DVDizzy Forum

Escapay wrote: 145 minutes of movie + 112 minutes of bonus features = 257 minutes of content = More than a dual-layered disc can handle (at most, they can take 240 minutes, but for best quality, most try and keep it at or under 180)

Scaps, the theatrical version of OOTP is 139 minutes.

Escapay wrote:I'm *thisclose* to joining azul and simply getting the single-disc and waiting (impatiently) for the eventual megaboxset, but at the same time, I don't want to miss out on "Trailing Tonks" and that editing featurette. And the giftset bonus disc is tempting too, fluffy or serious it may be. *sigh* what's a fan to do?

You could borrow the second disc from a friend or just wait for it to be uploaded on YouTube. I bet it will be up the day it's released.

A to Z, you'll be sixteen going on 017 wrote:

Scaps got his numbers wrong wrote: 145 minutes of movie + 112 minutes of bonus features = 257 minutes of content = More than a dual-layered disc can handle (at most, they can take 240 minutes, but for best quality, most try and keep it at or under 180)

Scaps, the theatrical version of OOTP is 139 minutes.

Whoops! I was in a rush and threw out a number. Either way, I was only 6 minutes off, and it'd still be too much for one disc.

Magic Al and his Collection of Wands wrote:just wait for it to be uploaded on YouTube.

Yeah, I'd love to watch bonus features smaller and fuzzier on my computer monitor.

Sadly, I'm sure that will be what I end up doing as I don't want to spend $34.99 (minus first week discount) on what is such a lacking release.

ETA:

DVDTimes have announced the materials on the giftset bonus disc:

-2001 International TV Special: A Glimpse Into the World of Harry Potter
-2002 HBO First Look Special: Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets Revealed
-2004 HBO First Look Special: Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban: Something Wicked This Way Comes
-2004 ABC Special: The Making of Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban
-Interview with Alfonso Cuaron (in Spanish, subtitled)
-2005 ITV/Granada Special: Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire: Behind the Magic
-2005 ITV/Granada Special: Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire: Some Animal Magic
-2005 HBO First Look Special: Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire: Dark Matters, New Masters
-2007 International TV Special: Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix: The Rebellion Begins
-2007 HBO First Look Special: Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix: Fulfilling a Prophecy

So it is fluff. But it may be fun informative fluff. Then again, half of these are HBO First Look fluffumentaries...

Scaps

Another bit of Potter-related DVD news:

And finally films 1-3 will also be re-released individually at a new low price ($14.97 SRP each) complete with a set of four trading cards specific to each film. Film number 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will also be available with trading cards but the low price of $14.97 SRP is valid only for 60 days, after which it well sell for $19.97 SRP.

I thought the WB was going to keep them out of print and increase demand for the discs, but instead they're confusing the buyers. And unless the re-releases of the first two films are in Amaray cases, there's no reason for me to rebuy it again.

Good to know my hunch that the bonus disc was just made of TV specials was right. Considering I've seen most of those specials several times a piece (and that the EPK interviews from them show up in the actual DVD contents for each respective film minus movie 1), I'm passing on that bonus disc.

As for the Potter re-releases, that also confuses me. I figured they were OOP to pave the way for definitive editions, not price-reduced re-issues. I admit that I'll be tempted if the first two films arrive in Amaray cases, but considering how late in the series we are and how potentially close we are to mega editions, I'm going to restrain myself.

Excess of cap paying wrote:

Magic Al and his Collection of Wands wrote:just wait for it to be uploaded on YouTube.

Yeah, I'd love to watch bonus features smaller and fuzzier on my computer monitor.

Is it really worth $5 more for "Trailing Tonks"? Then again...Tonks is kinda pretty and would be worth $5 more for a higher resolution.

Oh please WB, Harry Potter 1-3 sold for $3 a piece back in 2005(?) on Black Friday! (But yes, it is tempting to get them just for the case.)

Preordered the box set on Blu-Ray today direct from Warner. MSRP $149.99, selling from Warner direct for $110.95...

What's that, you say? Amazon is selling it for $104.95? But wait! Using coupon code RNFS, good for 25% off your Warner direct purchase until 9/30, I'll be upgrading my whole Harry Potter collection (and acquiring OOTP) for the grand total of $83.21, or $16.64 per film.

Commerce can be sweeeet.

Why'd you buy the five film set, when we all know the WB is going to milk the franchise dry once the final film is released? Oh well...

I looked on the Warner website, and it seems that they're repackaging the movie-only discs from the first four films in Amaray cases (they also tout O-ring packaging, which Scaps hates), because the new editions have one disc sticking out from the packaging. A waste if you ask me...

I bought the gift set because I don't want to wait until the final film is released---that would be, what, 2009? And I want to enjoy the holiday season for <i>2007</i> by watching the Potter movies in high definition. Not counting the bonus discs and extras, I paid a little more than 16 and a half bucks per film, which I'm quite happy with since most BDs list for $25-30 (and Disney BDs run about 5 bucks more); even Amazon's discounted pre-order price is $19.95 per film. I could have gone through and ordered each item separately, I guess...but my way took less time . And the packaging doesn't mean much to me anyway: for the next 4 years or so I'm still going to have treat my collection like a rental store, keeping cases on the shelves and discs in a big sleeve binder, because my lovely daughters destroy packaging in the process of admiring it. I doubt most collectors would approve of letting preschoolers handle their Walt Disney Treasures, but I love the fact that my 4-year-old has favorite Mickey, Donald, Goofy & Pluto shorts and can tell me which ones they are. (At least I can be secure the kids will have a lot more work doing permanent damage to the BDs than the standard DVDs.)

If anyone is interested: RNFS is the coupon code used, although JLBM is supposed to work as well. That gives you 25% off your purchase direct from Warner until the end of September. Although I wouldn't get excited about ordering any current releases and expecting them to arrive any time really soon; Warner's apparently been going through a major computer systems overhaul that has nearly a month's worth of orders backed up and a lot of folks complaining about it.

Here's the official rundown on the HD-DVD and Blu-ray releases, with the movie being on HD-30 and BD-50 discs as expected. Disappointingly, the HD-DVD release will be a combo release (I suppose the HD version in the box set won't be dual-sided).

HD-DVD/DVD Combo Format:

Side A: HD-DVD
1080p 2.40:1 High Definition Video
Audio: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus: English 5.1, French 5.1 (Dubbed in Quebec), Spanish 5.1
Subtitles: English, French and Spanish
- All the extra features as on the 2-disc DVD, plus the "In Movie Experience", additional featurettes, and the ability to compile your favorite scenes into a montage

Side B: Standard Definition
2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Languages: English 5.1, French 5.1 (Dubbed in Quebec), Spanish 5.1
Subtitles: English, French and Spanish
No special features

Blu-ray Disc:

1080p 2.40:1 High Definition Video
Languages: English PCM 5.1 Uncompressed Audio; Dolby Digital: English 5.1, French 5.1 (Parisian), French 5.1 (Dubbed in Quebec), Spanish 5.1, Japanese 5.1, Danish 5.1, Dutch 5.1, German 5.1, Italian 5.1, Swedish 5.1, Flemish 5.1, Catalan 5.1
Subtitles (for main feature and select bonus features): English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish and Catalan
- English, German, and Italian SDH subtitles (main feature only)
- All of the extra features from the 2-disc edition in HD (save for "The Secrets of Harry Potter" and "Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing") plus "Focus Points: Featurettes and Production Diaries" (in HD)

Wow... I thought Blu-ray was region exclusive now. It seems that they're using the very same disc for all possible regions (A and B at the very least) because of the numerous language and subtitle options. I think I may upgrade to Blu-ray just to watch the movie in numerous languages, particularly in Japanese, German and Italian.

What's so bad about a dual-sided disc? Is it because there is no art on one of the sides? I'm sure WB can invent a way to put art on one of the sides and make it still be able to play in the player.

I think I am going to go for the HD-DVD version because my parents are less likely to get the Blu-Ray player after buying a new tv already. I know Blu-Ray is better, but I really don't need the picture to be that clear.

azul017 wrote: Wow... I thought Blu-ray was region exclusive now. It seems that they're using the very same disc for all possible regions (A and B at the very least) because of the numerous language and subtitle options. I think I may upgrade to Blu-ray just to watch the movie in numerous languages, particularly in Japanese, German and Italian.

Why would anyone want to watch a movie in different languages? We get European languages all the time on Region 2 DVDs and trust me, you'll soon get fed-up with it.

It's just funny to see how the international dubbing doesn't match up with the actors' lip movements. There was a similar feature on the 2-disc edition of the first movie that allowed one to view a scene (the scene where the trio question Hagrid after the Quidditch match) in English, Spanish, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Slovensky, or Italian -- it was just a blast.

In the R1 releases of the Potter movies, most of the movies were limited to just one singular language dub (Spanish for the US editions or Quebecois-French for the Canadian version) and three subtitle options. It's nice to have variety if you're bored and can't find anything else to do.

magicalwands wrote:What's so bad about a dual-sided disc? Is it because there is no art on one of the sides? I'm sure WB can invent a way to put art on one of the sides and make it still be able to play in the player.

Dual-sided discs are bad because they're much more prone to scratches and warping (and there is technology available to make HD-DVD/DVD combo discs single-sided but they haven't perfected it yet). And die-hard home-theater enthusiasts scoff at the combo discs since they already have HD-DVD players, so what's the point with an inferior version with less resolution on the flipside? I don't see why they would be against it, because it's an incentive for people to upgrade to HD when they're ready yet can still play the DVD side in their regular players. Blu-ray doesn't have that advantage, although they do have a broader reach in the marketplace as long as catalog releases are concerned.

And once the HD-DVD is out for more than six months, Warners is going to release non-combo HD-DVDs because it is no longer an official new release. They're doing that with all the previous combo discs, like Superman Returns, Lady in the Water, The Ant Bully, The Departed, The Lake House, etc..

azul017 wrote:Dual-sided discs are bad because they're much more prone to scratches and warping (and there is technology available to make HD-DVD/DVD combo discs single-sided but they haven't perfected it yet). And die-hard home-theater enthusiasts scoff at the combo discs since they already have HD-DVD players, so what's the point with an inferior version with less resolution on the flipside?

Well if you scratch the DVD side, what does it matter?

Personally I like the Combo discs. It means I can watch the main movie in my living room in HD, but probably watch some of the extras in bed on my bedroom set up. I work/travel long hours (upto 15 per day) so I spend as much of my non-working waking life lying in bed than up and about most weekdays!

Plus, I'll be taking some of my combo's to my parent's house at Xmas for my mother to watch.

magicalwands wrote:I think I am going to go for the HD-DVD version because my parents are less likely to get the Blu-Ray player after buying a new tv already. I know Blu-Ray is better, but I really don't need the picture to be that clear.

If picture quality is not a concern, what is the incentive to buy into either high-definition format at all?

The Leaky Cauldron has posted that there will be more special features on the standard-definition release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, because the BBFC has posted ratings for the following features:

- The Rebellion Begins (23:10) - features interviews with Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman and Daniel Radcliffe
- Fulfilling a Prophecy (13:00) - based on the HBO special behind-the-scenes look at the fifth movie

Well, it's not much, but at least there's more extras on the second disc than expected. I was half-expecting more deleted scenes to be included or better yet, an audio commentary...

A big heads-up on the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix DVD release: the DVD has been released in Chile and now they have video and menu captures of the first disc. Granted, the U.S. and U.K. version will be slightly different, but the disc layout is as follows:

- The main menu has a similar layout like the previous film has, only that it has the scene where Harry and Mr. Weasley go down to the Ministry in the telephone booth. Once the booth is down in the Ministry, there is a closeup of the booth opening. The film's logo shows up and then moves to the left of the screen, shrinking as it goes. Then the huge poster of Fudge is unfurled, which then changes to moving scenes of the movie set to music from the U.S. theatrical trailer (and a portion of Nicholas Hooper's score). The options appear at the bottom of the screen.
- There are only three options on the first disc: "Play Movie", "Scene Selection" and "Languages"
- The movie is split into 32 chapters... the Chile edition doesn't have chapter titles (just numbers) although the U.S. and U.K. versions will have them.

Here is the link to video of the main menu and Harry Latino has stills from the DVD menus. Check them out!

Thanks for posting, azul. WB usually puts their trailers on the same disc as the film itself. Since I see no trailer option for Order of the Phoenix, I can only assume we're not getting any. Ah, well. At least we get (most of) it on the main menu. I'll consider the lack of trailers as another sign pointing at extended edition sets for these films, especically since WB is usually good at including at least one trailer (though they've been slacking off lately with new release titles).

In the UK, HMV stores are offering a 'Dulux Edition' (sorry if that is spelt wrong), and it features an exclusive cover.

Its the poster of the battle beginning, where the DA are on one side, and Death Eaters on the other. The cover features the side with the DA.

Just thought you guys would like to know! I'll be getting it there for this cover I think.