GitS: SAC SSS Announced For Blu-Ray (US) [Archive]

Chris Beveridge

01-23-2007, 02:38 PM

Any reason why it's $40 ($15 more than the DVD)? Or is that just standard BluRay price for a disc?

Edit: $5 less than the DVD limited edition, so I guess it can't be because it includes the same LE items as that one or anything.

It's not the standard Blu-ray price (there really isn't one, it's like saying is there a standard DVD price when titles are all over the map). But with expected overall low sales compared to what the DVD will do and higher initial expenses for authoring and replication, the price will be higher.

Over time it will drop. This will be similar to how DVD/VHS was. At that time, dub fans were getting their tapes for what, 19.98 to 24.98? Sub fans from 29.98 to 39.98? Now we're getting discs that range from 12.98 (a rarity) to 19.98 to 29.98 and sometimes higher for certain kinds of shows.

something

01-23-2007, 02:40 PM

It's not the standard Blu-ray price (there really isn't one, it's like saying is there a standard DVD price when titles are all over the map).
I meant to ask "average for R1 BD anime" but in retrospect asking that makes no sense, since this is the first one...

icepick314

01-23-2007, 02:42 PM

so do i need to get blu-ray version AND the LE version to get all the stuff or will blu-ray version will contain same material and bonus from LE version?

Chris Beveridge

01-23-2007, 02:42 PM

heh, true enough. For Hollywood movies, it of course varies by studio. Sony for example is doing 28.98 for catalog titles (their standard pricing) and 39.98 for day/date new titles. Fox is doing similar while Disney is doing 34.98. Warner does 29.98 and Lionsgate seems to do a mix.

something

01-23-2007, 02:44 PM

so do i need to get blu-ray version AND the LE version to get all the stuff or will blu-ray version will contain same material and bonus from LE version?
It's pretty definite it will not have things from the DVD Limited Edition, since that goes for $45. They'd have a more expensive BD version if they were also including the LE items.

treatment

01-23-2007, 02:44 PM

http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/6124.php

Yes, I think I just had an orgasm.

July, eh?

Well, guess that's a good thing. I hope to have a BD-player by then. :sd:

Hayate Kurogane

01-23-2007, 04:23 PM

First question that popped into my mind: who's authoring the disc?

I'm possessed of very little information concerning this sort of thing in regards to Blu-ray in general; or rather, I don't really know who handles Hollywood DVDs, and so I have no knowledge of who precisely is handling Blu-ray authoring. Is it just another task that's been taken on by some of the same places? Are there any serious technical hurdles or unreasonable learning curves for doing so?

It's worth noting that speeDVD was among the companies that bothered to take up UMD authoring. I have no idea if it's at all logical to think that this might suggest a willingness to do the same for Blu-ray (which also happens to be another Sony format). If there's nothing seriously prohibitive about Blu-ray authoring, it could be any of the usual suspects (Blink Digital being a likely candidate), or perhaps the work was simply handed off to another company that's already working on Hollywood Blu-ray titles.

Pyocola

01-23-2007, 04:46 PM

DeadlyMessiah

01-23-2007, 04:55 PM

I thought this was a movie, why are they calling it Vol 1?

Anyway, that is great ****ing news!! I'll be getting this on day 1

ic14

01-23-2007, 05:00 PM

*sigh*

Hayate Kurogane

01-23-2007, 05:00 PM

According to this post (http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa132.html#bears) at the Digital Bits, Ascent Media are one of the replicators capable of manufacturing Blu-Ray discs, so I'm guessing it'll be Blink Digital.

I know it's getting to be a little :horse: , but I'm making a sad face right now at the thought of the possibility. :(

I remember seeing it said a while ago when Blu-ray and HD-DVD were really on their way to becoming a reality, and to paraphrase: "Some of these companies often can't manage to author a regular DVD properly, so why should we expect great things with the next generation formats?"

Whoever's working on it, I'd hope that they'd produce a good final product, or that either Bandai or Manga would call BS on it if it was lacking in some way, especially with it being the first U.S.-produced anime Blu-ray release. Bandai especially, after having taken so much (deserved) flak for a number of technical issues and recently making a great effort to resolve or avoid such issues. The last thing either they or us would want, I'm sure, is yet another somehow defective Ghost in the Shell release.

Hayate Kurogane

01-23-2007, 05:01 PM

I thought this was a movie, why are they calling it Vol 1?

As a default due to lack of information about its singular nature, probably.

Hayate Kurogane

01-23-2007, 05:06 PM

*sigh*

Contribute something of substance, or don't contribute at all, please.

Pyocola

01-23-2007, 05:22 PM

To be fair I don't think they've messed up since Appleseed/SAC, or at least for a long time. And when their discs are free of "bugs" and mistakes the rest is usually pretty good, unlike Funimation for example.

I'm more interested in what kind of improvements they're going to take advantage of. Will they just compress the (I assume progressive) HD masters or will they introduce interlacing for no good reason? How will replaced credits be handled, will they still insist on 30fps interlaced for those? And will they do better looking subtitles and will they have any options like the ability to change the colours and so on?

Rhodes

01-23-2007, 05:40 PM

chris has it being 1080i so it should be interlace unless thats just standard placeholder info.

mk2000

01-23-2007, 06:25 PM

I had just finished buying all the R1s :(

Still, great news!

My PS3 and wallet are ready and waiting!

something

01-23-2007, 06:36 PM

I had just finished buying all the R1s :(
Of SSS? You couldn't have bought it already, the DVD was solicited just today with the BD version. Did you mean you bought GitS:SAC?

mk2000

01-23-2007, 06:45 PM

I had just finished buying all the R1s :(
Of SSS? You couldn't have bought it already, the DVD was solicited just today with the BD version. Did you mean you bought GitS:SAC?

You are completely right and I'm completely wrong. :blush:

I misread the news article.

Still, I'm now very excited to see SSS in Blu-ray!

I wonder what codec they will use? Hopefully it will be a two layer disc.

Hayate Kurogane

01-23-2007, 09:45 PM

I'm more interested in what kind of improvements they're going to take advantage of. Will they just compress the (I assume progressive) HD masters or will they introduce interlacing for no good reason? How will replaced credits be handled, will they still insist on 30fps interlaced for those? And will they do better looking subtitles and will they have any options like the ability to change the colours and so on?

It'll be interesting to see how it turns out, whatever happens. While there's always the possibility of a decision to simply play it safe and produce a disc that is technically better but doesn't offer much by way of improvements or enhancements (which wouldn't be a bad thing necessarily), there's also the fact that the format offers the potential for significant improvements and enhancements. Subtitle decisions are of particular interest to me (fingers crossed that no one gets any bright ideas about clever colors or weird unreadable fonts).

kakugo

01-24-2007, 02:09 AM

I own plenty of Manga DVD's... and the thought of them authoring on what's still somewhat experimental technology horrifies me to no end. Granted, that's what I get for liking Angel Cop, Wings of Honneamise, The Guyver, Evangelion and Ghost in the Shell. Anything I'm not interested in they probably author just perfectly. :)

As far as credits being interlaced, I've always been suprised R1 releases would encode credits in interlaced mode when the rest of the show is progressive. Most consumer level editing software lets you encode in 23.97fps, so why R1 studios couldn't IVTC the credits and then encode them that way with credits going at the same framerate on professional level software is simply beyond me. Either way, I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that we get kanji credits followed by English credits afterwards. I'm not assuming it'll happen but I can still hope.

I'm honestly not sure if I'll stick with the SD release on this or not. Some titles I'm just plain waiting on 'till making the jump to HD makes logical and financial sense. Man, this won't be easy. :D

Mazinkaizer

01-24-2007, 01:21 PM

Considering that both the DVD & BD are coming out on the same day, i'll go for the latter since i won'
t have to double dip later to get the superior format in terms of quality of the picture & sound...etc. I am not sure though if it will have the same extras of the DVD SE :sd:

Now i need to buy a PS3 before that day :blush:

Garma Zabi

01-24-2007, 01:24 PM

I own plenty of Manga DVD's... and the thought of them authoring on what's still somewhat experimental technology horrifies me to no end.

Bandai, with the aid of Blik Digital has done all the authoring for the GitS DVD's to date. IIRC, there have been no serious problems with the Second GIG DVDs.

Rhodes

01-24-2007, 03:33 PM

well this no longer matters since manga has stated that they have no plans for a blue ray edition of sss.

should we lock this thread?

something

01-24-2007, 03:40 PM

well this no longer matters since manga has stated that they have no plans for a blue ray edition of sss.
should we lock this thread?
:sd: Yet another "oops" solicitation. How does someone accidentally solicit a disc in a completely new format? Heh, well whatever.

treatment

01-24-2007, 03:51 PM

well this no longer matters since manga has stated that they have no plans for a blue ray edition of sss.

should we lock this thread?

Heh!

I already placed my order yesterday at TRSI! :grr:

DeadlyMessiah

01-24-2007, 05:24 PM

No, Manga just stated they have not "officially" announced it. Maybe this means they are supporting HD-DVD as Bandai had announced.

The Great Bear

01-24-2007, 05:27 PM

Heh!

I already placed my order yesterday at TRSI! :grr:

Ahh, well. There went my chance at using the Manga sale coupon. I only had one Manga disk, but when SSS went up, I thought, okay, I could get both the DVD and the Bluray, and then the one disk (Blood) that I wanted before, and that would be three. But now, only two.

Pyocola

01-24-2007, 05:28 PM

Well, there's usually something to the solicitations even if they're not right, so it'll probably happen later, or we know they are at least thinking about it. I mean the only other explanation would be that it was because of an intern that really wanted to get kicked out or something.

Ingraman

01-24-2007, 06:04 PM

No, Manga just stated they have not "officially" announced it. Maybe this means they are supporting HD-DVD as Bandai had announced.

I hope that's not the case. It would have been my first HD disc, and I don't even own any HD-capable hardware.

For some reason, I can't get excited about HD-DVD. Maybe it's because "HD-DVD" makes it sound like it's just an upgrade to DVD? I did the upgrade thing with S-VHS... It's especially annoying since the only live-action film that I might re-buy (at the moment) is one that I've only seen on the shelves as HD-DVD, and I'd love to see P1, P2, and WoH in HD at some point. I'll just wait to see what happens in the future, or I may never own them in HD.

Oh well. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Sensuifu

01-24-2007, 06:36 PM

could be worse..like betamax. Does not have a nice ring to it, albeit it was technically superior to VideoHomeSystem.

The Great Bear

01-24-2007, 07:55 PM

I mean the only other explanation would be that it was because of an intern that really wanted to get kicked out or something.

There must be something going round with interns involved in anime companies.
*points to Bang Zoom thread*

…

Hopefully, in due course, the "official" announcement of what high def plans there are for GiTS:SSS will be announced, and if it happens, it may well be the first R1 high def title I will buy, and I don't even have a high def player of either flavor yet.

ilmaestro

01-24-2007, 08:12 PM

Oh well, at least that takes away the element of choice between the DVD LE and the Blu-ray for me.

Ingraman

01-24-2007, 09:29 PM

Oh well, at least that takes away the element of choice between the DVD LE and the Blu-ray for me.

They'll announce the hi-def version the day after the DVD (SE/LE) goes on sale and people have purchased it. Or maybe they'll wait until people can't return it to stores a few weeks later. ^_-

Daniel_Perales

01-25-2007, 02:51 AM

Mazinkaizer

01-25-2007, 03:30 AM

Dang it ! here goes my 1st BD title :( oh well it will come out eventually :D

Ingraman

01-25-2007, 04:15 AM

Dang it ! here goes my 1st BD title :( oh well it will come out eventually :D

It might still be my first Bluray disc. With that half-announcement, I probably won't buy either of the DVD releases. Why should I spend money on a DVD when I could have something that should look a lot better? Maybe I'll rent the DVD in the meantime...

The Great Bear

01-25-2007, 08:57 AM

could be worse..like betamax. Does not have a nice ring to it, albeit it was technically superior to VideoHomeSystem.

See. This is the one thing that no one has ever fully explained to me: What makes Beta significantly better than VHS?

Danny

Oh Noes! The Format Wars have been reignited! Run for the hills!
:P

Okay, serious response: I'm not an expert, but as I remember it, Beta had a much higher screen resolution than VHS can manage. Someone with more technical knowledge came come in and give the long and detailed answer.

kuzap

01-25-2007, 10:29 AM

See. This is the one thing that no one has ever fully explained to me: What makes Beta significantly better than VHS?

The short of it is that the first-gen betamax standard was 1hr/tape. Both Betamax (Sony) and VHS (JVC) believed that the consumer wouldn't stand for the quality degredation of moving up to a 4hr tape. RCA at the time demanded 4 hours, and while JVC initially said no, Matsushita (essentially Panasonic) went behind their back and made a 4 hour system anyway, becoming the "LP" mode standard.

Sony was too close to release and too pissed my Matsushita's apparent betrayal to switch sides, so they stuck to their gamble that tape length would lose to image quality, which as it happens, never really made a lot of difference with the TVs of 30 years ago.

something

01-25-2007, 12:40 PM

Sony was too close to release and too pissed my Matsushita's apparent betrayal to switch sides
So, they bet everything on thinking that consumers would be satisfied with one pathetic hour of recording time?

With all the dumb moves they make, I sometimes wonder how Sony is still in business.

Skywise

01-25-2007, 01:08 PM

Beta came out several years before VHS actually, so for a while they had a monopoly on the market. In a way I don't think the Beta/VHS war is an apt comparison to the HD-DVD/Blu-ray one. The situation is way different this time.

ilmaestro

01-25-2007, 03:22 PM

Daniel_Perales

01-25-2007, 04:16 PM

Okay, serious response: I'm not an expert, but as I remember it, Beta had a much higher screen resolution than VHS can manage. Someone with more technical knowledge came come in and give the long and detailed answer.

Well, I know that Beta had a higher resolution than VHS, but not that much. I think that Beta had about 280 lines while VHS tops at 250. But, any extra details that Beta has was all lost when you used the RF (antenna) as your main video output.

Thats why I'm always asking "any significant difference", quality-wise because to me, the video quality of both format looks the same, at least on my tv set at the time (I used both).

Danny

Daniel_Perales

01-25-2007, 04:24 PM

Beta came out several years before VHS actually, so for a while they had a monopoly on the market.

I know. I remember when Sony came out with a TV/VCR console so many years, ago. I think it was a year later when the stand-alone Betamax deck came out.

In a way I don't think the Beta/VHS war is an apt comparison to the HD-DVD/Blu-ray one. The situation is way different this time.

I know. I wonder if it's more like Stereo LPs vs Quadraphonic LPs?

Anyway, I'm taking this way out of topic, so I end it here. :sd:

Danny

quenelf

01-26-2007, 09:32 AM

I know. I wonder if it's more like Stereo LPs vs Quadraphonic LPs?

No! I think it's more like wax tablets vs. slates!

:)

--quen

The Great Bear

01-26-2007, 04:31 PM

I know. I wonder if it's more like Stereo LPs vs Quadraphonic LPs?

No! I think it's more like wax tablets vs. slates!

:)

--quen

What about vellum vs. papyrus?
Or oven baked mud brick tablets vs. stone inscriptions?

Will we never be able to agree on a single medium for communication? Humanity's future depends on it!!

:P

JeffDM

01-26-2007, 08:19 PM

Thats why I'm always asking "any significant difference", quality-wise because to me, the video quality of both format looks the same, at least on my tv set at the time (I used both).

The apparent quality probably won't be much different in the long run, so it comes down to content, cost and features. HD-DVD does have some features not in Blu-Ray, but what I want as much as HD movies is a removable computer storage medium, and Blu-Ray looks to be the better long term prospect because it has more storage per layer.

SamTheMan

01-27-2007, 01:35 PM

Actually I'm quite happy if GitS: SSS will be released on HD-DVD... Blu-ray has regional coding, but HD-DVD doesn't (for now at least). And I happen to live in Europe, so a Blu-Ray version of GitS: SSS would have been redundant for me.

Although I'm going to have both formats soon (PS3 + Xbox360's HD-DVD drive).

Cplhicks

01-27-2007, 10:36 PM

Just a tad more info on the Beta/VHS thing for interest's sake-- I know for a fact (and from experience) that a slightly improved version of standard Beta was (and probably still is, to some very small extent) used in Pro level broadcasts. I'm talking news reports, etc. VHS never had the quality to be used for pro broadcast. Also, let's face it, Beta was smaller and more easily portable than VHS. It was just Sony's arrogance about things and keeping the technology to themselves that lost them a large portion of the format war.

As for GITS-- I really hope it was just a premature announcement, and that they do still plan on a release. Maybe Japan has to announce/release their version first, and Manga overstepped their bounds? I do wonder, however, why it is Volume 1. Are there going to be more made?

something

01-27-2007, 10:37 PM

I do wonder, however, why it is Volume 1. Are there going to be more made?
Just a generic placeholder, it's only one volume and that's it.

ataru moroboshi

01-28-2007, 06:57 AM

I emailed Manga Video recently to ask them if they had any HD DVD plans, and the response was that with a format war going on they were going to wait until it was over before going HD.

Unless I missed something the war is far from over, but HD DVD is somewhat in the lead with more titles available, and superior technology (HDi, widespread VC-1 ise, dual video decoders etc)...

It's all very odd.

Blackraven

01-28-2007, 08:48 AM

Somehow, it is. But Blu-ray is closing the gap (and at a fast rate too). By 2nd Quarter of 2007, we'll get to see who leads the format war.

But in places like in Japan, HD-DVD is on the final stage of its death sentence. With Blu-ray capturing more than 90% of the Japanese HD consumer market, HD-DVD in Japan will be finished within this year (A.D. 2007).

In Europe, I'd say it's even so far (late launch of the Toshiba players over there). In the UK, HD-DVD takes a slight lead while for the rest of Europe, it's Blu-ray dominating. Of course, the PS3 hasn't officially launched yet so we wouldn't know the full extent yet.

As for Australia and New Zealand, Blu-ray has dominated NO QUESTION. With HD-DVD launching four months late (while Panasonic and Samsung launched five months early), Blu-ray has made its mark in Oceania region. The delayed release of HD-DVD over there was a big mistake for Toshiba and the DVDforum. Tuloy, no matter how HD-DVD pushes more, Blu-ray will still lead over there.

And here in Asia, Toshiba is launching only in Q3 (July-September 07) :horse: . PS3 here launches in Q2 (somewhere in April-June) with Hong Kong and Taiwan having it available since November.

We keep continuous watch to see how long can HD-DVD hold on its position with the massive push of Blu-ray in all fronts.

something

01-28-2007, 03:02 PM

But in places like in Japan, HD-DVD is on the final stage of its death sentence. With Blu-ray capturing more than 90% of the Japanese HD consumer market, HD-DVD in Japan will be finished within this year (A.D. 2007).
Even if each country resolves its own format war, it looks like there could still be a lack of uniformity. That would be a rather unfortunate kick in the ass to anyone importing Japanese HD discs if, say, Blu-Ray wins in Japan and HD-DVD wins here in the US. Unless combo players get and stay popular, importers might need to put out the extra expense of having a second player around for the "other" format. Though I guess the price of an extra high def player isn't a big deal to someone who can shell out the money for R2 prices.

ilmaestro

01-28-2007, 05:06 PM

Especially not when your (not necessarily you, specifically) PS3 will play Japanese Blu-ray discs, anyway.

something

01-28-2007, 05:25 PM

ilmaestro

01-28-2007, 05:59 PM

Especially not when your (not necessarily you, specifically) PS3 will play Japanese Blu-ray discs, anyway.
Well, of course, that only works for people who own a PS3 =P For people who don't buy consoles, that doesn't really help. And with the way the PS3 is selling right now, Sony can't really bank on that to spread playback as far as they might have thought.
You're not entirely wrong, but I'd imagine that enough people will buy it to make it a factor.

There's also the fact that if you do 'need' a Blu-ray player at any stage down the road, there will be an easily available option, as in available off the shelf in major high street retailers, for people in the US that will play Japanese discs. And it will be only a few hundred dollars (or less, if it does somehow bomb as a console) in a year or two.

Mazinkaizer

01-29-2007, 05:17 PM

Especially not when your (not necessarily you, specifically) PS3 will play Japanese Blu-ray discs, anyway.

Agreed ! especially for someone like me who is going to buy a Japanese PS3 :) which would still enable me to play US BD discs, unless Microsoft pays more to keep the HD-DVD alive like what they're doing (in a way or another) with the Xbox.

Zanza Hiro

01-30-2007, 03:16 PM

*hands chris towel*

damn, this is fantastic news. read this is on Ollin's blog earlier, was wiggling with excitement

don't currently own any anime on BluRay, this will be a great title to start off with. i can't wait to start reading AoD reviews of HDDVD and BluRay anime along with SDDVD reviews, this is an exciting yr for us :D