Highly Defined – The World of High Definition

First off, thanks and much love to those who filled in while I was gone. And wow, while I was gone, apparently HD-DVD did the same. After a lackluster CES, the only other thing they could do was announce that Spielberg films like E.T. would be “coming soon” to the format. However, Senor Spielburgo put the kaibash on that pretty quick, and those responsible for the gaffe (namely the HD-DVD Promotions Group) issued a quick apology. For what it’s worth, now that Blu-Ray has caught up and passed HD-DVD in the numb…r of titles out there, one would hope that from a complete package standpoint, they decide to include every bit of supplemental material on the discs that their SD counterparts have incorporated, otherwise in 2 years (assuming the Blus have won the war and that hardware is affordable), people will be bitching up and down about double dips on just about everything. Just something to ponder.

Anyway, in more saner news for the week past, The Pursuit of Happyness gets a day and date release from Fox (on 3/27) and yes, the extras are the same as on the SD version, ironically enough (kinda makes that last rant a little bit discounted). Disney has included Chicken Little and Finding Neverland on their calendars for 3/20, while G.I. Jane and the extended cut of King Arthur hit on 4/3, and Fox brings Turistas. to the next-gen format on 4/17. HD-DVD brings the excellent Children of Men to HD-DVD on 3/27 and the longish and kind of bland 40 Year Old Virgin to HD on 5/22.

This week, the big release is the Scorsese flick The Departed, which arrives in both formats. That’s the only HD release this week, while Blu-Ray buyers get to pick from Broken Arrow, Chain Reaction, Chronos, Entrapment, Ladder 49, The Marine, Phone Booth, Planet of the Apes, Reign of Fire, The Sentinel and The Usual Suspects.

So until next time high definers, remember what Sony and Fox tell you, the format war is over!