Warner Brings 'Blood Diamond' to Blu-ray, HD DVD
Warner Home Entertainment is bringing 'Blood Diamond' to Blu-ray and HD DVD this summer, in two separate-but-unequal versions sure to generate controversy amongst early adopters.
Unlike the studio's usual policy of releasing identical Blu-ray and HD DVD releases of a title on the same date, Warner will instead debut 'Blood Diamond' about a month apart, with the Blu-ray hitting stores first on June 5, followed by the HD DVD on July 2.
What's more, though both versions will share identical tech specs, including matching 1080p transfers, supplemental content will be far from identical. The basic suite of extras are the same, including a filmmaker's commentary, four featurettes and a music video; however, the HD DVD will include a raft of exclusive cutting-edge features omitted from the Blu-ray release.
The HD DVD of 'Blood Diamond' will be the first next-gen title to include web-enabled extras, including allowing viewers to use their players to offer opinions in Warner's online polls, as well as view other exciting special features such as maps of conflict pertaining to war-torn areas in Africa.
Furthermore, the HD DVD boasts an In-Movie Experience (IME) video commentary with additional behind-the-scenes and interview footage. And for the first time on 'Blood Diamond,' Warner will include the new Focus Points feature that takes the viewer to exciting in-depth featurettes and production diaries.
Despite the considerable differences between the Blu-ray and HD DVD, Warner has set an identical list price of $28.99 for each.
Certainly, Warner's decision to offer such an impressive suite of extras on the HD DVD of 'Blood Diamond,' yet withhold them from the Blu-ray, makes a significant departure from the studio's previous "format agnostic" approach of issuing identical versions on both formats.
Even more notably, it strikes yet another blow for Blu-ray's much-maligned BD-Java authoring environment, which continues to be held up due to production delays. As such, advanced features such as IME remain unavailable on current Blu-ray releases. In the past, however, with such IME-enhanced titles as 'The Matrix Trilogy' and "Batman Begins,' Warner has chosen to simply withhold their release releasing a Blu-ray version until a future . Their decision to simply downgrade the Blu-ray for 'Blood Diamond,' however, is sure to generate controversy.
Oh..I can wait for the HD DVD version.......same price, but more features. And to think the hype was that Blu-ray should have more features coz it has more space.......now this. Another right upper cut by HD DVD to Blu-ray's chin.