New Line Releasing Titles Exclusively on Blu-ray This year ; On HD DVD Next Year

In a just-posted story, Video Business is reporting that New Line is planning to release 'Hairspray' on Blu-ray only this November, with an HD DVD release to follow in early 2008.

New Line is the last remaining major studio yet to release a title on either HD DVD or Blu-ray, New Line's belated entrance into the high-def fray has been the subject of endless speculation ever since the next-gen format war began.

[TriggerHappy]

The last Major studio that is still exclusive is finally deciding to take part in this war. If this is going to trigger an end, then I happily welcome their decision, if it is going to postponed this accursed war...then curse them

[drtysouf21]

Forgiven.

[TriggerHappy]

:)...cool.

[VaNdAl]

Hairspray Gets PIP Treatment for November (Update)
Posted September 11, 2007 by Josh

New Line has announced that they will be bringing the remake of the musical 'Hairspray' to Blu-ray on November 20th. Extras will include a new musical number, the documentary "You Can't Stop the Beat", a "Hairspray Extensions" featurette, audio commentaries and deleted scenes. The Blu-ray release will also feature a "Behind the Beat" picture-in-picture experience.

Read more... | Perma
link | Comments (25)

IFA 2007: Blu-ray Disc Association
Posted September 10, 2007 by Marwin

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), similarly to previous years had a joint booth located at the center of the main IFA hall where all of their member companies could display their upcoming Blu-ray products. However, as those that have been following our coverage from IFA already have seen, Blu-ray was everywhere and virtually every large consumer electronics manufacturer (Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Sharp, LG, JVC, Hitachi, Denon, Loewe, Daewoo, Funai) featured various Blu-ray products in their own halls/booths as well.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (24)

Shawshank Redemption, T3, and Twister Announced
Posted September 10, 2007 by Josh

Warner Home Video has added three films to their release slate, all set to come to Blu-ray later this year. 'The Shawshank Redemption', rated one of the best movies of all time, 'Terminator 3', and 'Twister' have all been put on the release schedule. 'The Shawshank Redemption' will be released on a BD-50. No other specs or dates have been announced at this time.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (38)

Aviator Dated for Blu-ray
Posted September 10, 2007 by Josh

Warner Home Video has announced that the Oscar award-winning biopic 'The Aviator' will be released for Blu-ray on November 6th. Video will be encoded using VC-1 at 2.35:1 1080p accompanied by a Dolby Digital surround track. Extras include audio commentary with director Martin Scorsese, a History Channel documentary about Howard Hughes, and deleted scenes.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (10)

Blu-ray News Catch-up: Miami Stylee
Posted September 10, 2007 by Josh

I was off vacationing in Miami for the past few days, so some CEDIA and Blu-ray news has slipped through the cracks while Iceman and Marwin have been providing you with some in-depth IFA reports. Instead of clogging the front page with news you've probably already seen, I'll just post a list with some links that will sum things up nicely.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (18)

IFA 2007: Sony Blu-ray Players and Computers
Posted September 10, 2007 by Iceman

Sony as usual showed a wide variety of Blu-ray products including a selection of VAIO computers equiped with Blu-ray drives, as well as the Blu-ray enabled PlayStation 3 (PS3) video game console. In addition, Sony featured two of their upcoming Blu-ray players, the BDP-S300 and BDP-S500, which soon will become available in the European market. The cheaper BDP-S300 model is aimed at ordinary consumers, while the higher-end BDP-S500 model is targeting HD enthusiasts.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (2)

IFA 2007: Samsung Blu-ray Players and Home Cinema
Posted September 10, 2007 by Iceman

Samsung, which featured Blu-ray products throughout most of their displays, also had one of the most diverse line-ups of Blu-ray products at the show, including multiple Blu-ray players, a Blu-ray home theater system as well as a dual-format player. Samsung's BD-P1400 Blu-ray Player, which is their new entry-level player, features 1080p/24, HDMI 1.3, HDMI-CEC, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital+, DTS-HD, BD/DVD/CD playback, 5.1-channel surround sound, as well as an Ethernet port for firmware upgrades.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (2)

IFA 2007: Panasonic Blu-ray Player and Premium Theatre
Posted September 7, 2007 by Marwin

Panasonic brought their DMP-BD10A Blu-ray player released earlier this summer, as well as some of their Blu-ray drives for desktop and notebook computers. However, the main attraction at Panasonic was their Premium Blu-ray Theatre featuring 5 large plasma screen HDTV's and 5.1-channel surround sound. In the theatre they were showing HD music videos by a new group called Three Graces, a trio of girls that blend their various backgrounds in Opera, Pop and Broadway to create a new sound. Their debut album will be released in January 22, 2008.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (5)

IFA 2007: Pioneer Blu-ray Player, Cars, Sin City
Posted September 7, 2007 by Marwin

Pioneer unveiled their new Blu-ray player, the BDP-LX70A, which when released in Europe next month will supersede the BDP-LX70 model released earlier this year. The price of this high-end model will remain €1,300 and the only difference between the two models seems to be that the HDMI version has been upgraded from 1.2a to 1.3, which enables bitstream output of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. The player also features 1080p/24, HDMI 1.3, HDMI-CEC, Ethernet and DLNA.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (31)

IFA 2007: Philips Blu-ray Player
Posted September 7, 2007 by Iceman

Philips debuted their new BDP7100 Blu-ray player at IFA, which besides playing back Blu-ray discs also supports upconversion of DVDs to 1080p. The player features 1080p/24, HDMI 1.3, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital+, DTS-HD, 7.1-channel surround sound and is backwards compatible with DVD/CD. It also features HDMI-CEC for convenient control of devices with one remote control, as well as an Ethernet port for software upgrades. The BDP7100 will be available in Europe later this year for around €600. We weren't able to get any information about their plans for the US.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (8)

IFA 2007: Sharp Blu-ray Player and Home Cinema System
Posted September 7, 2007 by Iceman

Sharp, which had one of the more prominent Blu-ray displays at IFA, showed their upcoming BD-HP20 Blu-ray Player which will be available shortly. While Sharp has previously released Blu-ray recorders in Japan this will be their first Blu-ray player available to consumers. The BD-HP20 features 1080p/24, HDMI 1.3, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital+, DTS-HD, 7.1-channel audio output, as well as a quick start mode that should speed up the time it takes to load Blu-ray discs. The BD-HP20 will be released in the US and Europe in September and the price will be $550 and €599 respectively.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (10)

IFA 2007: LG Blu-ray Rewriters and Drives
Posted September 6, 2007 by Iceman

LG showed their BH100 Super Multi Blue player, which when originally released earlier this year was the world's first dual-format high-definition disc player. The problem with these dual-format players has been and continues to be that they're more expensive than buying a player in each format and until this changes they're unlikely to become popular with consumers. We also found what promises to be the world's fastest Blu-ray burners, GGW-H20L (internal) and GGW-E10L (external), with an impressive 6x BD-R write speed.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (16)

IFA 2007: JVC Blu-ray Player
Posted September 6, 2007 by Iceman

In JVC's hall at IFA we found a new Blu-ray player prototype that we haven't seen before. Although JVC had a lot of people there, nobody was able to say anything about the specs for the player or its release date and pricing. We did however take the time to snap a few photos of the player and its remote control.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (15)

IFA 2007: Daewoo Blu-ray Player
Posted September 6, 2007 by Iceman

Daewoo surprised everyone by unveiling a Blu-ray player supporting Profile 2.0, which means that the player supports picture-in-picture (PiP) functionality, as well as web-enabled interactivity (BD-Live). The player comes in two models, the DBP-1000 and DBP-2000, with the only difference being that the DBP-1000 comes with a blue-hued front and the DBP-2000 comes in black. The players, which come in a 55mm slim design (2.17 inches), feature 1080p/24, HDMI 1.3 and are backwards compatible with DVD and CD.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (14)

IFA 2007: Loewe Blu-ray Player
Posted September 6, 2007 by Iceman

Loewe were displaying a very sleek and stylish looking Blu-ray player, which they've simply chosen to call "BluTech Vision" (it doesn't have a model number). The player features 1080p/24, HDMI 1.3, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, 7.1-channel surround sound and will be available in two different colors, black and silver. The player will be released in Europe in October-November and the price is expected to be around €1,400.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (9)

IFA 2007: Denon Blu-ray Players
Posted September 6, 2007 by Iceman

Denon displayed their two upcoming Blu-ray players at IFA, the DVD-2500BT and DVD-3800BD. Unfortunately the Denon representatives couldn't offer much details about the players, but both players will support Blu-ray Profile 1.1, which means that they will come equiped with secondary video/audio decoders to enable picture-in-picture functionality. The BD players will also feature HDMI 1.3a and are backwards compatible with DVD and CD.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (16)

Sony Introduces First ES Blu-ray Player
Posted September 5, 2007 by Josh

Sony Electronics has revealed the first Elevated Standard (ES) Blu-ray player, the BDP-S2000ES, along side the recently announced BDP-S500. The ES model will feature dual shield construction, a rigid drive bracket, and a rigid beam chassis, all to give the best playback performance. Both players will support 1080p24/60, as well as bitstream output for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD High Resolution audio through HDMI v1.3 output. Both players will be available this fall; the S200ES for $1,300 and S500 for $700.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (41)

Sony Introduces 200-Disc Blu-ray Media Center
Posted September 5, 2007 by Josh

Sony Electronics has introduced the HES-V1000, Blu-ray media center with a
500GB hard drive and 200-disc changer. Digital content stored on the machine,
such as music and photos, will be accessable through a XMB cross-bar menu
(similar to the one found on the PS3). The HES-V1000 is expected to be
available sometime in October for approximately $3,500.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (20)

Prison Break Season One Blu-ray Details
Posted September 5, 2007 by Josh

Fox has provided some details about the 'Prison Break: Season One' Blu-ray set which is scheduled to hit store shelves on November 13th. The six-disc collection will feature all the episodes from the first season mastered in high definition with DTS-HD MA audio. Extras will mirror the standard definition release.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (22)

Panasonic Announces Living in HD Truck Tour
Posted September 5, 2007 by Josh

Panasonic has announced that they have outfitted four trucks with the latest in high definition equipment, and will be sending the fleet to retailers and high-traffic consumer events across the US. The trucks will feature Panasonic's 103" plasma display (currently the largest made) and Blu-ray player to show consumers the advantages of HD.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (21)

Ebert: Sony is Being Bullied
Posted September 5, 2007 by Josh

The famous film critic Roger Ebert took some time to discuss the future of film while he recovers from his latest bout with thyroid cancer. In an exclusive interview with Star, Ebert was asked about film in the 21st Century. In his response, he mentioned high definition media and rhetorically asked in regards to Blu-ray, "Why does Sony always seem to have the best format, and get bullied?"

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (32)

IFA 2007: Funai Blu-ray Player
Posted September 4, 2007 by Iceman

When at IFA we made sure to check out Funai's exhibition, to get a first glimpse of their upcoming Blu-ray player. We spent some time talking to a Funai representative, unfortunately he couldn't give us any details about the specs for the player as it's only a prototype and still in development. The final product will have a new design when it is introduced in the market. When pressed a bit about the release date he said sometime in Q1 2008. He couldn't give us a specific price, but said that Funai is known for their low prices and the Blu-ray player would be no exception. Funai expects to be able to reveal more information about the player in November-December.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (25)

IFA 2007: Hitachi Blu-ray Camcorders
Posted September 4, 2007 by Iceman

We recently had a chance to check out Hitachi's booth at IFA where they were displaying new products and the main focus was on their recently announced Blu-ray camcorders. The camcorders come in two models, DZ-BD70E and DZ-BD7HE, which both record video in full 1080p HD (using MPEG-4 AVC) on 8cm Blu-ray discs. They are also backwards compatible with DVD and can record SD on 8cm DVDs. The main difference between the camcorders is that the DZ-BD7HE comes featured with a 30GB HDD, which can also be used for recording.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (14)

Die Hard 4 Gets Rated Version on Blu-ray?
Posted September 4, 2007 by Josh

Fox Home Entertainment has revealed that the Blu-ray version of 'Live Free or Die Hard' will be delivered in the PG-13 rated form. In the ultimate head-scratcher, the Fox Blu-ray website shows a cover for the title which says "Unrated". We have contacted Fox to get some clarification, but for now it looks like Blu-ray fans will be neglected by the studio this fall.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (63)

License to Wed Coming to Blu-ray
Posted September 4, 2007 by Josh

Warner Home Video has announced that 'License to Wed' will be released for Blu-ray on October 30th. The title has finally been officially announced after weeks of sitting on retailers lists. No specs have been announced at this time, but expect the same Warner treatment. Extras include an "Ask Choir Boy" interactive feature, deleted scenes, and the trailer.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (14)

Ridley Scott Feeling Blu
Posted September 4, 2007 by Josh

Medusa Distribution, an Italian film distributor and exclusive HD DVD supporter, will release 'Kingdom of Heaven' as their first Blu-ray title. The move comes after the film's director, Ridley Scott, insisted that they release the title on Blu-ray. The acclaimed director joins the ranks of Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola as filmmakers who insist their films get distributed on Blu-ray.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (42)

Harman Kardon Shows Blu-ray Media Center
Posted September 3, 2007 by Josh

The Harman Kardon DVC600 Home Media Center will allow for the recording and playback of Blu-ray disc media via a built-in Blu-ray disc writer. Running on Unix-based software, the device can record up to 8 simultaneous HD programs to a Blu-ray disc or hard drive. The DVC600, which is expected to cost between $3000-$4000 when released, is the first Blu-ray product from Harman Kardon, and hopefully a sign of more to come.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (21)

Pioneer Introduced the BD-LX70A
Posted September 3, 2007 by Josh

Coming off the success of their BD-LX70, Pioneer has announced that they will soon debut the next generation of Blu-ray players - the LX70A. The player will differ from the current model mostly with its additional audio support. The LX70A will allow for the passing of bitstream data (via HDMI v1.3) for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (11)

Hitachi Reveals Two Blu-ray Camcorders
Posted September 3, 2007 by Josh

Hitachi has revealed two Blu-ray camcorders, the BD70E and BD7HE, which recorder full 1080p HD video onto an 8cm 7.5GB Blu-ray disc. The BD7HE comes with both a Blu-ray disc writer and 30GB hard drive, allowing for up to 8 hours of HD content to be recorded and multiple Blu-ray copies to be burned for quick distribution.

Read more... | Permalink | Comments (11)

Sony Europe Provide Blu-ray Social Media
Posted September 3, 2007 by Josh

Sony Europe is continuing to support Blu-ray information distribution using a host of new tools for bloggers and social network users. Since being released, the "blue laser" video and iCal program have become popular additions to many consumers' websites and desktops. Sony will soon introduce widgets and customized content to expand on that success.

[XxZxX]

where is LOTR

[quiddd]

What the title suggests is that New Line is BR exclusive this year and HDDVD exclusive next year. Can someone explain this?

[Demon1980]

I think they meant that the movies are "timed exclusives" if you will.

[blackmagic]

Yeah, the title is misleading. Less than 20 minutes later the official announcement came and was posted on the site. It's a little clearer:
http://www.highdefdigest.co...

"The studio has confirmed to the industry trades Video Business and Home Media Magazine that it will bow the $110 million-plus domestic grosser on November 20, day-and-date on Blu-ray and standard-def DVD. An HD DVD edition will follow, though no exact street date has been set."

The reason for the delay on HD-DVD is due to being region free so they have to respect the timing of the markets in different areas:

"Since we sell to independent international distributors, we have to be more sensitive to their release dates than a major studio," Lasorsa added. "But for second-party acquisitions to which we don't have international rights, we will be day-and-date on all three formats."

[sandip787]

If LOTR doesnt come to blu ray i will cry. im not shelling that kinda money out when i have a perfectly good hd player in my ps3. god this format war is actually doing my HEAD IN!!!!

[jackdoe]

If WB stays neutral, New Line will. After all, New Line is a Time Warner company. And WB is probably the smartest studio that doesn't have a chair in either the HD-DVD or Blu-Ray commitee.

[freediro]

WARNER BROTHERS! an no it doesnt mean that New Line is HD-DVD exclusive next year it just means they arent making any HD-DVD movies for thsi year of 2007.

[blackmagic]

Actually, they are talking specifically about 'Hairspray'. If they publish another title that is a second party aquisition this year then it will be day and date with the DVD and Blu-ray release. 'Hairspray' is delayed because HD-DVD is region free. I suspect the movie is still in theatres in some parts of the world and that would undercut those markets.

[Shaka2K6]

Because h-dvd is dead and its a huge flop sales-wise and downloading movies are still decades away..

Blu-ray is the future,today, go Blu!!

[jackdoe]

New Line is owned by WB, so I doubt they'd go exclusive. Anyway, who gives a damn about hairspray? I want LOTOR Extended Edition in HD.

-edit- LOL, got a disagree. Is there a Hairspray fan out there?

[Darkiewonder]

It will be loved.

Enter the hi-def world and offer only the best in quality.

[cuco33]

if studios released their movies on all platforms. any 'exclusivity' can be geared towards timed exclusives.

won't happen though. i can dream right

to stella, hd dvd a dead format? ORLY?! then by that account, bluray itself is dead too... i mean after all, sony stated the total HDM market was 1% now, and that is with a 1.5:1 edge for BD even though BD has 10 times the players... frightening isn't it!? the fact that your fanboyistic ways fails to see how more doomed BD is if you think HD DVD is dead

[Stella]

Yes, the digital media world should waste the enormous time and effort just to support a dead format like HD-DVD...

How about LaserDisc versions of all new movies too?

[blackmagic]

You know Stella, it's statements like this that really undermine your credibility. It shows a real lack of understanding at even the most rudimentary levels concerning this market.

Not only that but this lack of credibility carries over into all your comments. I ask myself, if you can't grasp even the simplest basics of this market, how can I possibly assign any weight to what you say about any market? Do you see?

You have an opinion? Great! Let's hear it but support it with real discussion. Supply supporting links if you can. People might actually listen to you, otherwise, you are wasting everyones time.

[cdzie1]

The title of this story is totally wrong. It's one title (Hairspray) that will be released with additional web features only on HD DVD (like Blood Diamond) and released a few months later because of HD DVD’s lack of regional coding and the fact the movie has a late release in Europe.

[bootsielon]

...the hd-dvd spin machine is here!

[synetic]

bootsielon you deserve bubble for that comment

[blackmagic]

Not saying that he hasn't spun stuff in the past since I really don't track others statements and the title isn't wrong, just misleading, but according to the official statement made by New Line he is pretty much 100% correct. How exactly is that considered 'spin'?

http://www.highdefdigest.co...

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

New Line Cinema is releasing just 1 movie in 2007? Hairspray?