Those of you following the format war closely are probably already aware of all the speculation over Warner Bros. announcing their stance on the high-definition disc formats. Much of this hubbub began a few weeks ago when a Business Week article postulated what might happen if Warner chose sides instead of remaining neutral. As the story picked up steam, HD DVD haters assured everyone that Warner would make a major announcement in their favor at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early January.

Just days after the Business Week article came out, nationally syndicated columnist, Don Lindich, received a very brief clarification from a Warner executive, who reiterated their neutral stance for the forseeable future. Two days later, another Warner executive from half way around the world in Australia echoed the same sentiments.

With CES just a couple of weeks away, Don Lindich again offers up the latest assurance that Warner is not going to do what the HD DVD haters think. Don is among the CES attendees who have received invitations to the HD DVD Promotional Group’s press conference at CES. The invitation clearly lists Warner Home Video as one of the presenters, and Don was told by the PR agency handling the event that Warner is showing up to speak. You can see the invitation card for yourself and read more about it at his blog. (more…)

With Christmas less than a week away, the pressure is on to get all of your gifts picked out. But there’s also pressure on the retailers to move out as much of their merchandise as possible because this is the season when they sell the most of everything.

If you’ve been following the stories about prices at this site or elsewhere, I’m sure you’re already familiar with some of the recent promotions about 10 and 12 movies with an HD DVD player purchase at Amazon and Walmart. Those movie deals are gone for the moment, but they’ve been replaced by lower prices across the board on HD DVD players. If you made a purchase at Amazon recently, then pay close attention because you might have an opportunity to invoke their price protection policy and take advantage of these new savings.

As I write this, Amazon is carrying the HD-A35 for $299, the HD-A30 for $232, and the HD-A3 for $198.50, and they’re offering FREE 1-Day shipping so that you might still get these in time for Christmas.

Looking elsewhere on the web, I also found the HD-A30 for $199 at PCRichard.com, who offers free shipping, but not of the overnight kind. That’s right, the HD-A30 for $199. It’s only cents more than the HD-A3 at Amazon!

This is ridiculous pricing on the higher-up models. It almost makes me wish I had a second and third HDTV so I could take them up on these deals.

There are going to be a lot of new HD DVD users next week joining the rest of us in the hunt for movies, and my fingers are crossed that we’ll see some more movie promotions. Best Buy still has their BOGO (Buy 1 Get 1) deal through this week, both online and in-store, and I’m hoping for Amazon and others to come to our rescue.

An eagerly awaited high-def title highlights the discs released this week, as we plunge ahead into the holiday season. The high-profile releases earlier in the month were for box office hits from the current year. This week, Warner brings out a sci-fi classic, Blade Runner, on its 25th anniversary, and I wish they’d done it sooner so more people could find this waiting for them under the tree on Christmas day.

Directed by Ridley Scott, Philip K. Dick’s Blade Runner has been remastered, and released in a 5-disc set, containing multiple versions of the movie. The more affordable version of this collector’s edition consists of just the discs in a box, but it’s also available in a more expensive “Ultimate” set that comes in a “Deckard” style briefcase, and includes some memorabilia. There are plenty of bonus features here to keep fans entertained for quite a while.

Staying on the sci-fi and fantasy theme is Stardust, Neil Gaiman’s heart-warming fairy tale where the good guy gets the girl, and the bad guys get their due. Stardust features a star-studded cast with Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Claire Danes, and appearances by Ricky Gervais and Peter O’ Toole. This movie is sure to be a family favorite, but possibly a little sweet or light for some adults’ tastes.

There’s also a lot of music coming your way this week with three concert discs, and Warner’s That’s Entertainment collection.

Here’s the whole set of HD DVD releases for December 18, 2007:

(all links go to Amazon ordering pages)

Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector’s Edition) (2007) Harrison Ford, Sean Young Directed by Ridley Scott Rated R

Stardust (2007) Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert DeNiro, Charlie Cox Directed by Matthew Vaughn Rated PG-13

Balls of Fury (2007) Christopher Walken, Dan Fogler, George Lopez Directed by Robert Ben Garant Rated PG-13

The Moody Blues: Lovely to See You Live (2006) The Moody Blues Unrated

R. Kelly Live – The Light It Up Tour (2007) R. Kelly Unrated

Roy Orbison: Black & White Night (1988) Roy Orbison, Bruce Springsteen Directed by Tony Mitchell Unrated

That’s Entertainment: Complete Collection (1976) (musical anthology) Rated G

Note: Discovery Channel’s Sunrise Earth is out on DVD today, but the HD DVD version comes out on January 10

Amazon’s 10-day promotion on video game deals featuring a new deal each day, ended today (Monday) with a PS3 promotion. A bonus eleventh day has been added that’s particularly interesting to HD DVD because, according to an email Amazon has sent to customers interested in Xbox 360 games and accessories, the extra offer is on the Xbox 360 HD DVD player, and makes it part of a 9-movie deal. Amazon will thrown in The Bourne Trilogy, and the add-on already comes with King Kong in the box. The remaining 5 movies are from the same mail-in offer that applies to the conventional HD DVD players.

Note that December 17 is the last day that Amazon and most online retailers can guarantee delivery by Christmas. If you’re thinking of picking this up as a gift, then definitely put in a few extra bucks for some kind of expedited shipping.

• Xbox 360 HD DVD Player: 9 HD DVDs at Amazon

Visiting the page on Monday will bring up the PS3 deal, but visit it on Tuesday for the Xbox deal. By the way, if you’re going to go purple (meaning you support both high-def formats), do it via a PS3 simply because it’s practically infinitely upgradeable to all the various features they come out with as they catch up to many HD DVD features next year, whereas other players are going to be stuck at certain levels of features.

• Previous posting about deals, some of which are still going on

UPDATE: All things come to an end, and the Amazon BOGO and 10 movie promotions are now over, but they’ve made drastic price cuts on the HD-A30 and HD-A35. Best Buy’s BOGO runs through this week however, and Tuesday, December 18 has an Amazon 9 movie deal on the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drive.

There’s just over a week to go before Christmas day, and if you’re primarily an online shopper, you have even less time than that to get your order into the pipline to ensure safe delivery. Most of the online retailers are saying that orders placed by Monday or Tuesday will probably get delivered by December 24 via standard shipping. You may need to use expedited and overnight shipping if you order later in the week. If time runs out and you’re not having any luck finding interesting gifts, skip to the end of this posting to find out about emailable gift certificates.

Movie Deals
Amazon.com still has their Buy 1 Get 1 offer, which was unveiled earlier in the week. The list of titles to select from is now down to about 47 38 from the original 78. This might be a good way to stock up on some family-oriented titles such as Scooby Doo, Happy Feet, and TMNT. Take a look and get your order in, or say goodbye to your chances at getting one or more of these as gifts — even if they’re for yourself.

Best Buy’s Buy 1 Get 1 offer starts on Sunday, Dec. 16 and runs until Dec. 22. The list of movies to select from isn’t the largest, but that’s only an issue if you have some of those titles. Many people new to HD DVD have small enough libraries that most of these lists end up containing at least a few interesting movies. The list includes popular titles such as The Bourne Ultimatum, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Knocked Up, Transformers, 300, and, Shrek the Third. Tyler at FormatWarCentral has a picture of the Sunday advertisement.

Player and Movie Deals (HD-A30 $233 in 10-movie deal @ Amazon, Dec. 16) (more…)

Sites are reporting on the Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator that was announced by Microsoft this morning, and some HD DVD users might be wondering exactly what the heck it is and what it means for HD DVD.

The emulator is a $3K software product that involves the use of an Xbox 360 to simulate real-world HD DVD usage and performance. It generates a lot of diagnostic information that makes it easier on the programmers to debug problems. Developers can then use their time much more efficiently as they work on their disc features.

Though you download it via Xbox Live (with a silver or higher account), this is not a product meant for general consumer use, it’s for the content providers. If a studio has already started working on an HD DVD, this emulator means they’ll have more time to work on the HDi features of that disc, and they’ll have a much better way to test those features out. (more…)

Unlike most people, I didn’t get Harry Potter or The Bourne Ultimatum from this week’s releases. Instead, I have the slightly more obscure, Freedom 3, the third episode of the anime series.

Imagine being on Netflix’s one-disc-at-a-time plan (which I am), but that it’s complicated by a months-long wait between the discs in your queue. And you’re using this method to get through all those subtitled Hiro Nakamura episodes on the disc set of Heroes (a problem I solved by purchasing the box set).

Following the Freedom series is not exactly like that, but it’s darn close. Each episode is pretty short at around 30 minutes, and then you have to wait a couple of months for the next one.

At my house, we didn’t realize that the series was growing on us until we popped in the third episode. Being the internet savvy dude that I am, I already knew what was in store, but it was fun to see it for myself — in HD. (more…)

UPDATE: They’re starting to sell out. The offer now consists of 52 titles to select from instead of 78. Xbox 360 HD DVD Add-On Drive is $159.

It’s time to stock up HD DVD movies for the holidays and beyond! Amazon.com has 78 HD DVD movies in a “Buy One HD DVD and Receive a Second for Free” offer.

You select two titles from the three-page list, and get the cheaper of the two for free. There’s a limit of three of each title per customer. Thanks to Amazon’s usual 30% discount, prices range from $17.95 to $27.95, with a lot of them going for $19.95. Factor in the BOGO savings, and the movies will cost from $9 to $13 each.

Word on the “DVD Talk” forum is that Best Buy has a BOGO in the works for this weekend, but on a much smaller set of movies. Also at Best Buy, High-Def Digest.com reported about four Paramount movie bundles consisting of three movies in each set. Each bundle is $50, which brings each movie to just under $15 a piece. Tyler at FormatWarCentral.com dropped by his Costco in Seattle last week and noticed they were carrying bundles from Universal Studios. We’ll post more information about these movie deals as they come up, and you’re welcome to share in the comments about any deals you’ve found.

• Amazon.com Buy 1 Get 1
• Details about Best Buy Dec. 16-22 BOGO
• Paramount Sets at Best Buy (search for “HD DVD Starter Pk”)
• Universal 3-Pack at Costco from FormatWarCentral.com
• Amazon’s 10 Free HD DVDs offer with HD DVD Player purchase (in case you’re looking for hardware)

Just a quick note to allay the fear-mongering that’s been going on since last week’s “what-if” piece in Business Week, which hypothesized the impact of Warner Bros. deciding to stop being neutral and go with one side, like the one that this site is not named after.

This was just a speculative piece, but as writers elaborated, they only added to the confusion and rumor mongering.

There was also a fresher news item originating from a research analyst offering the same theory.

Warner has since clarified, via Don Lindich’s blog, quoting Jim Noonan, Warner Bros. Senior Vice President and General Manager:

Dear Mr. Lindich, We have made no decision to change our present policy which is to produce in both HD DVD and Blu-ray.

’nuff said. Try again nay-sayers.

UPDATE: Dec. 12 Warner Bros. Home Video Australia and New Zealand managing director Roger Clarke was a little more verbose:

“Our position hasn’t changed and certainly any comments that were published in the US were not intended to suggest that we had changed our stance. We support both formats and we have not made any decision towards that policy and nor are any such announcements planned or in the pipeline,” he said.

“In terms of the short-term scenarios around the Q4 sales results, Warner Brothers are always reviewing our strategies and we can’t say what might happen in five or ten years, but for now, there’s been no decision made to change course.”

Read the whole article at Australian site, Current.com.au…