'Journey to the Edge of the Universe' -- pre-release thread

[PeterB]

National Geographic (via Warner) has announced their latest Blu-ray:

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/jour...euniverse.html

Tech specs will see a BD-25 with 1080p video and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround audio.

No extras have been announced.

Street date is March 31, and MSRP $28.95.

[BriS2K]

I'm a huge fan of space documentaries....would anyone recommend buying this BD?

I bought the IMAX Cosmic Voyage on BD, although decent looking disc and the content was ok, it was best as a rental....so yeah, I was let down buying that disc.

So I'm hoping Edge of the Universe is a better buy...

Also the back of the BD indicates that the video is 1080i , not 1080p as indicatd above.

Cheers

[RichardHK]

I too have the Cosmic Voyage BD (and DVD before that) and find it decent enough for the time and technology used. But certainly a typical IMAX style production being short and sugary sweet production values. The Powers of Ten concept built into Cosmic Voyage and pioneered in the 60's by film of same name is still worth repeat viewing for me, but I do wish it was longer.

Have seen a fair chunk of the Edge of the Universe program earlier this evening on Youtube and have to say it's a must have. 90 minutes of programming, latest tech computer animation, and a good story too it seems. Loved the moon surface shot with Apollo 11's lander and other 'junk'. Given we are never gonna fly through space ever, this BD is as close as we are gonna get and it earns major stars for me on that count. Production value, even at Youtube quality, is good enough to sell product to me. Yes, another huge fan of space documentaries.

Wouldn't worry about the 1080i vs 1080p. We'll get absorbed enough for sure.

I'll drop by again after viewing the real thing which is on my must-buy-asap list. Thanks for raising topic.

[BriS2K]

Thanks for the feedback - I've purchased it and will view tonight!

[jimbellows]

This looks like it will be an amazing one!

[BriS2K]

Awesome film....BUT...

...too bad it's not 1080p...some scenes you can see the interlacing at the edges of some objects. Some scenes you can see the gradient shades of the colors - this is completely unacceptable. Single layer disc..ok, but the film could have easily use a 50gb disc with a vastly improved encoding direct from the computer source.

Extras are crap, a few trailers of subpar National Geographic titles. There's also a photo slide but there are in total a whole 4 or 5 picutres....WTF???

Anyways, Warner did a completely garbage job on this release. No more Warner titles for me - they're blacklisted, considering their titles are expensive for barebones discs like this. If I do buy a Warner title it'll be used.

Recommendation? Watch it on Youtube.
Or buy it if you can find the BD for under $10.

[RichardHK]

Awesome film, I agree. And sorry for getting you excited about BD which I too have now bought. It surely does not deliver as well as it could.

Agree the 1800i results are not so hot. They have blown a real good chance here for a phenomenal disk. Really sad. But maybe the source materials are not capable of better. Not long ago you would need a computer room 10x the size of Jurassic Park's movie PC-farm to create/render this material. It was designed for TV remember.

I do still value the purchase. As noted earlier, we are never gonna get a chance to travel through the solar system and universe like this, so I give the viewing some room. Hey, just like looking through a thick perspex-ey spaceship window at times! The ending is a little confusing as if the writer does not know how to convey the situation at 'the edge' so well.

Love the Saturn fly-by having seen Saturn in a small telescope so many times.