Posted in: Highly Defined, Regular Columns by Archive Authors on August 28th, 2007
It’s been a week since the Paramount/HD DVD exclusivity announcement, so what’s there to be learned from the reaction?
Well, for one thing, it’s that Bill Hunt can be a overreactive shrill when he wants to. The immediate reaction was to call Microsoft “Money$oft” in a blurb, which was subsequently changed. Bill, seriously, when did you start foaming at the mouth about this shite, because it’s lost you a lot of credibility among a lot of people. Think about it rationally or just clam up. Or give yourself a week, like I did.
Posted in: Highly Defined by Archive Authors on August 13th, 2007
So in between the anticipation for Madden 08 and convalescing at home with a big arse fever, there’s not a lot for me to go over in this installment. Really. I’m waiting for my Pioneer Elite to come in in a couple of weeks, but the only other thing to talk about is more disc announcements. Knocked Up is going to come out on HD DVD on 9/25 from Universal (and Evan Almighty comes out two weeks later) while Ratatouille comes to Blu-ray on 11/6. Disc releases this week are fairly blah, as Blu-ray serves up Doctor Strange, The Lookout, Vacancy and Wild Hogs, while HD-DVD buyers get their choices of Dragon’s Lair, Erin Brockovich, Meet the Fockers, Mercury Rising and What Dreams May Come.
That’s it for me this week, and as always high definers, keep the brightness low and the resolution high!
Posted in: Highly Defined, Regular Columns by Archive Authors on August 6th, 2007
This is one of those weeks where I don’t have a catchphrase. Except in talking about it, this is probably the catchphrase in particular.
Well what’s new in the world this week? Well, to answer it with a shred of obviousness, Spider Man 3 is coming out on Blu-ray on 10/30, right next to the other two films as part of a trilogy set. No word on if the first two films will port over extras, but the third film includes making of featurettes, bloopers, commentaries and the usual bells and whistles. Sony is also trying to slam dunk things in the fourth quarter, as the first and second Hostel films will come out on Blu-ray one week before also, with Lion’s Gate releasing King of New York. That same day, HBO will release the final part of The Sopranos series on both platforms. HD DVD supporters will see Inside Man, Seed of Chucky and the Carlito’s Way films on 10/23 as well. Hardware wise, the only real news of the week is that Toshiba will be releasing third generation players in the October timeframe, with specs to be announced and pricing in the $300-$500 for all three models. In terms of releases this week, TNMT and Disturbia come out on both platforms, while Blu-ray exclusivos get to choose from Final Fantasy, Arlington Road and Are We Done Yet?
Posted in: Highly Defined, Regular Columns by Archive Authors on July 30th, 2007
Want to know the perks of working where I do? I get discounts to places. So I walk into Best Buy, and order a Pioneer Elite 92 for the insane price of cost plus 5%. That works out to a little under $700 for a $1300 receiver. It’s good to be the king baby. Once I get it locked and loaded, I’ll let you know what I think of it.Â
Hardware wise there’s been a few surprises, the pleasant one appears to be the details on Samsung’s dual format player. The BD-P2400 includes BD-J, HDi, DTS-HD and other little goodies to warm the heart, and at a SRP of just over a grand, might actually help rein more folks into the high defi, er, next generation video format. In lesser but still notable news, the PS3 got a firmware upgrade that included 1080p/24Hz, so now we can all see the films just like in the theater, or something. Oh, and the 360 HD DVD add-on got its price cut as well, down to $179. So, you know, yays all round.Â
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 23rd, 2007
So who knows how Harry Potter ended?
The big disc news this week is New Line’s announcement that they’ll be coming out with next-gen titles, even if the first title is the current musical of Hairspray. Lord of the Rings, here we come? Aside from that, the biggest disc release news appears to be related to discs that don’t have street dates attached to them yet. Warner says that there will be a box set of the first five Harry Potter films on HD DVD and Blu-ray, and there’s even pricing f...r them, but a date has yet to be announced, along with he extras (although expect lossless soundtracks for at least some). Much is the same for Blade Runner as well, including a massive five-disc treatment. For more normal material, Black Book comes to Blu-ray from Sony on 9/25 (along with Underworld and Memoirs of a Geisha), and a week later, Starz/Anchor Bay drops Dawn of the Dead, Evil Dead 2, Day of the Dead and Halloween. They also bring Volumes 1 and 2 of the Masters of Horror sets on 10/16, with Volume 3 coming out on November 13 and Volume 4 on December 11. Speaking of fourth quarter titles, the classic 20 Million Miles to Earth comes to Blu-ray on 12/4. Format neutral parties get to decide what version they want to see the Warner films The Wild Bunch, Gods and Generals and Wyatt Earp, all of which will be appearing on 9/25, along with Gothika. And finally, Cars will finally arrive on 11/6. Discs this week are an eclectic bunch, with HD DVD exclusivos seeing Scent of a Woman, Streets of Fire, The Bourne Identity, The Contract, In Good Company and Nutty Professor 2. Blu-ray campers decide if they want to pull the trigger on Season Two of Weeds, while format neutralities can decide on Purple Rain, Out For Justice and The Host.
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 16th, 2007
Hey, guess who showed up on time?
Yes, you guessed it, DirecTV showed up on time Saturday, installed my MPEG-4 dish and receiver (well, to be more exact, they just did the former), so now when the ESPNs, Discoverys and History Channels of the world all get into HD (which should be occurred starting in September), I’ll be ready to enjoy millions and millions of high definition broadcasts like I should.
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 9th, 2007
Happy belated fireworks day for everyone in the US, happy belated Canada day to everyone up north, and all that jazz. And my thanks to all for indulging me last week about my gripes with DirecTV. As I lube up the ole’ bunghole and prepare to get screwed out of another service call, I celebrate the news, notes and announcements of the past week’s high definition forum.
The big news this week is that Samsung started to leak out some more news about their dual format player, including a release date sometime i... October or November. The BDP-UP5000 is apparently set to support HDi (unlike the LG player out now) and BD-Java, along with the web-based content on discs now (Blood Diamond) and in the future. If it really is the bee’s knees and it upconverts well, it sounds like I might be freeing up shelf space in the near feature, which is a good thing.
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 2nd, 2007
Read on about a minor gripe with a major satellite provider.
I’m going to skip the usual news about what comes out this week because it’s The Untouchables, The Patriot and very little else, and tell you a story about how I, as a loyal DirecTV customer, have been trying to upgrade my equipment.
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on June 25th, 2007
Shouldn’t you be out at the beach right now?
I don’t know about you, but I burn easily, so I can’t spend as much time at the pool as others, so I get to watch movies, and I watched Ocean’s Thirteen at a theater that just opened down the road from me. The theater itself is pretty nice, the film delivered what it’s supposed to do, which is be fun, so you can’t ask for too much more I guess. Overall, there really isn’t that much to pore over, other than surveys which reiterate what everyone already know..., which that HD is getting bigger and better, but the video formats that would best suit this continues to suffer in the big picture. It would be nice if everyone played nice and got behind this thing, but I would expect the petty sniping to continue for quite awhile.
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on June 18th, 2007
I’ve got enough tiki torches, guava juice and poi to last awhile.
Well, I’m still trying to catch up on things on East Coast time, even as things in Hawaiian Time are still dark out as of this writing, not to mention just so damn nice out. Anyway, moving on to the news, which is, well, pretty bland, since all of the next gen released equipment is just about to come out or has come out. Blu-ray buyers do have reason to celebrate though, as Blockbuster has announced Blu titles in their stores for carrying. On...smaller software news, Sony has an email address and phone number set up for the Fifth Element exchange, as the remastered disc comes out next month.
