The DVD of Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud went on sale today less than 12 hours after last night’s series finale.

The turnaround from primetime to shopfront is unprecedented — and partly why the HD series isn’t being released simultaneously on Blu-ray.

Roadshow Entertainment general manager John Davie says a Blu-ray was considered, but a tight production schedule made it impossible.

“We wanted to release the title as close as possible to the final television broadcast.”

However, it’s possible a Blu-ray of the series will be offered as part of an Underbelly box set under consideration for Christmas release.

Meanwhile, also out this week is the DVD of another local HD drama, Billy, and expect the last of this year’s NZ Sunday Theatre dramas, Rage, to bow on DVD next month or in November (Bliss and Tangiwai: A Love Story were released earlier this month).

The DVD of Wild Coasts With Craig Potton, which was shot in HD but broadcast in SD on Prime, comes out on October 5 and TV One’s HD drama, Nothing Trivial, is due on October 19, a week after its season finale.

Oppo’s first Blu-ray 3D player is worth buying just for its 2D capability.

The BDP-93 is priced higher than most of the competition but picture purists won’t begrudge the $1350 price tag given the calibre of the extras – even if the appreciating dollar is making it harder to justify.

However, the premium’s partly due to one of the BDP-93’s most desirable features: it’s been hardware modified by NZ distributor RapalloAV so it can play back Blu-rays and DVDs from anywhere in the world, regardless of their regional coding.

This gives it a big advantage over the US model, although if you’re in the US you can use the BDP-93 for video streaming whereas here you have to be satisfied with merely its second-generation Qdeo video processing, dual HDMI outputs, wireless networking, universal audio, AVCHD and multi-media playback, 7.1/5.1/stereo analogue outputs (as well as optical and coaxial outs), eSATA and USB 2.0 ports (two)  … D’oh!!!

Everything about the BDP-93 exudes class. Even the polished packaging more befits Apple than a consumer electronics product while the substantial user manual puts Apple’s miniscule documentation to shame.

Lift the BDP-93 from the box and you’re immediately struck by its muscular heft and refined appearance.

I didn’t think a Blu-ray player could look more alluring than the 93’s predecessor, the BDP-83, but its successor is as eye-catching as its features are cutting edge.

Oppo even has managed to make its front panel more functional — and without compromising the fascia’s clean, uncluttered lines — by adding a USB port (the 83 has only one USB port, on the rear of the player that’s hard to access if rack mounted). (See comment below.)

Build quality is excellent while the solid backlit remote control is from the same mould as the 83’s, combining comprehensive functionality with a sensible configuration that makes it easy and intuitive to use.

All the most important features can be accessed with their own keys, from zoom to aspect ratio to output resolution, without having to access a multi-layered, on-screen menu.

Fire up the 93 and if the only Blu-ray 3D playback you’ve experienced is on a PlayStation 3, immediately you’ll appreciate its virtually silent operation.

Discs are quick to load and the multi-zone playback worked without a hitch. 3D playback, on Panasonic’s 50-inch VT20Z plasma, was just dazzling.

The Oppo flawlessly played Blu-ray 3Ds of Monster House, Piranha, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Film, Clash of the Titans and Panasonic’s Avatar, but failed to recognise Jean-Michael Cousteau’s ocean trilogy was in 3D.

However, it’s not unusual for Blu-ray authoring to outdate Blu-ray player specifications and a firmware update is all that’s required for discs to play nicely.

It’s not only 3D playback that distinguishes the 93 from the 83: it also has different video processing — Qdeo instead of Anchor Bay — and two HDMI outs: one is for optimal Qdeo performance, using the dedicated DE2750 processor, the other for Oppo’s own processing.

Picture adjustment options are plentiful but, in my experience, should be used judiciously as it’s easy to introduce side effects that are just as unwanted as the problems you’re trying to eliminate.

The tweaking is more versatile than the 83’s Anchor Bay processor and can be customised for three different modes, which should be enough to handle the variability of DVD transfers.

The Qdeo certainly breathed new vigour into the 1972 western, The Culpepper Cattle Co, enriching it with a vividness and clarity that was breathtaking for unrestored, 40-year-old footage that wasn’t flash to start with.

But while this gave the 93 an edge over the 83’s processing, the trade-off was fleeting yet still distracting new image niggles.

With that in mind, Oppo’s 83 successor doesn’t offer enough new features or noticeably better performance to warrant upgrading.

But if you’ve yet to buy a Blu-ray player or want 3D capability, for under $1500 the BDP-93 is as close as you’ll get to one that scores nigh on 100%.

• For more in-depth appraisals, see: Home Theater Review, Soundstage, Home Theater, AVS Forum and Audio Video Revolution.

Fans of Downton Abbey will be able to buy the popular period drama on Blu-ray barely 12 hours after its season-one finale.

It screens 8.30 tonight on Prime and the Blu-ray goes on sale tomorrow for $45.

DVD Town thought some scenes suffered from heavy grain and noise but rated the transfer 9/10. “For the most part, Downton Abbey looks noticeably superior in HD …

“Skin tones are natural-looking, black levels pulled back just a little, and there’s just enough grain to make it all look appropriately aged.

“There’s still plenty of filmic grain and texture, but there’s far more detail and sharp edges in the Blu-ray version, which produces a nice sense of three-dimensionality.”

Extras include commentaries, deleted scenes and two making-of shorts.

Out in 3D, 2D and “limited” editions is the James Cameron-produced underwater adventure, Sanctum.

US reviewers praised the HD audio more than the video.

“While things were bright and colourful on the surface, below in the caves, where most of the film actually takes place, things weren’t as strong,” High-Def Digest argued.

“Weak black levels, DNR, and grain all contribute to a very average end product here.”

But it called the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track “powerful” and “sure to please fans of the film and engulf new viewers.”

Blu-ray.com said the image “lacks consistent, lifelike depth … Sanctum’s 3D presentation doesn’t hold a candle to Avatar’s top-tier beauty.

“It’s more of a gimmick — a flawed, problematic Fusion Camera demo reel, really — than an all-encompassing 3D experience.

“Just don’t be so quick to blame Universal; blame the environments [director Alister] Grierson is exploring, the additional challenges presented by his 3D location shoot, and the director’s inability to live up to the high 3D standards set by Cameron.”

Also new are the direct-to-disc Season of the Witch and, from Monday, the martial arts release, Shaolin.

Tentative US art

Jack’s back — but as you’ve never seen him before … in HD!

For the first time, the conspiracy thriller serial, 24, will be released here on Blu-ray.

The eighth and final season will go on sale on December 1, two weeks earlier than in the US and the same day as a complete series collection on DVD-only.

The four-disc set will include deleted scenes, shorts (Chloe Interrogation, The Ultimate CTU, 24 at Comic-Con, Being There, Scene Makers) and presumably commentaries.

The Blu-ray send-off is great news for Kiwi fans of Jack Bauer as 24′s never aired here in HD.

The show’s premiere in HD coincided with TV3 consigning that season, the seventh, to SD sister channel, C4, and 20th Century Fox released only a DVD of it in NZ.

Another TV3 staple that didn’t screen here in HD, because of a licensing issue that’s since been resolved, is Heroes.

Its fourth and final season is due on Blu-ray a week after 24 and the same day as a complete series collection.

Season-four extras will include picture-in-picture commentaries, audio commentaries, deleted and extended scenes, and shorts (Deconstructing Sylar: discussion with Tim Kring, Adam Armus and Zachary Quinto; Milo Speaks: Milo Vetimiglia talks about his career as an actor and his role on Heroes; Heroes Revolution: Tim Kring and Heroes new media creatives discuss the importance of a web series for a hit television show and how new media entertainment is created; Genetics of Scene: an in-depth look at the production process of creating specific scenes).

December’s shaping up as a signature month for TV-on-Blu-ray. Also due are seasons one of The Vampire Diaries, 13 of The Simpsons, six of Entourage and, rescheduled from this week, Doctor Who: The Complete Specials.

On the eve of Sky starting one HD series in SD and ending another, Madman Entertainment has confirmed both titles will be out on Blu-ray for Christmas.

The two-disc Great Migrations, which premieres 7.30pm Sunday on National Geographic Channel, will sell for $55 from December 2.

Although NatGeo is one of the many channels Sky is reluctant to upgrade to HD, Great Migrations was shot entirely in HD using such breakthrough technologies as Crittercam, Phantom HD Cam and Starlight Cam.

They were specifically developed for the series and helped it to notch up a slew of world firsts, including bull elephants scouting migrations routes and the rediscovery of the epic kob migration in Sudan.

Meanwhile, as Spartacus: Blood and Sand nears its first-season finale on The Box, on November 14, Madman is preparing to release the 13 episodes as they should have screened here originally.

It’s an epic week for TV-on-Blu-ray releases, with the WWII mini-series, The Pacific, leading the charge.

US critics were blown away by HBO’s HD specs.“The Pacific comes to Blu-ray with a stellar video presentation, and an audio presentation that is unparalleled,” Hi-Def Digest raved.

“Fine detail is some of the best I’ve ever seen. During close-ups on the actors every fleck of dirt, every smudge of mud can be seen in stunning clarity. The rigid texture of their uniforms pop off the screen.”

Concurred Blu-ray.com: “Magnificently resolved textures bring every sweat-streaked face and grimy uniform to startling life, razor-wire edges are crisp and clean (without any significant ringing to report), skintones are lifelike and precisely saturated, daytime delineation is impeccable and nary a brightly lit scene goes by without something of note to offer its wide-eyed audience.”

While there were misgivings about scenes shot at night or in low-lit interiors not being nearly as dazzling, not so the audio. Predicted DVD Beaver: “The Pacific looks great and will likely become a benchmark for sound reproduction.”

Also new from Wednesday are Doctor Who: The Complete Specials, season two of Packed to the Rafters and the second movie spun off Sex & the City while Thursday brings the documentary series, Into the Universe With Stephen Hawking and Monday, WWE Summer Slam.

Inexplicably AWOL from this week’s Blu-ray releases are seasons one of Modern Family and four of Dexter, DVDs of which go on sale Wednesday.

Cast: Matthew Morrison, Jane Lynch, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Dianna Agron, Mark Salling.
Creators: Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy.
Score: James S Levine.
Cinematography: Christopher Baffa.

It’s tempting to dub Glee a quirky High School Musical spin on Freaks and Geeks. But the series has its own, unique voice that’s fresh, funny and moving. Co-creator Ryan Murphy calls it a “reinvention” of the musical but in its witty depiction of teenage mores, Glee’s also a throwback to Popular, the series he created before Nip/Tuck. Surprisingly, Glee isn’t as exuberant looking on Blu-ray as you’d expect, improving only marginally on TV3’s HD broadcasts (which resume 7.30pm Friday from November 5). There’s also only one Blu-ray exclusive: a cast and crew screening of the extended pilot. Otherwise, the pick of the extras, some of which are carried over from Volume 1: Road to the Sectionals, a DVD-only compilation of the first 13 episodes, are the Glee Music Jukebox, in which each episode’s musical numbers can be viewed in isolation, and Murphy’s snappy deconstruction of the show.

Series:
Image:
Extras:

The Pacific

The 10-part Band of Brothers stablemate goes on sale on November 3, along with season two of the Aussie hit, Packed to the Rafters, the Complete Specials box set of Doctor Who and the second Sex & the City movie.

Extras on the six-disc The Pacific will include a picture-in-picture track and an interactive field guide for each episode, interviews with veterans and families of the people who inspired the series, a 23-minute making-of doco and a 10-minute take on the historical and cultural differences between the US and Japan.

A week later the second and third seasons of Underbelly will resurface in HD, which is when V: Season 1 also launches on Blu-ray.

The rest of November is shaping up as a stellar month for stargazers, too, with Into the Universe With Stephen Hawking (November 4) and season two of The Universe (November 18).

Season one of Patton 360 also gets its Blu-ray stripes on November 18, the same (dooms)day as Nostradamus 2012.

If you were hanging out to see TV2′s long-delayed debut of the graphic novel action sensation, Human Target, in HD, you might as well hang out a little longer for the Blu-ray.

The network will double-bill the newcomer with season three of Chuck from August 25, in the 8.30pm-10.30pm zone.

Frustratingly, neither will air in HD, even though the first two seasons of Chuck are out on Blu-ray and season one of Human Target will be released on region-free Blu-ray next month in the US.

Presumably, it’s because TV2 has used up its quota of weekly HD hours with Fringe, The Vampire Diaries and bizarre twice-weekly airings of The Mentalist.

Until TVNZ completes its digital infrastructural overhaul, both TV One and TV2 are limited in the amount of HD content they can screen.

More puzzling is why TV2 didn’t employ Human Target as an adrenalin-junkie’s alternative to TV3′s Outrageous Fortune on Tuesdays, instead of the low-rating re-runs of The Mentalist.

It also would have made a more compatible lead-in to Fringe than The Mentalist. Who would have thought a fringe comedy/drama like Nurse Jackie would out-rate Fringe, which is what it’s doing due to Outrageous Fortune continuing to own Tuesday nights.

However, Human Target does sound like a fun stablemate for Chuck, albeit not as an irreverent take on the spy genre.

It’s said to echo the “retro-chic” of TV3′s HD spy caper, Burn Notice, only is more broadly appealing because it was made for network rather than cable TV.

It stars Fringe’s Mark Valley and has been dubbed everything from “a non-thinking man’s 24“ to “the closest thing on TV to swigging a keg of Red Bull”.

The same week, TV One will launch the seventh and final HD season of Cold Case (9.25pm Sunday).

Warner Bros NZ will release the Blu-ray of

The Iraq War drama about an imbedded Rolling Stone journalist from the creator of The Wire, David Simon, was briefly out on DVD here late last year but had to be withdrawn from sale after TVNZ made an 11th-hour purchase of the mini-series for its Monday night military strand, where it has screened Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

However, Generation Kill is drawing only half the TV One viewership of its predecessors, despite the topicality of the real-life Rolling Stone take on the US military in Afghanistan and the acclaim of The Dominion Post’s Jane Clifton, who reckons it’s “the best programme on television … An instant classic.”

As well as showcasing the seven-part drama in 1080p (unlike TV One’s SD version), the Blu-ray will feature commentaries, a making-of documentary and interviews with veteran Marines.

WB also has confirmed release dates for a slew of other TV shows and movies on Blu-ray, including: Supernatural: Season 4 and Precious (July 7), Valentine’s Day (July 21), Clash of the Titans, Cop Out, Edge of Darkness and The Road (August 11), and The Blind Side, A Single Man, Creation and The Box (September 8).