Displaying items by tag: 4K Ultra HD

One of the most interesting aspects of having served as the editor of The Digital Bits website for over twenty years now, is that I’ve had a front row seat to some pretty dramatic changes in the home video industry.

At 53, I’m old enough to remember watching movies on black-and-white televisions—square analog displays that required the viewer to adjust a pair of “rabbit ear” antenna to get a decent picture. Like some of you, I saw the advent of cable television and the arrival of VHS and Betamax videotape—a technology the film industry fought tooth-and-nail to kill until its profit potential finally became obvious.

And of course, as a longtime film enthusiast, I’m someone who strongly embraced the Laserdisc format back when it was the only option for watching movies in their original widescreen aspect ratios at home.

I founded The Digital Bits in late 1997 (it actually began as an industry newsletter shared by email in late ’96) in part because I knew that DVD would be a hit. Having worked at a record store a decade earlier, when Compact Discs took the music world by storm, it was obvious to me that consumers would embrace the idea of movies on a disc that was—to them—essentially identical to the CDs they already loved. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a quick update for you today, and then I’ll be back tomorrow with a long special feature piece here at The Bits.

First though, we’ve got a couple of disc reviews as follows:

Tim has just posted his thoughts on John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A.: Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.

He’s also posted a review of Stephen Hopkins’ Judgment Night (1993) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And Dennis has taken a look at Michael Curtiz’s Romance on the High Seas on Blu-ray, also from the Warner Archive Collection. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a couple of things to note today...

First up, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has set Shameless: The Complete Tenth Season for DVD only release on 5/12. You’ll get all 12 episodes plus deleted scenes for just $22.99.

While we’re talking Warner Bros, our friends at the Warner Archive have just announced their May Blu-ray slate, which is set to include Michael Curtiz’s Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), Robert Mulligan’s Inside Daisy Clover (1966), and Lucifer: The Complete Fourth Season on 5/12, followed by Gregory Nava’s Selena (1997) and Peter Tewksbury’s Sunday in New York (1964) on 5/19, and Vincente Minnelli’s The Reluctant Debutante (1958) on 5/26. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a couple things to report today...

First up, NBCUniversal’s Fandango service is going to purchase Vudu from Walmart, according to reports in the trades today (see this link at Variety). This is interesting and it doesn’t surprise me. I expect there will be lots of consolidation in the Digital space in the months and years ahead, and I also expect every major studio to try and grow their own footprint in the digital space or to team up with others who have. And of course the Digital category includes not just streaming/subscription services but transactional purchases too. So it makes a lot of sense.

Also today, I’ve been invited—and have just begun—to check out the high-end digital movie service Kaleidescape. I’ll have more on that experience here at The Digital Bits in a few weeks, after I’ve really given it a thorough test and tryout. [Read on here...]

All right, with all of these coronavirus lockdowns happening, it seems as if Hollywood is slowing its roll on home video announcements. Most of our studio contacts are now working from home, like the rest of us. So we don’t have a lot of news to talk about today, but we’re adjusting by working on more new disc reviews for you to enjoy.

And we’re starting today with a BIG one: I’ve just posted my in-depth look at JJ Abrams’ new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on 4K Ultra HD from Disney and Lucasfilm. The disc offers tremendous A/V quality and limited—but really good—extras, including a terrific feature length documentary on the making of the film. The disc streets on 3/31, and the film is actually available now (a week early) on all the usual digital services. Though I should caution you, if you really care about maximum A/V quality, this disc blows the streams away. Of course, your individual needs and requirements will vary. [Read on here...]

All right, we’re here at The Bits today closing out what I must say is one of the more interesting weeks I’ve experienced in my 52 years on this planet.

But we’ve got a new review to keep you amused this afternoon: I’ve just turned in my thoughts on Sam Mendes’ Best Picture-nominated 1917 in 4K Ultra HD. It’s an impressive A/V experience with a native 4K digital intermediate, Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HDR10+ high dynamic range, a fine Dolby Atmos sound mix, and dazzling Oscar-winning cinematography by Roger Deakins. There are even a couple of fine audio commentaries on the disc too. Don’t miss it.

Also today, our friends at The Warner Archive Collection have just officially announced no less than SEVEN great new catalog Blu-ray titles that are coming in April. [Read on here...]

All right, I’m currently working on a review of Universal’s 1917 in 4K Ultra HD, which I hope to have up here on the site later today.

In the meantime, I’ve officially confirmed with the studio that Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is indeed coming to the 4K Ultra HD format here in the States on 6/2.

However, some of the cover artwork that you may have seen floating around the Internet is incorrect. The official final cover artwork for the title is visible on the left there.

Audio should be the usual DTS:X, and the extras will be the same as those found on the previously released Blu-ray version (reviewed here on The Bits). More details should follow soon. [Read on here...]

I’ve spent (and continue to spend) most of the afternoon today chasing down interesting leads regarding upcoming Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD releases. As a result, we’ve got a couple of good items for you today...

First though, we’ve got another new BD review from Tim, who checks in with his thoughts on Fred Wolf’s animated The Point (1971), now on Blu-ray from the MVD Rewind Collection. Be sure to give it a look.

Also today, we’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List (with some new UHD titles I’m about to mention) and also our Release Dates & Artwork section with all of the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K cover art and Amazon.com pre-order links. By the way, if you find that the section is missing some titles, it’s due to issues on Amazon’s side, not our end. They’re just making it very difficult for some titles to be found in their database for whatever reason. But we do appreciate your support when you order titles from them though our links—it matters, and we’re grateful for it. [Read on here...]

Checking in today with some great release news...

First, Paramount has just announced the launch of a new label designed to highlight marquee catalog titles on Blu-ray beginning on 4/21. Paramount Presents will debut with Adrian Lyne’s Fatal Attraction, the 1958 Elvis Presley drama King Creole, and Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief (which celebrates its 65th anniversary this year). Each title will be remastered and will include new bonus content focused on the film and the filmmakers, hosted by historian Leonard Maltin. Each will also include foldout movie poster artwork. You can see what they look like at left and also below.

Very good news indeed—it’s great to see Paramount finally starting to get more aggressive with their catalog releases on disc. In fact, the idea of creating a premium Paramount label for their classic catalog is actually something I’ve been suggesting to them privately for a while now, so it’s great to see it beginning to happen. Now let’s have a few more marquee catalog titles on 4K. We know that the original Top Gun is coming, along with Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, and Days of Thunder. And you can bet that if a new Indiana Jones sequel starts filming this year for release next year, you can almost certainly expect the classic Indy films on 4K in 2021. Let’s go ahead with the classic Star Trek films in 4K, folks! [Read on here...]

All right, we’re working on a bunch of things today, but we wanted to chime in quickly with this...

Universal is officially bringing The Blues Brothers, Jaws, and Back to the Future to 4K Ultra HD this year. We’ve been saying that the titles were coming for a while now (because we knew that from our industry sources) and we’ve had the titles listed in our 4K Ultra HD Release List for months.

But I’ve now gotten the studio to confirm on the record that Jaws and Blues Brothers are indeed coming to the format this year (BTTF was confirmed last year). Street date is still TBA, but expect them likely this summer.

I’ve also gotten the studio to confirm that what you see at left is indeed the final 4K cover artwork for John Landis’ The Blues Brothers on the format. [Read on here...]