U-control picture-in-picture makes a comeback on The Mummy Returns Blu-ray disc
When Universal releases The Mummy Returns July 22 on Blu-ray, expect a return of the studio's U-control features with exclusive content not seen on the previous HD DVD release. Accompanying all the previously seen extras, Blu-ray viewers get a special picture-in-picture track with behind the scenes footage and filmmaker interviews.The 50GB disc will also have a DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio track, whether or not any of this makes it a better movie this go-round remains to be seen.
Filed under: Blu-ray
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nfinity @ May 22nd 2008 3:49PM
No need for Blu-Ray version for me to be honest. Already have this on HD DVD and looks and sounds spectacular.
daaper @ May 22nd 2008 4:18PM
uh, thanks for the info?
JimC @ May 22nd 2008 4:38PM
HD DVD? What? I thought SD DVD Super scaled was the shiz? I'm truly disappointed...
Nfinity @ May 22nd 2008 4:41PM
Nope.. I'm just saying.. I have the movie, it's in full 1080p, real interactivity, real PIP and I paid like $12 for it.
I see no reason why I need to pay $25-$30 for this copy that's not even real PIP.
DrXym @ May 22nd 2008 4:48PM
"Nope.. I'm just saying.. I have the movie, it's in full 1080p, real interactivity, real PIP and I paid like $12 for it. I see no reason why I need to pay $25-$30 for this copy that's not even real PIP."
The Blu Ray disc has full 1080p, real interactivity and real PIP, it says so right there in the link if you bother to read it. As for price, it is unconfirmed, but it seems rather unlikely you would have to pay more than $25 for it from Amazon or similar.
Admittedly that's not as cheap as $12, but then Blu Ray isn't a dead format. How much did it sell for when HD DVD titles weren't in a firesale? Were you also complaining about the price of HD DVD titles back then too?
daaper @ May 22nd 2008 4:48PM
I see, your comment was just weird. Like the answer to a question nobody asked...
Mr. E @ May 22nd 2008 4:59PM
JimC, haven't you figured out the logic yet? Nfinity's pimping upscaled DVD for *future* releases. If it came out at one time on HD DVD, then the 1080p version is just awesome. However, if it comes out on Blu-ray, 1080p is a steaming pile of doggie doo, and upscaled DVD would be just as good. In fact, if it's a DVD Super Upscaled by some not-yet-even-announced Toshiba player, it will be even better than 1080p!
Makes perfect sense to me!
Nfinity @ May 22nd 2008 5:02PM
Where DrXym? Where does it say that?
I'm sick and tired of you fanboys reading shit that's not even there.
First of all special picture-in-picture TRACK might actually mean the same workaround as with other Blu-Ray faux-PIP crap. Nowhere does it say it's real PIP, that's all you buddy.
Second.. I'm watching a movie and I already have it in the same quality on HD DVD as this Blu-Ray.
There's absolutely no need to buy it and spend twice the money for the same thing (at BEST) just because it's on Blu-Ray. HD DVD version of the movie I have won't turn into dust overnight nor will the player I play it on. Mind you, I paid 2 A30s for like $220, still twice less then any Blu-Ray player.. so dead or not, I'm set for at least next couple of years.
LiqwidZero @ May 22nd 2008 5:09PM
Nfinity, you really need to chill out. As a fellow HD DVD enthusiast, I would like to believe that you're taking your enthusiasm a bit to far.
You're just as much a "fanboy" as anyone of these "fanboy"s that you're talking about. I have both Mummy movies and the Scorpion King and about 128 more movies all on HD DVD, but I can honestly see the talking point for this new Blu-ray release. Lossless audio and a new PiP track are both good things, in my opinion.
Please learn to see past bias. Blu-ray is now the future. Stop living in the past--move on.
Nfinity @ May 22nd 2008 5:18PM
Liquid. there's no bias.. there's no reason to buy something for twice the money.. they are offering pretty much the same thing. The difference in audio will be maybe somewhat importnat to like 5% of people.
I personally have over 150 HD DVD movies and about 100 Blu-Ray movies, quite possibly more then any of the blu zealots on here.
Blu-ray is definitely not the future and the numbers are pretty clear. It's dead in the water and new cost-efficient technologies are coming out. It's already in full swing too..
As I said numerous times, my only problme is the ripoff part from Blu-Ray. Get players under $300 (preferably around $200).. get the movies to have maybe 30% premium over regular DVDs and I'm all for it. But to resell me shit for twice or 3 times the price that offers minimal improvement in sound while everything else is the same (and that's even questionable) is ridiculous. That's it.
But you know what, you people just go ahead and continue giving them money. LOL.. heh it's not my money. Once the Blu-Ray goes 6-feet and that's gonna be sooner then later.. all Blu-Ray fanboys will get familiar to what some poor HD DVD consumers felt when BDA paid off and blackmailed retailers and took it away.
What goes around comes around. Didn't anyone teach you that?
2009.. HD Digital Downloads = Mainstream - Blu-Ray = gone or on clearance (just like PSP movies).
Mr. E @ May 22nd 2008 5:46PM
"2009.. HD Digital Downloads = Mainstream - Blu-Ray = gone or on clearance (just like PSP movies)."
Okay, now you've gone into complete fantasyland. MUSIC downloads aren't even truly "mainstream" yet (try 25-30% of the music market compared to CDs). You seriously think HD downloads are going to be mainstream in a year? PSP? PSP movies were a complete downgrade from DVD. No wonder they tanked. If you want a better PSP analogy, consider that HD downloads are a downgrade from Blu-ray (as well as HD DVD).
What goes around comes around? For a better cliche, how about instead letting bygones by bygones? The format war is done. Why keep the bitterness alive?
By the way, I agree that there's not much point in buying this on Blu-ray if you're already satisfied with the HD DVD version. If your player ever breaks you could get the BD then, if you still want.
DrXym @ May 24th 2008 5:02AM
"FFS You complain about BD prices yet you have over 100 movies? Sheesh, you are definitely schizo. When did you decide BD movies were too expensive; after the 101st movie you bought? Sounds like your a top supporter of the format."
It's worse than that. If he actually owns 100 movies then he knows no disc sells for its MSRP. So he is deliberately trying to deceive whenever he drags out his stupid $40 MSRP twaddle.
Rob @ May 22nd 2008 4:22PM
Is this picture-in-picture really that, or is it another copy of the movie with a burnt second screen. I think Blu-ray needs to cut the nonsense with this pseudo pip.
daaper @ May 22nd 2008 4:36PM
Agreed. If I can't turn it on and off during the movie, then it's not true PIP...
Mr. E @ May 22nd 2008 4:51PM
It doesn't say explicitly, but I'm certain this release has to be using the Profile 1.1 capabilities to have one decoder processing the movie and the second processing the PIP content (as an overlay), the same way they did it on HD DVD. We've already had several examples of Profile 1.1-enabled Blu-ray titles, so if Universal isn't using that also, they're just being completely stupid.
EQC @ May 22nd 2008 4:52PM
That was the profile 1.0 work-around. So, provided they're using the profile 1.1 capabilities (and any player that hit the market after Nov. 2007 must be 1.1 capable), this is true PiP.
daaper @ May 22nd 2008 4:57PM
Excellent, I have to admit, I haven't checked out PIP on any of my discs in a long while. Good to see we're past the work-around, then.
Nfinity @ May 22nd 2008 5:06PM
EQC.. so basically because you THINK they might've authored it right, it has to BE real PIP..
Let me dissapoint you. Knowing studios, I'm pretty sure that they will be STILL doing workaround until there's clear and working mass accepted Blu-Ray players. Until then, it doesn't make sense to them to invest effort in experimenting that could cost them more money in returns then anything else.
It's most likely that this PIP is still fake one then real one. I'm sure that Blu-Ray fanboys are simply unable to accept this, but that's really your problem.
DrXym @ May 24th 2008 5:16AM
Nfinity, grow up. Blu Ray quite adequately supports PIP. Unless you have specific knowledge that says its not real PIP, it is safe to assume that it is. Even it weren't that's not Blu Ray's problem, that's Universal's.
"Knowing studios, I'm pretty sure that they will be STILL doing workaround until there's clear and working mass accepted Blu-Ray players."
You know shit about studios. Your track record of stupid statements demonstrates that. And as a self-claimed owner of 100 discs, you should already know that Blu Ray players work just fine already. It makes little sense to do pseudo PIP when they can implement proper PIP for the ever increasing number of 1.1+ players. It's not such a vital feature that it matters either way. Except to whiners like you.
Mr. E @ May 22nd 2008 4:53PM
"whether or not any of this makes it a better movie this go-round remains to be seen." LOL. You can't polish a turd.
To be fair, this movie must have some fans on the Blu-ray side, so now they'll finally be able to enjoy it in top quality with very nice extras. Thanks, Universal.
xemumanic @ May 22nd 2008 5:41PM
There's so many funny things about Nfinity's contradictions. He's already got almost as many Blu-Rays as he has HD-DVDs, a format he considers dead. Not only does that paint him as an obvious hypocrite, it shows how dead his format of choice HD-DVD really was that he almost owns as many.
Not to mention if this so-called Cell-powered upscaling is so great, he'd just stick to DVD.
"I'm sick and tired of you fanboys reading shit that's not even there."
Then there's the PiP thing. Who in their right mind wold assume Universal would do the workaround? They never had to before, they don't need to now.
But oh, thats right, he's not in his right mind, never has. It's made of Jello. The only reason he would want to believe this HIGHLY unlikely turn of events is because its what he would want from the format he hates so much, but has bought so many titles in.
The truth is, we're sick of YOU saying shit that's not even there.
"so basically because you THINK they might've authored it right, it has to BE real PIP.."
To that, we with actual grey matter say.......
so basically because you THINK they might not authored it right, it has to FAKE PiP..
I could go on all day picking your comments apart, they make no sense, nor should that from the ramblings of a insane fanboy like you. Your avatar fits perfectly, it looks just like a insane retard.
Put simply, fuck off. You're a nuisance.
Mr. E @ May 22nd 2008 5:52PM
One thing I'll give Nfinity is that he may be a hypocrite, but at least he's not martyring himself by limiting his purchases to DVD or HD-Lite downloads from now on, the way some of his buddies claim to be doing. It really bums me out to think that people are intentionally denying themselves great entertainment over something so petty. If you're not ready to buy in because of cost, that's one thing, but to conduct a one-man boycott crusade based on some misguided principle is just not worth it, people!
Nfinity @ May 22nd 2008 5:53PM
Only in your sick and totally self-serving mind you can make conclusions as you did.
I own both formats and movies because I'm a tech person and AV aficionado. I bought bought because I wanted movies in 1080p regardless of the format, unlike most of you fanboys who buy brand instead of value.
The reason I'm excited for super-scaling is because it will give HD looking content to EVERYONE who can't afford $500 players and $40 movies. It's called being understanding of other people not just your sorry-ass. It gives significant improvement over upscaled dvds already present on the market.
Obviously you are totally incapable of understanding this and that there are other people out there who would maybe like to watch HD but don't have financial means. You are not the only thing that matters. Only in your sick mind it's ok for other people not to have something because you yourself can afford it. Total disconnect with society.
You also say: "Who in their right mind wold assume Universal would do the workaround? "
Who in their right mind? It's why they went with HD DVD you idiot. They didn't have to do it. With Blu-Ray they are forced to release movies and the standard is completely unfinished you numbnut. For them to release something that won't play right on many players is LOSS OF MONEY for them and a headache. Are you retarded?
It makes more sense for them to do a workaround just like most other Blu-Ray studios did because it's SAFE solution.
You need to fuck off as you are a complete and utter idiot with absolutely no logic or IQ to comprehend anything I'm talking about.
xemumanic @ May 22nd 2008 5:58PM
"Only in your sick and totally self-serving mind you can make conclusions as you did."
Only in your sick and totally self-serving mind you can make the statement's you've made on this site.
Everyone's an idiot but you? It seems to me and just about everyone else the only idiot here is YOU. And the only reason you're tolerated here is either the admins can't ban you (unlikely), or they let you spout this garbage because it only helps the site.
Nfinity @ May 22nd 2008 6:03PM
xemumanic said: "Everyone's an idiot but you? "
Who said that? You are an idiot yes but.. there are plenty of intelligent people posting comment on Engadget. That are totally seeing things as I do, most of them are not as loud because they don't want to get into discussion with fanboy idiots like you and a few others who constantly talk retarded things that have absolutely no logic or common sense. I just don't put up with kid fanboys who have no experience in business nor this industry and are posting shit as they sucked up all the brains of the world.
Grow the fuck up.
xemumanic @ May 22nd 2008 6:10PM
You call everyone here an idiot, especially when we pick apart your wild half-cocked statements.
And I doubt very many agree with you, because your comments are more often than not lowest-ranked. Especially when it wild fanboy statements like your first post to this article. Note daaper's response comment is highly ranked, because it exposes the useless biased nonsense you constantly post here.
The only annoying fanboy here is you. I can feel my IQ dropping just conversing with you, so I'm gonna stop here. Post whatever garbage you want in response, we all know whatever you say isn't worth reading.
Spiza @ May 22nd 2008 8:39PM
You're an idiot if you don't think like me, RAWR!!
shawnmos @ May 22nd 2008 5:55PM
I wonder if Universal was able to completely duplicate their menu system on Blu-ray. I liked it a lot.
Nfinity @ May 22nd 2008 6:40PM
Deeznutz
of course I do.. I said nothing where I contradict myself. I am an AV geek. I appreciate great quality. But I'm also very realistic and objecitve. Only in some people's world you can't appreciate technologies that bring better quality to the masses if you like something else for yourself. It's utterly ridiculous.
HD DVD was the perfect solution. It offered all benefits of Blu-Ray, better interactivity, cheaper prices, manufacturing simplicity that relies on already existing DVD production, great quality etc etc. It's natural to support it. The reason why Blu-Ray got support is because of fanboys buying PS3, but you can say that was Sony's idea. Surely it wasn't working so they spent billions in blackmailing the market and sabotaging HD DVD left and right in order to push what we have now. Total apathy towards HD and $500-$700 players with $40 movies.
HD DVD would've solved the $40 much faster because the replication was much more efficient. Economies of scale would kick in as more and more people would've bought
Nfinity @ May 22nd 2008 6:41PM
players in the lower $200 range.
As I said, but seems nobody reads that part is that I have no problems with Blu-Ray if it was completed, at an acceptable price range and movies were realistically valued. Unfortunately it's very clear what the idea is for BDA. Milk high prices for years like they did with DVD and try to rip consumers off. Well the reality is we don't live in 1999. The players shouldn't be $500-$700 because technology in production has progressed. Just like you don't pay $5000 for a laptop now like you did 5 years ago, but you get so many more things (wifis, graphics, solid state drives etc etc).
The progress of HD to digital downloads is more important then Blu-Ray on optical media. If anything I'm looking much more far ahead then you. Optical media in itself is history and highly inefficient. It's an old school approach that is slow in access, lacks real rewritability and simply is plagued with backup problems.
If you don't want to lower Blu-Ray to normal prices, and I'm not saying they need to match $50 chinese DVD players, then we keep on going and look for more efficient solution. They picked the game by killing a perfectly great mass ready HD format.
Sure, digital downloads will take few more years to reach 1080p quality but it will take few more years for Blu-Ray to reach mainstream. So it's fair game. But in this scenario, which one would I prefer? Having to download 1080p movies in a couple of minutes or stream them immediately at my desire for the price of regular rental or go and AGAIN buy optical media that's highly inefficient except for the fact that you hold it in your hand. But the problem with that is that you scratch the disc and you can kiss your purchase goodbye. With this in mind, digital downloads at 1080p is the real solution. On demand HD all the time everywhere and if you look at XBL solution even if you lose the harddrive, delete it by accident or whatever, digital downloads should allow you to re-download it just like XBL does with no cost. You bought the license once. No way you can do this with optical media.
Now, this is from me as AV geek. But if you go down and put yourself in the shoes of someone who is not super picky whether on their movies it says 720p or 1080p, having 720p mainstream is 10 times better then having 1080p Blu-Ray as niche. Which one has the more ability to grow faster?
Let's not even go into the fact how great 720p really looks for majority of people. Hell many people can't even distinguish the difference between DVDs and HD discs, little less between 720p HD and 1080p HD. Go download any show in HD on Xbox Live or rent a movie. Even at 720p, they look freakin' amazing and I'm being quite objective. I can see some difference sure (but only if you watch it from a closer distance) I have yet to hear ONE person who watched a movie on my 50" Elite 1080p that noticed a difference between a Blu-Ray movie, HD DVD movie or an XBL HD movie.
That's the reality of things. It's not that 1080p is not BETTER, it's just that 720p looks GREAT.
So, if we see what's going on now, many companies expanding their digital streaming capabilities to hit mainstream (this year most of them will be SD content) but next year it will be HD as they are already ready for it, there are other factors why they are not doing it immediately, I can only encourage it as the sooner digital distribution gets HD, the sooner we will have HD content everywhere on demand and in great picture, not to mention money and revenues that would justify bandwidth expansion for everything as bandwith is not really a problem as soon as there is a good business model that generates revenue where upgrading bandwith capability becomes justified in every way.
And the whole not everyone has the broadband is totally silly. People who don't have broadband or lack technology in their neighborhoods are most likely not to own HD sets anyways and are still using DVDs. It's the way economy of thing works. For HD content you basically need 2-5mbps connection and if you can't stream it, you can always download the movie and watch, just like it works on XBL.
If many here would stop being immature fanboys and actually looked at things as they really are, most of you would actually see that this is the right thing and that saying bad things about anything I've highlighted above only shows huge bias on your part.
Bikramjit Singh @ May 22nd 2008 8:27PM
I hope its AVC and not VC1
DrXym @ May 23rd 2008 3:56AM
I doubt the viewers would be able to tell the difference between VC-1 and AVC at the sort of bitrates we're talking about. It really shouldn't matter much. However it seems crazy for any postproduction house to continue to favour VC-1. There are simply going to be more hardware support and software tools for AVC as time progresses.
Mr. E @ May 22nd 2008 8:39PM
Even if it lives up to half the hype, Super Upconversion is going to arrive far too late to have an impact on Blu-ray progress (they're apparently targeting it for introduction into CE devices in Q3 of 2009). It will likely become a value-added feature to differentiate high-end Blu-ray players from the basic ones, the way current DVD upscaling differentiates players. Nfinity, by the time the general consumer is even aware of this technology (if they ever are), the price difference between a Blu-ray deck and DVD won't be big enough for it to matter.
The beautiful thing is what I realized awhile back and what you said earlier, DEEZ. Since it's all done via Cell processing, the algorithm can be easily added to the PS3 with a firmware update. I'll be loving that when it comes out!
Spiza @ May 22nd 2008 8:44PM
The differences in cost of Blu-Ray replication to HD DVD replication was minimal. There were like 20x more Blu-Ray discs being replicated than HD DVD discs, and that helps lower costs much more quickly.
Nfinity @ May 22nd 2008 9:09PM
Spiza.. where do you get this information.. every single person I talked to that has any connection to replication, the replicators I personally called and overall the fact that you needed to buy a whole new replication machines that cost millions of dollars simply proves you wrong.
The whole blog posts about how difference in replication was small was total lie. That's why even today only 2-3 places replicate Blu-Ray discs. Because it's expensive as hell and only Cinram and Sony production fascilities are doing it.
Please don't talk things that have no connection with reality.
And where do you get information that there were 20x times more Blu-Ray disc replicated? Most of the discs replicated for Blu-Ray came from Sony. Spiderman, games etc etc.. Studios who published on both replicated pretty much similar numbers.
That's why in the end you had combo HD DVD discs from Warner costing the same as Blu-Ray versions but offering both DVD and HD version of the movies plus all the goodies.
Wake up. Everything replication wise and price wise with Blu-Ray was artificial. It was subsidized by Sony, discs replicated by Sony.. only 2 places by beginining of 2008 were even capable of producing 50gb BLu-Ray discs. That's why the prices today on movies are through the roof. No more incentives. Crappy releases. That's why a lot of studios are hesitant to release Blu-Ray movies. Those who weren't paid off like Warner or Fox or Lionsgate in the amounts of hundreds of millions of dollars are pretty much left with replication bill. That's why digital model is becoming more and more intersting to all of them. Do you realized that ALL studios signed up with Apple for HD delivery of movies. ALL OF THEM.
HD DVD was fundamentally cheaper in both discs and manufacturing because it relied on DVD.. a technology that was already super affordable. Combo's were the only discs that required some premium in replication but we saw that even that was not a problem as Warner charged the same for Blu-Ray and those HD DVD versions.
The real costs analysis of disc replication of 50gb dual layer BR and 30gb combo was done on AVS forum by insider that actually have first hand information. The difference in price was ASTONISHING. It took about $2.20 for 30gb combo discs in the amount of 50k discs replicated and the same thing for BR was like $4.20 or $4.50 per disc.. It was almost double.
The reason prices in retail were similar is because studios COULD charge more, but eventually the difference started showing up more and more as new releases were hitting the shelves.
Spiza @ May 23rd 2008 1:16AM
20x is an exaggeration because there is no way to really know the final numbers, but PS3 games have sold more than hd movies from blu-ray and hd dvd combined. Blu-ray also outsold HD DVD in states almost 2:1, and that number was even more exaggerated outside of America.
I remember seeing more before, but:
http://wesleytech.com/blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-replication-costs-revealed/111/
I remember the pricing on there being accurate before, but it has changed. Blu-Ray prices have jumped big time though probably because a lot more plants are needed now that Blu-Ray has won and Universal and Paramount are now trying to shift all their HD encodes over to Blu-Ray. Probably the real reason for the delays, they have to find a source.
There are several smaller companies than the 2 big ones you named that offer replication.
HD DVD players were so subsidized. Prices of players would have doubled had HD DVD won. Best Buy would have had $350 HD DVD players in March. That still better, but not that much better. Movie prices were always similar, and even now prices are low. I believe the MSRP on batman begins is going to be $19.95. At least thats what it is on Warner's store. Thats pretty low. Fox is really the only one raping people on pricing.
The MSRP on combo discs was usually $5 more than the blu-ray version.
I agree with you that Blu-Ray will never reach the success of DVD, but I could care less. Its the best we got now, and I love it. I think prices are pretty low for HD content as well.
XDragon @ May 23rd 2008 7:16PM
Nfinity,
I'm not in the mood to argue but I will point out 2 things:
PS3 is $400 not $500-$700 and it is better then the more expensive players and upgradable if needed. The are also sub $300 players if you don't care about the extra features that 2.0 provides and those features don't affect watching the main movie.
I've never paid $40 for a Blu-Ray movie. If you spend a few mins shopping online, you'll find the most you have to spend on a Blu-Ray movie is $30 and those titles are Fox movies for the most part.
DrXym @ May 24th 2008 5:21AM
Nfinity claims to own 100 movies so he KNOWS they don't cost anywhere near MSRP. So he's a liar and a hypocrite for buying into a format he clearly hates. I don't even know why he's started to toss in the claim that he owns 100 BDs because it makes his schizophrenic contradictory opinions even more retarded than they were before.