TV & Movies
Bond is Back!
Jun 30th
Here is the trailer for “Quantum of Solace” due out this fall! I am very excited, as Craig is the best Bond since Connery, in my opinion! Enjoy!
Planet Earth: Discovery HD Theater
Feb 7th
Well, after a long wait, I have finally received my Blu-Ray version of the American Discovery release of Planet Earth. Thank you Lorne for all your hard work getting the BBC version exchanged.
I can say that I am not disappointed in my decision to have the BBC version exchanged for the Discovery version. It is very evident that the Discovery Channel went to a lot more effort than the BBC release to make sure that the viewer got the best quality experience out of the Blu-Ray release. The imagery is as good if not better than what was experienced on the Discovery HD airing on HDTV.
Unlike the BBC release, there is none of the problems in shadows with weird lines. The colors are more vibrant and rich. Some purists may say that they messed up something that was perfect, but the production value of the American release is far superior to the BBC release. The music is more engaging, and the opening credits more intense, showcasing the series’ best moments. Sigourney Weaver’s narration is also much more suited to the series.
Jurassic Players
Jan 10th
Gone the way of extinction… 8 Track, Betamax, and soon HD-DVD. I just blogged about Paramount’s ability to bail if they so want. While they are currently denying plans to do so, today, news comes that Universal (the last of two major studios distributing exclusively on HD-DVD) no longer has a contract with HD-DVD.
This clears the way for Universal to join the Blu-Ray bandwagon any day now. They have stated that they have some big HD-DVD promos already planned in the near future. They, however, have not denied plans to jump ship.
Many retailers are getting tired of dedicating space to the dying HD-DVD. I think we could see an end to this war in a matter of a few more months, even sooner possibly.
I feel bad for the 400k or so people that have adopted HD-DVD at this point. I know I would be feeling like crap right now if Blu-Ray were the side loosing, although at least I would still have a gaming unit out of it.
Thanks to Howard for the tip to the above mentioned article.
Star Trek Set To Boldly Go Blu?
Jan 8th
According to this article from the financial times, Paramount apparently has a clause in their contract with the HD-DVD camp, that if Warner Bros. goes Blu, that they will be allowed to jump ship and join the Blu-Ray camp as well.
While this is only speculation at the moment, with 70% of Hollywood movies being released in Blu-Ray now, it only makes sense that Paramount would abandon the ailing HD-DVD format in this war. At that point, it would leave only Universal and Dreamworks on the HD-DVD side (it isn’t known wether either of them have this same clause).
It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but I for one will be happy to be able to upgrade my Star Trek movies to Blu-Ray if it does indeed come to fruition! Hopefully the end of the war will also see a drop in price to the Blu-Ray camp to get more consumers adopting it.
Planet Earth Disappointment!
Dec 31st
For Christmas, I received the Blu-Ray version of Planet Earth, the remarkable High Definition Mini-series documentarty about, what else, Planet Earth.
While the cinematography of this show is absolutely amazing, I was highly disappointed with what I received in the British release of this amazing mini-series. I originally saw much of it on Discovery HD Theater, and was blown away by the brilliant colors and amazing clarity! Definitely one of the biggest reasons I am glad I made the switch to High Def…
However, as I have since discovered, this DVD does not play well with 1080p even though it says it is 1080p in resolution. Much of the footage was wavy, and had a lot of noise in the picture. I had the opportunity to watch some of on the standard def version, and got none of the noise in the Blu-Ray version. I also was quite disappointed by the less than vibrant colors, and poor audio. I could barely hear the narrator. The best way to describe it, was like watching an old PBS documentary from the 70s, only in widescreen.
I have since returned this to amazon, and have ordered the version that Discovery is selling on their site with Sigourney Weaver narrating. It is only 1080i, but if it is even close to what was aired on DHDT, then it will be far better than this version. I believe the US release also contains much of the bonus footage that is absent from the BBC release.
I will give my review of the Discovery Blu-Ray version once I have received it.
