Audio Video News

Warner has announced that Caddyshack, Good Night and Good Luck, and the classic Western The Searchers will be released on HD DVD on August 22nd. In September the retailer's worst nightmare is realized as both HD DVD and Blu-ray versions of the Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock romance The Lake House will hit stores the same day as the DVD release. In October, Lion's Gate will release a 15th anniversary edition of Quentin Tarantino's celebrated debut, Reservoir Dogs, as well as its third wave of catalog Blu-ray titles. Universal chipped in with HD DVD announcements for the first two films in the critically acclaimed Fast and the Furious series for September.

While the best golf and gopher chasing comedy of all-time is certainly welcome to the nascent HD DVD format, The Searchers hitting the format is cause for celebration. The John Wayne/John Ford collaboration is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and is not only regarded as one of the handful of greatest Westerns ever made, it's widely considered one of the very best movies ever made in any genre. It ranks in the AFI's top 100 and consistently hovers around the top ten in Sight and Sound's worldwide critic's polls.

All three films will feature the entire spate of features that adorned their most recent DVD releases, which is substantial in the case of the Searchers , as this title was most recently released in a lavish two-disc set. Good Night and Good Luck will be an HD DVD/DVD combo disc prices at $39.95, while The Searchers and Caddyshack will be HD DVD only discs priced at $28.99. In store prices are certain to be lower.

Reports now on the web state that Warner's first day and date Blu-ray/HD DVD release will be The Lake House. Both the Digital Bits and High-Def Digest have reported that the HD DVD release will be an HD DVD/DVD combo disc priced at $39.99 MSRP, while the Blu-ray Disc will be a single-layer 25GB disc priced at $34.95.

Beyond being confusing for both retailers and consumers, there are other hidden costs in this triple format day-and-date release. First, the DVD will likely be priced much lower than the high-def discs, and in the case of HD DVD/DVD combo disc the price differential could be 2x. So, the price differential is so large that DVD buyers are faced with an outrageous premium if they want to buy the combo disc as HD insurance, while the guy with the HD DVD player, who doesn't need the DVD layer at all, ends up paying at least $10 more for his HD DVD. But that's not all.

Warner has just informed me that their HD DVD/DVD combo discs are currently limited to 15GB single-layer on the HD DVD side. Dual-layer 30Gb discs are widely used for HD DVD only releases. I can't get too burnt about this yet, as the combo discs (such as 16 Blocks and Firewall) have so far produced outstanding image quality. Still, so far the combo discs seem to hold few advantages for consumers.

Lion's Gate's third wave of Blu-ray titles will hit stores on October 17th and will include American Psycho, starring current Batman Christian Bale as a yuppie serial killer, Rambo's First Blood, Saw II, and the Estevez brothers/Lou Diamond Philips Western Young Guns.

But far more compelling than that is the 15th anniversary release of Quentin Tarantino's classic Reservoir Dogs hitting Blu-ray a week later on October 24th. That's a catalog title to get exctied about!