I am – Hercules!!


Blu-ray Cracks Amazon Top 10
The Blu-ray version of “Casino Royale” is the first to crack the Amazon top-10 DVD chart, according to High-Def Digest.

Toshiba execs, who make HD-DVD players, are saying, “not so fast.” An excerpt from a CrunchGear.com piece:

The Blu-Ray Disc Association stated last week that their format was outselling HD 3:1 in the US. [Toshiba Deputy General Manager of HD-DVD Olivier Van] Wynendaele argues that PS3 owners are to blame for this and it’s not because they’re purchasing discs. They’re simply redeeming vouchers for free Blu-Ray discs from Sony. He also states that Toshiba has sold 200,000 HD DVD players in the US compared to the 30,000 Blu-Ray players that have been sold. Wynendaele believes PS3 sales shouldn’t be counted in the tally because there is no guarantee that they are purchasing Blu-Ray discs for themselves or that they’re even going to watch Blu-Ray discs at all. In all fairness, neither format can claim victory because HD players don’t have enough market share, less than 1%, and Wynendaele agrees.

$600 Blu-ray For Summer
Sony announced in late February that its second stand-alone Blu-ray player, expected to sell for about $600, will hit shelves in early summer. The new BDP-S300 is way cheaper than last year’s $1,000 Sony BDP-S1, and a little cheaper than the $700 (60GB) version of Sony’s PlayStation 3, which also plays Blu-ray discs. The new machine’s price is less impressive, however, when compared to Toshiba’s new HD-A2 HD-DVD player, which can currently be bought new for as little as $366.


HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Combo Discs Due In June
Warner Bros. will issue its first titles in Total HD, which can be played in both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray drives, this June, Dominick DallaVerde, Cinram’s senior director of HD operations, new technology and applications tells Home Media Retailing. The format was previously expected to be introduced this autumn.


100 HD Channels Coming To DirecTV in September
We knew DirecTV has been promising a bunch of new HD channels for 2007, and it appears now 100 of these channels – including HD versions of the SciFi Channel and MTV - will launch in September. (I was guessing it'd be more like Dec. 31.) Read more of DirecTV’s plans at TVWeek.com.


How is Cable Keeping Up? I note there are now 21 HD channels Time Warner Cable offers here in Studio City, Calif.:
402 KCBS
404 KNBC
407 KABC
409 KCAL (Independent)
411 KTTV (Fox)
412 KCET (PBS)
413 FSN (Fox Sports)
414 MHD (MTV/VH1/CMT)
415 TNT
416 DHD (Discovery)
419 UHD (Universal)
420 HDNet
421 HDNet Movies
422 INHD (In Demand)
424 ESPN
425 ESPN 2
427 HBO West
428 Showtime
429 Starz West
430 Cinemax West
431 HDMEV (PPV)

I didn’t know MHD was on there until just now. As I type this it’s repeating the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies.

INHD, according to a story in Tuesday morning’s Variety, will change its name to “Mojo” on May 1.

Blu-ray Calendar


March 13
Casino Royale
The Holiday

Hoosiers

Layer Cake

Happy Feet

March of the Penguins

The Pursuit of Happyness

Volver

Warriors of Heaven & Earth

Dog Day Afternoon

Payback: Straight Up (Director's Cut)

A Scanner Darkly

The Dirty Dozen

Enter The Dragon

Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series

The Queen

The Fountain

Flags of Our Fathers

Mission: Impossible II

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Weeds 1.x


June 5
Coming To America
Trading Places




HD-DVD Calendar


March 27

Children of Men

Happy Feet

March of the Penguins

The Good Shepherd

Dog Day Afternoon

Payback (Director's Cut)

A Scanner Darkly

Feast

The Jerk

Smokin' Aces

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series

The Fountain

Flags of Our Fathers

The 40-Year-Old Virgin

The Big Lebowski

The Frighteners

Lost in Translation

Midnight Run

Alien Vs. Predator * All The King's Men * American Psycho * Annapolis * The Ant Bully * The Architect * Babel {BLU-RAY} * Basic Instinct 2 * Behind Enemy Lines * Benchwarmers * The Big Hit * Black Hawk Down * Broken Arrow * The Brothers Grimm * Bubble * Casanova * Chain Reaction * Chicago * A Christmas Story * Christmas Vacation * Click * Commando * The Corpse Bride * Courage Under Fire * The Covenant * Crank * Crash * Dark Water * The Da Vinci Code * The Devil Wears Prada * Dinosaur * The Descent * Eight Below * Employee of the Month * Enemy of the State * Entrapment * Fantastic Four * The Fifth Element * First Blood * 50 First Dates * Flight of the Phoenix * Flightplan * Flyboys * Four Brothers * The Fugitive * Glory Road * Goal! The Dream Begins * Good Night and Good Luck (BLU-RAY) * Gone in 60 Seconds * Goodfellas * The Great Raid * Gridiron Gang * The Grudge 2 * The Guardian * Hart's War * The Haunted Mansion * Hitch * The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy * House of Flying Daggers * House of Wax * Ice Age * Into The Blue * Invincible * Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back * Kingdom of Heaven * Kiss Kiss Bang Bang * Kiss of the Dragon * A Knight's Tale * Kung Fu Hustle * Ladder 49 * Lady in the Water * Lara Croft Tomb Raider * The Last Waltz * League of Extraordinary Gentlemen * Legends of the Fall * Lethal Weapon 2 * Little Man * Lord of War * The Manchurian Candidate * Marie Antoinette * The Marine * Memento * Men Of Honor * Mission: Impossible III * Mission: Impossible: Impossible Missions Collection * Monster House * The Omen * Open Season * Pearl Harbor * Phone Booth * Planet of the Apes (2001) * The Prestige * The Princess Bride * The Punisher * Rambo * Reign of Fire * Resident Evil: Apocalypse * Rising Sun * Robocop * Rocky * Rumor Has It * RV * Saw * Saw II * Saw III * Scooby-Doo * The Sentinel * Silent Hill * Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow * Sky High * Sleepy Hollow * The Sopranos 6.x Vol. 1 * Space Cowboys * Species * Speed * Stealth * Stranger Than Fiction {BLU-RAY} * Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut * S.W.A.T. * Swordfish * Talladega Nights * Tears of the Sun * The Terminator * Terminator 2 * Transporter * Transporter 2 * Ultraviolet * Underworld Evolution * The Usual Suspects * We Were Soldiers * Windtalkers * Winged Migration * World Trade Center * X-Men: The Last Stand {BLU-RAY} * XXX * Young Guns

Already On HD-DVD
The Adventures of Robin Hood (DVD/HD-DVD) * An American Werewolf in London * Animal House (DVD/HD-DVD) * The Ant Bully * Apollo 13 * The Architect * Army of Darkness (DVD/HD-DVD) * Assault on Precinct 13 * ATL (DVD/HD-DVD) * Babel {HD-DVD} * Backdraft * Batman Begins * Beerfest {HD-DVD} * Black Rain * Blazing Saddles * The Bone Collector * The Bourne Supremacy * The Breakfast Club * The Break-Up (DVD/HD-DVD) * Caddyshack * Brokeback Mountain * Casablanca * Casino * Charlie and the Chocolate Factory * A Christmas Story * Christmas Vacation * The Chronicles of Riddick * Cinderella Man * Clerks II * Constantine * The Corpse Bride * Dazed and Confused (DVD/HD-DVD) * The Deer Hunter * Derailed * The Dirty Dozen * Doom * The Dukes of Hazzard * Dune * Enter The Dragon * End of Days * Excalibur * Failure to Launch * The Fast and The Furious * The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (HD-DVD & DVD) * Fast Times At Ridgemont High (DVD/HD-DVD) * Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas * Field of Dreams * Fireplace * Firewall (DVD/HD-DVD) * Forbidden Planet * Friday Night Lights * The Fugitive * Full Metal Jacket * Galaxina * Goodfellas * Good Night, and Good Luck * Grand Prix * Half-Baked (DVD/HD-DVD) * Happy Gilmore * Hollywoodland (DVD/HD-DVD) * House of Wax * How The Grinch Stole Christmas * Hulk * The Interpreter * Jarhead * Jet Li's Fearless * King Kong (2005) * Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (HD-DVD/DVD) * Lady in the Water (DVD/HD-DVD) * Land of the Dead (DVD/HD-DVD) * Lara Croft: Tomb Raider * The Last Samurai * Lethal Weapon * Lethal Weapon 2 * Lucky Number Slevin {HD-DVD} * The Matador * Meet The Parents * Miami Vice (DVD/HD-DVD) * Mission: Impossible III * Mission: Impossible Ultimate Missions Collection * The Mummy * The Mummy Returns * Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) * Nacho Libre (HD_DVD) * Out of Sight * The Perfect Storm * The Phantom of the Opera * Pitch Black * The Polar Express * Poseidon * Red Dragon * Reds * Rumor Has It (DVD/HD-DVD) * The Rundown * Sahara * Scary Movie 4 * Scooby-Doo * The Scorpion King * The Searchers * Seabiscuit * Serenity * Sister Street Fighter * 16 Blocks * Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow * Sleepy Hollow * Slither (DVD/HD-DVD) * Smallville 5.x * The Sopranos 6.x Vol. 1 * Space Cowboys * Spartacus * Spy Game * The Sting * Superman * Superman Returns (DVD/HD-DVD) * Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut * Swordfish * Syriana * Terminator 3 * That's The Way of the World * The Thing * Traffic * Training Day * 12 Monkeys * 2 Fast 2 Furious * Unforgiven * Under Siege * V For Vendetta * U-571 * Unleashed (DVD/HD-DVD) * Van Helsing * Waterworld * Waist Deep (DVD/HD-DVD) * The Wicker Man (2006) * Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory * Wolf Creek * World Trade Center * You, Me and Dupree