The High Definition format war is almost over, but wait before buying

As you might have heard, there are currently two high-definition DVD formats that are trying to get control of the market: HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Both offer high quality 1080p images that look magnificent on a HD Television set and have similar technical specs. However, what has fueled this fued for more than a year is that most of the big Hollywood studio have sided with one side or the other, which meant that buying only one type of player would keep you from being able to see some titled in HD.

It looks like this conflict is going to be coming to an end in the near future since the one studio that was still on the fence, Warner, has sided with the Blu-Ray camp.

Even with this announcement, and the quasi-certitude that Blu-Ray will now get the upper-hand, don’t rush out and buy a Blu-Ray player, especially not a stand-alone one. This is because the Blu-Ray standard is not completely defined at this time. A new revision of the standard is expected in the fall of 2008. People who have invested in first generation stand-alone players will then have to buy a new one to be able to see new discs coming out at the end of this year. If you are considering the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player, then you are pretty safe since they can easily do software updates to the video player part of the device.

I am personally waiting until the end of 2008 before investing in a high-definition player.

Omertà 3 – Le Dernier des Hommes d’Honneur on DVD

The third and final season of the Quebec drama series Omertà is going to be available on DVD on September 13th from TVA Films. This third season was quite interesting since its storyline started before the first season, followed some of the major events of seasons one and two and finished after the second season. This way, we got to see many of our favorite characters again.

UnePorte.net mentioned on Radio-Canada.ca

The technology section of the Radio-Canada.ca web site has a nice little article on UnePorte.net, the french DVD review web site that I write for. It’s not that long but does talk about the depth of our reviews and the fact that the staff is all volunteers who dedicate a lot of time to get good reviews out there.

Speaking of DVD reviews, my latest one has been posted this morning for The Grid, a TV mini-series about a group of investigation agency agents working together to prevent a new wave of terrorism.

New site design on uneporte.net

The DVD review web site for which I have been doing DVD reviews for the last year and a half, uneporte.net, has just updated its graphic design. The new style is very modern and quite nice. Check it out and read our new reviews. My most recent contribution was the review of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

François Pérusse DVD

François Pérusse, the french humorist, is releasing a DVD containing the best segments from the two TV series that he worked on, namely ‘Le série du peuple’ and ‘Le Jour’nul’. This DVD will be released on November 16th and should have a price tag similar to a CD according to the author. A lot of fun in perspective

Delay in Omerta – Season 1 Release

The release of Omertà on DVD has been delayed from September 14th to September 21st. Not that big of a change, but still a bit longer to wait before it arrives.

Mystère de la Chambre Jaune

My latest DVD review for the movie ‘Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune’ has just been published on uneporte.net. It was a good french mystery movie based on a novel by french novelist Gaston Leroux. Check it out.

Ultimate Matrix DVD Gift Set

Matrix fans, Warner has started to release some information on the Matrix Box Set. The set will contain a total of ten discs! These include the three movies, the Animatrix, and 6 discs of bonus materials, all for the a suggested retail price of 59.95$

For more details, check out the rumor mill at The Digital Bits. It’s going to be an expensive Christmas between the Star Wars box set and this one.

Release date for Omerta – Season 1

The first season of Omerta – La Loi du Silence, will be released by TVA Films on DVD on September 14th. I have been waiting for this show for a long time. In my opinion, it is one of the best french Quebec TV dramas to have aired over the last two decades.

The Last Samurai

I have not done this in a while. Here is a link to my review of the two-disc DVD set for The Last Samurai, a movie that I quite enjoyed and for which they did a great job on the DVD.