Displaying items by tag: 4K Ultra HD

Hey everyone! Well... another week is officially in the can and, as promised, I’ve got an update for you on some release news and whatnot.

First up, I wanted to alert you to a 4K Ultra HD deal: Amazon currently has Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite available in 4K for just $11.00 for a limited time only. So click here to order a copy if you’re interested.

Also today, we’ve got a great new History, Legacy & Showmanship column from our own Michael Coate—one that was delayed from the very end of 2020 due to all of the site maintenance we’ve been doing over the past several weeks. This one is a terrific look back at the early 70mm cut of The Empire Strikes Back, featuring a new roundtable discussion with historian and soundtrack producer Mike Matessino along with director Saul Pincus. We think you’ll really enjoy it, so do give that a look here.

Now then, in announcement news today, Severin Films has revealed that it’s working on a new 4K Ultra HD release of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Santa Sangre (1989) that’s due on 4/27. The title will also be released on Blu-ray and DVD. You can see the cover artwork for the 4K at left. Click here to pre-order on Amazon: 4K, Blu-ray, DVD.

But that’s not the only 4K catalog title we now know is coming from our retail sources... [Read on here...]

All right, thanks for your patience everyone. As you’ve probably noticed, news updates here at the site have been sparing over the past week or two, and there’s been a couple of reasons for that.

First, we’ve had to do a round of software updating and patching on The Bits website software—routine maintenance type of stuff, required to keep the site going—but every time we do that it inevitably breaks a couple of things that have to be hunted down and fixed. So that process has been ongoing.

Also, we’ve switched to a great new advertising network partner that we hope is going to bring in more revenue, which in turn will helps us to keep the site going indefinitely. We’re tweaking the layout on some of that, and trying to figure out the right amount and placement of ads that do what we need them to without being obtrusive. But obviously times are tight and we need to survive, so we appreciate your understanding. [Read on here...]

Afternoon, folks. We’ve got another new disc review for you today, and some more interesting release news as well.

First up, that review: Tim has taken a look at Henry Levin and Mario Bava’s The Wonders of Aladdin (1961), now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

In terms of announcement news, Visual Entertainment is releasing Stargate Universe: The Complete Series on Blu-ray Disc on 1/15. This includes all 40 episodes, plus over 2 hours of extras. This, by the way, follows in the wake of the company’s recent release of Stargate SG-1: The Complete Series on Blu-ray. The latter features the early seasons upscaled, while the later seasons were native HD. We believe Stargate Universe was produced in HD, so it should be of fairly good quality. [Read on here...]

Afternoon, folks. And welcome to 2021!

The news in the home video industry is pretty slow this week, as we’d expect given the recent holiday and the still unfolding (and industry-slowing) pandemic.

But we do have a couple new 4K Ultra HD reviews for you all to enjoy this afternoon.

First, Tim has taken a look at Don Coscarelli’s The Beastmaster (1982), as newly-remastered in 4K by our friends over at Vinegar Syndrome. The limited release appears now to be back in stock at the Vinegar Syndrome website, and we expect it to eventually be released in more traditional Amaray packaging on Amazon at some point in the coming months. [Read on here...]

All right, this is our final Bits post of 2020. And it’ll be a quick one.

This has certainly been a difficult year for all of us here and no doubt it has been for all of you, our readers, as well. But a new year at least brings the hope that things can and will get better on Planet Earth going forward.

On a personal note, I’m pleased to say that—though it’s been a struggle—The Digital Bits is still here. We’ve made it through some difficult times, we’re still alive and ticking. And we intend to keep cracking on in 2021 and beyond.

I’ve also been working on a second science fiction novel, and hope to see my first actually published sometime in 2021—something I’ve had to put on the back-burner this past year in order to keep the site going. But the writing process has certainly been personally satisfying, and it’s kept me going in dark moments. That, plus having a telescope to look at the stars a few times a month, and of course great family and friends—even though we’ve only been able to see them from afar.

In any case, I know I speak for all of us here at the site when I say that we’re grateful to have each and every one of you as readers of The Digital Bits.

So with that, we’d like to wish you all a very happy and safe New Year! And together we’ll make 2021 a better time for all of us.

See you back here on Monday. Peace out!

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook) 

Well... we now have just two and a half days left in the damnable misery that has been Planet Earth in the year 2020. But we hope these last few days and weeks at least have found you all safe, well, and enjoying the holiday season as best you can. And to those of you who have lost friends, family members, and other loved ones to COVID this year (and we here at The Bits are among you), we send out our love and support. We certainly wish each and every one of you better times ahead in 2021.

Around this time, of course, seemingly every website and media outlet on the planet starts to roll out their annual “Best of” lists for the previous year. At one time, many years ago, The Digital Bits even held its own Bitsy Awards to honor the best DVD and Blu-ray titles of the previous year. But the home video industry became so inconsistent with its product—and streaming delivery so dominant—that we finally stopped doing it. It was just too frustrating to try to organize and coordinate.

Still, if this pandemic has had any silver lining at all, it’s that the industry as a whole has been reminded that there is yet some profit to be made in the minting of 5-inch silver discs with movies and TV shows on them. The 4K Ultra HD format in particular has benefitted from this trend. And as a number of Bits readers have asked us for our thoughts on the best titles of our collective pandemic year, we decided to put our heads together to compile a list of those we found most notable.

In fact, we’ve decided to revive our old friend Bitsy! So today we’re happy to present The Bitsy List for 2020, honoring the best Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD titles of the year. [Read on here...]

Hey, looks like we do have a little bit of new announcement news for you today...

First up though, we’ve got a quick Amazon Deal of the Day to report: Network’s Monty Python’s Flying Circus: The Complete Series Blu-ray is just $75 for today only on Amazon (42% off). It’s the same 7 discs found the Deluxe Edition (reviewed here on The Bits), just without the books and deluxe packaging. So strike fast if you’re interested. Here’s the Amazon link.

Also today, we have word that FUNimation’s Akira 4K Ultra HD release doesn’t have HDR. The version released in Japan does, but apparently the discs released in the US and the UK do not. FUNimation has now established an exchange program to get a proper 4K with HDR disc sometime in February via the mail. You can find those details here and here (below):

“For those of you who would like to request the 4K HDR version of AKIRA, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (US/CA) or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (UK/IRE) with “AKIRA 4K” as the subject, and provide your name, mailing address, email address and proof of purchase (receipt or confirmation email and photo of the disc).”

Okay, now for that announcement news: Kino Lorber Studio Classics has just officially set Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly for release on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray combo on 4/27. You can see the cover artwork above left. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got just a quick update for you today with some great 4K Ultra HD announcement news.

First though, I wanted to let you all know that we’re likely going to be posting fewer news updates over the next week or so, given the forthcoming Christmas holiday. Announcements are sort of ramping down, so while we’ll pop in as needed, it’s quite likely that there won’t be a lot of news to report this week.

Nevertheless, we will check in with new disc reviews now and again over the next week. So there should be new content going up over the holiday.

We do have a great piece of 4K Ultra HD announcement news for you today, however... [Read on here...]

All right, we have some great release news to report for you all today...

But first, we also have another new Blu-ray review: Tim has taken a look Bruno Mattei’s Cruel Jaws (1995) on Blu-ray from Severin Films. You’ll find that here.

Now then, that news we mentioned...

Our friends at Shout! and Scream Factory have just announced the 4K Ultra HD release of John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness: Collector’s Edition on 1/19. The 4K/Blu-ray package will carry an SRP of $34.98. The 4K disc itself will include Dolby Vision and HDR10 high dynamic range, along with a new Dolby Atmos audio mix. All of the existing extras from Scream’s excellent Blu-ray release will carry over. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]

We’re closing out the week today with a little bit more release news and some new disc reviews. Let’s get to the reviews first...

Tim and Dennis have been busy these last couple days; Tim has posted a new review of David Cronenberg’s Shivers (1975), newly-released on Blu-ray as part of Lionsgate’s Vestron Video Collector’s Series.

Also, Dennis has turned in his thoughts on John Badam’s The Hard Way (1991) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, along with David Roby’s Most Wanted (2020) from Paramount, and Pierre Jourdan’s I Am a Dancer on Blu-ray from Film Movement and StudioCanal.

I’ve also begun working on a pair of new 4K Ultra HD releases, which I expect to have up over the next few days, so be sure to watch for these. [Read on here...]