by Ben Drawbaugh on July 8, 2008 at 08:12 AM

After nine months of waiting, Blu-ray fans will finally get to watch 'Batman Begins' in HD on their preferred format. And just in time too as the new Batman movie hits theaters in a few weeks. Sure it's hard to call 'Batman Begins' the hottest new release when it is barely a new release, but when you look at the rest of the titles this week, it isn't hard to understand. In fact, the only other ...
by Darren Murph on July 1, 2008 at 02:19 PM

Catching 'The Godfather' on HD VOD is one thing; catching the famed trilogy on remastered Blu-ray is another. On September 23rd, Paramount will (re)release what's sure to be a holiday favorite in 'The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration.' The package will be available in both DVD ($72.99) and Blu-ray ($119.99) formats, and videophiles will be elated to know that director Francis Ford Coppola ...
by Ben Drawbaugh on July 1, 2008 at 09:07 AM

We have fourteen new titles for Blu-ray this week and believe it or not it is a slow start to the biggest Blu month to date. The biggest week is at the end of the month, when twenty four new releases hit the streets thanks to some help from Universal's first Blu-ray titles. Although there are plenty of new titles this week, there really isn't much to talk about. The biggest title is easily ...
by Ben Drawbaugh on June 24, 2008 at 07:45 AM

After last week's abysmal lineup, it is good to see a few good titles this week as we count down the last month before every major studio is releasing Blu-ray movies. But while we wait for Universal to get on board, we still have a good selection coming our way. This also happens to be the very last week with an HD DVD new release, but the last title from a major studio were about a month ago. ...
by Ben Drawbaugh on June 2, 2008 at 05:43 PM

This is the week that many have been waiting for. The week where Paramount finally opens the floodgates and officially releases all those titles on Blu that were previously available. The biggest Paramount release to make its HD debut is without a doubt 'There Will Be Blood' (IMDB 8.5) followed by 'Cloverfield,' but the rest are no slouch either. But while we wait until the end of July for the ...
by Joshua Fruhlinger on May 30, 2008 at 10:15 AM

Fans of high-def audio rejoice: The first Blu-ray recording has been released. Fans of anything other than Divertimento, hold your horses: The first release is from Trondheimsolistene, an orchestra from Norway. 'Divertimenti,' as it is called, will be released by the 2L label in full HD audio glory along with a SACD track for those not on the Blu-ray bandwagon just yet. Formats include 2.0 LPCM, ...
by Darren Murph on May 30, 2008 at 08:17 AM

When Blu-ray hits the food mart, you know it has gone big time. DVDPlay just coined itself the "first rental kiosk operator to offer Blu-ray Discs," as it laid out a plan to shove BD flicks into its machines as early as June 10th. Vanilla DVDs will, of course, continue to be offered alongside the newcomers, and best of all, the rental fee for Blu-ray Discs won't be a penny more than what is ...
by Ben Drawbaugh on May 27, 2008 at 03:40 PM

Paramount has us all messed up again this week thanks to the fact that all its releases got pushed back to June 3rd. We tried our best to be accurate last week, but still managed to list two Paramount titles that we were unable to find at Amazon or at our local Best Buy. Not a big deal as all of the titles we were expecting last week, and the 32 previously released titles, should all be available ...
by Richard Lawler on May 9, 2008 at 12:39 PM

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 ...
by Paul Miller on May 8, 2008 at 11:47 AM

We got to plant our eyeballs on Pioneer's second-gen KURO plasma display (bottom center), along with all that other new gear Pioneer released today. While all by its lonesome the new flagship display is no doubt impressive, when stacked up against the competition it becomes quite clear that this new KURO is the one to beat. Granted, this was Pioneer's own setup designed to make us believe ...
by Richard Lawler on May 8, 2008 at 10:39 AM

The Criterion Collection's long-awaited HD debut -- delayed by that annoying format war -- finally has a date, as well as a list of the first movies getting a definitive release in 1080p. If that wasn't enough, try this bit on for size: They won't charge viewers extra for the privilege. That's right, according to the e-mail that went out to subscribers today, all Blu-ray releases will feature HD ...
by Darren Murph on April 30, 2008 at 02:11 PM

ABI Research has just confirmed feelings that we've had for months: Blu-ray just isn't going to dominate the market until prices sink down from the stratosphere and players emerge that are fully-featured. A new study from the previously mentioned firm has suggested that we still have "12 to 18 months" before the BD market really kicks into gear, and it specifies that "fully-featured" decks need ...
by Darren Murph on April 22, 2008 at 11:04 AM

Whoa boy, we can't imagine this going over well with the Blu-ray junkies in attendance. On a conference call held earlier today, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings made mention that it planned on instituting a "modest monthly premium" to its normal subscription rate for folks who rented BDs. Of course, the move only makes perfect sense -- after all, the discs do cost more, and according to Mr. Hastings, ...
by Tim Stevens on April 1, 2008 at 03:01 PM

In the early days of the format wars between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, Microsoft seemed to be hedging its bets. It supported HD DVD by releasing an optional add-on for the Xbox 360. By not building the format into the game console it seemed to be saying "We like you, but we just want to be friends." It's possible that lack of commitment helped tip the battle to end the way it did, but since then ...
by Terrence O'Brien on March 10, 2008 at 05:49 PM

Just when you thought the format wars were over, along comes an upstart called New Medium Enterprises (NME) with its Versatile Multilayer Disc, or VMD. VMDs were originally set to debut in 2006, but for currently unknown reasons are only now making their debut. The discs and players are much cheaper to produce than either Blu-ray or HD-DVD because it uses the same red lasers that standard DVD ...