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'Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam' Announced and Detailed for Blu-ray[teaser]The Jonas Brothers are back in an all new Disney Channel movie on Blu-ray this September.[/teaser] Disney/Buena Vista will be bringing the family film 'Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam' to Blu-ray on September 7. The release will be a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack and will present the extended edition of the film in 1080p with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, and supplements include Rock-Along and two additional music sequences: "Walking in my Shoes" and "Different Summers." Exclusive to the Blu-ray is 'Getting to Know Camp Star’s Newest Stars and Music Videos from Camp Rockers Around the World. Suggested list price for the combo pack is $44.99. You can find the latest specs for 'Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under September 7.Posted Mon Aug 16, 2010 at 10:00 AM PDT by: -
Blockbuster Bankruptcy is Imminent Say Analysts[teaser]It may be getting close to the end for the once giant rental chain. [/teaser] Blockbuster has been making some big moves in an attempt to stay in the game. Blockbuster kiosks are popping up all over and unprofitable retail stores are closing. The company even launched a fantastic new game rental service that blows competitors out of the water price wise, even if availability is lacking. Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, suggests that bankruptcy may well be in the works for the company. The current Blockbuster strategy of touting their earlier access to movies just isn't working, according to Pachter. "Most consumers are motivated by price, are generally unaware of a DVD’s street date, and are likely to discover availability when visiting their local Redbox kiosk, rendering the 28-day head start inconsequential over the long run," he writes. His colleague Edward Wood agrees. "If they would have been able to avoid bankruptcy, it’s likely they would have been able to come to a recapitalization already." Home Media MagazinePosted Mon Aug 16, 2010 at 09:00 AM PDT by: -
'The Bridge on the River Kwai' Blu-ray Officially Dated![teaser]The Blu-ray version of David Lean's classic war drama based on the Pierre Boulle novel looks to be coming in November. [/teaser] As previously reported, Sony has revealed 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' starring William Holden and Alec Guinness is headed for a Blu-ray release, and now the date has been confirmed for November 2. Specs and a release date have not been set yet, but supplements appear to include: 35 page book with stories and photos from the production; Replications of the original lobby cards; Bonus DVD version of the movie; William Holden and Alec Guinness on The Steve Allen Show; Newly Discovered archival audio of William Holden Narrating The Bridge on the River Kwai Premiere; Crossing the Bridge: Picture-in-Graphics track and more. Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is $34.95. You can find the latest specs for 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under November 2.Posted Mon Aug 16, 2010 at 08:00 AM PDT by: -
3D Viewing Won't Hurt Your Eyes. Unless You're Three.[teaser]Looks like 3D is as safe as it gets. Just don't pop 3D glasses on your baby. [/teaser] Alright, let's nip it in the bud now. 3D is safe. You're not going to get some kind of weird permanent eye damage because you wore 3D glasses. "There are people who get uncomfortable with it," says Dr. Mark Borchert, "but there's no evidence it can cause permanent harm to your vision." Now, when it comes to your three year old, things are different. You see, the whole binocularity thing – seeing one image with both of your eyes – is something that has to be learned. According to Borchert, that happens within the first three years of your life. It's possible that 3D viewing could affect that process. On the flip side, a three year old that hasn't yet fully developed his or her stereoscopic vision won't benefit from 3D anyway. In other words, they won't be watching movies or playing games in 3D anyway. "I can't imagine how this is going to cause any kind of permanent harm to someone who is over four years of age." Source: GamasutraPosted Mon Aug 16, 2010 at 07:00 AM PDT by: -
'Jane's Addiction: Live Voodoo' Announced for Blu-ray[teaser]The pop culture tour-de-force will rock Blu-ray at the end of the month! [/teaser] Eagle Rock has announced 'Jane's Addiction: Live Voodoo' for a high-definition release on August 31. The concert was filmed on Halloween Night in 2009 at the Voodoo Experience in New Orleans and features music predominantly culled from the band's first two albums. There's no word on tech specs yet, but supplements include a couple bonus tracks, a featurette, and a photo gallery. A full track listing can be viewed here. Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is $19.98. You can find the latest specs for 'Jane's Addiction: Live Voodoo' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under August 31.Posted Mon Aug 16, 2010 at 06:00 AM PDT by: -
'Star Wars Collection' Planned for Blu-ray Release in 2011![teaser]George Lucas has confirmed that all six films will be coming to Blu-ray in a boxed set in the fall of next year! [/teaser] At Celebration V in Orlando, Lucas announced that the 'Star Wars Collection' is finally in the works for Blu-ray. "Blu-ray is the absolute best way to experience Star Wars at home – in pristine high definition," said George Lucas. "The films have never looked or sounded better." In an interview with the New York Times, Lucas states, "We've been wanting to do it as soon as we possibly could, but we just wanted to do it when enough people would be able to buy it and see it." He further adds that the original three films will be the 1997 special edition versions, "You have to go through and do a whole restoration on it, and you have to do that digitally. It's a very, very expensive process to do it. So when we did the transfer to digital, we only transferred really the upgraded version." Specs and a release date have not been set yet, but supplements will include documentaries, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, retrospectives, never-before-seen LucasFilm archives material, and much more. Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is still undetermined at this time. You can find the latest specs for 'Star Wars Collection' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it is indexed under PENDING. Special thanks to forum members Jack Lilburn and William McClelland for sending in the tip!Posted Sun Aug 15, 2010 at 01:05 PM PDT by: -
That '70s HD AdvisorEditor's Note: Each Friday, High-Def Digest's own HD Advisor will answer a new round of questions from our readers. If you have home theater questions you need answered, send an email to [email protected]. If you've already sent a question and don't see it answered yet, please be patient as we work our way through them. To browse through previously answered questions, visit the main HD Advisor page. Answers by Joshua Zyber Passive vs. Powered Subwoofers Q: I finally broke down and bought a new receiver, a Yamaha RX-V565. I can use my old speakers from my previous Home-Theater-in-a-Box for now until I save up enough money to upgrade those as well. My question is about the subwoofer. On the subwoofer output on the receiver, it says "Subwoofer (Pre-Out)." I am assuming this means that the sub is amplified in the receiver, rather than me needing a pre-amp. Also, it has what looks like a standard RCA plug for the sub, but my current subwoofer has the old bare wire plug. Can I use my current subwoofer, and can I simply go out and buy a connector? A: There are two basic types of subwoofer in a home theater system: passive and powered. As with any speaker, the audio signal sent to a subwoofer needs amplification before you'll hear any sound. A passive subwoofer relies on that amplification to be performed in the A/V receiver or in some form of intermediary amplifier placed between the receiver and the sub in your signal chain. A powered subwoofer has the amplification built right into it, and requires nothing more than the raw audio signal. If your old subwoofer only has binding posts for speaker wire, but has no RCA input and doesn't plug into your electricity directly, it's a passive model. You'll note that the rest of your speakers are also passive. (You connect them straight from the receiver by speaker wire.) While your receiver is probably built with plenty of amplification to run your main five (or seven) speakers, the subwoofer traditionally needs more power to drive the low frequency audio at loud volumes. Even if your receiver offered standard speaker wire outputs for a subwoofer (the RX-V565 does not), you'd really be better served with external amplification anyway. The "Pre-Out" connection on your receiver is a pre-amplified output. Meaning, it outputs the audio signal before amplification. The receiver expects you to do that amplification elsewhere. You have two options at this point. The easiest is to buy a new powered subwoofer. Connect the Subwoofer Pre-Out from the receiver directly to the sub and turn it on. Your other option is a little more complicated. You can buy a dedicated subwoofer amp that will accept the signal from the Pre-Out on the receiver, amplify it, and then connect to your subwoofer by speaker wire on the other end. If your passive subwoofer came from a Home-Theater-in-a-Box system, odds are that you'd be best off replacing it altogether with a new powered sub that's designed to dig deeper and play louder anyway. Ugly Blu-ray Cover Art Q: Although this is more of an aesthetic question, I was wondering if you could explain to me why many Blu-ray releases use alternate box-artwork for the covers as opposed to using the original poster-artwork. The recent release of 'National Lampoon's Vacation' is a perfect example where the original classic movie poster artwork is replaced by some cheesy cover-art that looks as if it should be at the back of the box! Maybe it's just me, but I find this a bit disappointing. A: I happen to be annoyed by this as well, and that 'Vacation' cover is a real eye sore. The simple answer here is that the studios' home video divisions rarely care about the aesthetic values of movie poster art. They just want to move product. The easiest way to catch a potential buyer's eye as he or she browses the racks at Best Buy or Walmart is to design a cover with a big photo of the main star's face on it. The hope is to inspire a reaction of, "Oh hey, that's [insert famous actor's name here]. I like him [or her]. Let me see what that movie is." Meanwhile, the more attractive artwork designed to be displayed on large posters in movie theater lobbies typically isn't as immediately eye catching when shrunken down to DVD or Blu-ray size. Some studios care more about the look of the cover art than others. Discs from the Criterion Collection almost always feature very tasteful artwork. On the other hand, major studios frequently give us abominations like that 'Vacation' cover, which was probably thrown together in half an hour by a college intern marginally proficient with Photoshop. Dropped Frames Q: So I just bought a new TV, a Sharp Quattron LC-40LE810UN, and I love it. However, on some movies it will flicker black very quickly for about a second. It seems to only happen when I am watching Blu-rays at 24 fps. I assume this is because it is dropping frames, but I am not an expert on this stuff. If it helps, I am using a PS3 as my Blu-ray player, and I generally have the motion interpolation (called "Motion Enhancement" and "Film Mode") set to on, often high. It is an awesome TV, so I will not get rid of it for this, but any advice would be appreciated A: My first immediate suggestion is to turn all frame interpolation off. These so-called "motion enhancement" settings may make motion look superficially smoother, but they do so by generating artificial frames that were not originally contained in the source signal (i.e. the movie you're watching). The TV creates these new frames by averaging the data from frames in the source and essentially guessing what something in between those frames might look like. Movies are photographed at 24 frames per second. 1080p Blu-ray discs are encoded at that original rate. The Sharp LC-40LE810UN is a 120 Hz model, meaning that it refreshes its frames 120 times per second. The easiest and best way to convert a 24 Hz source to display on a 120 Hz screen is simply to multiply the original frames so that each repeats four additional times. This is called 5:5 Pulldown, and the result should be seamless to your eye. When you turn frame interpolation on to the maximum setting, the TV generates four fake frames for every one original frame in the source. Only a fraction of what you're watching on screen was actually photographed by the movie's director or cinematographer. Give that some thought. When the TV has to generate more fake frames than real frames, it should not seem at all surprising to find that it will occasionally glitch and cause the flicker you're seeing. I have a feeling that simply turning all this artificial processing off will solve the problem. Homework Assignment: You Be the Advisor The HD Advisor knows many things, but he doesn't know everything. Some questions are best answered with a consensus of opinions from our readers. If you can help to answer the following question, please post your response in our forum thread linked at the end of this article. Your advice and opinions matter too! HD Advisor Column Title Suggestions JZ: It's time once again to put the call out for assistance coming up with HD Advisor column titles that fit the numerical theme. Basically, I've got next to nothing after this week. Help me out! Check back soon for another round of answers. Keep those questions coming. Joshua Zyber's opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of this site, its owners or employees.Posted Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 12:00 PM PDT by: -
High-Def Digest and Dolby Are Giving Away the LAST of Five Copies of 'Dexter: The Complete Fourth Season' on Blu-ray!![teaser]Today is your last chance to win this great season on Blu-ray![/teaser] High-Def Digest and Dolby are giving away one more copy of the highly-anticipated, Emmy-nominated 'Dexter: the Complete Fourth Season' on Blu-ray featuring Dolby® TrueHD 5.1 surround (24-bit/96 kHz)! Five lucky High-Def Digest readers will be chosen at random to win this prize from Dolby. To enter, go to the High-Def Digest Facebook page and comment on the daily post to enter the giveaway. Complete rules can be found here. Check out the HDD Facebook page and enter to win now! In all, we're giving away five copies of this fantastic season, so check back and enter each day this week!Posted Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 11:00 AM PDT by: -
Samsung Releases the First 3D Capable Portable Blu-ray Player[teaser]The player is 3D capable, but the screen isn't. You'll need to plug it in if you want to enter the third dimension. [/teaser] While portable DVD players once came in all shapes and sizes, portable Blu-ray players just haven't taken off in the same way. There are only a few models out, and none of them really satisfy. Samsung's BD-C8000 might just change that. The new portable player features a 10.3 inch screen, which is quite large for a portable player. It handles Samsung Apps, gives you access to videos from Blockbuster and YouTube and even streams from your PC. Before you go getting to excited about the whole 3D thing, let's clarify. The Samsung BD-C8000 can play back 3D movies on a 3D capable screen. The screen on the BD-C8000 isn't 3D capable. That means you'll have to plug the player into a 3D television to go 3D. Still, for what it is, the BD-C8000 is impressive, slick looking and packed with features – though Samsung has not disclosed the screen resolution. It's also just $449. Source: AmazonPosted Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 10:30 AM PDT by: -
'The BBC High-Definition Natural History Collection 2' Announced for Blu-ray[teaser]Another monumental documentary box set is planned for a Blu-ray release this October. [/teaser] Warner Brothers/BBC has just announced 'The BBC High-Definition Natural History Collection 2' for a Blu-ray release on October 12. This time the release will include: 'Life,' 'Nature's Most Amazing Events,' 'Wild Pacific,' and 'Yellowstone: Battle for Life.' Specs and supplements will likely mirror the individual releases. Suggested list price for the Blu-ray box set is $149.99. You can find the latest specs for 'The BBC High-Definition Natural History Collection 2' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under October 12.Posted Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 10:00 AM PDT by:
