ScreenScribe

Kiwi Avatar fans will have to wait longer than most of the world to see it in 3D on Blu-ray. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment announced today it will go on sale here on October 24, a week after its release in the US and Europe. Hitherto, it’s been available only to buyers of Panasonic 3D TVs. The [...]

Monday’s network HD premiere of Avatar helped TV3 to win the night but didn’t demolish the competition. It averaged 10.1% of TV3’s target audience, 25-54 year-olds, versus 9.3% for TV One’s Criminal Minds and 7.3% for TV2’s SD movie, Sweet Home Alabama. With TV2’s core viewership, 18-39 year-olds, the race was much tighter: Avatar averaged [...]

SoHo Highlight: Hell on Wheels (Sky 10, 5.15, 5.1) If you missed Sunday’s screening, catch up with this repeat, in which Cullen’s search for the sergeant is unexpectedly diverted and Durant organises a search party for Lily Bell (Dominique McElligott, above). ”Choo-choo!” exclaimed New York magazine at this stage of the series. “We’re three episodes into Hell on Wheels and [...]

New Zealand’s definitive guide to what’s airing nightly free-to-air in 1080i Saturday TradeZone Gone Fishin’ (TV3, 5.00, R) Rheem Outdoors With Geoff (TV3, 5.30) Movie: The Accidental Husband (TV2, 8.30) Winners & Losers (TV One, 11.15, R) Sunday Hellcats (TV2, 5.30) The War at Home (TV2, 6.30, R) North (TV One, 7.00, R) Movie: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (TV2, 7.00, [...]

The network premiere of Avatar will see TV2 and TV3 go head-to-head with HD gusto in the first full week of February. Both channels will launch many of their new-season series from February 4-10. TV3 will be banking on a bumper audience for its 7.30pm Waitangi Day premiere of Avatar to promote new HD episodes of [...]

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 [...]

Here’s a BBC press release about what to expect in tonight’s episode of The Graham Norton Show (TV3, 8.30): This week, in an “out of this world” show, Graham Norton meets award-winning actress and star of Alien and Avatar, Sigourney Weaver, and the master of the universe himself, Professor Brian Cox. Sandi Toksvig and top-selling US band Sugarland complete the stellar [...]

In a depressing reflection of the NZ HD market, four Blu-ray releases recognised for their excellence this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas have yet to go on sale here. Lost: The Complete Collection was judged TV Title of the Year and A Christmas Carol, 3D Title of the Year. In NZ, [...]

Avatar: Sky Movies, 8.30pm Sunday. The sizzling Blu-ray of James Cameron’s latest titanic blockbuster is the closest you’ll get to viewing it in 3D on a 2D TV. It will be interesting to see how Sky’s 1080i broadcast compares with the exceptionally high bit rate of the 1080p transfer that made the depth and detail [...]

Having just released a $10,000, 65-inch 3D plasma TV in limited quantities, Panasonic hopes to make the technology more affordable with its first 42-inch model. The TH-P42GT20Z will go on sale for $2699 on December 15. It will be bundled with a free 3D Blu-ray of Avatar, which Panasonic has licensed exclusively for the next [...]