Blu-ray releases on September 2nd, 2008

We close the book on August and get started with September as we barrel down on the holiday season when the real blockbusters start to hit the streets. But for now, we'll take what we can get and the biggest this week for Blu-ray fans was arguably the biggest titles ever released on HD DVD. Although Transformers didn't win any Academy Awards, it is two hours of fun and has some of the best audio and picture quality movies can offer. The HD DVD version was very highly rated and the Blu-ray Disc is no different. In fact, effectively the only difference between the two is all the extra audio goodness. While the HD DVD version was limited to a Dolby Digital Plus track (allegedly because of space limitations) Blu-ray sports Dolby TrueHD as well as a few foreign language surround sound tracks -- although this is really the only difference, the reviewers appreciate it. Not much else to get excited about, which is pretty much the same again for next week. Things do start to heat up towards the middle of September though as Weinstein finally goes Blu and a few titles you've actually heard of that were in theaters in the past year are on the calendar.

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Blu-ray

• Black Mask (Lionsgate)

• Cirque du Soleil: Corteo (Sony)

• Eraser (Warner)

• Every Which Way But Loose (Warner)

• The Gauntlet (Warner)

• The Invincible Iron Man (Lionsgate)

• Marine Aquarium (BCI)

• Married Life (Sony)

• Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow (Lionsgate)

• Outbreak (Warner)

• Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (FUNimation)

• Transformers (2007) (Paramount)

• Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (Warner)