American Gangster Tops Hidef Media Chart Week Ending Feb 24

In an interesting twist, for the week ending Feb 24, it was an HD DVD title that took the top spot in the HiDef Sales chart, according to Nielsen VideoScan via Home Media Magazine.
New release American Gangster was the top selling title, beating out other recent releases Michael Clayton, Gone Baby Gone and We Own [...]

Paramount to Discontinue HD DVD after March 4th

Confirming the forum chatter, the Hollywood Reporter states that Paramount will cease HD DVD releases after the titles due March 4th.
The studio’s final two HD DVD releases will be Things We Lost in the Fire and Into the Wild.
Paramount is expected to start rolling out Blu-ray Discs in the summer. Until then, titles will be [...]

New Line Folds into Warner Bros

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that New Line Cinema will become part of Warner Bros, and that Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne will not be coming along.
New Line will be operated as a unit of Warner Bros and maintain separate development, production, marketing, distribution and business affairs operations.
It is not clear if this will have any [...]

Discovery Channel Discounts Planet Earth and Sunrise Earth HD DVD

The Discovery Channel Store is offering discounts on HD DVD versions of Planet Earth and Sunrise Earth. The Planet Earth promotion gets you the HD DVD set for $29.95 while the Sunrise Earth is $24.95.
When considering a Planet Earth purchase, keep in mind that the Discovery version is the version shown on Discovery HD Theater [...]

Paramount Cancels HD DVD Titles

We read in the DVDtalk forums that Paramount is telling retailers that the HD DVD titles The Jack Ryan Collection, Sweeney Todd and The Kite Runner have been canceled.
Word is expected on Bee Movie and There Will be Blood soon.
I guess those who managed to acquire The Jack Ryan Collection before it was recalled have [...]

Blockbuster Total Access Half Price First Month Promotion

Did all your Netflix HD DVD magically turn into DVDs in your queue?
If so, perhaps Blockbuster Total Access is the answer. Right now Blockbuster Total Access is offering a ‘first month for half price’ promotion to build their customer base.
Mind you, we can’t guaranty that Blockbuster will continue to rent HD DVDs, but you can [...]

Blu-ray Players for $200 ‘Widely Expected’ by the Holiday Season

In this report on semiconductors used in Blu-ray and HD DVD players, we read of an interesting expected trend for the player core silicon as well as retail pricing.
The article notes that chip makers like Zoran and Mediatek are intending to join Blu-ray veterans Broadcom and Sigma Designs in releasing chipsets for Blu-ray players.
Mediatek spokeswoman [...]

Netflix to Quadruple Blu-ray Selection

In this article about Netflix success, we found a nugget regarding their Hidef Disc plans.
Chief financial officer Barry McCarthy said today that Netflix will add as many as 1,500 Blu-ray titles to its existing 400 titles this year as customers ditch Toshiba’s discontinued HD DVD format and converge onto a Sony’s Blu-ray format. He said [...]

DreamWorks’ Katzenberg: ‘We Have Been Well-compensated for Our Support’

Apparently removing any doubt of compensation paid from Toshiba to DreamWorks Animation (and we might assume Paramount also), Jeffrey Katzenberg said that DreamWorks is waiting for word from Toshiba before moving forward with Blu-ray
"We have a partnership with Toshiba and have an obligation to see this through," DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said on Tuesday.
"As [...]

Hollywood Video Selling Off HD DVD Inventory

With Hollywood Video selling off it’s HD DVD rental stock, it appears Blockbuster will be the last place HD DVD owners can rent HD DVD new releases. Hollywood is selling its former rental HD DVDs for $14.99 each, although some people have been able to pick them up 2 for $20 at some locations.
We looked [...]