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What's coming to Netflix in December: 'The Witcher' and 'Lost in Space'
With cold weather creeping in and many of us wanting little to do with the outdoors, Netflix has plenty of new options for you to watch in December, including several holiday shows and movies. To help you figure out what you might want to check out after curling up on the couch with some cocoa, it's released its jam-packed schedule for next month.
BBC iPlayer to host a ton of TV box sets this Christmas
Nippy mornings and early sunsets. The British winter is here, bringing with it the perfect weather for TV bingeing. For many, that means Netflix, Now TV and Amazon Video, however this year the BBC is embracing the box set culture too. A huge collection of programming will soon return to iPlayer, including the first three seasons of Peaky Blinders, the Tom Hardy drama Taboo and the Golden Globe-winning Wolf Hall. The BBC is also adding crime hit Line of Duty, Happy Valley and a bunch of modern Sherlock, including season three, four and the 2016 special, The Abominable Bride.
BBC nature series 'Blue Planet' will return later this year
Planet Earth II has only just started airing in North America, but already the BBC is working on its next big-budget nature doc. Blue Planet II, a successor to the original Blue Planet series from 2001, will be broadcast in the UK later this year (a US release will probably come a little later.) It'll be narrated by veteran presenter Sir David Attenborough (who else) and return to the world's mysterious oceans, capturing and explaining the various creatures that lurk beneath the surface. These include water-spitting snub fin dolphins, hairy-chested Hoff crabs and a reef octopus.
Nature documentary 'Planet Earth II' is coming to Snapchat
Planet Earth II was probably the BBC's best piece of TV programming last year. The documentary series captured and, more importantly, explained the natural world with nuanced narration and breathtaking cinematography. Now, the show is coming to Snapchat. A deal between Snap Inc and the British broadcaster will see a modified version released through the social network. It'll have six episodes and, of course, be optimized for vertical viewing. Snap says the series will also use "binaural recording," a dual-microphone setup that's meant to imitate 3D stereo sound. It's not clear exactly how long each episode will be, however.
BBC's 'Planet Earth' team is making a mini VR nature series
While the BBC is respected for its varied slate of programming, its nature documentaries are deservedly elevated above the rest. The corporation's second Planet Earth series recently broke viewing records in the UK and will debut in the US, but it's also been working on a new project that will bring its nature expertise to virtual reality. BBC Earth, the producer behind the groundbreaking footage, has announced a new partnership with Oculus to launch three new VR experiences, which will be available for the Rift and Samsung's Gear VR headsets in the coming weeks.
BBC tests 4K iPlayer with 'Planet Earth II'
For four glorious minutes, Brits will be able to watch Planet Earth II in 4K. The broadcaster is releasing some "experimental footage" in the ultra HD resolution today, which viewers can watch until "early next year" on a small number of Panasonic TVs. It's a short clip, featuring a frog in a luscious jungle and a jaguar stalking its prey. The new footage also uses Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG), a form of High Dynamic Range (HDR) which promises sharper and more colourful images. The BBC says the test clip is an "early but important step" towards offering 4K full-time on iPlayer.
New BBC app highlights the best of David Attenborough
On Sir David Attenborough's 90th birthday earlier this year, the BBC announced it was developing a mobile app to showcase the veteran presenter's huge body of work. "Attenborough's Story of Life" is finally available to download for iOS and Android today, and features more than 1,000 curated clips from the 40-plus BBC shows Attenborough has been involved in over the past 60 years. Best of all, it's available worldwide for free, so while Brits are enjoying fresh weekly installments of 4K nature porn courtesy of Planet Earth II, the new app means everyone else can get their Attenborough fix too.
Nature documentary 'Planet Earth II' looks absolutely stunning
For people who love showing off their high-end A/V gear, documentaries from BBC Earth are about as good as it gets for infinitely rewatchable reference material. But the clock ticks ever forward and some of those older releases don't look quite as good anymore thanks to screen sizes getting dramatically bigger and pixel counts higher. But now we have our first glimpse at the shot-in-4K Planet Earth II by way of a trailer from BBC One.
Must See HDTV (October 3rd - 9th)
How can we still have fall premieres left? After the onslaught of the last two weeks it seems there's still a few to go, as old standbys like House join fresh faces like American Horror Story and Penn & Teller Tell a Lie on the premiere list. It's also a big week for Blu-ray discs, as seen above with a couple of classics showing up, some Disney favorites returning for the first time and special treats like Daft Punk's Interstella 5555 and Planet Earth Special Edition. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames. Pulp Fiction After waiting far too long for Quentin Tarantino's hit movie to debut on Blu-ray we got an early look at this one and it's worth the wait. Both the picture and audio quality are impressive, while we didn't have a copy of the imported version to compare them to the picture is clean and artifact free, while the 5.1 soundtrack gives equal time to the witty dialogue and occasional action. There's no audio commentary present, but there is about an hour or so of new HD extras included for the fans. If you've somehow avoided seeing this movie so far we don't even know what to say to you, but this is the best way to watch since it debuted in 1994. ($15.99 on Amazon, October 4th) House Everyone's favorite jerk of a doctor returns for an eighth and possibly final season tonight. With Cuddy gone and Dr. Gregory House locked in jail we're wondering if it can keep the medical procedural formula fresh for another year, but so far it's held up well despite cast rotations and the so often under-appreciated main-character-loses-his-mind plot twist. Don't have enough reasons to watch? Jaleel White is guest starring in tonight's season premiere episode, so there you go. (October 3rd, Fox, 9PM) The League If you've listened to our podcast or are participating in either of the official Engadget HD leagues, then you already know we're all in when it comes to fantasy football. The League returns this week for a third season and captures all of the insanity that happens when people stop being friends and start getting real... pretend. Despite its very intense focus on a group of friends and their over the top competition, as well as guest appearances by NFL stars, there's enough comedy there to keep watching whether you're watching tonight's game hoping a backup RB gets 75 yards and a touchdown or not. (October 6th, FX, 10:30PM)
Planet Earth Special Edition Blu-ray arrives October 4th
Warner has officially revealed the launch date and pricing for refreshed editions of the epic Planet Earth series on Blu-ray and DVD. There are two versions planned, the Limited Collector's Edition pictured above with the globe packaging, and a Special Edition in more every day trim. The MSRP for the LCE is $99 and the Special Edition runs $79 when both arrive October 4th, check out the official list of extras after the break.
Planet Earth Special Edition Blu-ray set coming to the US from BBC America
Last year, BBC revisited its acclaimed Planet Earth series of nature documentaries with a Special Edition Blu-ray set, and now BBC America shop has revealed the set will also be released on this side of the pond. While the discs shipped last fall in the UK and were region free, they were encoded in a 1080i50 format that most US Blu-ray players (most notably the PlayStation 3) don't support. The new special editions fix one of the quirks of the original releases by opting for two 50GB BD50 discs instead of four 25GB platters, and adding new high definition extras including audio commentaries and options to isolate either the music or sound effects. There's still more to see however, with content from Planet Earth's Greatest Moments, Snow Leopard: Beyond the Myth and a sneak peek at the upcoming Frozen Planet project on the discs. The set also includes the standard def extras omitted from the original high definition releases, that consists of several Making Of featurettes and a three part Planet Earth - The Future documentary, and two new standard definition extras. There's no word on a release date or pricing, but if you've been drooling over the UK rereleases (which apparently suffered a problems on a couple of the discs in initial runs but have since been fixed) a little patience should pay off nicely -- if you've forgotten how amazing the footage is or somehow missed out the first time around, check out the original trailer after the break.
Discovery's next epic series Life airs March 21 on seven networks, June 1 on Blu-ray
We've been waiting for the next Planet Earth for quite some time, and the latest contender to the throne is Life. An 11-part series devoted to exploring "the adaptability and diversity of life on Earth" each episode focuses on a different form of life, and of course, does it all in HD. The first two hours will air on Discovery Channel HD; TLC HD; Animal Planet HD; Science Channel HD; Investigation Discovery HD; and Planet Green HD, March 21 at 8 p.m., with two hour installments following each Sunday at 8 only on Discovery Channel HD. Check the video previews embedded after the break for more info on all the new camera technology used to make this series even more beautiful to look at than the last -- but hide your credit card first, the Blu-ray release June 1 is already available for preorders and imagining all that super slow-mo footage in 1080p is definitely too tantalizing for the weak-willed among us.
Discovery kicking off continent-by-continent followup to Planet Earth with Wild Planet: North America
Having nabbed the former head of the BBC's Natural History Unit, Discovery has designs on its own epic globe trotting series promising to "capture the world, continent by continent in high definition, as its never been seen before." Naturally planned to debut first on Discovery's networks, as opposed to its partnership with BBC on Planet Earth, Wild Planet: North America will be the first of seven installments and start filming this fall. Expect HD cams to visit even more extreme locations, and all manner of wildlife to be snapped by the thousand lenses of myriad high speed cameras. We're ready. [Warning: PDF read link][Via Reuters]
BBC boxes up "Earth Collection" in time for the holidays
If you're planning on buying into a new HD set and/or a Blu-ray player this holiday season, the BBC is packaging up a six-disc Blu-ray set that you'll want to check out. "The BBC Earth Collection" combines the "Planet Earth: The Complete Series" and "Earth: The Biography" like so much peanut butter and chocolate -- if you're getting a whole new TV and Blu-ray player setup, it's a great way to show off your new gear; if you're just getting a Blu-ray player for your current set, the visuals will make your TV feel new again. There's nothing new added to either title, but expect to see this box show up with an MSRP of $130. If it seems pricey, remember that new gear isn't any good without content!
The next Planet Earth? National Geographic premieres Earth: The Biography tonight
We've felt an odd void for nature programming on our HDTV, so National Geographic's Earth: The Biography series comes at an excellent time. As usual, high definition makes the seven continent journey pop, starting off tonight with an episode on volcanoes, followed immediately by a second focusing on ice. We don't have to tell you how great an experience Planet Earth was (and the real sequel isn't due til 2012), so we don't recommend missing any part of this three night event.[Via HeraldNet]
50 years of NASA footage hits Discovery in HD this summer
Sure now we get live HD from the ISS like it's nothing, but much of the last half century of space exploration has never been seen by most in anything other than grainy analog broadcasts. That'll change in June once When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions debuts on Discovery Channel, drawing from more than 150 hours of NASA footage, called a cross between The Right Stuff and EHD fave Planet Earth. The Orlando Sentinel mentions the new doc is part of a push to ensure funding to speed further space explorations, as long as they provide more great HD opportunities we're all for it. Look for the Blu-ray boxed set July 24 for $79.95.
'Frozen Planet' due out before Hell freezes over
The enduring popularity of "Planet Earth" is compelling enough to its backers to convince them to go back to the well. The Discovery Channel and BBC's Natural History Unit are teaming up again to cover the poles of the Earth in "Frozen Planet." HD content captured from the Arctic and Antarctic? Sign us up! You've got plenty of time to continue enjoying that HDM copy of Planet Earth, though -- the new feature is not set to air until 2012. Yeah, that hurts, but quality takes time, friends. The real question is what HDM format this feature will emerge on (if any still exist); this is one title we'll be putting in our library wishlist.
Discovery Channel offers rock bottom prices on HD DVDs
Not like this comes as any surprise whatsoever, but the latest to jump on the HD DVD fire sale wagon is Discovery Channel. As of now, the firm is offering up its famed Planet Earth, Sunrise Earth and Discovery Atlas titles with massive discounts attached (some flicks are as low as $9.99), but alas, all sales are inevitably final. Still, $29.99 for the Planet Earth HD DVD set could be reason enough to keep that unsupported player around.[Via John B.]
BBC still mulling Blu-ray exclusive decision
We already knew that New Line Cinema (owned by Time Warner, which also owns Engadget's parent companies) and HBO Home Video would be following Warner into the land of the Blu, but it seems as if BBC Video (which also distributes through Warner) has yet to make a decision of its own. According to TVShowsOnDVD, The Beeb has reiterated that it will continue to support both HD DVD / Blu-ray for now and "will evaluate the marketplace before committing to one format." Apparently, Planet Earth has been moving quite well on the red front, and considering just how different its content is compared with New Line / HBO, we wouldn't be shocked to see it stick with both for awhile longer. Still, the cards are certainly stacked in BD's favor, but only time will tell if the BBC will continue to bleed purple.
PS3 has the power to convert even critics
A rather outspoken PS3 critic has given ten reasons as to why he recently changed his mind on hating the PS3 to loving it dearly. Interesting, because the top 10 reasons are eerily similar to why we fell in love with the PS3 in the first place and hence, why we became PS3 Fanboys. Only the "graphics" reason is a little shakier than the rest, simply because we have so few titles to really wow our friends with. That will change soon. Now, if we had to ask ourselves which one feature could turn the most heads, we'd have to say it would be Blu-ray. Little else has impressed our friends quite as much as the first glimpse of a Blu-ray movie, like X-men: The Last Stand or Planet Earth. One look and most are intrigued enough to ask how much a Blu-ray player and movies cost. Not to say the other features aren't valid, but when it comes to converting either a PS3 naysayer or enticing a non-gamer to purchase a PS3 over another console, the Blu-ray feature is simply more enticing with wider audience appeal and has given us the most "oohs" and "aahs" in general.So how about you? If you had to list the only reason to own a PS3, taking a hint from the ten features listed in the tech.co.uk article, which one reason would it be?[Via PS3 Forums]
