Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix launches today on DVD and HD-DVD. The HD-DVD consortium has revealed a new feature just for the HD-DVD release. This new feature ultilizes the standard network adapter included with every HD-DVD player. The gist of the feature is you can connect to a friends HD-DVD player and both of you can can simultaneously view the latest Harry Potter film fully synced up with message functionality.

From the official site:

Gather your own army of fellow wizards for a live community screening party. Invite other owners of the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix HD DVD to simultaneously watch from their own internet-accessed players and text with your remote, PC or cell phone. When you host an invitation-only viewing, you control the film by pausing and playing the feature on everyone’s machine. You can chat live with your friends as you watch.

Now each session you create has a host and only the host can control the playback during the session. It isn’t said but is pretty much assumed that each party needs their own copy of the HD-DVD release for proper playback.

[Editor’s Note: Phil emailed us an impassioned commentary on the recent HD DVD release of “A Clockwork Orange” - which seemed like it should be shared with the world. I asked Phil if he wanted to re-work as a guest post, which he did, and here we are - Welcome aboard, Phil!]

Hello, and who am I?

I’m Phil Smoot, born and live in North Carolina, will be 57 a few days before Christmas of this year (2007), and I have been invited to be an occasional contributor to UpcomingDiscs.com.

Why?

Well, maybe Geritol is a potential sponsor for the site [Not yet, but we’d be happy to take their money - ed], but I hope it has more to do with my background and passion of film (and video and electronic media and tomorrow land—the real one, not just the Disney park rides).

Background? What’s some guy from Asheboro, NC, got to offer? (Yeah, Asheboro, where the only thing of note is that the state has one of the few natural habitat zoo’s in the world. I live close enough to apes, lions, polar bears and other predators that make me feel right at home in the film industry).

Okay, I love new technology, and I’m excited about the future, and I have some history in film. I’ve worked on some 65 to 70 feature length motion pictures —And continue to do so and hope to do so for many years to come–plus some 3,000 commercials, short films, industrials and TV productions. In 1973, I graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) with a double major in Radio-TV-Motion Pictures (RTVMP, a department that is no longer there but combined with Communications) and Dramatic Art (whatever that means, I just had enough credits to add it to my diploma).

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Today Sony’s CEO made some intriguing statements:

We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides

“It doesn’t mean as much as all that,” Stringer said. He added that he believed there was an opportunity of uniting the two camps under one format before he became CEO, and he wishes he could travel back in time to make that happen.

The battle rages on in our hearts and our wallets.

source: Forbes.com

Hmmm… interesting. Looks like there’s a single disc, non-SE version coming too, to complement the 2-Disc SE DVD and 2-Disc HD DVD versions announced yesterday. That’s all I know so far…

Click for super enormous version…

Wow - finally! My favorite movie of the summer will come out to play on DVD and HD DVD on October 16th. Both formats are OK initial releases, but leave plenty of room for future extended/director’s/collector’s editions - the DVD audio is particularly weak. Anyway, both releases have a slew of features - from chest-thumping Chevrolet goofiness to what sounds like a cool CGI-model explorer that takes up an entire HD DVD disc.

For now, there’s going to be 2 releases. Each is two discs, but the features and extras aren’t remotely similar:

1. DVD “Special Edition” - 2 discs
   16:9, DD 5.1 Audio. 5.1 - is that it? Yup.
   Disc One: Feature, with Michael Bay commentary track
   Disc Two: A zillion featurettes/documentaries - see below for full details
2. Transformers HD DVD - 2 discs
   1080p, DD+ 5.1
   Disc One: Feature, “Head’s Up Display” (see below), web-enabled features
   Disc Two: Transformers Tech Inspector - seems to be an interactive production model browser

Final word? There’s no way I’m not getting the DVD release. Its strong out of the gates, but I’m anticipating a future follow-up purchase with better-rounded audio.

The complete details from the Press Release follow after the jump… and there’s more info to come over time!

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Venturer Electronics, maker of oddball, low cost consumer electronics, is getting into the HD game - releasing the SHD7000 in time for the holidays. All the basic specs you’d expect are there: 1080i, HDMI, etc.

Featuring 1080i video output and an HDMI connection, the SHD7000 is designed to be compatible with the vast majority of HDTVs already in North American consumers’ homes. With Ethernet connectivity to the network , the SHD7000 also allows users to access bonus features from movie studio web servers and unlock special prerecorded content on some HD DVD discs. Dolby TrueHD rounds out the high definition experience by presenting the HD DVD disc soundtrack as it was meant to be heard, virtually equal to the studio master. In addition to its HD DVD playback capability, the SHD7000 will upconvert standard DVDs to near HD picture quality via its HDMI connection, allowing a consumer’s existing library of DVDs to look better than ever. [from VE]

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From this Digg thread on the earlier HD-A2 deal at Amazon:

// Netflix plug.
Don’t forget, Netflix offers HD-DVD and Bluray for no additional fee, so once you have those players and watch your free movies, consider signing up. [from Digg]

Thanks, AdamTReineke!

Via Techmeme this AM: Target to go Blu-ray only for players.

• BGR calls it a death blow to HD DVD, citing BlockBuster’s move, and $500 Sony Blu-ray players as contributing factors.
• Joystiq advises gamers to skip Microsoft’s crazy XBOX360 HD DVD player + 5 discs deal.
• DailyTech points out how bizarre and contradictory Target’s PR is on this - hello Target? Only selling players in one format is restricting choice no matter how you cut it.
• NewTeeVee rightly points out that the format war is stupid and no-one cares anyway.

My take? Upscaling DVD is carrying me until widely available broadband downloads make “formats” pointless. That being said, certainly HD DVD looks to be on the ropes, with “free disc” ploys being a sign of desperation, and Blu-ray actively locking down channel partners. I’m willing to bet that Blu-ray will take this battle and keep Sony solvent for a few more years.