Well folks… with all this talk of 4K and 8K high-definition televisions over the past year, this was probably inevitable. But the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has just officially “Ultra High-Definition” or “Ultra HD” as the new standard for display technology in the home. The term was approved yesterday by a vote of the organization’s Board of Industry Leaders.
The standard technically refers to displays with a minimum of 4K resolution (“at least” 3,840 x 2,160 pixel resolution) but may also be used to refer to 8K displays as well – the term “UHDTV” is used for both resolutions in Japan. One can also expect that displays with ever higher refresh rates and autostereoscopic capabilities at 4K and 8K resolution will also likely be covered by this term. You can read more on this here via CEA’s official press release.
So are you ready for Ultra HD? The potential is certainly exciting. However, I would expect the rollout and adoption of Ultra HD displays to be very, very slow. You have to remember that the first HDTV displays appeared in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until the last 5-10 years that displays with 1080 pixel resolution finally went mainstream with consumers. Many TV stations in the U.S. still don’t broadcast in high-definition resolution, because of the high cost of upgrading cameras and other studio production equipment. There’s also the question of whether Ultra HD content can and will be delivered to consumers via Blu-ray or some other hypothetical future physical media format… or whether studios and content producers will simply choose to bypass physical media entirely in favor of direct digital distribution via satellite or the Internet. In any case, it seems that just when you thought you’d finally caught up to the state of the art in home entertainment technology… the goal posts have moved once again.
The big announcement news today is that Universal has officially set The Bourne Legacy for Blu-ray Combo and DVD release on 12/11 (SRP $34.98 and $29.98). Both will include feature commentary (with director/co-writer Tony Gilroy, co-writer Dan Gilroy, editor John Gilroy, director of photography Robert Elswit, second unit director Dan Bradley and production designer Kevin Thompson), deleted scenes and 2 featurettes (Re-Bourne and Capturing Chaos: The Motorbike Chase). To this, the Blu-ray will exclusively add 5 more featurettes (Enter Aaron Cross, Crossing Continents: Legacy on Location, Man vs. Wolf, Wolf Sequence Test and Moving Targets: Aaron and Marta) plus all the usual interactive features.
Warner Home Video will release The Apparition on Blu-ray Combo and DVD on 11/27 (SRP $29.98 and $22.97). Extras will include 4 featurettes (The Dark Realm of Paranormal, Haunted Asheville, The Experiment of The Apparition and The Apparition: A Cinematic Specter).
Well Go USA Entertainment has set the Korean anthology film Doomsday Book for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 12/11 (SRP $29.98 and $24.98). It offers viewers three short films with different takes on the apocalypse – New World, Heavenly Creature and Happy Birthday – directed by filmmakers Kim Ji-woon and Yim Pil-sung.
Lionsgate has set the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection for release as a 23-disc DVD box set on 11/13 (SRP $99.98). All 193 original episodes will be included along with all the bonus content that was found in the individual season DVD sets. The Collection will come packaged in a replica of the “Party Van”.
And Shout! Factory has set Ultra Seven: The Complete Series Collector’s Edition for release as a 6-disc DVD set on 12/11 (SRP $49.97).
Don’t forget that Dr. Jahnke’s posted his latest Hell Plaza Oktoberfest review for the day: Warner’s new Little Shop of Horrors Blu-ray Book!
And our own Mario Boucher has posted an interview with actress Dee Wallace about her work on Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, now available on Blu-ray Disc from Universal (read our review of the disc here).
Here’s a look at the Blu-ray box art for Lionsgate’s Killer Joe (due 12/21), Well Go’s Doomsday Book and Universal’s The Bourne Legacy, as well as Lionsgate’s open packaging for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection…
Stay tuned...
- Bill Hunt