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HD DVDs released on May 23rd 2006
This week we have some great action titles which is expected considering who buys these things. U-571 has been a great home theater demo movie since it came out on DVD with DTS. But who couldn't love classics like The Borne Supremacy or The Fugitive. Universal and Warner are done taking turns releasing HD DVD titles and this week they both release a few. This is the first week we have seen six titles released at once, increasing the total count from fourteen to twenty. For those keeping score Warner 10 Vs. Universal 10. I guess Universal knew we were keeping score, which is why they decided at the last minute to release two this week. The question still remains, where is Paramount? It appears that they will be entering the game next week. Blazing Saddles (Warner) The Bourne Supremacy (Universal) The Chronicles of Riddick (Universal) The Fugitive (Warner) U-571 (Universal) Van Helsing (Universal)
HD DVDs released on May 16th 2006
Last week was a great week for HD DVD titles and I wish I could say the same for this week. At least the two titles coming out this week are both classics and belong in any decent movie collection. The studios seem to be taking turns on releasing titles and this week it's Warner's turn. They break out two of their all time greats this week, as long as you like the action genre. This brings the total number of HD DVDs to fourteen and the total from Warner to eight with Universal providing the other six. If HD DVD only averages fourteen titles per month they might have problems reaching that 200 titles total by the end of the year. Full Metal Jacket (Warner) Unforgiven (Warner)
Dirty Harry coming to HD DVD in 2007
Dirty Harry is back, hitting your screen in high definition in a couple of different ways. First up is a new Dirty Harry videogame coming to next generation consoles (360, PS3, Wii?). To coincide with the game, Warner will be re-releasing all the Dirty Harry movies -- Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool -- on HD DVD as the definitive Dirty Harry Collection, along with a host of (mostly unspecified, but expect audio upgrades and behind the scenes featurettes) extras. No Blu-ray release mentioned, however the films will on a moratorium of at least a year starting September meaning two things. If you want them on DVD buy them now while you can still find them, and expect the game and movie pack next fall.(You have no idea how difficult it was to write this post without including some "Do you feel lucky, punk?"-related humor.)
Warner Bros. keeps pumping out HD DVD movies
A couple of titles we already knew were coming to HD DVD but didn't know when, have gotten a date. May 16 the few, the proud, the...$800/$500 lighter in the wallet can look forward to high definition copies of Unforgiven and Full Metal Jacket coming to stores near them. The price is set to $28.99, and will include the bonus features in SD just like previous HD DVD releases. Since these titles are also slated for Blu-ray release, it will be interesting to see if bonus features for that format will be included in HDTV resolutions as some Blu-ray supporters have suggested.
Warner distributing movies via BitTorrent
No mention of resolution, although they seem to compare only to DVD so high definition is probably out of the question, but digital distribution is getting a big boost this summer when Warner joins with BitTorrent to release day-and-date with their DVDs over the internet. The bad news is that the DRM will prevent any copying to DVD.We'll see how well this works out, as BitTorrent is still very much the Wild Wild West when it comes to content. A quick search for HD on the website brought up our good friends over at mariposaHD...and lot of HDRips. Good luck with that piracy prevention Warner.Disclaimer: Time Warner is the parent company of this blog and Warner Bros. Entertainment[Via Engadget]
It's official: iTunes tracks will remain $0.99 each
After months of debate (could you imagine being involved in "months of debate" with Steve? No, thanks), Apple and the Big Four record companies have come to a deal that will allow the iTunes Music Store to avoid variable pricing, keeping the cost of a single track to $0.99 (more or less). I'm really glad that Apple's pricing structure came out on top in this. By pricing some tracks below some others, the record companies identify those particular tunes as less "valuable," and therefore less desirable, than others. Keeping the pricing the same across the board allows me to decide which is a "good" track and which isn't my cup of tea.[Via MacDailyNews]
HD-DVD advertising campaign kicks off: "So real you can feel it"
That is the new rallying cry of the HD-DVD camp; will it be enough to move customers into stores to by players before Blu-ray comes out, or enough to make consumers care about high definition DVDs at all? Toshiba and Warner Brothers certainly hope it is. To counter, the Blu-ray supporters were considering launchnig a market campaign around the concept that HD-DVD "came first", leaving HDTV owners unsatisfied. Expect the milder tagline "step into Blu" when their media juggernaut hits the ground.They plan to start the advertising on channels that air high definition content but we haven't seen any yet, although I did catch a nice Mission Impossible trailer in HD during 24 last night. Drop us a line if/when you see the ads.[Via Adjab]
Seven major studios line up to sell movies online
We have no idea why they chose today to do it, but today seven major movie studios announced they'll be selling movies online through Movielink and CinemaNow. Warner Bros, Universal, Sony, Paramount, Fox, and MGM will all be distributing first-run titles online -- definitely something they've never done before -- through Movielink for between 20 and 30 bones (way, way too much if you ask us), with older movies going for between $10 and $20. Lionsgate (and Sony) also announced distribution through CinemaNow. Really this was only a matter of time -- for these guys it was either sell these things online DRMed all to hell for way too much money (see above), go the subscription route (like Vongo, for example -- not likely) or continue whining without any justification whatsoever about pirates stealing movies in the Internet. At least now they can say they've legitimately offered their digital content up online (hey, you can even make a DVD backup for use only on Movielink-authorized computers), even though they still can't account for the artificial demand they try to create by releasing movies for purchase months after the films have gone out of theater.[Thanks, Phil]
Warner HD-DVD titles: April 18th 2006
We hate to say that we told you so, but...... The good news is that Warner has set a nice hard release date for their 3 HD-DVD movies. On April 18th 2006 we will be able to watch any movie we want as long as we want to watch either Million Dollar Baby, The Last Samurai or The Phantom of the Opera. I don't know about you but I am going to watch the Opera one because I have already seen the other two a few times. Seriously there are 17 more titles to follow in the following weeks, including my personal favorite "The Matrix". I am going to hold out on buying a HD-DVD player until there are at least 10 titles to rent at Netflix, but that's just me.Are you going to wait or have you already re-submitted your pre-order? Will Toshiba still release the players on March 28th without the movies?
HD-DVD will launch with more of a whimper than a bang
We started to hear rumors that HD-DVD movies might not be delivered in March and now it looks like our nightmares have come true. Warner Home Video was the only studio at CES to announce a firm date for it's titles and now they say that they may be a few weeks late due to technical issues. Walmart was taking pre-orders and have had to cancel the orders and Best Buy pulled the item from their ad. At this point Warner is the only studio that has announced a firm release date and it seems impossible that Paramount or Universal will have any movies out within 6 weeks after they announce a firm date. Assuming that Blu-Ray doesn't have the same problems, the first to market advantage that it seemed HD-DVD had is rapidly slipping away. Not to mention the fact that Toshiba is the only manufacture to announce a release date for a HD-DVD player. I will buy a HD-DVD as soon as there are at least 10 movies for rent at Netflix, but I don't think I will replace my DVD collection just yet. On second thought, I will start selling them on EBay now! Via [HDBlog]
