[JP] Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea [ENG SUB/DUB]

[SneakerPimp]

Looks like the Japanese BD will be released in December while the DVD gets released with English subtitles in July... :anger200:
http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090401_80163.html

[Skywise]

They're also releasing a BD of Joe Hisaishi in Budokan - 25 years of Ghibli music:

http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090401_80215.html?ref=rss

I've seen some of it, and it's a must have for anyone who's a fan of the music in the movies. They actually show a lot of clips from the movies themselves, not just from the concert.

[SneakerPimp]

They're also releasing a BD of Joe Hisaishi in Budokan - 25 years of Ghibli music:

http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090401_80215.html?ref=rss

I've seen some of it, and it's a must have for anyone who's a fan of the music in the movies. They actually show a lot of clips from the movies themselves, not just from the concert.uuuh, I'm gonna get this one for sure. Already have the TV broadcast, the Laputa part is absolutely amazing! :nosebleed:

[Apulo]

Looks like the Japanese BD will be released in December while the DVD gets released with English subtitles in July... :anger200:
http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090401_80163.html

no subs on the BD then?

Apulo

[Skywise]

No details on the BD release yet, just that it's coming in December. I think you can be fairly safe as to it having subs when it comes out, given their release history. Mind you, with Ponyo having a theatrical release this summer, the US BD might not be that far off either.

[zipCode]

No specs for the BD yet. Probably will get eng subs though. And I was quite convinced they'll make simultaneous release for this one...

[Vito]

uuuh, I'm gonna get this one for sure. Already have the TV broadcast, the Laputa part is absolutely amazing! :nosebleed:

I agree, I've seen the broadcast. It looks great... now if only they wouldn't have delayed the BD release. This is the first Ghibli movie on blu-ray, right?

[RyGuySays]

ARgh thats so lame that they're spacing the Blu and the DVD out so far.

The movie comes out in the states on August 14, 2009 so we'll probably get it in Dec on Blu here too.

It wouldn't surprise me if the JP BD comes with the dub too. Maybe there okay with putting out the DVDs with subs, cause of region codes, but with BD they wait until Dec when it'll be released here too, maybe another reason they're holding off on the BD. (Probably not but just a though)

[Buster Darkwings]

They're also releasing a BD of Joe Hisaishi in Budokan - 25 years of Ghibli music:

http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090401_80215.html?ref=rss

I've seen some of it, and it's a must have for anyone who's a fan of the music in the movies. They actually show a lot of clips from the movies themselves, not just from the concert.

Man, I wish that concert had included music from Robot Carnival.

[ThomasBellman]

This is the first Ghibli movie on blu-ray, right?

Depends on if you count "Iblard jikan" as a movie or not.

Also, the "Ponyo wa koushite umareta" documentary (How Ponyo was made) will be released on BluRay in July.

[Oniko]

Looks like the Japanese BD will be released in December while the DVD gets released with English subtitles in July... :anger200:
http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090401_80163.html

Ahh, ok. I was getting rather annoyed that there were no solicitations for a Blu Ray release at all. I was gonna be pretty annoyed if it wasn't going to come out on BR at all. I've waited this long, I guess I can wait another five months for it.

[DMThomas]

Did anyone else get a cancel email from Amazon JP (or another retailer) for the Making of Ponyo Blu-ray (12 hour long deal)?

I got one this morning, and both the blu-ray and dvd version are totally gone from Amazon JP.

[Buster Darkwings]

It's been delayed to December: http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090701_298713.html

[DMThomas]

It's been delayed to December: http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090701_298713.html

/Cry

Thanks! I was looking around on that site yesterday trying to find any news.

[Skywise]

It's the extra DVDs and BD that are delayed to December to coincide with the sale of the movie itself on BD. The regular edition of the DVD is still on for release in July.

[Buster Darkwings]

Nobody said otherwise.

[SneakerPimp]

I don't wanna open an extra thread for this, but the Japanese BD for Joe Hisashi's (Hayao Miyazaki's favorite composer) anniversary concert (Joe Hisaishi in Budokan – Miyazaki Anime to Tomo ni Ayunda 25 Nenkan) came with some HD footage of five of Miyazaki's old films.
I took some (=100) full resolution screen shots in case you don't to import the BD just for the few minutes of footage ;)
http://blog.affenheimtheater.de/en/2009/07/11/studio-ghibli-hd-blu-ray-disc-preview-screenshots/

[muhootsaver]

I don't wanna open an extra thread for this, but the Japanese BD for Joe Hisashi's (Hayao Miyazaki's favorite composer) anniversary concert (Joe Hisaishi in Budokan – Miyazaki Anime to Tomo ni Ayunda 25 Nenkan) came with some HD footage of five of Miyazaki's old films.
I took some (=100) full resolution screen shots in case you don't to import the BD just for the few minutes of footage ;)
http://blog.affenheimtheater.de/en/2009/07/11/studio-ghibli-hd-blu-ray-disc-preview-screenshots/

Thanx a lot! I heard about it on 2ch and really wanted to check it out myself. And seriously... they need to hurry up and release these in Blu-ray... orz Howl's Moving castle looks REALLY clean.

[Pyocola]

Nausicaa looks decent but I hope they at least redo the others before releasing them on Blu-ray. Kiki in particular looks terrible.

[Geno]

Nausicaa looks decent but I hope they at least redo the others before releasing them on Blu-ray. Kiki in particular looks terrible.Mononoke also looks really bad. But keep in mind the Blu-Ray footage is in 1080i, and looks to me like it's taken from TV master. Although if I remember correctly Castle of Cagalistro was released in 1080i for what ever reason. :relief:

[SneakerPimp]

The August issue of Preview (http://previewsworld.com/support/previews_docs/orderforms/AUG09_COF.txt) (some kind of retailer magazine) mentions these dates for an US DVD and Blu-ray Disc release.
AUG09 1806 PONYO DVD WS (Net) (C: 0-1-3) 10/28/09 SRP: $19.99 = $
AUG09 1807 PONYO DVD SPEC ED (Net) (C: 0-1-3) 10/28/09 SRP: $32.99 = $
AUG09 1808 PONYO BLU-RAY (Net) (C: 0-1-3) 10/28/09 SRP: $39.99 = $
Don't know if these are the (public) release dates or just some retailer relevant dates.

found via http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/Latest_News#Ponyo_US_DVD.2FBD_Release_Date.2C_Toto ro_Forest_Project

[DeadlyMessiah]

Is Ponyo any good? I just read about it in the newest Game Informer.

As for a Blu-Ray release, I'll just wait for the US one, so it will include the dub (especially since every Disney Miyazaki dub has been excellent thus far).

[Hayate Kurogane]

Is Ponyo any good? I just read about it in the newest Game Informer.

Try asking for a recommendation in the Recommendations Forum (http://www.mania.com/aodvb/forumdisplay.php?f=36) or by searching for details in the General Anime Forum (http://www.mania.com/aodvb/showthread.php?t=70558&highlight=ponyo).

[Skywise]

Specs are out:

http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090901_312030.html?ref=rss

A lot of languages are included, but no English dub. It does have English subs though.

[Apulo]

Nice, most publishers that released DVDs with E-subs decided to drop them in the BR release, good that Ghibli's discs are not among those.

Now, to pester my favourite store Archonia to import them and save me the trouble :devil:

Apulo

[Mazinkaizer]

Specs are out:

http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090901_312030.html?ref=rss

A lot of languages are included, but no English dub. It does have English subs though.

Good enough for me ! Thanks for the heads up :)

[Daimao Raki]

Specs are out:

http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090901_312030.html?ref=rss

A lot of languages are included, but no English dub. It does have English subs though.
ANN is reporting that it will have a dub.

Either way, I'm buying this.

[Skywise]

Meh.. that'll teach me to read all of it instead of just skipping the stuff after the specs (it just tends to contain a synopsis of the content). AV Watch says that the complete North American version will be included as an extra, whatever that means. Was Ponyo edited or changed in any way for the US release?

Here's the complete listing for the contents:

http://wdshe.jp/ghibli/product/data.jsp?cid=870#pcd_30000000000349

[hikaru004]

Meh.. that'll teach me to read all of it instead of just skipping the stuff after the specs (it just tends to contain a synopsis of the content). AV Watch says that the complete North American version will be included as an extra, whatever that means. Was Ponyo edited or changed in any way for the US release?

Here's the complete listing for the contents:

http://wdshe.jp/ghibli/product/data.jsp?cid=870#pcd_30000000000349

The song is different being an English version (http://blog.affenheimtheater.de/en/2009/08/08/disneytized-us-title-theme-ponyo-hayao-miyazaki/) and they modified the plot a tiny bit IIRC from reading other posts.

[Skywise]

But enough for it to be classified as an extra instead of just a different language? That sounds rather invasive.

[Buster Darkwings]

Doesn't Disney change the logos and VA credits and everything to English to make Ghibli films look like they were originally made for North America? That might require a separate encode.

[Skywise]

That's usually handled by seamless branching though, and I've never seen it being mentioned as an extra - it's just been yet another language track.

[Buster Darkwings]

From what I've seen, the Japanese tend to use separate discs rather than seamless branching for Blu-ray. The Terminator 2 Premium Edition had separate discs for the theatrical and extended cuts, while the US Skynet Edition used seamless branching.

[Skywise]

T2 was done by Geneon in Japan though, not Disney/Ghibli. Each studio seems to have their own quirks with how they do things on BD.

[Buster Darkwings]

Well, let us know if you come up with a better theory as to why it's being treated as an extra rather than another language track.

[Kyon]

Well, let us know if you come up with a better theory as to why it's being treated as an extra rather than another language track.I have a theory.

Having seen both the English and Japanese versions of the film, it could be due to the whole scene where Sosuke and his mother communicate with his father's ship in code. Subtitles appeared onscreen in the original Japanese version to translate what is being said.

For the English version as seen in theaters, Disney got a clean print of this scene and overlayed English subtitles over it. Maybe for the Japanese BD, it was not felt to be necessary to add a dedicated English signs-and-songs-only track over the Japanese version or use seamless branching for this particular scene. It sounds like this may be the reason why the English dub is being presented separate from the other language versions.

[LKK]

scene where Sosuke and his mother communicate with his father's ship in code. Subtitles appeared onscreen in the original Japanese version to translate what is being said.

For the English version as seen in theaters, Disney got a clean print of this scene and overlayed English subtitles over it.
As I watched the English version, I wondered how that scene was handled in the Japanese release.

[danhawk]

yet to see this on amazon.jp just wondering if yo could order it and combined shipping with something like tenchi ova box set and have both ship in December?

[Skywise]

Your search-fu could use some improvement ;)

http://www.amazon.co.jp/崖の上のポニョ-Blu-ray-宮崎駿/dp/B0024NJY2G/

If you're having issues finding a title on Amazon, grab the SKU/catalog number from a different site and use that as the search term.

[WTK]

Nausicaa.net (http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/Latest_News):
Your Attention Please: No English Dub on Japanese Ponyo BD

AICN is reporting (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42408) that the December 8 Japanese BD release of Ponyo (http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/Ponyo) includes the English dub, this is not true. The error originates from an AsianBlurayGuide.com (http://www.asianblurayguide.com/news/422/english_subtitled_and_dubbed_ponyo_bd_to_be_releas ed_in_december) article which was quoted by theblurayblog.com (http://www.theblurayblog.com/2009/09/studio-ghiblidisney-ponyo-japanese-blu-ray-bonus-features-release-date-confirmed) which was then quoted by AICN.
The AsianBlurayGuide.com article includes a link to an ANN (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-08-31/ponyo-bd-to-ship-in-japan-with-english-subs-on-december-8) article that has the correct (but misinterpreted) BD details.
--LLin (http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/User:LLin) 00:27, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

[Buster Darkwings]

They're mistaken. The AV Watch article specifically says that the North American version is included: http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090901_312030.html

[Apulo]

Subs are still there I presume?

Apulo

[WTK]

Nausicaa.net (http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/Latest_News):
Your Attention Please: No English Dub on Japanese Ponyo BD

AICN is reporting (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42408) that the December 8 Japanese BD release of Ponyo (http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/Ponyo) includes the English dub, this is not true. The error originates from an AsianBlurayGuide.com (http://www.asianblurayguide.com/news/422/english_subtitled_and_dubbed_ponyo_bd_to_be_releas ed_in_december) article which was quoted by theblurayblog.com (http://www.theblurayblog.com/2009/09/studio-ghiblidisney-ponyo-japanese-blu-ray-bonus-features-release-date-confirmed) which was then quoted by AICN.
The AsianBlurayGuide.com article includes a link to an ANN (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-08-31/ponyo-bd-to-ship-in-japan-with-english-subs-on-december-8) article that has the correct (but misinterpreted) BD details.
--LLin (http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/User:LLin) 00:27, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
Correction: English Dub Present on Disc 2 of Ponyo BD

Walt Disney Home Entertainment Japan and Studio Ghibli formally announced (http://wdshe.jp/ghibli/special/lineup2009/ponyo.jsp) the Ponyo (http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/Ponyo) BD bonus features. The English dub is present on this disc but not the main disc:
North American edition (English Dub, Japanese Sub)
Trailer: 2 versions
TV spots: 11 versions
Collaboration TV spots: 3 versions
NTV TV spots: 2 versions
Credit-less ending: 5 minutes
Theme song announcement press conference: 11 minutes
Voice recording: 25min
The first day opening greeting: 10 minutes
Hayao Miyazaki interview: 15 minutes
A talk between Toshio Suzuki and Toshio Tsuchiya: 30 minutes
NTV's program NEWS ZERO spin-off "Five genius craftsmen": 49 minutes
A collection of document film "Hayao Miyazaki wise remarks": 40 minutes
A collection of document film "Venice International Film Festival": 13min
Theme song music video: 4min
Theme song music video (Korean edition) : 3 minutesThanks to T. Ishikawa for the news.
--LLin (http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/User:LLin) 03:03, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

[Buster Darkwings]

They should really get someone who can actually read Japanese, the specifications say nothing about a Disc 2, it all appears to be on one disc: http://wdshe.jp/ghibli/product/data.jsp?cid=870#pcd_30000000000349

[Skywise]

Yeah that's the link I already gave, where it's listed as an extra. Nothing new in other words.

[Kyon]

This is so confusing!

[Buster Darkwings]

A great read on the production of the Ponyo BD for those who can read Japanese or have the patience for deciphering the output of machine translation: http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/series/avt/20091105_326296.html

It certainly sounds like they're putting a lot of work into the encode, but I can't help but feel that it would be easier and look better if they kept the extras on a separate disc and had a higher bitrate with less filtering, even if this special filtering they developed doesn't remove high-frequency detail as it seems to say in the article. "We brought out the softness without making it soft (amakusezu ni yawarakasa wo hikidashita)"? Seems like they're trying to emulate the look of a digital production transfered to film while still doing a direct digital transfer.

I do actually prefer the look of hand-painted cels to digital anime, so slight filtering might make it look more like cels. Which could be better in some ways, I suppose. I remember being able to see individual pixel structures in The Simpsons Movie on Blu-ray, which could be what they mean by the "hardness" of digital anime.

But since Ponyo was animated in 2K (I'm assuming 2048x1024), it would seem to me that simply removing 64 pixels on each side and adding thin black bars on the bottom to bring the resolution to 1080p would result in a 1:1 pixel ratio, giving a more accurate representation of the DLP theater showings with minimal loss of the original picture. I believe some live-action Blu-rays with 2K masters have already done this. One would think that the original production already had anti-aliasing, etc. applied to keep the digital nature of the animation as subdued as possible.

I guess they gotta save something for a double dip or for whatever format succeeds Blu-ray, though.

[Skywise]

It's getting kind of late here so I don't have the patience to go through the article - does it actually say that they animated it in 2048x1024? I've seen production shots from Spirited away, and the resolution they used was way higher than that (3000-something x 2000-something).

[Buster Darkwings]

It says 2K, no resolution specified. 3000x2000 would be approaching 4K, wouldn't it? That seems like an awful high resolution when more recent movies like Toki wo Kakeru Shojo were animated at around 720p.

[reanimator]

I felt the PONYO trailer on the SNOW WHITE bluray looked spectacular -- if it's any indication of what's coming in March I'll be quite pleased. I'm watching on a 10ft wide screen, and to my eyes the colors and resolution seemed virtually identical to what I saw in the theater.

The trailer for Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST looked pretty outstanding too :)

[SneakerPimp]

Maybe somebody could translate these scans and confirm the absence/presence of the English dub? :laugh:
http://choppytan777.blog113.fc2.com/blog-entry-344.html

[kakugo]

【字幕】英語 = [Subtitles] English

【収録時間】北米版 本編 [音声：英語／字幕：日本語] = [Extras] Export Version [Audio: English / Subtitles: Japanese]

[Skywise]

Uhh.. that second line actually says

[Run time] North American version, main feature [Audio: English / Subtitles: Japanese]

You mixed Japanese from different parts of the page. I think the line you really wanted was this:

特　典:絵コンテ（本編映像とのピクチャー・イン・ピクチャー）、北米版 本編 [音声：英語／字幕：日本語]

Extras: Storyboard (Main feature with PiP), North American version - main feature [Audio: English / Subtitles: Japanese]

[kakugo]

I think the line you really wanted was this:

Curse you, copy-pasta/strange borrowed laptop! :relief:

But yeah, what Skywise said. The "Main" feature has lossless Japanese audio/English subtitles, while the North Americsn version is included with lossy audio as a special feature.

[muhootsaver]

Wow... and not a single screencap yet. Evangelion had screencaps floating around even before the release date. I would have thought at least someone would have posted screenshots by now, but I guess I was wrong.

[hikaru004]

Wow... and not a single screencap yet. Evangelion had screencaps floating around even before the release date. I would have thought at least someone would have posted screenshots by now, but I guess I was wrong.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

[prnoct90]

Wow... and not a single screencap yet. Evangelion had screencaps floating around even before the release date. I would have thought at least someone would have posted screenshots by now, but I guess I was wrong.

http://ghiblicon.blogspot.com/2009/10/ponyo-blu-ray-screenshots.html

[muhootsaver]

Wow... and not a single screencap yet. Evangelion had screencaps floating around even before the release date. I would have thought at least someone would have posted screenshots by now, but I guess I was wrong.

http://ghiblicon.blogspot.com/2009/10/ponyo-blu-ray-screenshots.html

Those are trailer shots. Unless he got the Blu-ray 2 months ahead of us(actually files are named "trailer", so go figure). On top of that that's not even full 1080p shots.

[muhootsaver]

Wow... and not a single screencap yet. Evangelion had screencaps floating around even before the release date. I would have thought at least someone would have posted screenshots by now, but I guess I was wrong.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

Not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. I'm just surprised that no one has uploaded any screenshots. People from 2ch seem to be happy with the video quality, but that's what they said for Galaxy 999, too. So I just wanted to check out the screencaps. I'm quite curious about the video quality since Mr. Suzuki was saying how he wanted it to look soft yet detailed(yeah, I know...), and because it was made in 4k resolution.

[Rhodes]

Is the content on the 2nd disc also in HD?

Also which version do you need to buy?

Regular BD or Limited Edition BD?

Does the documentary also have English subs?

[SneakerPimp]

Some screenshots have been posted in the Asian Blu-ray Guide comments section:
http://www.asianblurayguide.com/news/455/first_screenshots_and_region_code_update_for_ponyo/

Technical Specs:
Length: 1:40:50
Total Bitrate: 34.02 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 23515 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Japanese: DTS-HD Master / 6.1 / 48 kHz / 4537 kbps / 24-bit
Japanese: LPCM / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
English: Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 256 kbps
French, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese: Dolby Digital / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles: English, French, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese

[hissatsu]

Some screenshots have been posted in the Asian Blu-ray Guide comments section:
http://www.asianblurayguide.com/news/455/first_screenshots_and_region_code_update_for_ponyo/

Technical Specs:
Length: 1:40:50
Total Bitrate: 34.02 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 23515 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Japanese: DTS-HD Master / 6.1 / 48 kHz / 4537 kbps / 24-bit
Japanese: LPCM / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
English: Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 256 kbps
French, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese: Dolby Digital / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles: English, French, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese

Looks very nice as expected. Though I spy grain of some sort. That's bad, right? If only there was some technology to wipe it away. ;p

[muhootsaver]

Some screenshots have been posted in the Asian Blu-ray Guide comments section:
http://www.asianblurayguide.com/news/455/first_screenshots_and_region_code_update_for_ponyo/

Technical Specs:
Length: 1:40:50
Total Bitrate: 34.02 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 23515 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Japanese: DTS-HD Master / 6.1 / 48 kHz / 4537 kbps / 24-bit
Japanese: LPCM / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
English: Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 256 kbps
French, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese: Dolby Digital / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles: English, French, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese

Forget Eva. This is probably going to be the reference material for digitally made anime(though to be accurate, Ponyo was half digitally made) until next Ghibli BD.

Thanks for the screencaps

[muhootsaver]

Looks very nice as expected. Though I spy grain of some sort. That's bad, right? If only there was some technology to wipe it away. ;p

Probably intentional.

[Pyocola]

Looks like a 5/5 from the screenshots. Yeah there's a slight bit of noise in the hair and such, but it's possibly intentional to give it some texture.

Now I just hope the US Disney release will be every bit as good (pre-ordered it at $27.99 from Amazon to support Ghibli on Blu-ray, but I'm hoping they'll get enough pre-orders to drop the price a bit before release.)

[hissatsu]

Looks very nice as expected. Though I spy grain of some sort. That's bad, right? If only there was some technology to wipe it away. ;p

Probably intentional.

I'm sure it's intentional. I'd be very surprised if they started screwing around with video on Ghibli releases. Anyway, it looks great. Too bad I'll have to wait until the end of the month to watch it for myself.

[Buster Darkwings]

Wow... and not a single screencap yet. Evangelion had screencaps floating around even before the release date. I would have thought at least someone would have posted screenshots by now, but I guess I was wrong.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

Not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. I'm just surprised that no one has uploaded any screenshots. People from 2ch seem to be happy with the video quality, but that's what they said for Galaxy 999, too. So I just wanted to check out the screencaps. I'm quite curious about the video quality since Mr. Suzuki was saying how he wanted it to look soft yet detailed(yeah, I know...), and because it was made in 4k resolution.

It says 2K in the AV Watch article I linked to eariler in the thread, not sure where that guy on 2ch is getting 4k2k (does even Pixar animate at that high of a resolution?), but I haven't watched any of the Ponyo extras.

[kakugo]

Pixar's first 2k title was Cars, so I doub they've doubled their render resolution in less than 5 years.

[hissatsu]

(Edit: The English audio is accessible by going through the extras menu - Thanks Skywise)

Anybody else watch their copy of Ponyo yet? Looks like there of a lockout with regards to the audio. All audio tracks can be accessed from either the main or popup menu - every language except for English - it's not there on either menu. You can see the English track using the audio button, but can't change audio track via the audio button. So it seems the English track is there (in DD) but can't be accessed aside from using a PC and AnyDVD HD or some other similar solution (or a Blu-ray player hacked to ignore lockouts like this - if any exist). Subtitle tracks can be freely changed either via menu or subtitle button. No big deal for me as I have no interest in the English audio, but it will probably bother those who wanted to hear the English dub. Now as to why they did this, I would assume it's Disney's decision since their release is months off (and it looks like a last minute decision since the audio track appears to be there on disc). Really pointless as blu-ray rips with dual audio and sub were up just a few days after Japanese release date.

This is all on an Oppo BDP-83 with latest non-beta firmware. On the plus side, the video looks absolutely pristine, which is nice after all the recent less than stellar releases from a certain company.

[Skywise]

Try going through the extras menu, since it was announced as an extra. They probably did it that way so they could do branching properly.

[hissatsu]

Try going through the extras menu, since it was announced as an extra. They probably did it that way so they could do branching properly.

Ah, you're right, the English dub is only accessible through the extras menu - didn't think to look there. Though if you can only read enough kanji to recognize 英語 (English) you might have a hard time finding it. It's listed as:

北米版　本編再生
(Hokubeiban honpen saisei - Play US Edition)

It's the second selection down on the left.

[Meguel Sanchez]

does the regular edition have english audio or is it just the special edition?

[hissatsu]

Both. The movie disc is the same for both.

[ic14]

For whatever reason it has forced Japanese subs.

Was quite amusing to see "B A K A" spelt out on screen though.

[hissatsu]

For whatever reason it has forced Japanese subs.

Was quite amusing to see "B A K A" spelt out on screen though.

They're not forced subs, it's part of the video itself. It's only for the morse code. I'm going to assume very few people know morse code now.

[Apulo]

Any suggestions where to buy this Japanese disc within the EU? I'd rather not have the hassles of dealing with customs (though it should pass without a problem, customs here has a few annoying racketeering schemes going).

Thanks

[WTK]

via muhootsaver (http://muhootsaver.tistory.com/1373) | Amazon Japan listing (http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B005GIRMQQ)
Repackaged Ponyo Blu-ray scheduled to be released on 11/16. 7140yen. Same content. New cover art (link (http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/img/avw/docs/467/103/html/wds03.jpg.html)). Amazon pre-order link (http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B005GIRMQQ).

Gedo Senki (http://muhootsaver.tistory.com/1375) and Howl's Moving Castle (http://muhootsaver.tistory.com/1374) BD are being released on the same date.

Specs:
- Audio:
Japanese: LPCM 2.0, DTS HD 6.1ch
French, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese: Dolby Digital 2.0ch
English (It contains North American version of the film, so I'm guessing it's included)
- Subs: Japanese, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Chinese

Special features/Bonus materials:
- Full North American version of the film
- Production sketch, theme song premiere, non-credit ending (long version), after recording, first day premiere, Interview with Miyazaki Hayao, Talk event (Suzuki X Tsuchiya), Nihon TV news ZERO spin off, Miyazaki Hayao quotes, Venezia International Film Festival clip, etc.
- Trailer
- Special package

(source (http://forest.kinokuniya.co.jp/ItemIntro/680444))

[MRlinky]

If they give it that minimalist look, I'd buy it again. It would be my first double-dip of international proportions.

[Rhodes]

bah this will be the only movie that looks odd compared to the rest then :(

not gonna double dip for only packaging. sucks thou... this will be the red headed cousin of the set.