Hey everyone…I’m new here. I’ve bee trying to find information on upcoming Blu-ray or HD DVD releases…even if it’s only for the biggest titles like Mag 7 or the $'s trilogy. Has anyone seen anything on these?
I haven’t seen any spag until now. But slow, gringo. These are the beginnings and those are the discs of tomorrow. So surely lotta spags will be released.
I do not think it will be cost effective for companies to release the less well known Spaghetti Western titles to these formats for a while, and probably not for the average consumer aswell.
This will not apply to the likes of films like the Leone films where of course there is more money to be made.
But I do wonder how much the average Spaghetti title will be improved in picture and sound quality when you are not dealing with 100% source material many of the times.
Would it perhaps be the case of the software becoming to good for the source material ?
You could be right. But that would mean that they release only movies with best available masters and hella lotta new movies. So for Spags you have to use VHS and DVDs…
Interesting discussion. With the advent of every new media fewer ‘genre’ movies have actually been released. Look at how many spaghetti westerns are available on VHS. Tons and tons and millions and in various different editions. Now look at dvd. Here we have true mostly better versions but very few releases. Many movies haven’t and will not surface and most will have one release only world wide.
Now I’m afraid that this tendency will continue with the advent of the new media. Only the top-spaghettis (Leone’s and probably not much else) will probably initially (in the first couple of years) be released but the question is how many will then pop up. In reality it makes little sense releasing them on such high-storage media due to the bad quality of most source prints so as long as the companies keep putting out new spaghetti western DVDs I’m happy. BR and HD-DVD aint for the spaghetti western crowd.
maybe the Dollars films and GBU at some point, but the rest, i mean, the quality is usually horrible enough even on DVD, imagine all those blurry images and scratches in HD… shudders
I think the 4 Leone films that MGM own (Fistful, FAFDM, GBU and Dynamite) are planned for Blu-Ray sometime in 2008 - certainly a few of those are having Italian releases on both formats soon. OUATITW is due to be unveiled in remastered form at the 2008 Venice film festival, so I’d expect to see a hi-def transfer of the restored elements (and hopefully the longer cut too) then.
I am extremely happy to stay with
[b] DVDS[/b]
as long as the source material is remastered/from digital negatives, stereo sound maybe
I doubt that on these new expensive HD Dvd or Blue Ray anything of “quality” will be
released, except for the usual critically “acclaimed” yawning/ pretentious films , which I already avoid on Dvd anyway.
My bet though for the format that will triumph is £5 bet on HD DVD 
If that comes out on blu-ray i will sell stuff to get a ps3 as quick as i can.
I haven’t braced either format yet but i reckon blu-ray will be the one.
My Name Is Nobody and For A Few Dollars More have been released in Italy in both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. I think the other Leone movies will follow soon.
Unfortunately only in Italian. 
EDIT: Forgot to mention that since Paramount owns OUATITW outside Italy?, unless the Italians put English soundtrack on their release (or Paramount changes their choice of disc type), the English version of the movie will probably be available in HD-DVD only.
I saw new Italian DVD releases of FAFDM, GBU, DYN and ONCE UPON … on italian on-line shops (Videociak, DVD.It) and they’re not expensive (1 disc = 9,99 €, special editions, with a booklet, 18,99 €); I’m waiting for reviews and reactions from italian friends to order them. But, as said by some here on the forum, they only have Italian audio.
Don’t expect too much of the longer cut of ONCE UPON …; the italian edit has always been longer and was already available on an older DVD which I own. It becomes by no means a different movie, let alone a better one. Some scenes last longer (for instance the opening scene), some sequences have alternative shots and one or two scenes (taken from the chopped up version from the original release in the 60’s) have been included. I would order this new DVD because of italian subtitles HOH, lacking on the older DVD. That older DVD has excellent sound quality as far Morricone’s score is concerned, but dialogue sounds rather muffled. Some sites mention a uncompressed PCM 2.0 soundtrack for the new DVD (others only DD), which could well be a large improvement over those fake 5.1 soundtracks we’re familiar with.
[quote=“SARTANA DJANGO, post:8, topic:793”]I am extremely happy to stay with
[b] DVDS[/b]
as long as the source material is remastered/from digital negatives, stereo sound maybe
I doubt that on these new expensive HD Dvd or Blue Ray anything of “quality” will be
released, except for the usual critically “acclaimed” yawning/ pretentious films , which I already avoid on Dvd anyway.
My bet though for the format that will triumph is £5 bet on HD DVD :D[/quote]
That would be great for a start. Even though this material originates from 35mm, current DVD cannot pull all the detail out…at least not for my 7 foot screen.
Thanks for the info everyone, and have a great Christmas.
it is enormously expensive and hard for source material to meet DVD quality. I have a hard time believing that all that source material can be made fit to meet High-Definition quality. look at the OUATITW DVD, it looks okay but the bitrate is so low, on a big screen, the material looks very low-res and blurry, others are not too much better. On a high def media, you’d recognize every single scratch probably…
I’d be happy about all good and mediocre spaghetti dvds appearing in KOch Media DVD quality, that’s more than you can ask for already, that company is risking a lot by releasing those, considering the minimal target audience
Just been reading that at the end of May 2008 Warner Bros. Entertainment will no longer be releasing films on the HD DVD format.
Blu-ray and standard DVD issues will only be issued.
http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1700383,00.html
Yeah, it seems that Blue Ray will be the winner. Not the badest idea, cause Blue Ray has a higher capacity.
well capacity is not the only factor.
for one thing, HDDVD didn’t have a region code…, and it’s cheaper to produce, because DVD production equipment only needed to be slightly modified
It now looks like I will lose my £5 bet on HD-DVD, as Blue Ray will be the winner.
As I stated though I have no interest or reason to ever buy a BR Player or a BR Disc.
I am extremely happy with the DVDS that are issued from original masters/negatives
[quote=“Sebastian, post:16, topic:793”]well capacity is not the only factor.
for one thing, HDDVD didn’t have a region code…, and it’s cheaper to produce, because DVD production equipment only needed to be slightly modified[/quote]
And HD DVD is compatible with our then old DVDs.
Why has HD DVD no region code? It’s technically possible, or is it not?
yeah, but region codes are the worst idea since the invention of home video. a) those who want to, will find a way to circumvent them anyway and b) overall it will just delay profits, instead of making money now with exports, buyers will have to wait till a disc is released in their region…
i just hate all these restrictions
Me too, me too!