Harry Potter & 1/2 Blood - odd BD/digital combo pack?

6th.replicant

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Received Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince Blu-Ray/digital DL combo pack the other day. Opened the box, put the top disc into my BDP.

Was most impressed by the speedy load time, first up was a trailer for Sherlock Holmes - sweet PQ, lush colours etc - then started to play the main feature...

Eew, PQ was shockingly bad: soft focus, fuzzy outlines & the overall look was similar to a 'treated' deleted scene. Grrr, must be a faulty Blu-Ray transfer, will have to return to Amazon...

Watched the complete film cos I actually became quite engrossed. Then went to put the disc back in the box &, umm, noticed that the other 2 discs had the Blu-Ray logo &, erm, the disc I'd just played was in fact a, er, DVD version (no wonder it loaded so swiftly!). Dumb *rse!

However, what's the point of including a ropey/pirate-quality DVD version with the Blu-Ray/digital pack (my BDP's playback with 'normal' DVDs is fine)? It's similar to being given a set of steel wheels when you buy a car that already has alloy rims.

And why is the DVD's PQ so bad - is this a scheme to make you think, 'Wow, Blu-Rays are soo much better than DVDs!'?
 

6th.replicant

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Andrew Everard:Are you sure you weren't watching the digital 'mobile' version...?

Sorry to be thick - plus ‡a change - but isn't the "digital 'mobile' version" the DL, therefore, not on a DVD or am I now becoming even more confused?
bigboss:
Looks like you've got this.

The reason for them to sell the DVD & blu-ray combo is for people who may imminently be planning to buy a blu-ray player but have a DVD player currently. The digital copy is for ipods.

Yes, that's what I received, albeit via Amazon, not Play.

Within the box is a leaflet bearing a www link & password for the digital DL; 1 DVD disc containing main film; + 2 BD discs - one contains the main film, the other the extras.

If the combo pack is designed for folks 'who may imminently be planning to buy a blu-ray player but have a DVD player currently', then why supply a DVD with a transfer that, to all intents & purposes, looks 'doctored'? As mentioned, the 'Holmes trailer on the same DVD has great PQ.

Obviously, I'm not fussed re the DVD's poor PQ because I can use the BD - although I'd have preferred my 1st-view to have been via the latter! - but it does seem a curious setup.
 
6th.replicant:

If the combo pack is designed for folks 'who may imminently be planning to buy a blu-ray player but have a DVD player currently', then why supply a DVD with a transfer that, to all intents & purposes, looks 'doctored'? As mentioned, the 'Holmes trailer on the same DVD has great PQ. Obviously, I'm not fussed re the DVD's poor PQ because I can use the BD - although I'd have preferred my 1st-view to have been via the latter! - but it does seem a curious setup.

Maybe that's another encouragement for people to buy a blu-ray player. The blu-ray disc obviously will look significantly better than the sub standard DVD version. Also, the combo version costs only £2 more than the standalone blu-ray disc. This may be to discourage people from selling off the DVD version at significantly cheaper prices which will only hurt their DVD sales.
 
D

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Also your pioneer is firstly a blu ray player, the dvd in it will defiintely come second best as far as manufacturing is concerned.
 

Clare Newsome

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I also think they'd expect few people to be watching this DVD on a 47in Full HD screen when they've also got a BD in their possession! Bet it looks considerably better on the kids-bedroom portable/computer screen most people will view it on....
 

staggerlee

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I like this combo arrangement. It allows my son to take the Dvd copy to his grandparents friends houses etc,play it in the computer, in the car, as a lot of people till don't have blu ray.
 
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staggerlee:I like this combo arrangement. It allows my son to take the Dvd copy to his grandparents friends houses etc,play it in the computer, in the car, as a lot of people till don't have blu ray.

That's what I think pass in onto my niece's and god daughter, it them makes excellent value.
 

Andrew Everard

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6th.replicant:Sorry to be thick - plus ‡a change - but isn't the "digital 'mobile' version" the DL, therefore, not on a DVD or am I now becoming even more confused?

Oh right, sorry, not familiar with that release - thought the digital low-res version might have been on one of the discs.
 

aliEnRIK

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I was watching one of the harrys on dvd (Attacked in the subway with dudley at the beginning) and noticed straight away that the picture quality was quite inferior to previous harrys. What had changed? They had their first harry potter bluray out ~ so they thought it would be a good idea to make dvds look worse than they really are
 

6th.replicant

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staggerlee:I like this combo arrangement. It allows my son to take the Dvd copy to his grandparents friends houses etc,play it in the computer, in the car, as a lot of people till don't have blu ray.
Clare Newsome:Exactly the point - the kids can watch until destruction while the main BD version remains safe from sticky/careless little fingers...

In that case, I think you're all being too kind! I see it as a conspiracy to indoctrinate kids into thinking that DVD is dead, so they'll consequently demand BDPs for their bedrooms!

Still, at least I'll now know to check the Star Trek BD combo pack's discs before I load my BDP - assuming Santa obliges on the 25th...
 

Clare Newsome

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aliEnRIK:I was watching one of the harrys on dvd (Attacked in the subway with dudley at the beginning)

Really tricky scene for a player to get right that one; we often use it as a tester on both DVD and Blu-ray to sort the men from the boys
 

aliEnRIK

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Clare Newsome:
aliEnRIK:I was watching one of the harrys on dvd (Attacked in the subway with dudley at the beginning)

Really tricky scene for a player to get right that one; we often use it as a tester on both DVD and Blu-ray to sort the men from the boys

Which movie is it? Scratching my head here.............
emotion-4.gif
 

6th.replicant

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aliEnRIK:Clare Newsome:
aliEnRIK:I was watching one of the harrys on dvd (Attacked in the subway with dudley at the beginning)

Really tricky scene for a player to get right that one; we often use it as a tester on both DVD and Blu-ray to sort the men from the boys

Which movie is it? Scratching my head here.............
emotion-4.gif


Order of the Phoenix.
 

aliEnRIK

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6th.replicant:aliEnRIK:Clare Newsome:
aliEnRIK:I was watching one of the harrys on dvd (Attacked in the subway with dudley at the beginning)

Really tricky scene for a player to get right that one; we often use it as a tester on both DVD and Blu-ray to sort the men from the boys

Which movie is it? Scratching my head here.............
emotion-4.gif


Order of the Phoenix.

Thats the one, I thank you
emotion-21.gif
 

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