StudioCanal HD DVD releases encoded at 1080p 24p = easy imports of Blu-ray exclusives?
StudioCanal, not well known in the US but one of the largest distributors of movies in the world will be releasing films on HD DVD, and now we have confirmation from Microsoft's Amir M. that they will be encoded in VC-1 at 24p, theoretically removing any possible barrier for their being played on US HD DVD players. The main benefit of this of course being that StudioCanal holds the European release rights to many movies currently limited to Blu-ray only distributors like Fox here in the U.S. Unless region coding is adopted by HD DVD, it could be very simple for aficionados to obtain copies of their favorite movies simply by importing them, and perhaps put additional pressure on distributors here to go multiformat to avoid losing sales to importers.We are not aware of any plans yet announced by StudioCanal to release movies on Blu-ray, and with their Vivendi Universal connection plus Blu-ray region coding that may not give US buyers access to Universal content anyway. Of course we have to wait until the titles are actually released and whether or not region coding for HD DVD is finalized, but this could provide a big boost to HD DVD supporters who don't want to be locked out of some of their favorite movies.
[Thanks for the tip Glenn!]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Grubert @ Jul 19th 2006 11:40AM
Two problems with that:
French-language movies will be in French (duh!) with no English subtitles. Maybe French subtitles for the hard of hearing, but that's all.
Most non-French-language titles released by Studio Canal contain forced (non-removeable) subtitles. So if watching a movie with French subtitles throughout bothers you, you're out of luck.
The Jeremy @ Jul 19th 2006 12:32PM
The other factor to consider is that importers will be paying a premium due to the value of the euro being higher than the U.S. dollar.
efralope @ Jul 19th 2006 2:29PM
Are you serious? I doubt France would be the first country HD DVD importers run to for their Studio Canal fix; I'll probably go with the UK, though I think many other countries contain English dialogue on their titles...
I wouldn't be surprised if Terminator 2 for HD DVD from Studio Canal looks better than the Blu-ray release here. They are working with Microsoft to ensure a quality release on their titles, similar to Universal and Warner here in States.
zombieflanders @ Jul 19th 2006 3:50PM
And last but not least, Vivendi Universal *is* a Blu-ray supporter, but in the US they deal mostly with games and music. It's NBC Universal that's HD DVD-only. Wonky, I know, but so are most of the freaky relationships in this format war (see also: Toshiba/Samsung optical, Sony/Toshiba/IBM for Cell, Disney/Microsoft for iHD).
The Jeremy @ Jul 20th 2006 12:34PM
I highly doubt StudioCanal has the rights to various American films for distribution in the U.K. The Hollywood studios tend to hold onto their U.K. rights and parcel flicks out for "foreign" distribution in various non-English speaking places.
But I guess with StudioCanal being an HD-DVD supporter, *Blueberry* won't be released on Blu-Ray for now. I think I can live without that, although *Brotherhood of the Wolf* would seriously rock in HD (Monica Bellucci in HD, yes!). Although it would be nice to see HD masters of the old non-canon "Dr. Who" films that Peter Cushing starred in that were shot in 35mm Technicol(u)r goodness back in the 60s. They looked incredible on vanilla DVD. And I do believe it is StudioCanal that holds the rights to them currently.
Golgot13 @ Jul 20th 2006 12:34PM
All HD DVD titles in Europe will be, in first time,
at 24p because 25i (50Hz) is not approved by DVD Forum
(materiels test and softwares test are not yet available).
Golgot13