More new announcements for you today...

Warner Home Video has set Grand Hotel, Mrs. Miniver and Driving Miss Daisy for Blu-ray Disc release on 1/8/13. Daisy will come in BD Book packaging. Also newly announced for Blu-ray release by the studio is Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars on 10/16 and (for New Line) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 as BD singles on 12/18.

Sony will release [REC]³: Genesis on DVD only on 11/6.

CBS and Paramount set J.A.G.: The Complete Series - Collector's Edition for DVD box set release on 12/11. The 56-disc set will contain all the episodes plus extras and you'll get a 40-page booklet as well. Also coming to DVD that same day is the Mission: Impossible: The Complete Television Collection Gift Set, featuring every episode plus extras in packaging that looks like microfilm in a bomb-like container.

MGM has set Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure for BD release on 11/13 (SRP $19.99). Extras will include 3 featurettes (The Original Bill & Ted: In Conversation with Chris & Ed, Air Guitar Tutorial With Bjorn Turoque & The Rockness Monster and One Sweet and Sour Chinese Adventure to Go), radio spots and the theatrical trailer.

Meanwhile, Fox has set The Big Trail for BD release on 11/13 as well (SRP $19.99).

In other release news, you can now pre-order Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One - Avengers Assembled BD set on Amazon.com again (SRP $219.00 but they have it for $139.96). Street date isn't listed but a note from Amazon says the set will come in different packaging now (minus the briefcase which Disney got sued over) and ship sometime in Spring 2013. So adjust your plans accordingly.

Finally today, here's something really cool for you Hobbit fans: Warner Bros has just issued the second trailer for the film and it looks pretty damn great. It's all over YouTube, and you can also view it on Apple (if you can actually see it - the site's bandwidth has been crushed all afternoon) and also here at the film's official site where you can choose to view the trailer with any of FIVE different endings. Count me in!

Here's a look at the Blu-ray cover artwork for MGM's Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Criterion's The Qatsi Trilogy (due 12/11), and Warner's Driving Miss Daisy...

Stay tuned...

- Bill Hunt

Sony's Grover Crisp understands the science and art of film restoration as well as anyone working in Hollywood today. As the Senior VP for Asset Management, Film Restoration and Digital Mastering for Sony Pictures Entertainment, he's personally supervised scores of great film restoration efforts for the studio - both physical and digital - including such classics as The Bridge on the River Kwai and Jason and the Argonauts.

It's no exaggeration to say that Richard Donner is one of the most influential filmmakers of the past thirty years. For all intents and purposes, he single-handedly invented the modern superhero movie with 1978's Superman. In 1987, he reinvigorated the buddy movie formula with Lethal Weapon, spawning three sequels and countless imitators. But like any filmmaker, there have been some disappointments along the way, both critical and commercial. Perhaps the biggest was the failure of Inside Moves, a low-key character study, to find an audience upon its release in 1980. The film garnered critical praise and an Academy Award nomination for Diana Scarwid in the Best Supporting Actress category. But an ineptly managed theatrical release all but insured that no one would ever see it. After its release on VHS in the early 80s, Inside Moves promptly vanished into obscurity.

When Lionsgate recently announced their new 3-disc Full Disclosure Blu-ray Edition of Francis Ford Coppola's legendary Vietnam War film, Apocalypse Now, the news seemed almost too good to be true for longtime fans. The set, which streets on 10/19, is due to include both versions of the film, many hours of bonus features and, at long last, the infamous Hearts of Darkness documentary – the first time the film and documentary have ever been presented together on disc. It also includes – for the first time in ANY home format – both versions of the film in their original 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio. Given the film's complex history, and the equally complicated history of its past home video editions, fans of Apocalypse Now immediately began to have questions about the Blu-ray release, and quickly began to speculate about the release online. How would the new transfer compare to the 2001 release? How involved were Coppola and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro in preparing the new transfer? What surprises might the new edition bring?

I'm sure by now, most of you know that when you go to see a movie in a theater, the screen you watch movies on is shaped differently than your TV screen at home. Properly shown movies appear to be much wider-looking than television programs do. There's a reason for that, and it's all about something called aspect ratios.

So just what exactly are aspect ratios, and how did they come to be? Well sit right back, and I'll tell you the whole story...

RealD, 3DTV, Blu-ray 3D, active shutter glasses - these are terms you've probably heard mentioned on TV and in trips to Best Buy and other retailers. Certainly, anyone who's gone to a movie in theatres in recent months has heard about (or experienced) 3D on the big screen, with such hit films as Avatar, Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon. There's little doubt that 3D is here, and here to stay. What's more, the technology has finally arrived for you to enjoy the 3D experience in your living room. But what does it all mean? How does it work, and what special equipment do you need to give it a try?

The following is a comparison of anamorphic and non-anamorphic (letterboxed) widescreen DVD video, as displayed on Standard 4x3 and Digital 16x9 TVs. For this demonstration, we've chosen to use snapshots of actual DVD video from the film Rushmore (aspect ratio is 2.35:1). Buena Vista's original DVD version (on the left) is non-anamorphic. By contrast, The Criterion Collection DVD release (on the right) is anamorphic.

The following is a comparison of anamorphic and non-anamorphic (letterboxed) widescreen DVD video, as displayed on Standard 4x3 and Digital 16x9 TVs. For this demonstration, we've chosen to use snapshots of actual DVD video from the film Good Will Hunting (aspect ratio is 1.85:1). Buena Vista's U.S. DVD version (on the left) is non-anamorphic. By contrast, Alliance's Canadian DVD release (on the right) is anamorphic.

As the editor of The Digital Bits, I'm proud to present you with The Ultimate Guide to Anamorphic Widescreen DVD for Everyone! - the Everyperson's bible to DVD's most important video quality feature.

You may remember the first editorial I did on this subject back in 1998: The Big Squeeze: The ABCs of Anamorphic DVD. Lots of you have let me know that the editorial helped you to better understand just exactly what anamorphic is and how it works. But we still get tons of e-mail from puzzled readers asking questions about it. I recently did some research of my own, and started looking at the various resources available on the subject (both online and in various print publications). What I discovered, is that while there are lots of good articles on anamorphic widescreen, most of them are written in very technical terms and are difficult for even reasonably savvy DVD consumers to understand. Given the vigorous position in support of anamorphic widescreen that we've taken here at The Digital Bits, I decided to assemble what I hope will become the most clear and easy-to-understand guide on the subject. And it will always be just a click away, easily accessed by pointing your mouse at the familiar Anamorphic Widescreen logo found on every page of the Bits.

Disney's A Christmas Carol
2009 (2010) - Walt Disney Home Entertainment

Who doesn't know the story of A Christmas Carol by now? The latest silver screen version comes from director Robert Zemeckis' Image Movers Digital, previously responsible for films like The Polar Express and Beowulf. It's also Disney's first trip into Blu-ray 3D.