£20
For a 3 disc set that's not bad.
If you've not had your fill of Avatar you'll be able to buy a whole three discs more of it next month. Having dedicated the original DVD and Blu-ray releases to the movie - no extras to use up disc space that could be better employed upping the video bitrate - director James Cameron and co. have gone to town on the new set. …
I am still waiting fro the day when one disc contains all of the movie and different playlists can be chosen to select different track orders, meaning that the "director's cut" and the original can use the same video for the majority of the time. Why, when the magical Blue Raymond has storage beyond the comprehension of our feeble, pathetic, non-film-selling minds do we still need two disks on which 90% of the content is the same?
It would be very easy to do that, quite a few discs allow for a prior selection of film running order. Memento allowed you to view all the 'chapters' in reverse order for instance.
However, would it be as likely to sell as a 3 disc edition which only costs a little more to produce?
The perceived extra value is probably the reason for packaging it this way.
branching is possible, but only with proper planning. Each "branch" has to not only have its own chapter, but it has to have it;s own audio track as well as recut movies don;t just re-insert clips but re-edit the audio for smooth transitions or music playing smoothly through an extended scene. This is very complicated, and expensive from a manpower and creation perspective, not to mention manu DVD players don;t play nicely with this (you know the "pase" when disks switch between layers in a long movie? Those pauses are usually at natural cuts, but imagine them mid-scene, irritating no?) DVD players were not built with a proper read-ahead buffer and handle moving the disk heads mid-scene very poorly. BR is completely capable of this, but studios don;t do it as the labor and planning costs often completely outweigh the material costs in adding the additional disk (especially when a 2 disk almost always sells for a higher price than 1 anyway because most consumers would not understand a 1 disk/2 movie pricing model).
Jez, how many editions of this movie are they going to do. Sorry James, but I am not interested until the extended length 3D Blu-ray edition is released.
Also waiting for the extended length Blu-Ray version of Lord of the Rings as well. Typical that they release the normal version first...
Actually the more version of their movies they release the less likely I am to buy them as it means you are uncertain whether there is another slightly better version round the corner. They should release an edition for each movie, for each format, called the 'Collectors Final Edition'. As in this is the best we can ever do with the current format, Blu-ray etc, there will be no more until a future format comes out.
Now we are moving to digital distribution it means we will get a new release of every movie each year with a slightly better bit rate. Maybe they should get you to pay a one off subscription / rental to a movie that means whenever you want to watch it you can get the best quality extended version that exists at the time....
Sorry to waffle
but ok, I enjoyed the movie - particularly the anti-murkan capitalists-are-bastards rhetoric, but I didnt cry (once), nor did I relive the story in my mind again, and again, and again, re-weeping as (in)appropriate
certainly wouldn't buy it - not once, let alone each of their daft re-editions.
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...is amazing in that it can be so good while being so bad. The overall feel and immersion level are incredible; the world is *alive* - and then you've got dialogue like, "I'm gonna have to take it... TO THE NEXT LEVEL." Really? That's the best they could come up with? OK, the guy speaking the line isn't exactly a poet, but if it's in-character for him to say a stupid, cheesy line, just don't put it in! Yeesh!
Also, that Colonel guy was freakin' badass.