Official HD Review News

PS3 Update Pulled

Tom Hopkins — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:28:05 +0000

Following reports that the latest PlayStation 3 firmware update can cause severe problems with the console, Sony has withdrawn the free download. Firmware 2.40 launched worldwide on Wednesday, and includes long-awaited features such as in-game Xross Media Bar (XMB) access. Following installation some users have found it freezes their PS3s, rendering them inoperable and causing Sony to pull the update while it analyses the cause of the problem.

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A Retro Swashbuckler

Shaun Davis — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:29:47 +0000

After robbing from the rich and giving back to the poor on a moustache-twanging HD DVD release, The Adventures Of Robin Hood swings onto Blu-ray this August and, in a move that is bound to please us peasants, great visuals and bountiful extras make the Blu switch. With Leonard Maltin’s ‘Warner Night At The Movies 1938’ vintage newsreel and a pair of documentaries titled ‘Welcome To Sherwood’ and ‘Glorious Technicolor’ (plus a whole lot more), the flag-waving success of this film’s previous DVD treatment is set to be raised, as Warner prepares Errol Flynn’s finest hour to strike it rich in the Blu kingdom.

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A Blu-ray We Can’t Refuse!

Shaun Davis — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:54:05 +0000

Francis Ford Coppola has answered all our BD prayers by releasing the specs of his Mafioso trilogy onto the format. Coming in a four-disc set and sporting some rather dapper new box art, all three films come fully restored and featuring TrueHD soundtracks, a trusty 1080p transfer and director commentaries on each disc. Accompanied by a fourth disc, the extras selection (both HD exclusive and ported) shows that come its 23 September shelf date, this is going to be a Blu-ray package worth treasuring.

New Content:

• ‘Godfather World’ (HD)
• ‘The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn’t’ (HD)• ‘…When The Shooting Stopped’ (HD)
• ‘Emulsional Rescue Revealing The Godfather’ (HD)
• ‘The Godfather On The Red Carpet’ (HD)Four Short Films on The Godfather:
• ‘The Godfather vs. The Godfather: Part II’ (HD) • ‘Cannoli’ (HD) • ‘Riffing On The Riffing’ (HD) • ‘Clemenza’ (HD) • ‘The Family Tree’ • ‘Crime Organization Chart’ • ‘Connie And Carlo’s Wedding Album’

2001 DVD Archive Features:

Behind The Scenes:
• ‘The Godfather Family: A Look Inside’ • ‘On Location’ • ‘Francis Coppola’s Notebook’ • ‘The Music Of The Godfather’ • ‘Coppola & Puzo On Screenwriting’ • ‘Gordon Willis On Cinematography’ • ‘Storyboards From The Godfather: Part II’ • ‘Storyboards From The Godfather: Part III’ • ‘The Godfather Behind The Scenes 1971’

The Filmmakers
• Francis Ford Coppola • Mario Puzo • Gordon Willis • Dean Tavoularis • Nino Rota • Carmine Coppola

Additional Scenes
• Acclaim & Response • Trailers (HD) • Photo Gallery • Rogues’ Gallery

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Asus Go Blu

Tom Hopkins — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:44:45 +0000

The latest multimedia laptop from Asus will include a Blu-ray Disc drive, four built-in Altec Lansing speakers with subwoofer, and one terabyte of hard disc space. Set to hit streets during July, the M70 also features a 1.3-megapixel webcam, a TV tuner and a WUXGA display with a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution. The screen also reacts to ambient light, but if you prefer to view on something larger, you can also output your media via the HDMI connection. No pricing has been confirmed as yet, but to entice film fans Asus is giving away a free copy of Batman Begins on Blu-ray with every M70 bought up until August.

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Tartan UK In Administration

Shaun Davis — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:18:25 +0000

To update our recent feed regarding the world-cinema distributor Tartan, it seems the company’s woes have spread across the pond. Indeed, 22 members of Tartan’s workforce have been made redundant amid administrative procedures. With the US sector selling off its 100-strong film library and now this, the future of Tartan movies on Blu-ray is still unknown – hopefully these latest events won’t affect the distributor’s current slate of upcoming releases.

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300 Blu Number Two

Tom Hopkins — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:08:43 +0000

Warner is reportedly planning to bring Zack Snyder’s 300 back to Blu-ray in a special-edition release. Known for its solid transfers, Warner’s original Blu-ray and HD DVD releases came out towards the end of last year, and an interview with Mark Canton (the film’s producer) confirmed that a new edition is in the works. The HD DVD contained Picture-in-Picture material missing from the Blu-ray version and, according to website The Digital Bits, an “elaborate Blu-ray Disc version is currently in production for release in 2009, complete with new BD-Live and BonusView content”, following a DVD-only limited collector’s edition later this year.

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An American Werewolf On Blu-ray

Shaun Davis — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:36:56 +0000

“Sometime next year” is a statement that isn’t exactly music to the HD fan’s ears but, nevertheless, it is a reality we all must face with the number of tantalising Blu-rays appearing on studios’ slates increasing by the day. However, when John Landis proclaims this in conjunction with his comedic mauler An American Werewolf In London ripping on to BD, you can’t help but howl at the moon in fevered excitement.Already roaming the net and many a bargain shelf on HD DVD, Landis’s horror classic is set to transform onto Blu-ray with all supplementary material ported over but also with some added bite. Up to date and spanning some 90 minutes in length, ‘Beware The Moon: The Making Of An American Werewolf In London’ is a retrospective doc that, along with what is bound to be a top-end disc, is set to get HD lovers drooling by the dozen.

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CEDIA Expo 2008

Tom Hopkins — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:34:55 +0000

We went to the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (aka CEDIA) Expo at London’s Docklands on Wednesday, and saw some pretty cool gear. Not only covering home entertainment installations, the Expo also features companies and products that enable you to control your building – from lighting systems to automatically running a bath.Of course, there were also loads of projectors, screens, speaker systems, plasmas (including Panasonic’s 103-inch monster), all-in-one controllers and weatherproof screens, as well as a car decked out with its own media suite. However, the ultimate experience was a custom-made viewing pod for one. Look out for our special report in issue nine of HD Review.

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Most Wanted On Blu-ray

Shaun Davis — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:05:29 +0000

Garnering some exciting early reviews – with the majority singling out Russian helmer Timur Bekmambetov for creating some genuinely exhilarating action sequences – Wanted has now been touted as the next big breakthrough on Blu-ray. Speaking at the LA Film Festival during a lavish after-party thrown for the picture, Craig Kornblau of Universal Home Entertainment proclaimed, “What The Matrix did for DVD, this could do for Blu-ray.”A bold statement, but with Bekmambetov using his Night Watch and Day Watch credentials to break the Hollywood mould with some of this year’s action highpoints, and the pairing of Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy already a winner just from the trailer, this could be the comic adaptation that really makes a bang come its undisclosed BD date.

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Sony Unleashes BD Combo

Tom Hopkins — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:58:23 +0000

Sony plans to release its new Blu-ray combo drive in Taiwan next month. Set to retail at around £115, the PC peripheral will be able to read Blu-ray media, as well as burn DVDs and CDs. The unit is still far from competitively priced though, as Taiwanese consumers can pick up separate BD-ROM and DVD writer drives for less than the cost of Sony’s new effort. The read/write speeds are also reputed to be less impressive on the combo drive, so it may be a while until they start to appear in the average PC.

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