With the recent news that Warner Brothers have jumped high def DVD format from HD-DVD to Blu-Ray the format wars appear to be all over bar the shouting. However, for those of us in the UK (or indeed anywhere outside the US if you can speak English) this is bad news. Why? Because there is only one region for HD discs, Region 1. This means any disc will work on any player anywhere in the world. No more waiting to play it on your region coded machine whilst it is sitting in the bargain buckets of America for a few bucks.
Take the recent definitive (I will believe it when I see it) release of Blade Runner. I bought the special edition five disc standard definition DVD version for £18- from a UK online retailer. I could have bought the HD version for the same price but the HD version in the UK only included the final cut of the film, whereas the five disc SD version contained the original US release, original international release, 1992 Director’s Cut as well as the final cut and all the extras you could think of plus another disc that had never occurred to you.
So what, I hear you say, or perhaps not but I shall plough on regardless, well the US got a five disc HD version too (well and a Blu-Ray version but Blu-Ray has traditional region coding and my PS3 is UK specific, so no joy there). Just for the really sad amongst you (okay and me too) there was even a special, special version issued in a Decker briefcase. Why did Warners, for it is their release, not deem those of us outside the US as worthy of the full shebang in high definition? Ridley is actually British, his films have made millions over here, so why did they think there was only the market for it in mainland America?
Since I now have an HD player (well it is the add-on for the X-Box 360 but it does the job) I also have the special, special HD-DVD version in a briefcase courtesy of PlayUSA.
My advice, if you have an HD-DVD player make hay whilst the stocks last and grab discs from wherever you can lay you region free hands on them.
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