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The Digital Bits: We Know DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, SACD & High-Definition

FEATURED COLUMNS
Hunt: My Two Cents Daily Rowe: MusicTAP 11/11 Maxwell: Classic Coming Attractions 10/28
Doogan: Doogan's Views 9/21 DVD/BD: Release Dates & Artwork 11/10 Maxwell: High-Definition Matters 9/2
Harris: Yellow Layer Failure 3/20 Jahnke: Bottom Shelf / E-Theatre 11/10 Siegel: Golden Hollywood 6/9
WHAT'S NEW
11/12 DAILY COLUMN: Southland, new Uni & Fox catalog BDs, and more BD movie price drops 12:01 AM PDT
11/12 BLU-RAY REVIEW: A classic gets spiffed up in HD - Paramount's It's a Wonderful Life!
11/11 DAILY COLUMN: Hats off to all you Vets, plus BD software sales & price drops!
11/11 BLU-RAY REVIEWS: A little sci-fi in HD - Star Wars: Clone Wars - S1 & Galaxy Quest BDs!
11/10 DAILY COLUMN: New Uni BD-Live/iPhone aps & Scorsese on BD film grain
11/10 BLU-RAY REVIEWS: Criterion's exceptional Howards End & Wings of Desire BDs!
11/10 ADAM JAHNKE: The Men Who Stare at Goats & Synecdoche, NY in the E-Theatre!
11/10 RELEASE DATES & ART: The weekly cover art update - pre-order DVD/BDs & support The Bits!
11/9 DAILY COLUMN: Moon, Cloudy w/Meatballs, Halo Legends & Sheldon Dorf RIP
11/9 MUSICTAP: Matt's thrice-weekly music news - CD, DVD, LP & Blu-ray
11/6 DAILY COLUMN: To boldly go where one has gone before...
11/6 BLU-RAY REVIEW: Paramount's thrilling new STAR TREK on Blu-ray!
11/5 DAILY COLUMN: Research, findings & factoids on the State of Blu-ray from Blu-Con!
11/4 DAILY COLUMN: The Green Mile, Gremlins, Whip It, new music BDs & more
11/4 BLU-RAY REVIEWS: Warner's North by Northwest & Paramount's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra!
11/4 RUMOR MILL: Rocky Horror Picture Show & more 2010 Blu-rays from Fox (etc)
11/3 DAILY COLUMN: Be sure to read My Two Cents (includes Ponyo update)...
11/3 BLU-RAY REVIEW: Warner updates Robert Zemeckis' Contact to 1080p on Blu-ray
11/3 GIVEAWAYS: Win the BBC's Red Dwarf & Fox's Aliens in the Attic on DVD!
11/2 DAILY COLUMN: Criterion's The Third Man OOP, plus Ponyo, TVD Awards & more
11/2 BLU-RAY REVIEWS: Rocky: Undisputed Collection & Monty Python: Almost the Truth
10/30 DAILY COLUMN: Time Traveler's Wife, sub $150 BD 2.0 players, Uni/TCM Archive & more
10/30

HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Adam concludes the Fest with Warner's Trick 'r Treat Blu-ray!

10/29 DAILY COLUMN: This Is It, Chuck: S2 & Perfect Getaway, plus Basterds art & more!
10/29 BLU-RAY REVIEWS: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen & Ken Burns' The National Parks
10/29 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: John Carpenter, Wes Craven & TCM Classics: Horror DVDs
10/28 DAILY COLUMN: Be sure to read My Two Cents (Wee Early Morning Edition)...
10/28 BARRIE MAXWELL: Classic Coming Attractions with release news & 11 DVD/BD reviews!
10/28 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Adam checks in with Chucky via Child's Play on Blu-ray!
10/27 DAILY COLUMN: Goodfellas BD, 9, Smokin' Aces 2 & Simpsons: S20 DVD/BD!
10/27 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Jahnke's Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (on Blu-ray)!
10/26 DAILY COLUMN: Moon, Surrogates, Gamer, Sony/Netflix PS3 deal & more
10/26 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Adam shares the misery with... er, Misery on Blu-ray!
10/23 DAILY COLUMN: Crazies & Open Road, new Apples, Windows 7 & a Nook (oh my!)
10/23 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Jahnke creeps out with Sony's Night of the Creeps Blu-ray!
10/22 DAILY COLUMN: Public Enemies, Glee: S1, Green Mile BD exclusive, artwork & more!
10/22 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Dr. Jahnke spins Warner's The Hills Run Red on DVD!
10/21 DAILY COLUMN: Criterion's 8 1/2 BD, new Rock 'n' Roll HOF Live DVDs & more
10/21 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Lionsgate's Fear Itself: Season One anthology on DVD
10/20 DAILY COLUMN: Inglorious Basterds, Battlestar: S1 BD, new Criterion & WHV BD-Live
10/20 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Universal's long-awaited Phantasm II on DVD!
10/19 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: The mecha-terror of Severin's Hardware on Blu-ray!
10/16 DAILY COLUMN: 24-hour news in this country is officially insane
10/16 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Sony's The William Castle Film Collection on DVD!
10/16 BLU-RAY REVIEW: Universal's Battlestar Galactica: The Plan anyone?!
10/15 DAILY COLUMN: THANK YOU (plus Spaceballs toon, Sesame St., BSG & more)
10/15 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: MPI's Wild Man of the Navidad: Unrated D.C. on DVD
10/14 DAILY COLUMN: Taking Woodstock, Food, Inc & more, plus farewell to a friend
10/14 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Dr. Jahnke spins The New York Ripper on Blu-ray
10/13 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Adam review Uni's American Werewolf on DVD!
10/12 DAILY COLUMN: District 9, It Might Get Loud, new Bond BD box (sort of) & more
10/12 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Adam's take on Uni's Drag Me to Hell on DVD & BD
10/9 DAILY COLUMN: Blu-Con 2.0, 10 Things, Wild Things, Thundercrack! & more
10/9 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: Dr. Jahnke reviews Happy Birthday to Me on DVD
10/8 HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III: The Doctor spins Last House on the Left (2009) on DVD
10/6 DAILY COLUMN: (500) Days of Summer, Music Man, Mystic River BDs & more
10/5 DAILY COLUMN: Zombieland rocks! (plus home 3-D, new art & more)
10/2 BLU-RAY REVIEW: Jeff spins Disney's new Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs: Diamond!
9/30 BLU-RAY REVIEWS: DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens & Paramount's South Park: Movie!
9/24 BLU-RAY REVIEW: CBS' Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 2 on Blu!
9/23 BLU-RAY REVIEWS: Disney's new Zatoichi & Palm's Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense!
9/17 DAILY COLUMN: Criterion's AK 100 Kurosawa DVD box, plus BIG Potter news & more!
9/8 DAILY COLUMN: We've got a Lord of the Rings Blu-ray update for you...
5/18 EDITORIAL: A Few Words (of Common Sense) About Grain Reduction on Blu-ray

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.
GIVEAWAYS

THE GIVEAWAYS ARE ON!

We've kicked off a new Giveaway, offering each of you the chance to take home copies of Warner and the BBC's Red Dwarf: Return to Earth and Fox's Aliens in the Attic on DVD. Entries will be accepted until Noon (Pacific) on Sunday, November 15th. Click on the links and follow the instructions to enter. Good luck!

Don't forget, you can always find a list of the winners for our previous contests and giveaways in The Winner's Circle. Congratulations to all!

DVD & HD FORMAT STATS
TOTAL U.S. PLAYER SALES (last data reported 8/24/07 - CEA): 133,443,356
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 (10/22/09 - DVD Release Report): 105,954*
*Net total of R1 DVD-Video discs released/announced. Discontinued & adult not included.
TOP 10 SELLING DISCS (10/11/09 - Nielsen/VideoScan):
1) Snow White... Seven Dwarfs
2) Monsters vs. Aliens
3) Year One
4) X-Men Origins: Wolverine
5) Bones: Season Four
6) The Wizard of Oz
7) My Life in Ruins
8) Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
9) Edward Scissorhands
10) Trick 'r Treat
TOP 10 RENTAL DISCS (10/11/09 - Home Media Research):
1) Year One
2) Monsters vs. Aliens
3) Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
4) My Life in Ruins
5) Management
6) X-Men Origins: Wolverine
7) Observe and Report
8) State of Play
9) The Brothers Bloom
10) Lies and Illusions
TOTAL BLU-RAY DISC TITLES (10/23/09 - DVD Release Report): 1,872/131*
*Net total of Region A discs released/announced. Discontinued & adult not included.
TOTAL HD-DVD TITLES (FINAL FORMAT TALLY as of 7/4/08 - DVD Release Report): 429/0*
*Net total of R1 discs released/announced. Discontinued & adult not included.
SOFTWARE MARKET SHARE - BD VS DVD (YTD through 9/27/09 - Nielsen/VideoScan):
Week End. 10/11
Blu-ray Disc: 17 DVD: 83
NUMBER OF AFI TOP 100 FILMS ON DVD - 2007 LIST (11/17/08): 99/1 (1)
Released/Announced or In Development - ( ) Not yet available on DVD.

Save on Blu-ray Disc titles at Amazon
MY TWO CENTS - 11/12/09 - by Digital Bits editor Bill Hunt
Click here for Adam Jahnke's HELL PLAZA OKTOBERFEST III!

To kick things off early today, we've got another new Blu-ray Disc review for you: My take on Paramount's HD spiff of the classic It's a Wonderful Life. One thing's for sure - the film looks better than ever. Speaking of Blu-ray (and DVD) reviews, we're working on a lot more, including Up, The Prisoner: The Complete Series, Heat, Leon: The Professional, Farscape: The Complete Series and much more, so stay tuned over the coming days.

In announcement news today, Lionsgate has set Death Warrior for DVD release on 12/1, followed by The Cove on 12/8 and Facing Ali on 12/29.

Meanwhile, Warner Home Video has set Southland: The Complete First Season for DVD only release on 1/16/10 (no Blu-ray version is yet announced), followed by Scarecrow and Mrs. King: The Complete First Season on 3/9/10.

Universal has set Atonement and Pride & Prejudice for Blu-ray release on 1/26/2010. Both are already available on DVD. It appears that all the previous DVD extras will be included.

And Fox has set Jennifer's Body for DVD and Blu-ray release on 12/29, followed by Post Grad on both formats on 1/12/10 and Whip It on both formats on 1/26/10. In terms of catalog Blu-ray releases, look for Walk the Line and The Last King of Scotland on 2/2/10. Fox will also release MGM's previously announced (but delayed) To Live and Die in L.A. Blu-ray on 1/6/10.

In other news - following up on yesterday's word of impending holiday Blu-ray software price drops - Video Business is also now reporting that Amazon.com, Best Buy and Wal-Mart have joined Target is selling select new release and catalog titles for under $20.

And speaking of Best Buy, the retailer has just increased its retail store presence for Blu-ray by up to three times what it offered the format last year for the holidays. You can read more here at Home Media.

Here's a look at more new cover art... Fox's Jennifer's Body, Walk the Line and The Last King of Scotland Blu-rays...

Jennifer's BodyWalk the LineThe Last King of Scotland

By the way, just so you know in advance and don't wonder, there will be no Friday post here at The Bits. We've got family visiting, so we're going to be spending the day with them. But we'll be back on Monday with the usual news updates and more. So have a great weekend (in advance) and we'll see you then!

11/11/09

Today's post is going to be a quick one, but we've got a couple good things for you. First of all though, we wanted to send a big shout out to all you folks serving your country in uniform around the world, or those of you who have served in the past. Thank you all, and here's hoping this day finds you well.

Now then... we've got a couple more Blu-ray Disc reviews for you today. I've posted my thoughts on Warner and Lucasfilm's new Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Complete Season One (now available) as well as Paramount's BD upgrade of Galaxy Quest (due to street with STAR TREK next Tuesday, 11/17). Both are worth your time and attention, so do check them out.

Also today, there's word from Video Business that key retailers are going to be offering amazing sales prices for Blu-ray Disc movie titles on Black Friday. In particular, Target will be offering select titles priced at just $9.99 each! That's pretty tough to pass up.

What's more, Home Media is reporting that premium pricing for Blu-ray titles is starting to become less common as we move into the holiday shopping season this year. Growing pressure from consumers and retailers to see the format hit mass market acceptance levels is resulting in key new release titles priced as low as $20 at select retailers. We're pleased to finally see this start happening. It's about time!

That's all for now. Stay tuned...

11/10/09

Afternoon, folks! We've got a few good things for you today.

First of all, our own Barrie Maxwell has checked in with a pair of new Criterion Blu-ray Disc reviews... James Ivory's Howards End and Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire. Both are exceptionally well mastered and filled with great extras. In fact, the Wings of Desire Blu-ray even carries over some of the bonus content DVD producer Mark Rance created for the recent MGM special edition, including the director's commentary. Do check it out.

Also today, Dr. Jahnke - having mostly recovered from his recent Oktoberfest effort - has delivered a new installment of his Jahnke's Electric Theatre column for you all to enjoy. Included in this edition is Adam's take on The Men Who Stare at Goats (now in theatres) and Sony's Synecdoche, New York on Blu-ray. Enjoy!

Also today, we've posted the weekly update of the Release Dates & Artwork section, featuring all the latest DVD and Blu-ray cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, a portion of anything you purchase from Amazon after clicking to them through our links goes to help support our efforts here at The Bits and we greatly appreciate it.

In release news today, Universal has just kicked off a new level of BD-Live bonus content on their discs, some of it compatible with Apple's iPhone. These features will be found on the forthcoming Blu-ray versions of Bruno, 9, Funny People, American Pie Presents: The Book of Love, Inglourious Basterds and Public Enemies. You can read more here at Home Media.

Finally this afternoon, I wanted to mention one last thing from last week's Blu-Con 2.0 conference. Acclaimed director Martin Scorsese addressed the conference as the keynote speaker live via satellite from the Film Foundation offices in New York City. He spoke very positively about the Blu-ray format: "BD's potential to replicate the original theatrical experience is the best I've seen in forty years of [movie] collecting. Blu-ray offers the ability to see the film as it was intended." The most interesting quote he offered, however, was something I HOPE was not lost on the audience of studio executives and mastering engineers on hand. He noted that Blu-ray is capable of displaying "a film grain texture which I think is very important in recreating the film experience." Can I get an AMEN?

Stay tuned...

Bill Hunt, Editor
The Digital Bits
billhunt@thedigitalbits.com



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