Blu-ray hits the U.K.; list of UK BD titles

[jed]

We just posted this story on today's launch of Blu-ray in the U.K. (where it's beating HD DVD to market by about a month).

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/news/show/306

Also included in the story is a list of Blu-ray releases scheded for the U.K., which includes nearly ten titles not currently announced for release here in the U.S.

[Blurry]

Thanks for the info, there are a couple of titles from that list which interest me, notably "The Crow" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula"

[king]

Hd dvd only a month way. Lets just wait and see what they come up with. I am sure HD-DVD camp wont disappoint Europe!

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by king

Hd dvd only a month way. Lets just wait and see what they come up with. I am sure HD-DVD camp wont disappoint Europe!

In that vein, there have already been a number of titles announced for the European HD-DVD market, many of which are also not released in the USA (and some of which are Blu-Ray only in the US, such as Terminator 2.

Here are two related links:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=62639

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=62420

[JRNorwood]

I noticed a Universal title, U-571, as one of the titles scheduled for release in the UK on Blu-ray. Universal is one of the few studio Blu-ray hold-outs. Hopefully this will come to pass as there are several titles that Universal holds that I'd like to see released on Blu-ray.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by JRNorwood

I noticed a Universal title, U-571, as one of the titles scheduled for release in the UK on Blu-ray. Universal is one of the few studio Blu-ray hold-outs. Hopefully this will come to pass as there are several titles that Universal holds that I'd like to see released on Blu-ray.

Different companies often hold different distribution rights in Europe,and can decide independently which format to release a title on. Therefore, in some cases, it can be possible to obtain a Blu-Ray release of a title which is HD-DVD only by purchasing it in Europe. The same is true for HD-DVD (for example Terminator 2 will be available for purchase in Europe, while it is Blu-Ray only in the USA).

The downside is that the Blu-Ray consortium has recently decided to implement region coding as part of the standard, in which case you will no be able to play European titles on machines distributed in the USA.

HD-DVD, on the other hand, for the time being has stated that it has no intention of implement region coding (but that may change - though hopefully not).

[creamsicle]

Originally Posted by JRNorwood

I noticed a Universal title, U-571, as one of the titles scheduled for release in the UK on Blu-ray. Universal is one of the few studio Blu-ray hold-outs. Hopefully this will come to pass as there are several titles that Universal holds that I'd like to see released on Blu-ray.

Since Japan and the U.S. are the same region with Blu-ray, we'll likely be able to import Universal titles from there. For example, Jurassic Park was released in Japan on standard DVD by Sony.

[graeme3000]

At last! I've been waiting for HD to arrive on our shores for many months. A few months back I was completley sold on Blu-Ray, but after spending a fair amount of time on HD Digest I'm now not so sure .. I guess I'm going to have to wait just a little longer to let the dust settle on the great format debate

[Senator]

Blu-ray has launched in Australia and New Zealand also.

In Aus, Samsung is first out of the gate with their Blu-ray player (at RRP of $ 1699 AU) and in NZ, Panasonic are first to market with their machine, and a wallet crippling $ 2999.

The titles released aren't exactly cinematic masterpieces (SWAT, Fantastic Four, Hitch and a few others, can't remember), but its a start.

Sen

[Tejstar]

So far in Europe we have the Samsung at £999 and the Panasonic BD player at £1299. For me, this price point is prohibitive and await Toshiba’s E1 and XE1 models to come out from next month. The higher end model (XE1) will be priced around £600 which seems a better proposition given its 1080p support and HDMI v1.3 compared to the higher priced BD players.

[Dave Mack]

Well, I guess Dracula didn't happen.
Hopefully The Crow is still good for the 27th

http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/STGC...w/Product.html

[Glenmulder]

HD DVD will be the format in Europe

[Hus3]

Originally Posted by Glenmulder

HD DVD will be the format in Europe

not with PS3 launching in march with 500k free Bluray movies.

[Evileye]

I'm hoping THE CROW, UNDERWORLD and SAW UNCUT will be playable on US players. I also hope SAW has a better picture quality than the US edition.