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Some interesting Blu-Ray/HD-DVD 'Star Wars' talk - Posted Online Jan, 17

Bill Hunt (thedigitalbits.com) Interviewed Andy Parsons, senior vice president of Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. at the recent Consumer Electronics Show


An interesting ('Star Wars' related) part of the Interview follows below -


BH: It's certainly been a surprise to me. Given that the PSP probably has a fairly limited format life, people still seem willing to buy those same movie titles again in a new format.

AP: Especially if there's a perceived value to them. You know, certain titles seem to have that attached value. If and when 'Star Wars' ever comes out in high-definition... (laughs) I don't think I even need to finish that sentence.


BH: Well, I've heard it straight from Lucasfilm reps that it IS coming eventually. And given that Fox is exclusively backing Blu-ray Disc...

AP: Right. We'll see. (smiles)

L8r

What r u getting at here? That didnt help in the slightest.

That the Star Wars Ulitmate Editions will most likely be released on Blu-ray disc format.
Thats good news.

I would assume so. What do you all think of the chances of an actual "Ultimate Edition" coming out (ie. choose between SE and nonSE, etc.)? I would assume that will never happen, but we can always hope.

I remember reading somewhere that Lucas said he would never re-release the OT without the SE because in his opinion they were unfinished and that's why he went and redid em. So no re-release, ever.

If Lucasfilm did a 30th anniversary DVD all 6 Star Wars films ultimate edition in higher definition, I do believe they would sell. It would be nice if you could order just a better case to hold the prequels or both trilogies together. I know I won't need to re-buy the DVD's on a newer or better format for some time. The quality of the DVD of the original is really good. A few tweaks would be nice, like fixing some matte lines around craft in space, like in Empire you can see moving matte lines from a Star Destroyer in the foreground moving past one in the background. You can see a few matte lines around ships in ANH. And to fix Luke's saber color in ANH. And to fix OB1 and Vader's sabers again, this time make 'em glow. I supposed if they cleaned up the films one more time really good, like fixing the mixed up sabers in ROTS, because of editing and redos Palpatine is using Ani's saber that he took from him in the way the scene was 1st played out. But Palpatine should have his Sith saber the whole time. And the Ani & Ob1 duel, there sabers are shown switching hands because of a few shots cut from the film. It does seem like nit picking once I write all this. These are just minor optical errors that would be nice to have fixed.

As far as Joe Sixpack Consumer is concerned, he *JUST* switched to DVD, so I doubt the mainstream will accept HD/BRD. The studios can hype this stuff as much as they want, but to do it now without even a unified format means there's a good chance neither format will be adopted. And frankly, I don't want them to be. I've spent a lot of money on my DVD's and the idea of them becoming obsolete less than four years later pisses me off.

I thought the concensus was that the next-gen players would be able to play DVDs as well?

Yeah...the market is SWAMPED with DVDs at the moment. Why would the market change to a format when the format they have is good enough for them?

I agree with you there. I think the HD / Blue-ray will just go out like a puff of smoke...just fizz out of existance. It's an over-hyped thing almost like poggs were when I was a kid. It is here today tomorrow (well in a year or two) it'll be gone. I myself definitely won't be switching to the new format for many years to come.

I hope they offer the 12 disc Saga box set in both regular DVD and HD / Blue-ray formats. Ya they'll probably charge more for the HD / Blue-ray sets but I myself and I'm sure a lot of other people would rather just buy the regular DVD set. If they don't offer it in both and offer it just strictly for HD / Blue-ray that will piss me off as well.

Yes. The PS3 will be a BD player and willl be backwards compatible with all dvd's as will every other bd player. Don't know bout HD DVD though, i'd go out on a limb and say yes.

I'm predicting HD/BD won't catch on, but rather be fazed in by the studios and tech companies simply because they're "better".

I wouldn't mind it so much if there was a single HD format, but besides essentially wasting all the money I spent on DVD's since 2000, I'll also be taking a risk on which HD format to support.

Even worse, it looks like the first major release for the HD-DVD format will be Batman Begins... some time in the next few months. That movie was mediocre at best and to think that it'll be their first "big name release"... well, it's just very discouraging.

Nope, I'm definitely not upgrading.