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Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis on Blu-ray




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WTK



Joined: 28 Jun 2006
Posts: 4153
PostPosted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 10:32 am Reply with quote
Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis coming to Blu-ray (but on BD-R) by Sony (under Choice Collection).

Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis (BD-R) - 107 minutes - $26.99 - 2/21/17
Quote:
When sold by Amazon.com, this product is manufactured on demand using BD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.


For that want to import UK's release (via Eureka Entertainment)instead...

Amazon.co.uk
- OSAMU TEZUKAS METROPOLIS (Limited Edition Dual-Format) SteelBook [Blu-ray] | Janaury 16, 2017
- OSAMU TEZUKAS METROPOLIS (Standard Dual-Format Edition) [Blu-ray] | March 13, 2017

Zavvi
- Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis - Dual Format Limited Edition Steelbook (Includes DVD) Blu-ray | Janaury 16, 2017
- Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis - Dual Format (Includes DVD) Blu-ray | March 13, 2017
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24153
PostPosted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 10:42 am Reply with quote
I know a certain goose-loving Brit who is going to pleased by this.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7358
PostPosted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 11:08 am Reply with quote
Sweetness! I saw that the UK was getting one, but now the US is getting one too, woohoo! I really do like this movie a lot, and definitely look forward to watching it in high def (now that I know better, lol), it was worth the upgrade for Iron Giant, so I'll be buying this one too!

Although, this looks like an Amazon-only thing, so I won't be finding this in Best Buy or Rightstuf then? I don't use Amazon much, now that they charge tax in my state, only use them for things that I have to.
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 3:29 pm Reply with quote
Why, do my ears burn?

You see, classicalzawa! It was only a matter of time before it made its way over to you as well.
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2267
PostPosted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 6:06 pm Reply with quote
classicalzawa wrote:
Although, this looks like an Amazon-only thing, so I won't be finding this in Best Buy or Rightstuf then? I don't use Amazon much, now that they charge tax in my state, only use them for things that I have to.

Not necessarily Amazon only. Kurozuka, Ultraviolet: Code 044, and others was on "demand DVD-R" and was sold by Amazon, Best Buy, Rightstuf, Rakuten and DVDPlanet. And they were all Sony titles as well. You probably wont find a physical copy in a store like Best Buy though, but it should be available to purchase from them online if they do end up selling it.
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#866207



Joined: 16 Jan 2017
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 6:57 am Reply with quote
Oh, how I wanted to see this movie. But more recently, in our country lock of my favorite resources. Even a proxy server (advanced.name) is it not always helps. There are some alternative sources to these series? Thank you.
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 7583
Location: Wales
PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 1:17 pm Reply with quote
Does Amazon not ship to your country?
If you are talking about streaming, then I believe it is still available on crackle.com if that service is available in your country.
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GeorgeC



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 795
PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 5:02 pm Reply with quote
The word for people who have the actual physical Blu ray in their possession is NOT all good..

First of all, there hasn't been a home video release of OT's Metropolis that hasn't had issues.
The US DVD release is considered too bright and NOT the best example of anime on DVD.... Well, it can join that club along with the DVD releases of at least half of Satoshi Kon's films, too, and a bunch of more popular releases, period!

The Blu ray apparently has banding issues... This all goes back to the source tape which hasn't been redone with the greatest care for HD.
The US release will probably look the same unless Sony has bothered to do a new master for the US release (which I doubt).

The other thing is the matter of BD-R versus pressed Blu ray.
I hate -R media on principle --- principle being that I've had quite a few DVD-R's go bad on me over the years and I try not to bother with the medium unless it's absolutely the only way I can get something AND it's something I really do want.
I've skipped a lot of DVD-R's because I just don't want to bother and would rather go for Blu ray if at all possible. The price difference for MOST releases now is negligible; anime is one of the few holdouts and it's generally on newer, more exclusive releases where they hit you with the costs for "mastering" discs. It's BS but they can get away with this with collectors.

The UK release is NOT expensive... It's virtually the same cost as the upcoming US release.
For an actual title menu AND steelcase, I'd probably get the UK edition.
The BD-R, if it's like many DVD-R's, probably won't even have a title menu and will play straight from disc like a VHS tape which I find unacceptable for a major studio release.

The good news about the UK release is that reports are coming in from importers that it DOES play on Region A Blu ray players so no multi-region player or region switching on a PC BD unit is necessary to enjoy the film.
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 5:24 pm Reply with quote
GeorgeC wrote:
The UK release is NOT expensive... It's virtually the same cost as the upcoming US release.
For an actual title menu AND steelcase, I'd probably get the UK edition.

I recommend the practice! The Dollar is high against the Pound, and is likely to stay that way indefinitely.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how fondly others reacted to the news of the steelbook over here. Naturally, my own copy has been secured.
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GeorgeC



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 795
PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 9:17 pm Reply with quote
I know, I know...

Damn steelbook is sometimes TOO tempting to ignore!
Especially when the price is right!
Those deals that sometimes hits for under $10 are hard to ignore. $15 is STILL very good. Much more than $20 and I have to question my priorities!

You want to know HOW I finally got into the Sean Connery Bond movies?
The retail chain Best Buy had the movies on-sale for $9.99 US for a VERY long time last year...
HALF the series was available in steelbook. I ended up getting Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, and From Russia With Love.
I got half the Connery Bond movies. I'm still missing Diamonds are Forever, Goldfinger, and Dr. No.

I COULD get Diamonds Are Forever on steelbook but it's probably his second-worst Bond movie after Never Say Never Again (not part of the official Bond cycle) which I have no intention of buying... It's long out of print and just not worth it.

The other two Connery films have NOT been released in steelbook in the US. I'm jealous because the UK got Goldfinger in a gold steelbook!!!! Laughing
It's the most obvious packaging for that film but hey go with it! It's only the most talked about Connery Bond film and probably still in the top 5 at least for the entire franchise!
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GeorgeC



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 795
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2017 9:42 pm Reply with quote
I got my copy of the limited edition Metropolis Steelbook (UK) Blu ray today.
My copy beat the arrival date by 5 days -- got it earlier than the Amazon.uk estimate.
I wasn't going to pay $25 to get it shipped overnight or nonsense like that! I'm perfectly capable of waiting 2-3 weeks...

Anyhow, the good news...
This is DEFINITELY a "soft Region A" release. It may say Region B on the packaging BUT it plays on Region A Blu ray players with no issues that I can see! I have an old, virtually obsolete Panasonic player (firmware hasn't been updated in 3-4 years now!) and it had no problems playing the BD at all.
The DVD that comes with the steelbook is another issue... I'm sure it's coded Region 2/PAL format so unless you have a multi-region DVD player, alter the region code on your desktop or laptop BD/DVD player, OR rip the thing it's not going to play on a Region 1/A DVD/BD player... BUT since most of us are in this for the BD the good news is that the BD has the film AND all the goodies (extras, making of documentary) on it. I'm assuming these extras are probably the same ones that were included on the mini-DVD that was packaged with the US DVD release of Metropolis 14-15 years ago (which I still have).

The bad news... There are definitely banding issues but how badly they stick out will depend on your player and monitor. I didn't think they were THAT bad and I've seen my share of BD's with soft image (consequence of over-filtering and removing film grain for HD masters) or issues with TOO MUCH grain. There some films that are so old, were produced on crap film stock (Monty Python and the Holy Grail), or copies had deteriorated too much to begin with that it won't matter much if you see them on DVD or Blu ray (think the original King Kong for instance).
This is FAR from the worst BD or DVD presentation I've seen. The film still looks very nice and this will probably be the best home video presentation for a long time unless it DOES get remastered again!
The bands are narrow and only appear within certain lighting and color ranges...
As for "film grain" (if that's what it is; I could swear this film WAS produced digitally but it might have been transferred to 35mm film stock), it's most obvious in darker scenes. If you've seen the HD digital presentation of Macross; DYRL it's sort of like that but probably not as obvious because this is NOT a space opera!

If you can spring for it, I'd still get the film from the UK. The steelbook is priced nicely with the British pound-current US dollar exchange rate otherwise you can the standard packaging release (same disc!) in March.
I steered clear of the US release coming in February. I HATE burned discs!!! To whit, it'll probably also be a bares release with no menu (plays straight from the player like a VHS tape!!! AAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!) and no extras. That's how much Sony US thinks of this film.
It definitely deserved a better treatment for the US Blu ray street release!

God Save the Queen indeed! Eureka saved this film for American collectors, IMHO. REWARD these guys -- get the BD from the UK!

(Now if only Perfect Blue/UK BD played on Region A... I think that one definitely IS hard-coded for Region B. My kingdom for an official US BD release of Perfect Blue and all the other Satoshi Kon feature films that HAVEN'T had Region A BD releases yet!!!!)

I hope more and more releases just skip the whole region coding nonsense and give us all-region playback... It's nice this release works (confirmed) for both Region A and B but we shouldn't have that region nonsense nowadays for ANY disc release, period...!
They ditched it with 4K BD but 4K BD has been a very hard market sell.... They really pushed it with consumers and released the 4K HD upgrade to first-gen HDTV far too early IMHO with very little software support from the cable side... On the other hand, it's been a boon for Blu ray collectors and so many movies are much cheaper now than they've been in the past -- unless they're licensed and released for the US by CERTAIN Japanese entities (Aniplex, Pony Canon).
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7358
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2017 10:44 pm Reply with quote
GeorgeC wrote:
Anyhow, the good news...
This is DEFINITELY a "soft Region A" release. It may say Region B on the packaging BUT it plays on Region A Blu ray players with no issues that I can see! I have an old, virtually obsolete Panasonic player (firmware hasn't been updated in 3-4 years now!) and it had no problems playing the BD at all.

Oho, now this is what I wanted to hear! Now to figure out how much shipping from the UK to me is...
Even with presentation issues, I doubt it'll be as bad as the planned US burned disc release. Do burned disc releases ever work out in the end?
I still think I may need to wait though, it's a liiiitle expensive for my cheapness right now
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GeorgeC



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 795
PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 1:43 am Reply with quote
The steelbook cost me under $26 US WITH shipping which is about what the Sony US BD-R will retail PRIOR to S & H costs added in.
Either version you buy will have to be bought online... They're just not going to sell these BD's in stores in the US. I prefer a pressed disc of a film that I felt was more than good enough for it.

Perfect movie? NO! It has some definite pacing issues... Beautiful, lush art design and nice retro character animation? Yes!
This is one of the better-looking anime features that's come out in the last 17-18 years...

It was a very good deal... Normally it was 19.99 Br pounds but it was on sale for 16.99 Br pounds. I bought my copy off of Amazon.uk and went with standard shipping... Ridiculous to pay for shipping more than the cost of the BD itself!
The regular edition being released in March will be somewhat cheaper.

I'm a sucker for good deals on steelbooks...

I was concerned about the video issues noted on a review site but I can live with the little amount I saw. I have discs that are at least 5 times worse than this and it's definitely an issue with the video master NOT the disc itself. I'm more concerned about the fact that this BD overloads my Blu ray player on my PC. I DON'T have the newest PC but it usually doesn't stutter this bad. The disc obviously plays at a high bitrate! I played the BD on my old Panasonic player and it was perfectly fine. I would presume the PS3 wouldn't have any problems with it, either...

I was more concerned about the Panasonic's BD keys being up to date (enough) for this disc but like I said it wasn't an issue with that ancient player!
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