            -Established 1997-  Join us on...    |
Looking for stories that used to be listed above? Use the button bar or these links to access the following sections: Reviews (DVD, laserdisc and hardware reviews), FAQ & Archives (old feature stories and interviews, and Jim Taylor's Official DVD FAQ) and Upcoming DVD Art (at look at upcoming cover artwork). Finally, My Two Cents - Archives contains all past daily editorial posts dating back to 12/97. |
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| GIVEAWAYS |
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| DVD & HD FORMAT STATS |
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 TOTAL U.S. DVD PLAYER SALES (last data reported 8/24/07 - CEA): 133,443,356 |
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| Editor's Note: The Consumer Electronics Association has discontinued its reporting of DVD player sales data, and they have not begun reporting on Blu-ray player sales. However, our original CEA DVD Player Sales chart will remain available here for future reference. | |||||||
| TOTAL DVD TITLES (3/16/12 - DVD Release Report): 135,991/244* |
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| *Net total of R1 DVD-Video discs released/announced. Discontinued & adult not included. |
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| TOP 10 SELLING DISCS (3/11/12 - Nielsen/VideoScan): |
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| TOP 10 RENTAL DISCS (3/11/12 - Home Media Research): |
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| TOTAL BLU-RAY DISC TITLES (3/16/12 - DVD Release Report): 5,743/29* |
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| *Net total of Region A discs released/announced. Discontinued & adult not included. |
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| TOTAL HD-DVD TITLES (FINAL FORMAT TALLY as of 7/4/08 - DVD Release Report): 429/0* |
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| *Net total of R1 discs released/announced. Discontinued & adult not included. |
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| SOFTWARE MARKET SHARE - BD VS DVD (YTD through 3/10/12 - Nielsen/VideoScan): |
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| NUMBER OF AFI TOP 100 FILMS ON DVD - 2007 LIST (4/20/10): 100/0 (0) |
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| Released/Announced or In Development - ( ) Not yet available on DVD. |
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| MY TWO CENTS - 5/16/12 - by Digital Bits editor Bill Hunt |
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All right, we had a bit of work happening on the server yesterday, which explains the downtime. But let's get you caught up on release news and whatnot...
First however, our own Russell Hammond has turned in the weekly update of the Release Dates & Cover Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD and Video Game cover art and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, a portion of anything you order from Amazon after you click through to them from our links goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it. Now then, we've got some great new Blu-ray and DVD reviews coming for you starting tomorrow and through the rest of the week. Doogan's checked in with one, Barrie's feeling good enough to send one in as well and we have a new staff reviewer contributing too. So be sure to check back in over the next couple days for those. Meanwhile, here's some new title announcements... Criterion has just unveiled their August Blu-ray and DVD slate and as always there are some really great titles. Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums (Cat #157) gets a Blu-ray Disc upgrade on 8/14. That same day, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's La promesse (#620) and Rosetta (#621) arrive on both Blu-ray and DVD as well. Andrew Haigh's Weekend (#622) follows on Blu-ray and DVD on 8/21. And on 8/28, look for Paul Fejos' Lonesome (#623) and The Who's Quadrophenia (#624 - directed by Franc Roddam) on both Blu-ray and DVD. Also on 8/28, watch for Eclipse Series 35: Maidstone and Other Films by Norman Mailer on DVD only, featuring Maidstone, Wild 90 and Beyond the Law. Kino Lorber has announced their August slate too. On their Horizons label, look for Mr. Hush (DVD & BD) on 8/7. On the Kino Lorber label, look for Foreign Parts (DVD only) and Derek Jarman's Sebastiane (BD) and The Tempest (BD) on 8/7, followed by Post Mortem (DVD & BD) on 8/21. From Kino Classics, look for Louis Feuillade's Les Vampires (2-disc DVD & 2-disc BD) and Andrzej Wajda's Korczak (DVD & BD) on 8/14. And rounding out the slate, look for the Redemption titles Visions of Ecstasy (BD - the film was made in 1989 but was banned for over 20 years in the U.K.) and Renato Polselli's Black Magic Rites: Remastered Edition (DVD & BD) on 8/21, followed by Jean Rollin's The Living Dead Girl: Remastered Edition (DVD & BD) and Two Orphan Vampires: Remastered Edition (DVD & BD) on 8/28. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has set Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret for release on Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack on 7/10. It'll be available exclusively at Amazon.com for a limited time, and will include the theatrical cut and (on a bonus DVD disc) a never-before-seen extended cut as well. Universal has set the direct-to-video crime thriller 4.3.2.1 for Blu-ray and DVD release on 7/31. Extras on both versions will include a "making of" featurette. Sony has set the Hallmark Channel's The Note 3 for DVD release on 7/10, followed by Drew Peterson: Untouchable on DVD 7/24. Lasse Hallstrom's Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is also due from Sony on both Blu-ray and DVD on 7/17. It features Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas. Paramount has set Clue for Blu-ray only release on 8/7. Extras will include three different endings (with the option to watch them all at once or one at random) and the theatrical trailer. Meanwhile, CBS and Paramount have Gunsmoke: The Sixth Season, Volume One due on DVD on 8/7, followed by Vegas: The Third Season, Volume Two and Vegas: The Complete Series Pack on 8/14. And Showtime and Paramount have set Dexter: The Complete Sixth Season for Blu-ray and DVD release on 8/14. In other release news, a company called Neptune Media is releasing Kenji Misumi's original The Last Samurai on DVD on 6/26. Misumi is best known for directing Shogun Assassin and several of the Zatoichi films. The film will be presented in anamorphic widescreen, and will include the original theatrical trailer, a photo gallery, actor bios and an essay by Tom Mes, author of Agitator: the Cinema of Takashi Miike. Also, Warner Home Video has announced that the street date for their Lethal Weapon Blu-ray Collection has moved up from 6/12 to 5/22. Adjust your plans accordingly. And our friends over at TV Shows on DVD have confirmed that 2 seconds of film footage from the Season One episode We'll Always Have Paris still haven't been located by CBS in the Paramount vaults and so will have to be upconverted in the forthcoming Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season One remastered Blu-ray, due on 7/24. That's still not bad given how much of the previously missing footage from other episodes has been located. Meanwhile, a couple of the remastered TNG episodes are going to be screened in theatres around the country in July to promote the release. Here's a look at the cover artwork for Neptune's The Last Samurai DVD, Kino Lorber's Saphead BD (due 7/10) and Mr. Hush DVD (8/7), CBS' Dexter: The Complete Sixth Season BD and Criterion's The Royal Tenenbaums and Quadrophenia BDs...   
  
Back tomorrow with reviews and lots more news. Stay tuned! 5/14/12 All right, let's get an early start this week, shall we? To start with, Bits reader Charles N. spotted something pretty cool on the AnimEigo website, which is an explainer on the differences between the vintage Lone Wolf & Cub films and the later Shogun Assassin. Essentially, the latter was created by editing the first two Lone Wolf & Cub films together and dubbing the result into English. Shogun Assassin is currently available on Blu-ray and DVD from AnimEigo. But here's the best news: According to the company's website... a Blu-ray Disc release of the original Lone Wolf & Cub films is set for Fall 2012! That's pretty awesome. Speaking for Doogan and myself, we sure wish AnimEigo would make their Zatoichi films available on Blu-ray Disc as well. Fingers crossed. (If you'd like to see them on BD too, drop them an e-mail and let them know!) Anyway, great spot Charles and thanks for the heads-up! Couple other bits of release news today... Warner Home Video has set Project X for release on Blu-ray/DVD/UltraViolet Combo on 6/19 (SRP $35.99). The DVD only version follows on 7/17 (SRP $22.97). WHV has also set the animated Superman vs. The Elite: Special Edition for DVD only release on 7/24. HBO Home Entertainment has set the 4-part documentary series The Weight of the Nation for DVD only release on 7/31. Magnolia Home Entertainment will release the comedy The Yankles on Blu-ray and DVD on 6/5. Eagle Rock Entertainment will release Kasabian: Live! - Live at the O2 on Blu-ray and DVD on 6/26. Inception Media Group has set Decisions for DVD release on 6/12. The film features the final appearance of the late actor Corey Haim. Inception will also release Titanic's Final Mystery on Blu-ray and DVD on 5/29. MTI Home Video will release the war film Normandy on DVD on 6/5 (SRP $24.95). And for you sports fans, A&E Home Entertainment has set Highlights of the 2012 Masters Tournament for release on DVD only on 5/29 (SRP $19.95). Here's a look at the BD cover art for Warner's Project X, Universal's Being Flynn (due 7/10) and Kino Lorber's The Last of England (7/24)...   
Stay tuned... 5/11/12 All right, we've got a couple more things for you today to close out the week... First, this is going to irritate the heck out of many of you: Hollywood and the U.S. Government have officially cooked up a pair of new anti-piracy warning screens that are soon going to appear on new Blu-ray and DVD releases from the six major Hollywood studios. No big deal, right? Here's the problem: There are two new screens, each of which will run for 10 seconds. They'll be displayed back to back when you first boot up the disc in your player... and you will NOT be able to skip them. So that's 20 second of unskippable irritation, on top of the time it already takes Blu-rays to load BD-Java and check for BD-Live updates, plus all the already unskippable studio logos and trailers you have to endure. Yeah, we hate this too. Seriously, we REALLY hate this. And it will do absolutely noting to curb piracy. Apparently Hollywood is trying very hard to drive the physical media business right into the ground. Anyway, more here at Ars Technica. Ugh. [Our own Jeff Kleist notes: "The people who bought the disc legally are not the ones who need to see this message." He's come up with an interesting proposal: "The industry has been pushing UltraViolet as its catch-all digital locker of choice, so why not reward those first-week paying customers who register their BDs on UltraViolet - as long as you're hooked into the Internet your disc will automatically bypass those annoying warnings and load straight into the menus. This not only gives customers a tangible benefit in purchasing new titles versus renting, but also introduces more people to UltraViolet which the studios want anyway. Combine that with a merging of all these separate studio accounts into one master UV account, and in theory everyone wins."] It's not a bad idea. Which naturally means Hollywood will never go for it. Unfortunately, those customers who don't use UltraViolet (or Digital Copy of any kind) or who don't have Net-connected players are still out in the cold. Anyway... Here's another bit of news that's a potential irritation for you Windows PC users: Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system is going to ship without the ability to play DVD and Blu-ray movie titles in Windows Media Center. You'll have to download an upgrade from Microsoft (for a "nominal" and as-yet-unannounced fee, of course) to play them. This is probably not a surprising development, because the vast majority of PC users who watch movies on their systems do so via third-party software like PowerDVD. It might just be that Microsoft doesn't feel like paying license fees to Hollywood up front anymore when most of their consumers don't use Windows Media Center to watch discs anyway. Nevertheless, it's another irritation. More here at Tom's Hardware. Okay, let's have a little bit of new announcement news... Warner Home Video and Cinemax have set Strike Back: Cinemax Season 1 for Blu-ray and DVD release on 8/7 (SRP $59.96 and $49.98). All 10 episodes will be included, along with audio commentary and more. Paramount has set Eddie Murphy's A Thousand Words for Blu-ray and DVD release on 6/26. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will release Mirror Mirror on Blu-ray and DVD on 6/26 as well. They also have Leverage: The 4th Season set for DVD only release on 7/17 and The Glades: Season 2 on DVD due on 7/10. Anchor Bay Entertainment will release On the Inside on Blu-ray and DVD on 7/24, followed by Lake Effects on DVD only on 8/14. IFC Films will release the "apocalyptic romance" Perfect Sense, staring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green, on Blu-ray and DVD on 5/22. Also, Shout! Factory has set the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season One, Volume One for DVD only release on 8/21. The 3-disc set (SRP $19.93) will include the first 30 episodes. Shout! Factory and Time Life are also making the 6-DVD Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Complete Season One set and the 40-DVD Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Seasons One-Seven box set available online only directly to fans starting on 7/30. By the way, Shout! also has Diff'rent Strokes: Season Three coming to DVD only on 7/17, followed by The Smurfs and The Magic Flute on DVD only on 8/14. And EOne Entertainment will release Babar: The Classic Series - The Complete First Season on DVD on 6/5 (SRP $19.98). In other release news, Bits reader Jason B. has let us know that a pair of John Wayne classics from 20th Century Fox are now available on Blu-ray only at Walmart as retail exclusives: The Big Trail and The Barbarian and the Geisha. SRP is $12.96 each. The Chuck Norris titles The Delta Force, Missing in Action and Missing in Action 2: The Beginning are also available on Blu-ray exclusively at Walmart for $9.96 each. And that's all for this week. We'll leave you with a look at a little more Blu-ray cover art: Disney's Grosse Pointe Blank: 15th Anniversary Edition, IFC's Perfect Sense and Lionsgate's The Flowers of War (due 7/10)...   
See you next week! Bill Hunt, Editor The Digital Bits billhunt@thedigitalbits.com |
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