Upcoming hi-def movie premieres on HDNet Movies

HDNet Movies has several U.S. high-definition television premieres this month. The movies include: “The Answer Man” (Jeff Daniels, Lauren Graham), “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” (Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Christian Bale), “Cocaine Cowboys” (Billy Corben), “Jurassic Park III” (Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Tea Leoni), “So Close” (Shu Qi, Zhao Wei, Karen Mok) and “World’s Greatest Dad” (Robin Williams, Alexie Gilmore, Daryl Sabara). Full Story

DirecTV presents Bond in 1080p

DirecTV has loaded up the newest Bond film Quantum of Solace in 1080p to their HD VOD library, along with a collection of James Bond classics including Diamonds Are Forever, Dr. No, Goldfinger, and From Russia With Love. Other Bond favs added include Die Another Day, Golden Eye and the precursor to Quantum of Solace, Casino Royale. Full Story

Netflix rewards customers who wait

Netflix has changed its shipping process for DVDs and hi-def Blu-ray discs to benefit the customer. According to the company’s blog post yesterday, if your first choice is not available the company will send your second choice so you have something to watch while you wait for the first. Full Story

James Bond headed for Blu-ray

I’ll drink to that. Home Media Magazine reports that more Bond films will soon be available on Blu-ray Disc. MGM, through distributer 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, is currently producing six of the Bond classics for release on Blu-ray. The scheduled release dates are Oct. 20 in the U.S., and Oct. 21 in the U.K.. Full Story

“Star Wars” in HD to debut on Spike TV

Spike TV will host the broadcast premiere of “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” and cable premieres of “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” and “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.” next month in high definition (HD). The network will also be showing the six-part “Star Wars” series in its entirety, in HD, along with encore presentations. Full Story

“Batman Begins” set for Blu-ray release

Previously only available on DVD and HD DVD, Warner Bros. is set to release Batman Begins on Blu-ray Disc. The release date is July 8, 2008, which is ten days before the latest Batman picture The Dark Knight is scheduled to be released in theaters.

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Caine classics to go HD

Films starring actor Sir Michael Caine will be of the first British classics to be digitally restored in high definition, this according to UK pub The Guardian. Caine will be honored this month for his 75th birthday with screenings of “Zulu” and “The Italian Job”. Viewers with SKY HD will be able to view the films. Full Story

Last days of HD DVD for Paramount

This coming Tuesday will bring the last two films from Paramount to be released on HD DVD. “Things We Lost in the Fire” and “Into the Wild” will end a run for Paramount, who, along with Dreamworks, went exclusive with HD DVD back in August of 2007. Full Story

HD DVD will have the last laugh

Will Blu-ray prices come down as quickly as they did when HD DVD was around? No. Will consumers buy high definition Blu-ray discs at $29.99 and higher for new releases? No way.

Sure you have the early adopters, the one who bought players for $1200 and didn’t mind paying $35 for a disc. And, you have some who were waiting for the format war decision to be made, and are now willing to pay $399(Sony BDP-S300) for a player. But for the mass consumer, Blu-ray is still too expensive. Full Story

Apple TV goes High Definition

Now you can rent HD movies from Apple for $4.99. The high definition format is apparently 720p, which is upconverted to 1080p. The sound format is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. The download takes forever though, unless you have cable internet or Verizon Fios (fiber optic). Apple claims that at 6mbsp you can start watching in a minute. At 2mbsp you’re looking at 2 hours. At dial-up speed forget it, you may as well go to bed.

If you don’t want to wait for HD, you can always download an SD version of the movie with stereo sound for $3.99. Download speed, unless you are on dial-up, isn’t a factor.

Apple TV is supported by all the major studios including Fox, Lionsgate, MGM, Miramax, New Line Cinema, Paramount, Sony, Touchstone Pictures, Universal, Disney and Warner Bros.

We’re going Blu-ray – Netflix goes exclusive!

Here is an actual letter to a Netflix subscriber. They are going completely Blu-ray. Looks like HD DVD is on it’s way to a slow and painful death.
Dear …,

You’re receiving this email because you have asked to receive high-definition movies in the HD DVD format. As you may have heard, most of the major movie studios have recently decided to release their high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. In order to provide the best selection of high-definition titles for our members, we have decided to go exclusively with Blu-ray as well.

While we will continue to make our current selection of HD DVD titles available to you for the next several months, we will not be adding additional HD DVD titles or reordering replacements.

Toward the end of February, HD DVDs in your Saved Queue will automatically be changed to standard definition DVDs. Then toward the end of this year, all HD DVDs in your Queue will be changed to standard definition DVDs. Don’t worry, we will contact you before this happens.

-The Netflix Team

HD DVDs 50% off at Barnes & Noble

Is this the beginning of the end for Toshiba and HD DVD? Today Barnes & Noble announced a 50% sale on its HD DVD collection. Does this mean they are liquidating their inventory and only going with Blu-ray? It seems it would make sense to continue to sell HD DVDs until the demand fades. But with Blu-ray Disc commanding the majority of the high definition market after the Warner Bros decision, we’ll have to see how the other retailers respond before making the prediction that HD DVD will concede.

Web enabled communities found in HD DVD titles

Fans of summer smash hits and groundbreaking TV series are tapping into the web-enabled communities offered by HD DVD. “Transformers” from Paramount Home Entertainment and “Heroes: Season One” from Universal Home Entertainment are among the titles that saw significant online usage of the web-connected features.

“Transformers,” which continues to be one of the top selling titles in any high definition format, had more than 80,000 unique online users, with 31% returning to download additional content as it became available. Universal’s current web-enabled titles, which include “Heroes: Season One”, “Knocked Up”, and “Evan Almighty”, saw an average of 30% of HD DVD purchasers going online to download content and connect with other fans. Full Story