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So, the Topic didn´t cover it. My question is regarding the fist 2 Harry Potter movies on BD and/if they´ve changed the Menus and Video Transfers to newer releases.

So, I have the original releases of these movies (all of them actually) but these 2 in particular were made back when and (like others of that time) don´t have Menus. The only way to access them is to press DISC MENU on the remote control once the movie automatically plays. So I was wondering if they changed that in newer releases...and which ones.

I remember that the first time (?) they were released on a box set Warner just packaged together the same discs. Can´t tell if they´ve changed anything but I´m willing to say that no.

Since then there have been many releases of these movies. Have they changed that?

Another thing: the video quality. I think this happens with Prisoner of Azkaban as well but is much more evident in Sorcerer´s Stone and Chamber of Secrets where the video qaulity/transfer is pretty bad. Aside from the obvious 4K releases, was this fixed as well or not?

Thanks

I own the new set of Blu-Rays with the cover art that depicts an object. For example, below.


Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets both feature main menus. I also have the special Wizard's box set that came with all the special artifacts and stuff and I'm pretty sure those Blu-Rays had main menus as well. Which ones do you have that are so old they don't have main menus? Are you saying there is a menu but when you first put the disc in, it automatically plays the movie after previews and doesn't go straight to the main menu unless you click the menu button OR that there is no main menu whatsoever?

I'm almost certain the Blu-Ray transfers are the exact same. Tbh, I never felt that the first two/three movies had weak video quality.

_________________

We’re a dyad in the Force. Two that are one.
"I offered you my hand once. You wanted to take it." - Kylo Ren
"I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand." - Rey

What I mean is that there are no actual Menus.

There are no trailers on the BD. Once you turn on the BD Player it automatically plays the movie. The only way you can access the menu is by pressing DISC MENU or TOP DISC and then a menu will appear at the bottom of the screen but the movie still goes on. While the movie is still playing you can access the menu in order to change the language and subtitles. There´s not even a Menu for scenes. Once the movie is over then a Menu shows for the Extras.

The BDs are from 2001 and 2002.

Glad they fixed this.

...love that editions that you own. Don´t know in USA but in Spain there many different ones.

For instance:

This was the first collection; it says the Edition is from 2019 but it´s not as I remember when it came out and a friend bought it. I checked on reviews and the discs are the same as the original releases.

https://www.elcorteingles.es/cine/A3224 ... 9-blu-ray/

I say it´s a mistake because I´d think they now include newer releases of the originals (like the ones you have so they now have Menus) but it doesn´t make sense since they released this new collection that claims to be from 2019 and I believe it so.

https://www.elcorteingles.es/cine/A3224 ... 9-blu-ray/

So why sell two identical collections in terms of content?

Then there´s this Steel Book collection...that the way it looks seems to me so thin that they disregarded the second discs on the final movies.

https://www.elcorteingles.es/cine/A1673 ... r-blu-ray/

And then there are these single releases:

https://www.elcorteingles.es/cine/A3224 ... 9-blu-ray/

https://www.elcorteingles.es/cine/A2803 ... l-blu-ray/

https://www.elcorteingles.es/cine/A2170 ... l-blu-ray/

https://www.elcorteingles.es/cine/A2056 ... ay--libro/

Plus, the ones you have, the 4K releases and that ultimate edition that included the wand.

And people say that BDs/DVDs is an about to end media. If that´s the case, why so many different releases? And they ALWAYS sell. Each Christmas I see the Harry Potter movies being sold all the time: be it for themselves or as gifts.

PS

With so many cool choices I might think of "upgrading" but if that happens will be in the far future. By what you tell me the video and audio quality is the same and the lack of Menus don´t bother me (just wondered if they did fix it) so there´s no reason for me to go back an buying them again. More so when the last 4 movies were released on the peak of the BD so they´re great releases already.

Thanks for explaining.

They had Blu-Rays from 2001 and 2002? I'm pretty sure they weren't released until the late 2000s for Harry Potter and didn't the Blu-Ray format not launch until 2005 or around that time?

The first link you posted probably is one of the older complete editions like you thought but it says 2019 because they must have reprinted it.

For your second link, I'm not sure why they would release this but keep the old one as well but for popular film collections, they have a tendency to keep multiple versions on the market. They have a few different versions of the Harry Potter film collections available here in the US as well.

We have the steelbook collection too but it does come with the second discs for each film.

The first single release Blu-Ray link you posted is what our steelbook covers look like.
https://www.filmarena-eng.com/blu-ray-h ... books-foil

Our current DVD covers look like your second single release Blu-Ray link.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/harry-pott ... Id=5578983

The Ultimate Edition covers look like the Collector's Edition cover you posted in your third single release Blu-Ray link.
https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Sor ... B002GJT4XM

The Ultimate Editions were the first major Harry Potter Blu-Ray release and came packed with bonus features. They also featured extended editions for the first two HP films. They don't sell them anymore but the discs are the exact same used in the big collector's item box sets. I own the first set myself.
https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Wiz ... B007FSEAHY
https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Hog ... B00HETD0KC

Yeah, I didn't notice any changes in video quality. If you wanted that you'd probably have to upgrade to 4K. Anyway it probably makes more sense to wait to upgrade until you get into 4K, if you aren't already in it, rather than buy some Blu-Rays again when a newer format is already out.

_________________

We’re a dyad in the Force. Two that are one.
"I offered you my hand once. You wanted to take it." - Kylo Ren
"I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand." - Rey

You were right regarding they BD year of my originals. They are the 2007 editions. From Sorcerer´s Stone to Prisoner of Azkabam.

https://www.amazon.es/Harry-Potter-Pied ... B0053C8FY8

Bought them then since I really wanted them...and it was the time when they were saying they´d be out of print. Should have known better.

Still, glad to own them anyways. If I ever decide to get new editions they´ll be plenty to choose from.

Heard the Extended Editions of the first two just add the deleted scenes. And they´re not worthy. I just watched the ones from Sorcerer´s Stone and there´s this one where Harry was wondering if he´d be going to the same college as Dudley and Petunia called him stupid. I´m sure it was deleted because of that. Yes, neither his uncle or aunt were nice to him but to me this was too far. Especially coming from his mother´s sister.

PS

Your editions reminded me of the "adult editions" of the books.

Don´t know if you hear about it. Originally the books, at least in Europe (particularly in Spain) they had this very out of characters drawings:

https://www.casadellibro.com/libro-harr ... 957/670541

So they eventually were sold with this new "adult covers" that had a design more fitting for an adult to read/own.

https://www.abebooks.com/9781551927305/ ... 927306/plp

I mean, it´s great that they used better covers but to claim that these are for adults... Nothing else changes!!

Just watched Prisoner of Azkabam. The same thing.

One more thing, do the first 3 always lacked in Extras? And, newer releases must have added more I´m guessing.

Ok I figured that was the case because the Blu-Ray format didn't exist in the early 2000s so I was very mystified by that.

Haha, the Harry Potter films get consistent re-releases. Even all the special bonus features get reproduced each time so this isn't even a case where you lose out on extras over the years like with Disney re-releases. However, the special packaging of the Ultimate Editions is something that was unique to the original releases, but I'm not sure if you guys ever got those in Spain. The packaging anyway.

I actually like the Extended Editions a lot. They don't add a substantial amount of much but if you've read the books and are book fans, they add a lot of book scenes which help flesh out Harry's situations more. Like there's more about how the Hufflepuffs fear Harry in Chamber of Secrets and talk bad about him. Petunia has done a lot worse to Harry than just call him stupid (which is pretty tame coming from the woman who tried to hit him with a frying pan) so the scene was probably more cut because they felt it wasn't necessary in the theatrical cut.


I remember those adult edition covers. I thought they were just in the UK though, didn't realize they were all over Europe.

I've also seen those Spanish covers before. Not my favs tbh although not nearly as bad as the Italian and Finnish covers. I'm partial to the original US release covers because I grew up with those but I especially love the new UK Bloomsbury covers. I own the box set of them and they are better than the new US Scholastic covers.


I also love the new German 20th Anniversary covers.


My other major favorite are the Ukrainian covers. You can tell they take inspiration from the movies but they are packed with details and you really have to look at them full-size to really take them in.

_________________

We’re a dyad in the Force. Two that are one.
"I offered you my hand once. You wanted to take it." - Kylo Ren
"I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand." - Rey

What about the Prisoner of Azkaban is the same thing?

They should all feature extras. I'm guessing because you have the oldest editions, those didn't come with any, but pretty much all the ones since have come with two discs, both of which feature a huge surplus of extras.

_________________

We’re a dyad in the Force. Two that are one.
"I offered you my hand once. You wanted to take it." - Kylo Ren
"I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand." - Rey

What I meant to say is that Prisoner of Azkabam don´t have Menus either.

And as far as Extra content what I meant to say if that the first 3, in new releases, just kept the few ones and added more with new releases or just the same content. Not talking about special editions because I´m guessing they must have added content.

As for second discs on DVD there were the options of the single release or the Special ones. But not with the BD. At least not in Spain. The only ones that had 2 discs were the last 3; and I believe the last two gave you the option of single disc releases.

Ah, got it. Yeah, the new versions of PoA definitely have menus.

With the exception of the cheapest film box set here in the US, all the versions of the films tend to come with multiple discs. I think the only other exception is the latest trend of packaging two films together on DVD to make four sets of HP films. It's a shame that in Spain, they only offered single disc versions on Blu-Ray until the last few films. I think that was the case for us too in the films' initial Blu-Ray releases, but that was about a decade ago.

_________________

We’re a dyad in the Force. Two that are one.
"I offered you my hand once. You wanted to take it." - Kylo Ren
"I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand." - Rey

So, I´m reading the books again.

Didn´t think I would. I´m not that much into reading. I do every now and then (comics I do) but I don´t go back to read books again.

I´m glad I decided to do it. The first 2 books are almost identical to the movies. Yet even the scenes missing are glad to read. Plus now I see the passion for the books.

The movies are fine (not so much 6 till 8 ) and are a great way for entertainment and more so when you just want to experience the world on a evening/night. Still, the books are very charming and there´s this joy while reading them that´s undeniable. In fact, in some ways, I´m even glad things didn´t get adapted to the movies so you don´t feel like you´re reading the script for them. Besides, makes sense. The movies are long as they are and even if you´d wish the books were 100 percent adapted would have been 4 hours at least per each one. And, again, there´s this joy you feel taking your time reading that wouldn´t be the same just watching.