Do we think new releases of the movies on BD are likely?

[Lance]

Let me explain. We all know the standard practice that were in place for previous formats. Both VHS and DVD (but especially on DVD), it wasn't uncommon for movies to get multiple releases, each time gaining an upgrade in quality or another key difference to a previous release. The earliest DVDs were pretty standard fare, the 'Special Editions'/'Director's Editions' were much better, and the final DVD releases basically remastered them to be in line with the Blu Rays in terms of color grading, albeit at a lower screen resolution than the Blu Rays.

On the other hand, the Blu Rays have been quite conspicuous in their not being upgraded for rerelease. Sure, they've been rereleased a multitude of times since they first popped up in those "Collection" boxsets way back in 2009. But it's worth noting that each subsequent rerelease, from the individual versions with the 'three characters and the delta' packaging template, to the more recent "Stardate Collection", all of them have been cheap 'n cheerful rereleases of the already existing masters from 2009. We seem to be stuck in a circle where Paramount has mastered them once for Blu Ray, back in 2009, and even the recent release of Into Darkness into theaters has done nothing to make them say, "Yeah, let's take another look at those transfers and see if we can do them better". And for some reason I really thought maybe they would.

So what say you? Do we think its time Paramount had another pass at the Blu Rays? Or do we think that the 2009 masters are likely to be all we're gonna get on BD, and we might not see another pass at them until whatever-the next-HD-format-is takes over a few years from now?

 

[Harvey]

I'd be surprised if Paramount didn't revisit the cash cow at some point in the future; CBS has been doing well with their Blu-Ray releases and I imagine Paramount is eyeing those and thinking about ways to similarly exploit their movie catalog.

On the other hand, Paramount is trying to maintain Trek as a viable movie franchise at this point, with the current cast, so revisiting the older titles might not be a part of their current strategy.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

I'd be surprised if Paramount didn't revisit the cash cow at some point in the future; CBS has been doing well with their Blu-Ray releases and I imagine Paramount is eyeing those and thinking about ways to similarly exploit their movie catalog.

This.
The blu-ray may be the last physical medium for releasing a film on for consumers to purchase.
Paramount applied too much DNR processing on their master for the 2009 release of all the films on blu-ray. They know they can make it look better and re-release and people will double dip on blu-ray.
4K is coming. STIITWOK was restored in 2k or was it 4k in 2009?

For 4k at home
Think computers and iTunes rather than the cable network box in the next 5 years.

The rest of the films would need a 4k retelecine and remaster. Frim that film transfer they can get a HD blu-ray release and be ready for a 4k consumer product and/or 4k cinema event screenings leading up to a marketing push for a 4k release.
Paramount knows they have a small window to get the next blu-ray out before the markets starts shrinking in favor of on-demand and streaming-only viewing of feature films.

 

[MacLeod]

^I still think they'll be a market for physical media. Having ondemand and streaming only films isn't without it's downsides.

1.>It might come as a shock to some, but some people don't have the internet nor want it.

2.>Not everyone who has the internet has a fast enough connection to handle even SD streaming never mind HD or 4K.

3.>Phone lines/cables can develop faults preventing you from streaming when you want to wathc something.

 

[AdmiralScreed]

I wouldn't mind upgrades for TMP and NEM. The Director's Cut for TMP still hasn't been released, and I think a director's cut for NEM has the potential to be pretty decent.

 

[JarodRussell]

I hope so. The current blu rays are not that good. I have seen transfers of older films that just blow your mind. The Trek films are way too blurry for a blu ray.

 

[MacLeod]

^You're right there are some stunning BR transfers out there.

 

[Lance]

That's kinda why I asked the question. Since 2009 Paramount has found heaps of reasons to re-release all the movies on Blu Ray, most recently they've finished releasing them in individual packagaing, as well as part of the "Stardate Collection", but these have all been the same transfers from 2009. I just wondered if anybody knew the likelihood of them actually taking another pass at the entire catalog. Those 2009 transfers vary in quality quite significantly in places (I thought TMP held up pretty damn well, but certainly TSFS and TVH were below what I'd call good quality for Blu Ray, though still better than a DVD).

I for one would consider double-dipping for truly remastered transfers of TSFS and TVH, and for a Director's Cut edition of TUC.

 

[BillJ]

I don't think we'll see a new HD masters until the next tech is firmly established.

 

[Irishman]

Let me explain. We all know the standard practice that were in place for previous formats. Both VHS and DVD (but especially on DVD), it wasn't uncommon for movies to get multiple releases, each time gaining an upgrade in quality or another key difference to a previous release. The earliest DVDs were pretty standard fare, the 'Special Editions'/'Director's Editions' were much better, and the final DVD releases basically remastered them to be in line with the Blu Rays in terms of color grading, albeit at a lower screen resolution than the Blu Rays.

On the other hand, the Blu Rays have been quite conspicuous in their not being upgraded for rerelease. Sure, they've been rereleased a multitude of times since they first popped up in those "Collection" boxsets way back in 2009. But it's worth noting that each subsequent rerelease, from the individual versions with the 'three characters and the delta' packaging template, to the more recent "Stardate Collection", all of them have been cheap 'n cheerful rereleases of the already existing masters from 2009. We seem to be stuck in a circle where Paramount has mastered them once for Blu Ray, back in 2009, and even the recent release of Into Darkness into theaters has done nothing to make them say, "Yeah, let's take another look at those transfers and see if we can do them better". And for some reason I really thought maybe they would.

So what say you? Do we think its time Paramount had another pass at the Blu Rays? Or do we think that the 2009 masters are likely to be all we're gonna get on BD, and we might not see another pass at them until whatever-the next-HD-format-is takes over a few years from now?

I would hope for a Blu-ray release of TMP: The Director's cut with the new CGI put in to complete the scenes that they didn't have time to complete. Now with that said, I'm concerned that those new CGI edits won't be up to Blu-ray snuff, and will look obviously fake compared to the original shot footage in the scenes. Maybe Lucas' piss-poor handling of Star Wars remastering has left a bad taste in my mouth. But, on the positive side is the remastered episodes of TOS on Blu-ray. For the most part, they look much better integrated.

ST2 - TWoK looks soft on blu-ray to me. Others have praised its pq, so maybe my expectations aren't reasonable.

Haven't seen ST3 or ST4 on Blu-ray.

 

[GameOn]

Paramount seems content to re-release the same mediocre transfers in new packaging but the 50th anniversary in 2016 would be the most obvious date for them to be remastered. I'd wish they'd go back and re-composite all the visual effects digitally too like CBS is doing with TNG. It's ridiculous how much better looking the space dock from Star Trek 3 looks in the TNG episode 11001001.

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

Paramount seems content to re-release the same mediocre transfers in new packaging but the 50th anniversary in 2016 would be the most obvious date for them to be remastered. I'd wish they'd go back and re-composite all the visual effects digitally too like CBS is doing with TNG. It's ridiculous how much better looking the space dock from Star Trek 3 looks in the TNG episode 11001001.

If they eventually get round to doing TSFS afresh at some point, top of my "fixes" list would be erasing the painfully visible "white blobs" surrounding the Enterptise as she first approaches Spacedock.

 

[The Rock]

I honestly don't think First Contact needs a remaster. The quality of the picture on the Blu-ray is outstanding. They really outdid themselves on that one.

 

[SpHeRe31459]

I honestly don't think First Contact needs a remaster. The quality of the picture on the Blu-ray is outstanding. They really outdid themselves on that one.

That makes sense newer the movies don't have to deal with aging film issues (color fading/degradation of the chemicals in the film) and excess dirt/dust removal like older ones.

It's really the movies made prior to the mid-90s that need it.

 

[GalaxyX]

BD's in general are ridiculously expensive. I think there's demand, but for the price there's general resistance for people to buy more of them.

I have the entire collection of Star Trek movies on DVD. I would never pay for the Blu-Ray versions even a cent, because Paramount feels that it's simply ok to transfer the film to Blu-Ray and that's good enough, when they should be enhancing the product to match higher standards overall.

They couldn't even get someone to re-render the CGI scenes in TMP Director's Cut to 1080p and add it to the HD transfer of the film. Why should I buy the inferior TMP Blu-Ray to the much superior TMP-DC DVD?

The only ST movie I own on Blu-Ray is ST09.

When they stop being extremely cheap fucks and actually pony up to fix a lot of the stuff in the older movies in their HD transfers, that's the day they can guarantee a sale from me.

Sadly it will probably never happen, unless the movies end up belonging to CBS for some reason.

 

[Oso Blanco]

Why should I buy the inferior TMP Blu-Ray to the much superior TMP-DC DVD?

Now that's a matter of opinion. In my eyes, the DE is inferior to both the Theatrical Cut as well as the Special Longer Version. I'm quite happy that at least the Theatrical Cut has been released on BluRay.

 

[dub]

Has anyone directly compared an upconverted DVD WS version of TWOK (for example) to the current BD version? Just curious if there is enough of a difference to warrant the purchase. I currently have the films on DVD but haven't purchased any on BD yet.

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

Has anyone directly compared an upconverted DVD WS version of TWOK (for example) to the current BD version? Just curious if there is enough of a difference to warrant the purchase. I currently have the films on DVD but haven't purchased any on BD yet.

I've lost count of the occassions I've responded to a question like this on the BBS! ALL the BD's are considerably superior to their DVD counterparts. Are they all reference quality transfers - no. Is there a little too much DNR on a couple of the titles - yes. BUT, once again, on an HD monitor they ALL leave the DVD's standing. Also, let's no forget the uncompressed sound for those who have capable systems.

 

[SpHeRe31459]

To add to what Lokai said, I have put in a DVD copy of one of the DE's I kept and been really disappointed with how low resolution it looks. I actually moved to my smaller 32" LCD in the bedroom to watch it.

Remember even mastering DVDs have come a long way since the DVDs were released in the early 2000s. As people's TVs got larger and higher resolution (i.e. HD), what was passable is not any longer. The DVDs were filtered to high heaven to help to make an easy time of compressing them with MPEG2 at 480i on DVDs. That kind of quick and dirty work hasn't been considered an acceptable way to master a DVD for at least 8 years now. The DVD mastering software and general film remastering software is much more sophisticated now.

 

[SpHeRe31459]

BD's in general are ridiculously expensive. I think there's demand, but for the price there's general resistance for people to buy more of them.

Sorry what? BD copies of new releases tend to only have a $5 premium over the DVD release.