ScreenScribe

Three top indie titles bow this week on Blu-ray with HD fidelity not guaranteed. “Safety Not Guaranteed was shot in HD with the Sony CineAlta PMW-F3 at XDCAM (4:2:2) resolution and arrives in a 1080p/24 AVC encodement. “It’s a relatively solid transfer given the source, but some digital issues can be spotted from time to [...]

Trekkies and True Blood fans will be over the (full) moon about this week’s TV-on-Blu-ray premieres. To coincide with Star Trek Into Darkness’ box office run — it grossed the third highest opening week of the year here – Paramount is releasing three enterprising collections. They range from Star Trek Stardate Collection: I – X, a [...]

It’s another unusually slim Blu-ray slate this week, although all three newcomers have top-notch transfers with arguably The Master being the most masterful. Alas, this 65mm post-WWII drama about a cult leader lands here with key extras missing in action. “The Region 1 United States version contains an 8-minute behind-the-scenes extra, Unguided Message, and the 1946 [...]

Les Misérables tops a lacklustre, if not outright miserable, week for new Blu-ray releases. Whether or not you like musicals, you’ll love Les Mis’ HD transfer. “The visuals here are absolutely stunning … This movie has some big time production values that are perfectly rendered on screen.” “Les Misérables’ lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track [...]

Anyone who still thinks 3D is a home theatre dud should reserve final judgment until they’ve seen The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Life of Pi on Blu-ray 3D. The Hobbit at last goes on sale here six weeks after the US, where it was was acclaimed for its “demo-worthy video and a reference-quality audio presentation [...]

The Blue Rose ends its run tonight (TV3, 9.45) within 24 hours of the next season of Go Girls going to air and barely two days ahead of its release on DVD. While the HD drama misses out on Blu-ray distribution, the DVD set is beautifully packaged with an inner and outer sleeve, and includes [...]

Classic NZ movie Whale Rider today is being released on Blu-ray for the first time to mark its 10th anniversary. But the excitement of rediscovering it in HD is tempered by confirmation that the most popular indie movie in NZ history, Boy, has had its Blu-ray release cancelled. Paramount Pictures intended to distribute the blockbuster [...]

Blu-ray buyers of the Southern Hemisphere will be wild about the latest local release being an inferior beast to the Region A species. The Oscar-winning Beasts of the Southern Wild goes on sale here with none of the extras of the US edition. Modest though they are, why a distributor would do this with one [...]

The next season of Dexter, which SoHo will debut in July, will be the last. It goes to air June 30 in the US, several months earlier than normal, and will be preceded by season seven’s release on Blu-ray. But whereas fans probably will see season eight within days of the US, there will be [...]

The latest top-flight HD series to get a Blu-ray release after being squandered in SD on Prime is the BBC’s Earthflight. The digital photography is “nearly flawless” in this two-disc release of the six-part bird’s-eye view of our world. “Detail and colour reproduction are incredible in most scenes and colours are vibrant, resplendent, with a [...]