In what is sure to be exciting news for serious film lovers is that Hewlett Packard has inked a deal with Sony Pictures to create DVDs on request from Sony’s library of films.  While details have yet to be revealed, what this means is that films not currently available because they are considered too old or too obscure can be part of one’s personal DVD library.  Jason Spivak, head of strategic development at Sony Home Entertainment stated: “We’re hoping this provides another option to make available products that wouldn’t necessarily garner widespread retail shelf space.” There is discussion for other studios to participate as well. For myself, I’m looking forward to the possibility of getting some previously unavailable classics like Man’s Castle, a 1933 film with Spencer Tracy and a very hot teenage Loretta Young, as well as The Model Shop, the only American film by French New Wave director Jacques Demy.

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My daughter seems be enjoying the DVD “Bratz.” This time real people play the hip, spunky girls.

The DVD includes all the favorites: Deleted Scenes, Music Videos and Featurettes.

From what I have seen of the movie, the story goes like this: The four Bratz become students in High School and have to deal with social cliques and a domineering school president. Through song and dance they learn empowering, honest and the importance of true friendship.

My daughter appears to really enjoy the song and dance sequences the most.

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Blu-ray Disc Association has just made available two video clips that showcase the future of high definition video format:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kH7S_Nwb8fU
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IvE_dONJIWU

Blu-ray is a next generation high-density optical disc format for the storage of digital information, including high-definition video.

If you want to squeeze the most out of your high-definition TV, you may want to consider getting Blu-ray. Here are the key benefits you get with Blu-ray:

• Up to 6x better resolution than DVD
• Progressive scanning deliver a smoother image than interlaced and stays sharper during motion
• High Definition sound, up to 7.1 channels of lossless high definition audio for a superior listening experience
• Regular DVDs play on all existing Blu-ray Disc players
• Over 170 companies support Blu-ray, therefore more
• Hollywood movies and the top blockbusters are available on Blu-ray
• 5x more capacity than DVD and 66% more than HD DVD allowing for more space for higher quality audio, video and interactive content

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Walt Disney is proud to present another wholesome movie treat for the whole family in My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Super Sleuth Christmas Movie.

In this movie, Christmas comes tomorrow and Winnie and his pals can hardly wait. However, they might wind up waiting much longer when Santa’s magic toy sack goes missing along with a little lost reindeer. Its up to our merry band of Tigger, Winnie, and the rest of the gang in 100-Acre Wood to work together and figure out the clues to reach the North Pole in time to help Santa deliver his presents.

Grab the DVD and join them as they embark on a merry adventure full of holiday magic and wonderful suprises.

My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Super Sleuth Christmas Movie will be available starting Nov 20.

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Though citing virtually no sources, two well-respected papers - the New York Times and Daily Variety - are claiming just that. The two publications claim HD-DVD corporations guided incentives in the form of “promotional considerations” in the amounts of $50 million to Paramount and $100 million to Dreamworks.

Previously, Andy Parsons of Blu Ray Disc Assocation practically accused his competitors of the same act, by saying “we can only imagine what could have enticed Paramount to walk away from a format that is clearly selling significantly more software than the HD-DVD format.”

With no sources attached, its hard to really argue one way or the other. Oddly enough, however, the rapid-fire developments of this story coupled with Michael Bay’s own retraction seems to have worked in favor of the opposing side, making the results seem more and more suspicious. Whether this is just circumstantial conicidence or not remains to be seen, but I expect this story to develop more and more in the coming days - like say tomorrow. Expect more details then.

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Okay, I’ve avoided reported on this for the past two days because, well, I don’t know anything about DVD formats - HD or Blu-Ray. I just watch mine “regular”, but from the looks of things, those days might be over soon.

Unfortunately, the process of choosing between HD and Blu-Ray isn’t getting any easier. The movie industry seems to be almost automatically slidding into a minature civil war over the choice.

First, Paramount/Dreamworks chose to release movies exclusively in HD format - a decision which lead Michael Bay to declare “No Transformers 2 for me”, blasting the HD decision (though he pulled a 180 today, recanting both the statement regarding HD and Transformers 2, as well as plugging 300 on HD-DVD).

However insubstantial, Michael Bay’s comments aren’t unsupported. Many analysts remained equally concerned about the announcement. At the moment, HD seems to be the loser - with Blu-Ray outselling HD three times over and some retailers refusing to even carry HD. However, Michael Bay claims HD players will be close to the $200 mark, which he cites as the “magic number.”

Still, experts believe format wars take time - something this latest move doesn’t account for. “”Most people are not aware that the original video format [battle] between Betamax and VHS lasted 10 years.” said Jan Saxton of Adams Media Research to the Los Angeles Time.

I can see Paramount/Dreamwork’s logic - there isn’t a movie to better convince people to buy HD than Transformers. But given the problematic economy at large, there seems a great deal of potential blowback. If consumer confidence falls, logically pricy HD player sales could as well. If this chain reaction hits, Paramount/Dreamworks could end in a dicy position - alienating both fans and consumers

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LG’s BH100 player is now officially on sale. It’s been talked up as the answer to the HD vs Blu-ray war of attrition because it’s the first shiny disc player to handle both formats, and word is that it does just that, making it a must have for home theater buffs who‘ve been sucked in are enthusiastic for the new high definition formats.

When we say on sale, we don’t mean that it’s cheap, just that you can buy it. Current cost is $1,199 which is expensive but maybe not ridiculous considering it’s the only player that does what it does. For now.

Hopefully there’ll be plenty of copycats in the nearish future, driving the price down and finally ending the whole HD DVD vs Blu-ray thing.

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At the recent CES show - where home theater manufacturers show off their latest wares - Sharp wheeled out a gigantic 108 inch LCD TV screen.

That’s 93.9 inches wide and 52.9 inches high, giving a diagonal measurement of 107.8 inches. Not quite 108, but near enough and still might impressive.

A big boost for LCD over Plasma screens, and should make Sharp’s latest the first stop for any show offs out there who just have to have the biggest TV possible. Just don’t call me when you move house.
Read on to see a picture of this behemoth.

Read on »

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If you’re still wavering between Toshiba’s HD DVD and Pioneer’s Blu-ray (and who isn’t) then you’ll either be very pleased or very angry that Warner Home Video has announced a third format: the Total Hi Def disc, a hybrid choice containing both formats.

The title they were showing off at CES 2007 was Superman Returns (pictured) which apparently played on a Pioneer Blu-ray player, a Toshiba HD-DVD player and an LG Super Multi player (which plays both formats anyway) looking exactly the same on all three.

A nice technological achievement for sure. But is adding what’s essentially a third format really the right way to solve the format war? Even though it’s a great compromise between the two, Warner will still have to market the Total Hi Def disc and beat out the Toshiba and Pioneer products, effectively making themselves just another competitor.

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Warner Bros are all set to unleash their some big name movies on HD DVD in the near future. At big prices. Word is that The Matrix trilogy, the Harry Potter franchise and Ocean’s Eleven (yay) and Twelve (boo) will get a release this year, as well as a modern classic: Scorsese’s The Departed.

HD DVD has six times the resolution of regular DVD, but it’s still difficult to justify a suggested price of $39.99 for The Departed.

Even more intriguing, does six times the resolution mean The Matrix: Revolutions will make six times less sense?

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