Studios Paramount and Sony have announced plans to bring a host of catalogue titles to Blu-ray in the US and UK. Paramount will bring Deep Impact, K19: The Widowmaker, The Score, The Firm and Varsity Blues to the high definition format in North America, while Sony has confirmed Westerns The Quick and the Dead and Silverado, as well as Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love for BD in the UK. The studio has also announced Steven Soderbergh’s debut feature Sex, Lies and Videotape for Blu-ray in the US, where it will become available in late August.

With the BBC, ITV and Channel Four all broadcasting in high definition it now seems that Channel 5 is preparing to enter the HD fray as today independent  TV regulator, Ofcom announced that it has made a provisional decision to reserve capacity in principal to the broadcaster, to provide new HD services on digital terrestrial television (DTT) from 2010. Ofcom’s decision to award a HD licence to Channel 5 is subject to it resolving certain key criteria related to its application, which must be resolved by the end of the year, however if all goes well we could seeing programs such as The Gadget Show, UEFA Europa League and CSI in HD very soon.
The initial first three HD services are expected to begin with the Granada region from late 2009, the rest of the UK will follow as each region switches to digital with nationwide coverage by 2012. Commenting of the decision Philip Graf, Chairman of Ofcom’s Content Board said: “This give Channel 5 the opportunity to join the other public service broadcasters in providing new services for viewers. It means more choice for TV viewers who will be able to watch in high definition popular programming, free to air through their television aerials.”
Ofcom is also talking to the BBC with a view to allowing HD services to be launched in other parts of the UK in advance of this timetable by the use of temporary frequency assignments at a number of main transmission sites. To access these new HD services on DTT, viewers will need a HD ready TV set and HD ready set-top box. The addition of Channel 5 to the HD line-up should help swell the already impressive high-def TV audience which (by the end of the first quarter of 2009) rose to an all time high, with over 1.8 million in total.

The latest edition of High Definition Review is here with plenty to keep your hunger for HD at bay.

This issue we talk to Benjamin Button director David Fincher about his love for Blu-ray.

Take at look at the huge franchises set to break into high definition.

Open the doors to Samsung’s house of tomorrow.

Review every new Blu-ray release including: Ghostbusters, Frost/Nixon and Valkyrie.

We also examine the new generation of internet-enabled HDTVs

On sale now from newsagents and at the Imagine Publishing eShop: www.imagineshop.co.uk.

To celebrate the release of The Good, The Bad, The Weird High Definition Review has teamed up with Icon Home Entertainment to give away a copy of the film on Blu-ray, as well as a cool pair of Skullcandy headphones!

Set in the 1930’s Manchurian desert where lawlessness rules, the film follows three Korean men who fatefully meet each other on a train. Do-Won (JUNG Woo-sung) is a bounty hunter who tracks down dangerous criminals. Chang- yi (LEE Byung-hun) is the leader of a group of tough-as-nails bandits. Tae-goo (SONG Kang-ho) is a train robber with nine lives. The three strangers engage in a chase across Manchuria to take possession of a map Tae-goo discovers while robbing the train. Also on the hunt for the mysterious map are the Japanese army and Asian bandits. In this unpredictable, escalating battle for the map, who will stand as the winner in the end?

The Good, The Bad, The Weird is the smash hit Box-Office sensation with over 7 million cinema admissions in South Korea alone, and is available on DVD and Blu-ray 1st June .

To be in with a chance to win the film on Blu-ray and a pair of Skullcandy headphones just answer the following question:

Who starred in classic western The Good, The Bad and the Ugly?

A: John Wayne
B: Clint Eastwood
C: Robert Redford

Send us your answers via the competitions thread on the High Definition Review forum at www.hdreview.co.uk/forum before 29 May 2009.

© 2009 Icon Home Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

Following recent Blu-ray announcements For All Mankind and Repulsion, the Criterion Collection has announced that fans will be able to vote for its next high definition release. The US region-locked discs represent some of the best available versions of classic and important contemporary cinema, and now cineastes will be able decide, via Amazon.com whether Au Revoir Les Enfants, Down By Law, Howards End, Kwaidan, or Picnic at Hanging Rock will enjoy its BD debut next. Cast your vote here.