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M:I-3 DVD to Debut in Three Formats

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

August 11, 2006, 12:22 PM

"Mission: Impossible III" will set a milestone when it is released to video on October 30, becoming the first movie to be available on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray simultaneously. The high-def versions will offer 1080p resolution and 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus surround sound.

The HD DVD release will also include an "enhanced commentary" by director J.J. Abrams and Tom Cruise that shows the pair talking in the corner as the movie plays. This capability is possible through HD DVD's iHD feature, which is not included in Blu-ray. Analysts say that more studios will follow with similar three format launches -- at least until one high-definition format prevails.

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By UNSCIeric

edited Aug 25, 2006 - 5:54 PM

HD-DVD > Blu-Ray is every way. M:I:III was awesome by the way.

Score: 0

By tankist

posted Aug 14, 2006 - 12:28 PM

what does it matter what format they release it in ? the film is still crap.

Score: 0

By robmtx

posted Aug 14, 2006 - 12:20 PM

They stole the idea from Mystery Science Theater 3000!!!

Score: 0

By DatabaseBen

posted Aug 13, 2006 - 10:53 AM

Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise, Cruise Tom, etc..... time to sail off into the sunset, take buddy Brad with him toooooooo...

Movie would have been better starring "Austin Powers"...

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 8:55 PM

"The HD DVD release will also include an "enhanced commentary" by director J.J. Abrams and Tom Cruise that shows the pair talking in the corner as the movie plays. This capability is possible through HD DVD's iHD feature, which is not included in Blu-ray."

Where's Mark Gillespie now, I wonder?

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Aug 13, 2006 - 12:23 PM

Blu-Ray can do similar stuff (and more), it's just more complicated to program for, so development is lagging. Don't think for a minute HD-DVD has more features than Blu-Ray, it's not true...

Score: 0

By Keith Lard

posted Aug 13, 2006 - 12:13 PM

As I understand it, although Blu-Ray cannot do iHD, it can do MUCH more with BD-Java and BDMV technoglogies it's uses. It will take a while for companies to start producing titles using this, as it's a much more versatile feature, and thus more complex.

I'm sure not having iHD on Blu-Ray is only a small part of the story, the Blu-Ray camp will be able to throw back aload of features HD-DVD cannot do..

Score: 0

By Banquo

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 10:13 PM

Probably trying to think of some way to spin it into a positive thing. He'll probably say that iHD is a stupid feature that consumers won't really want or something. Oh well, in other news Sony has announced that it's first PC Blu-Ray drives will not be able to play movies. It is almost like Sony is trying to lose.

http://www.cnet.com.au/d...9029405,40091720,00.htm

Score: 0

By Keith Lard

posted Aug 13, 2006 - 12:20 PM

LOL, Talk about making a goof of yourself, read the article, the 1st Blu-Ray drive does not play commercial Blu-Ray discs, because of limitations of current graphics cards and non-availability of supporting software. Nothing to do with Blu-Ray at all, the same problems would also affect a HD-DVD PC based drive (if they had such a thing).

Posting rubbish like this shows how desperate HD-DVD fanboys are at derailing Blu-Ray.

Score: 0

By Banquo

edited Aug 13, 2006 - 5:11 PM

Sorry, but normal set top players CAN play the movies whether your TV supports HDCP or not, they simply downgrade the resolution. Oh and guess what, so far no movies use that flag so you can watch them in full resolution. The xbox 360's HD-DVD drive will play HD-DVD movies. On ANY television. This drive does not play movies AT ALL. Sony's own product manager confirmed it. So here we have a $1400 drive that won't play movies period. Yeah I'm sure people are going to flock out to buy it. Keep making excuses for them though; I just made the whole thing up. It wasn't on every major news site there is.

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Aug 13, 2006 - 6:45 PM

Dude, this is a PC drive, totally different to the set top players you mention. The entire signal path needs to be HDCP compliant to play HDCP movies. The only reason the Sony PC drive cannot play Blu-Ray movies, is because the rest of the signal processing path in PC's are not yet HDCP compliant.

The XBox360 will only play non-HDCP movies at HD resolutions. Whilst it may be OK today, things may change tommorrow. I certainly wouldn't spend that amount of money on something that may be no better than a DVD player next week. it's rumoured all Time Warner released on HD-DVD will have ICT bit enabled.

Score: 0

By Banquo

edited Aug 14, 2006 - 12:56 AM

It doesn't matter what the reason is, the result is going to be a $1400 flop.

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Aug 14, 2006 - 8:31 AM

Dude, you really are doing your best to put negative spin on it.

It's not $1400. it's $750(US)...

Your out by a factor of 2.

Score: 0

By Banquo

posted Aug 14, 2006 - 6:42 PM

You're right, I didn't notice it was AU dollars. So you're right, actually it will be a $750 flop.

Score: 0

By imafurby

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 4:32 PM

Can they release one with Tom Cruise not in it?

Score: 0

By kompression

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 5:23 PM

Exactly what I was thinking!!

Score: 0

By ladylust

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 1:01 PM

Well im staying out of the HD wars for right now.. sooner or later a winner will prevail and you buy the dead players VERY cheap and the movies for pennies!

Score: 0

By Banquo

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 10:27 PM

Time to start buying CEDs then. :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SelectaVision

Score: 0

By ladylust

posted Aug 13, 2006 - 1:21 AM

OMG I WANT ONE OF THOSE! To put in my vaporware, obsolete section of my basement! I must own one!

Score: 0

By Das mod

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 2:50 PM

lol,.... you cheapskate

Score: 0

By hardgiant

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 12:53 PM

What no iHD feature in BluRay that sucks.

Score: 0

By Das mod

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 12:51 PM

"This capability is possible through HD DVD's iHD feature"

i didnt know that could be done with the HD DVD
thats pretty neat

Score: 0

By nate

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 2:33 PM

It's pretty damn impressive. They film the commentary in front of a green screen, so it just has the individuals talking in the corner (or wherever) and you can actually see them while they comment on the movie you are watching.

And iHD is all XML based, which means it's very easy for studios to program something like this. I'm sure it's possible with Blu-ray (which uses Java), but probably a whole lot more complicated and time consuming.

I just hope more studios follow this path and don't skip out on the cool HD DVD features because Blu-ray is a hassle.

Score: 0

By DiasVFX

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 12:50 PM

Rotfl, despite a minor size HD-DVD has a more features? Lol/Sigh...

Score: 0

By nate

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 2:35 PM

For film purposes, Blu-ray's larger size is largely irrelevant. 15GB/30GB of HD DVD is more than enough to fit a full 1080p movie and a ton of extras.

I suppose for a TV series, it would be nice to fit more on one disc, but swapping DVDs after 4 episodes isn't that hard. Blu-ray's size will be more useful for data purposes, I think -- though I'd never back up data to a piece of media that can be ruined with one scratch.

Score: 0

By spyboy

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 4:24 PM

oh so you still backup to multiple floppies instead of CD or DVD?

Score: 0

By Banquo

edited Aug 11, 2006 - 10:30 PM

That's interesting logic. Because as we all know the only choices are CD/DVD or floppy disk. Organizations and people who need to store important data do not use cheap organic dye based formats like DVD-R. They use archival formats like Magneto Optical. I use MO myself for my important files, and DVD-RAM or DVD-R for saving less important things like downloads, updates, etc. As for CD-R I would probably trust floppy disks before I'd trust that crap. Little thin data layer on top of the disc that you can scratch off by looking at it too hard. At least DVD-R sandwiches the data between two layers of plastic. This is REALLY all beside the point though. We are talking about movie formats here, and HD-DVD is just fine for HD content. This was pretty much agreed upon back before either format even came out. Less space does not make it an inferior format for movies.

Score: 0

By nate

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 5:47 PM

Critical data? No. RAID and server-based solutions work a lot better. CD and DVDs are great, but storing 25GB on a single Blu-ray disc is kind of like putting all your eggs into one basket.

Although, I guess you could make multiple copies of the disc.

Score: 0

By fewt

posted Aug 11, 2006 - 7:32 PM

So is a RAID unless you have a copy on tape (or disk or whatever your backup strategy utilizes).

More than just minor inode or mft corruption, and your raid is worthless until it's reformatted.

Score: 0

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