Official: No Jack The Giant Killer Blu-ray - Officially Disappointing!

[X3 Beast]

According to posts by Rifftrax on Facebook there is no plans for a Blu-ray release of 'Jack The Giant Killer'.

But there is some hope... they might look into doing a small run of Blu-rays. So let's show some support!

"RiffTrax Unfortunately there is no Blu-ray for this on the radar anytime soon. There does not seem to be enough demand to justify the extra cost. Sorry!"

RiffTrax Thanks for the feedback everyone! We'll look into possibly doing a run of Blu-rays for this, but we can't say we will with any certainty. Mastering them is rather expensive, and we're a very small operation with limited resources. But we'll certainly take a look!

[SJP]

Ah, and I just posted not too long ago about this on the Giant Killer DVD thread.  I heartily endorse a Blu run, however small that run may be...would make owning one that much sweeter, actually.

[goflyblind]

i will support a bluray release if someone buys me a television and a bluray player.

[Raefire]

What would a Blu-Ray add? Blu-Ray player already upconvert. If you have a DVD enhanced for HDTVs, there's really not gonna be much of a difference between that and an actual Blu-Ray, besides the price.

[MontyServo]

What would a Blu-Ray add?

Bill Corbett's glistening sweat dripping off his forehead deserves to be seen in glorious 1080P, not some sort of crappy upconversion.

Eh...  I don't really care either way as I will buy the VOD version anyway.

[X3 Beast]

What would a Blu-Ray add? Blu-Ray player already upconvert. If you have a DVD enhanced for HDTVs, there's really not gonna be much of a difference between that and an actual Blu-Ray, besides the price.

Shows that you really don't understand the difference between standard definition and high definition.

Upconverting does not at all represent or even come close to a true high definition encode. Which the 'Live!' shows present.

[Wernski]

I'm disappointed they're doing it this way again.  I already missed out on the first two Blus because they released them as standard def DVDs.  That time, we didn't know Blus were coming, so by the time the Blus were announced, I already owned the regular DVDs.  And I'm a fan, but not THAT big a fan where I'm gonna buy the same twice just to upgrade.

Now, again, the standard DVD is out first, and a Blu may or may not be on its way.  So do I hold off on the stnadard DVD and hope, or what?

Rifftrax isn't giving Blu-Ray a fair chance by not releasing them properly at the same time.
This sucks.   

What would a Blu-Ray add? Blu-Ray player already upconvert. If you have a DVD enhanced for HDTVs, there's really not gonna be much of a difference between that and an actual Blu-Ray, besides the price.

Take a small gif.  Then enlarge that gif like 50 times its original size.  It'll look all blocky and crappy.  That's what upconverting a standard DVD does.  I mean, not 50 times its original source, of course; but it's the same principle.  A Blu-Ray image has a higher resolution, with more image information than a standard DVD, enlarged/upconverted or otherwise.  Granted, if your TV isn't so big, you may not notice the difference between a Blu and a DVD image, but it's definitely there, and stretching out a smaller image does not give you the same image you get from a naturally full-size image.

[Raefire]

Shows that you really don't understand the difference between standard definition and high definition.

Shows you don't know I'm a Multimedia graduate who damn well knows the difference. My issue is that Jack isn't exactly a new, digitally filmed movie made for the HD era, or a painstakingly remastered classic that people care about getting the quality right on. They may have filmed the live show with an HD camera, but that's it. I've seen enough HD downconverts to know that the difference in clarity from the pulldown to DVD would be so undiscernably slight, you wouldn't be able to tell between the upconverted and the actual Blu-Ray (unless you have a horrible upconverting DVD player - my Toshiba one makes MST3K eps look almost like they were originally filmed in HD.) Do you really care that a bad movie made long before HD is presented in Blu-Ray with slightly less grain and dirt? Maybe with a horrible print like Manos, that makes a difference, but Jack looked pretty cleaned up to me already at the live show. Is true HD clarity in the crane pans over the Belcourt audience or being able to clearly see the guys' sweaty pores that important to you?

[X3 Beast]

Shows you don't know I'm a Multimedia graduate who damn well knows the difference. My issue is that Jack isn't exactly a new, digitally filmed movie made for the HD era, or a painstakingly remastered classic that people care about getting the quality right on.

And again, this just shows you don't know what you're talking about. Because ANY movie on film is going to still look better in HD.
Film already has a greater image quality than even Blu-ray can present. That's why even old movies can look great on Blu-ray.
This isn't just about the Rifftrax aspect of the presentation, but the movie itself benefits from the High-Def presentation.
The rest of your post clearly shows you don't understand how film works, and that Film Grain actually is part of the movie.

[SJP]

I will say, the live portions being in HD DO make a big difference for me.  While I'm not adverse to getting the DVD if that's all that's coming (Lord knows I have a growing collection of Shorts DVDs), I have grown fond of the difference, however slight, that HD makes.  It isn't even so much the sweat or the detail on clothing and such, as it is I now really notice compression artifacts in DVDs.  That has nothing to do with the original SD or HD picture as it is what happens when you cram it down to fit onto a DVD...even the more recent MST episodes on disc have that sort of weird blockiness, especially if I pause the picture to look at something.  Upconverting can be a fine thing, but digital blocks are one of those things I can't stand, and one of the reasons it's taken me a long time to archive my old VHS tapes...I don't care how poor of quality I'm starting with, I certainly don't want it getting any worse due to a poor compression job, which seemed to happen every time I tried to put a project onto DVD, even stuff barely over 20 minutes long. I may only do video editing as a hobby (currently), but it's one of those perfectionist things that's carried over into movie watching.

Like I said, if the DVD is all I can get, I'm happy with it.  But if there's a chance of getting it on HD, I'm more than happy to wait and pay a little more for it.  Besides, I get twice as much shelf space with a Blu over a DVD, as long as it's the standard packaging...lousy Mel Brooks collection...

[Raefire]

And again, this just shows you don't know what you're talking about. Because ANY movie on film is going to still look better in HD.

Watch a black-and-white movie on DVD or Blu-Ray. Instead of the dark shadows smoothly fading into each other beautifully like on the original film, you get blotchy gradients of gray. Eventually we'll be so used to that gradient stuff that we won't care. But it's still an example of how film doesn't look better on DVD or Blu-Ray.

And what I'm mostly saying is WHY do you care that the bad film you're watching is better-looking? You're not buying this because of the movie's image quality. You're buying it for the thrashing it gets from the guys. Since the movie already looks decent as it had a DVD release- and there's even less of a difference in audio quality between Blu-Ray and DVD - why is a Blu-Ray where the movie will look SLIGHTLY better so important to you?

SJP has a good argument I can buy, at least. It just seems everyone else wants a Blu-Ray for the sake of having a Blu-Ray.

[CHF01]

Past RT Live BDs were 1080i video with a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track. The boost in clarity is minimal at best between media types. These releases weren't made for HD; the focus is on the comedy. I'm fine with VOD/DVD here.

[Bob]

Just ordered the fine DVD and will watch my mail box!

[josey]

I'll hold off until we know if a Blu-ray is a sure thing or a no go.  The Live shows are not just about the comedy to some people it is the experience.  An experience that some people are not lucky enough to even think about getting the chance to go to.  I lived 5 hours from the nearest theater for each of these shows and a day off from work and a 10 hour drive would not be worth it and would take all the enjoyment out of it.  Yes the jokes are the same but it is more than that to some people who couldn't go or want to revisit their experience.  The Blu-ray copies do look better having both the DVD and Blu-ray of Plan 9.  I love Rifftrax and will always support their work having purchased nearly the entire catalog.  If we don't get a Blu-ray than I'll happily buy the DVD but will rather have all the Live shows available on Blu-ray.

[k1]

I'm also holding out in hopes of a small run of Blu-ray becoming available.