Wal-Mart that's region free.
I can do that, but it's a short term solution, I'd like to affect a more lasting solution, plus all of the damn bonus material is on BR now.
I will, but I have a number of DVDs from other regions and I'd like to be prepared if I want some BR from them as well.
Right now I'm just praying that I can figure this out so I can watch movies in my bedroom again :p.
My wonderful Phillips DVP-5982 has just died on me. I've tried getting a cleaner, and still no luck. I think it's permanently dead. As pretty much all noteworthy special features have moved to Blu-Ray, I've been dragging my feet about the changeover, but now I'm apparently going to have no choice but to switch over.
Unfortunately, there's a rather significant stumbling block in the form of region-coding. Whereas my wonderful little Phillips player could be unlocked with a few keystrokes, evidently the manufacturers of Blu-Ray caught onto this and have made it considerably more difficult to unlock BR players. Apparently, it requires some actual physical modding which generally has to be done by a third party. I'd rather do it myself, but apparently that is quite difficult. Thinking of looking at eBay, but there're so many choices, I don't know where to start! There is, of course, the famed Oppo BDP-93, but it's a $500 player with $150+ mod!
A bit of an explanation, this is unbelivably long-winded, so if anyone gets to the end of this post, they deserve a medal. I mean, my initial thought was to buy a mid-range player (I work at Meijer and can get a 10% discount, but we mostly have mid-range stuff at best, sadly.), but I then discovered that unlike DVD, BR can't simply be hacked with the remote. Since I still have a CRT TV with a coax connector, so it seems like a bit of overkill, but but every special feature worth a damn seems to have moved to BR. I've thought about buying something pretty good to prepare for the future, but apparently region-free BR is pricey. Then there's the world now. I'd like to be able to do stuff like stream YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, etc. but that's not essential, plus I have my computer for it, or if need be, I can buy a Roku box or something.
I'd have to imagine that pretty much all BR players come with HDMI hookups and will upscale DVDs and have 1080p at this point. I have no interest in 3-D (though I have a sinking feel the industry will attempt to force my hand on that count), but I would like to be able to connect wireless for what are apparently nifty features. I have a few VCDs and a number of multi-region DVDs I'd like to play, and I'd like to be ready for multi-region Blu as well.
I live with my parents at the moment, though of course that could be changing soon. I've always thought of building some some small home theater, the problem is location. I tend to watch my DVDs on bed in my room, where there's no room for surround sound and such. I could always set up a proper HT in the basement and just get a nice LCD TV and stereo for my room, but any level of HT is expensive, and I'm notoriously frugal even with a significant amount of money saved up... I also have an irritating Aspergers-inflected tendency to research the living hell out things before I buy them in an attempt to balance money and quality. Anyway...
I'd consider anything over the $200 mark a bit pricey,
I'd probably go up to about $300, but I don't know if I can get anything decent enough in that range. Admittedly, now DVD players are cheap and Blu-Ray players are getting cheaper (I work at a Meier where we have DVD players at ridiculously low prices, but if you're looking for something region-free, then you can't just grab whatever.). I WAS going to buy a BR player and put my old one down in the basement when I never had one, but so much for THAT plan....
Wait, wait, wait, what's wrong with the Raiders BR? What've I missed?
Maybe they're doing great work, but OOT fans are a small clique now, the version of the film that Lucas wants to be the one known in the public consciousness is the one that's winning. Years down the road few people will know about fan-preservation efforts and they certainly won't preserve films, IMO, at least not in the long-term.
skyjedi2005 said:
Seeing as Lucas is a billionaire if he wanted it he could have the best scanning equipment money could buy.
But you already know that.
It is more of a is it worth it for him money wise considering the expense of restoring the version he would prefer stay buried.
Because the version of the trilogy my generation despises with Hayden at the end is the version that broke BD sales records, nail in coffin.
Yep. Just more proof that we've lost.
stretch009 said:
Mike O said:
Game, set, match.
However you say, it translates to "we're fucked."
Baronlando said:
Tobar said: It just seems to me that he, like many, aren't aware of what's happened to Star Wars. Which is a sad state of affairs that should compel us to enlighten the uninformed, not berate them.
Well, we're not talking about a child, these guys I'm talking about are plenty educated. This situation has existed for 16 years now, with the educated people being mostly just fine with it. I think the high road is pretty useless at this point.
Yeah, the majority of people don't know, and those who do don't care. Lucas has succeeded in his goal of rewriting history. Every month, you just hear about another nail in the coffin.
Like I said, no one cares anymore. It's over, it's just spitting on a forest fire. Game set, matched.
georgec said:
How many self loathing Star Wars fans will force themselves to watch AOTC and ROTS in 3D because George will claim he won't do the OT (special editions, of course, not OOT) in 3D unless he makes enough money from the prequels?
The long con continues.
If he actually said that, and was actually willing to follow through, I'd buy a dozen tickets. I'm not paying for a single damn thing ever again unless it's a proper OOT release, and that's never happening. Ever. Much as I disagree with Mark Kermode about so many things, I wish he'd be right about the death of 3-D, alas it appears it won't die before Lucas can squeeze more money out of the franchise. If he less cynical about that if he'd just release the one goddamn product I want. I'd be more than happy to pay almost any price within reason for it. And while I'm at it, I wish for world peace. It's never happening. We're the only ones who are are about the OOT, and we're such a small monkey that we're a drop of water in an ocean. Everyone else pays for everything wih the brand name without question.
I think there's one DVD of the THE ABYSS that's anamorphic, but it might just new rumor. I'm pretty sure there is one for TRUE LIES. At least Cameron won't go fucking up THE ABYSS. I'd be happy to wait for SW if I knew it'd be don't properly.
Hey, as long as the mono is there. It is on the BR right?
I mean I wouldn't mind hearing the remix on a killer sound system, it might be fun. But to me it'd be a curio, as if I had the choice (which unlike Lucas, this gives me), I'll watch the original.
Hoth-Nudist said:
Watched Close Encounters and JAWS blurays today and LOVED them! Couldnt believe the picture clarity of JAWS!
Attn George Luca$: Please loosen up your collar, thus restoring normal blood flow to your brain, and make the OOT into Bluray already!
There's a better chance of Richard Dawkins converting to Christianity, sadly.
I'd rather watch Jaws with the original mono track. Maybe if I had a killer sound system, the remix would be fun though.
I aspire to one day be one of those people who's name is buried in the credits, the least they could do is show them all.
She's clearly playing on the Big Bang fame.
captainsolo said:
You're right, they really have no clue-on both sides of the camera. People cannot think for themselves these days. Just look at poor Christopher Lee and the sheer amount of terrible films he's been in over the years. Yet, even in the worst of them, even being overdubbed by someone else, he maintains such a regal and fascinating presence that it works. Always. If AOTC had simply stopped it's story right at Dooku first confronting Obi-Wan and continued seriously from that point, it would have been saved on every level. Or following Dooku leading his Separatist movement while actually going into the political reasons behind their breakaway...but oh wait that requires actual thought and drama.
You have to remember, actors have to eat. Ideally, once they got a starring role in something interesting, they could continue in that vein, but of course that have to take whatever they can get as long as they're marketable. It's a job like anything else. It's a different job than what you and I have, but they still have to eat.
SilverWook said:
The sad part is '97 Jabba looks more like this fellow than the original Jedi puppet. ;)
What is God's name is that!?
Jetrell Fo said:
Mike O said:
Apparently, it's still a pretty big hit at cons: penthousemagazine.com/features/geek-love/
I got a real kick out of that article.....they really do know how to have a good time at those conventions...... :)
It surprised the hell out of me, I'd never heard such tales...
Fang Zei said:
Hell, even George himself said this time around that "it would be too expensive" to properly restore and remaster the OOT. I think he knows the excuse that the originals "don't exist anymore" died the moment he put out the GOUT. Not that "it's expensive" is any kind of excuse either, but at least he's not kidding us anymore: it's about money.
What always bugged me about the GOUT was how half-assed it was. If the answer is no, the OOT is never coming out again, then stick to your guns. If the OOT had never been released since 1995, I certainly wouldn't like it, but at least Lucas would have stuck to his principles. Now he just looks like a fool.
I've always maintained that what they should do is release the OOT in a big giant box, fuck you fanboy, you have to buy the SE and the PT too. There is NO PRICE I WILL NOT PAY if the OOT comes out CORRECTLY, remastered and restored properly. But Star Wars isn't a cult property, it's as mainstream as possible, and I reiterate my previous statement that most people will just buy whatever has the brand name on it. The minority don't matter, and clearly Star Wars still clicks with kids, the video games and toys still sell like crazy and they show no signs of slowing down. And unless there's something to put a big enough dent in Star Wars profits to make them think about releasing the OOT, I don't see it happening. And there isn't. I always hoped for a grassroots movement from social media or the idea of that ad in the magazines, but it's all for naught, we're just a drop of water in the ocean.
zombie84 said:
No one except a small band of teenagers and clueless fanboys would say they wouldn't prefer the originals exist.
Doubt most people care.
Wish in one hand, shit in the other, see which fills up faster, as they say...
walking_carpet said:
Will it turn the tide? not sure. With the clone wars and other things, bouncy lightsaber yoda is becoming more and more the definitive image. But I can gaurantee demand for de-specialized editions will skyrocket even more than last year.
Um, what makes you think that? I think that the massive, record-breaking sales of the Blu-Ray indicate more than ever that the average person in the mainstream doesn't give two shits.
Apparently, it's still a pretty big hit at cons: penthousemagazine.com/features/geek-love/
