Feb 26
For all you people with a car large enough to take at least a 42” TV this could be the next big thing. Mitsubishi Electric has announced they have developed a 1DIN (that’s the standard size of an in-car CD player) size BluRay player. The hope to have it as a product by the end of their current financial year which ends on the 31st of March. No word on pricing or availability, this is probably a bare drive that other automotive audio brands will use to build into their own in-car players. Expect it to be expensive and appear on the shopping list of ‘insert favourite movie star/sports star or ‘B’ list celebrity here’ or in an Escalade near you soon.
Feb 26
After my recent excursion to see Bolt in 3D it’s very exciting news to hear that Panasonic has now opened the first 3D Full HD (3D FHD) BluRay Format authoring facility on Hollywood.
The facility will feature a Plasma 3D Full HD home theater system, a 3D-ready digital cinema projector (Theatrical Dolby 3-D system) with a 380-inch screen theater for 3D HD picture quality evaluation, and a 3-D ready MPEG-4 AVC High Profile encoder
Eisuke Tsuyuzaki, Managing Director of Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory said “The creation of the new PHL Authoring Center will enable Hollywood to start trial production and ultimately create commercially available 3D FHD titles to realize a new window into reality, and elevate the level of High Definition entertainment that consumers can enjoy in their own homes. We expect 3D FHD to become a reality by 2010.”
Ooh can’t wait…
Feb 26
Pioneer today announced availability of the fastest BluRay writer for the PC (it was previously announced but not available until now). The BDR-203BK (catchy!) can write both single layer 25GB and dual layer 50GB disks at 8x speed., that’s 36MB a second or roughly 12 minutes for a single layer disk and 24 minutes for a dual layer. Not too shabby. The drive also ships with CyberLink’s Blu-ray Disc Suite 6.
Price is expected to be around €250, £220 and in the US $350, oh and it’s also available in beige for you not yet out of the 80′s
Full specifications here
Feb 25
Warner Home Video has announced that in March they will ship a complete box set of the four original 1989-1997 movies. Great news, the first two movies should be worth picking up and you get two that the kids might enjoy
BATMAN: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997 features more than 18 hours of bonus content including documentaries from directors Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher, deleted scenes and music videos. In addition there will be a digital copy of Batman: The Movie which allows consumers a single non-transferable download of the full-length film to their iPod or PC
No word on the video or audio encoding or remastering yet.
Release date 10th March 2009 for $129. No word on a release outside the US.
Feb 25
Futuresource Consulting is expecting BluRay sales to reach the 100M mark this year. Looking back on 2008 they report that in 2008 the market in the US grew by 32% in 2008 to 24M units with the UK the largest market in Europe at around 3.5M.
In total around 36M disks where sold with more than 200M manufactured (sounds like there might be some good bargains out there).
Full release here
Feb 21
Well I took the kids (and the wife) to see Bolt in 3D. This is a bit of a trek for us as we actually live about 250 metres from a multi-screen cinema but it’s not been enabled for 3D yet, we also did go into London a few years ago and experienced 3D in the IMAX on the south bank near Waterloo so I wanted to see how it had come along. So we took a trip to our nearest 3D enabled cinema (Camberley in case you’re interested) which is about a half hour drive away. This is a new Cinema and even though it’s quite small the screen is nice and big and seats are comfortable, however we did not pay the extra for the ‘VIP’ leather reclining seats or bean bag seats at the front. Anyway back to the movie. I have to say we were impressed the initial trailers where all also presented in 3D and some of these had great depth and while there were a few times images ‘popped’ out of the screen they were not over done. Onto Bolt 3D itself, the first quarter of the movie has very good 3D with a real sense of depth and with good colour reproduction. The middle of the movie follows a more character rather that action driven story so the effects are not used so much but there is still a good feeling of depth. The last quarter goes back to action and the 3D comes to the fore again but not at the expense of the story. As a movie Bolt holds up very well and we all enjoyed it. The other good news was that none of us had ‘tired’ eyes or headaches after watching over two hours of 3D.
So two questions; would we go again. An absolute yes but it will be a treat as the cost for three adults and two children was £45 or about $60 plus about £28 on food and drink which could have got us four movies on BluRay. Secondly am I looking forward to 3D on BluRay? Well if it’s as good as this experience that’s a big yes. However the thought of another screen upgrade does not bode well, think I’ll have to drag the family out a few more times to get them into it before the tech becomes available.
Feb 19
Eminem vehicle 8 Mile comes to BluRay. Time to lose yourself in the world of rapping Detroit with Eminem, timed to coincide with the release of his new album and single, call my cynical. Extras look pretty sparse with just a making of, ‘Rap Battles’ and a music video.
This BD-25 single layer disk features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Due for release April 14th
Feb 19
Warner Bros have announced several new titles for March release;
Quo Vadis
Robert Taylor plays Marcus Vinicius, commander of Rome’s 14th Legion and in love with Lygia (Deborah Kerr), a member of the Christian sect accused of undermining Roman values. Peter Ustinov, wrapped in purple-robed petulance, is the all-powerful Nero. The destinies of these three and of the Empire play out in a tale whose visual highlights include the parade of triumphant legions, the burning of Rome and the martyrdom of Christmas before cheering, bread-and-circus throngs.
Year: 1951 Director: Mervyn LeRoy Starring: Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Glenn, Peter Ustinov
Due for release March 24th. If you’re not familiar click here for IMDB link
Watchmen: Motion Comics
Watched any great books lately? Now you can. The most celebrated graphic novel of all time that broke the conventional mold continues to break new ground WATCHMEN illustrator Dave Gibbons oversees this digital version of the graphic novel that adds limited motion, voice and sound to the books strikingly drawn panels. All 12 chapters of the story are here nearly 5 hours spanning everything from the mysterious demise of the Comedian to the crisscrossed destinies of loosely allied superheroes to their fateful impact on the world. Be in the know. Be watching. With Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic.
Due for release March 3rd
Feb 15
Universal Studios Home Entertainment have announced that on March 24th shortly before the release of the new film in cinemas. All three movies; Fast and The Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious and Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift will be available in a box Set for $99. All three movies look to have comprehensive extras as well as BD Live capability and Universals U-Control functionality. No word on Audio formats but you can expect a thumping soundtrack.
More info here
Feb 15
Amadeus
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Gandhi: Special Edition
Mutant Chronicles
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Thick as Thieves
Righteous Kill
Feb 13
Dare you open the Necronomicon for another read? Well Universal Studios think it’s time and are releasing the horror/comedy classic Army of Darkness. This time the Screwhead Edition. Which features a whole host of extras including;
Alternate Ending: See the original ending planned for the film.
Deleted Scanes: Additional scenes that never played in theaters.
The Men Behind the Army: Go behind-the-scenes with star Bruce Campbell.
Additional Footage: See extra footage shot for the film.
Feature Comentary with director Sam Raimi, star Bruce Campbell, and co-writer Ivan Raimi
Theatrical Trailer: The original promotional trailer for the theatrical release.
Production Photos: Access interactive production photos from the set without interruption to the movie experience.
BD-Live(TM): Access the BD-Live(TM) Center through your Internet-connected player to get even more content, watch the latest trailers, and more!
My Scenes: Pick your favorite scenes from the film to create your own video montage.
The BluRay will feature re-mastered picture and DTS HD 5.1 Master Audio and many of the above features will be exclusive to the BluRay release.
US release is May 19th
Feb 12
There seems to be quite a few stories around the net today about BluRay getting cheaper. I don’t really think this is the case, well not for new releases where the price seems to have been the same since launch. There are quite a few sites offering what is a growing back catalogue in 40% off, 3 for 2 among other offers. Even my local Blockbuster has is running two for £25, they even offer disks for under £11 (about $15) online. No real surprises just a maturing mainstream market, we just need some of the retail stores to stop charging a high premium you know who you are HMV…
Feb 12
Well it’s a sad day when one of the top brands for quality exits the TV business. Pioneer a long standing supporter of Plasma technology recently announced it would be ceasing manufacturing its own plasma panels and would also outsource it’s LDC TV products to other companies, a move that did not go down well with many fans of its Kuro plasmas. Its Kuro plasmas have long been recognised as having some of the best black levels in the market.
Pioneer has today announced its pulling out of the TV business altogether to concentrate on its Pro-DJ and audio business and we hope that includes their well received amps and BluRay players.
Best of luck to one of the industries true pioneers (no pun intended)
More info here
Feb 11
Well it may be a little exaggeration but there are plenty of ‘Girlie Movies’ released recently that just might be that perfect Valentine’s Day gift. You just might like to make sure you’re out when she watches them. But if your after something for hubby or your boyfriend there’s also a few recommendations below.
Recent releases for her
Pretty Woman
What Women Want – double points for having Mel?
Dirty Dancing: Ultimate Girl’s Night In Collector’s Pack
Mama Mia
Sex and the City Movie
Hitch
High School Musical (1-3 for extra points)
Nights in Rodanthe – Mr Gere mega points?
My Best Friend’s wedding
Recent Releases for Him
Death Race (review coming soon)
Appoloosa (review coming soon)
Chronicles of Riddick
Rocknrolla
Iron Man
Rambo
The Matrix Trilogy
Movies for both for a night in
Taken
Hancock
Man on Fire
Step Brothers
If you can’t get rid of the kids for the evening (or need something to keep them occupied)
Kung Fu Panda
High School Musical 3
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Wall-E
Madagascar – Escape 2 Africa
Feb 10
Well this surprised me follow this link to a video on MSN on how to fine tune you HDTV. Personally I use Digital Video Essentials or one of the THX test disks. However there’s also a number of movies mastered by THX that also include test patterns. Just remember very few TVs are shipped by the manufacturer setup for home viewing, many are optimised for in store displays with the brightness and contrast cranked way up.
