Audio Video News

Back in July UAV reported the exciting news that accompanying the November 28th DVD release of this summer's Superman Returns would be new, vastly expanded special editions of Superman: The Movie, and the fabled, somewhat legendary Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. Well, the news gets better still. Not only will Superman Returns see a day-and-date release on both Blu-ray and HD DVD, Superman: The Movie and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut will also be released on HD DVD November 28th with the now de rigeur 1080p video and Dolby Digital Plus sound.

Superman Returns will be an HD DVD/DVD combo disc that is reportedly spec'd as full 30GB, dual-layer on the HD DVD side, and it will include a Dolby TrueHD lossless soundtrack to go along with its 1080p video. According to High-Def Digest, the Blu-ray version is spec'd to be Warner's first 50GB dual-layer BD and will include a Dolby Digital soundtrack encoded at 640kbps. No word on whether an uncompressed PCM, or a higher resolution soundtrack will also be on the disc.

Of course, that's not all that's going on with Warner and HD. Seven more titles are coming to HD on October 31st, led by V for Vendetta, the recent graphic novel adaptation from the creative team that brought us The Matrix trilogy. In addition to 1080p HD video V will ship with the In-Movie Experience interactivity feature billed as Director's Notebook: Reimagining a Cult Classic for the 21st Century.

Also hitting HD DVD that same day will be the 90's Steven Seagal action flick Under Siege, and John Boorman's lusty cult classic of Arthurian legend, Excalibur. Siege was directed by Andrew Davis of The Fugitive fame and features Tommy Lee Jones in a great bad guy turn. Unquestionably Segal's best, and something of a sleeper in the action genre.

In what must be a pure delight to retailers and consumers alike, Under Siege double-dips that day by also hitting stores on Blu-ray. In addition, playing Blu-ray catch-up, Warner is also releasing The Phantom of the Opera, The Searchers, and Unforgiven on BD. All three titles have previously been released on HD DVD and DVD, so make room on those shelves! And note too that Phantom in particular is a piece of eye candy to show of your next-gen HD rig, whatever your format of choice may be!