Warner announces TV-on-HD DVD plans
 

The season two DVD set of Veronica Mars has a booklet listing other Warner TV-on-DVD sets, and in the back, there's a two page spread featuring Smallville and The West Wing. The packaging is in the familiar HD DVD style, and there's a shot of an episode of Smallville with a menu popped up. No dates listed, but presumably they'll be day-and-date...?

Great news! I wonder if the earlier seasons will follow if these do well.

Awesome! Smallville comes out on 9/12 so I hope it is day & date. I was planning on getting the dvd set, but if the HD DVD isn't out the same day, I'll wait a bit.

Excellent news! I don't mind waiting a little bit for Smallville either!

Hmm.

If the HD-DVD version of Smallville is a reasonable price with all the extras, and it comes out day&date or near it, then I might have to consider holding off buying the SD version until I get a HD-DVD player.

Too bad Veronica didn't get an HD-DVD release too. That'd be a definite buy once the 360 add-on is available.

I love Warner's commitment to HD DVD. I don't like either of those shows, but how long did it take to get TV shows on DVD?

Yeah, too bad they didn't do Veronica Mars in HD as well... I'd be all over that.

West Wing provides a bit of a deliemma for me. They have a nice, complete set coming out on standard DVD with some cool bonus stuff. I'm not sure that just putting the final season on HD is going to be a realistic purchase for me. But I appreciate the effort. :)

I'll pick up Smallville, if it's day and date. :up:

A while. I'm sure The X-Files wasn't the first TV show on DVD, but I believe it was the first prominent series to be released in a season box set. Its first season hit DVD on May 9th, 2000 in the U.S., around 3 years into the format.

Likewise.

Yes, that's my memory as well...

There were other attempts at complete shows (Twilight Zone and Star Trek leap to mind), but those really followed the VHS standard of a few eps per release, resulting in 40+ disc sets at $25/per. Tons of $$$, tons of storage requirements, and tons of waiting for the whole thing to come out.

X-Files was the first major show to say "Give us $150 and we'll give you a whole season". And the rest is history. I'm still amazed some times that I can go to Amazon.com, pay $20, and get an entire season of, say, Hill Street Blues. I'm so spoiled now. :)

Speaking of Twilight Zone, I believe Image announced Twilight Zone on HD DVD for 2007. It will be interesting to see if they decide to crop the image.

The newest DVDs were sourced from HD masters, so hopefully that means the original aspect ratio will be maintained.

Sounds good.

DD 5.1 for smallville?

I am dreaming...

All only need two words to convince me to go out and plop down $500 for a HD-DVD player and thats 'Buffy' and 'Angel'. When one is announced, consider it a done deal.

Am I wrong, or did Fox release the DVDs of Buffy and Angel? If they did, don't expect it on HD DVD anytime soon.

Ditto. Those are the two that would make me go out and buy a player right now.

Yes, those are Fox shows. And Fox seems to be the most stalwart supporter of BD, aside from Sony of course.

So, no Buffy or Angel on HD DVD for the forseeable future (think: "years"). Unless they have overseas distribution agreements with another company that does support HD DVD, in which case one could buy the overseas version. I think that's kind of a longshot though.

Smallville + HD-DVD might get me to buy a HD-DVD player. I have been on the fence for a couple of months......

Now if we could only get Lost, 24, and Veronica Mars....I would be in TV heaven.

Exactly what I'm waiting for...

You're not going to get Lost or 24...those are Disney and FOX - no signs that either are going to warm up to HD-DVD anytime soon. Veronica Mars however, is always possible (Warners).

Buffy and/or Angel ain't happening either (again, FOX).

I saw an ad for the new season of Smallville in this month's issue of Game Informer (Bully is on the cover), and the ad said "Coming Soon: Smallville on HD DVD" and it had a picture of an HD DVD case with a Smallville picture on it.

What did the packaging appear to be like for 'Smallville' - have you seen this graphic for the upcoming 'Sopranos ' set?

Well, looks like West Wing ISN'T happening...Hopefully, Smallville will still be coming out.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=6347

Oh hell yes, I would even drop the $1000 for the Samsung BD player if necessary.