surprisingly I saw it on opening weekend at AMC's Tyson's Corner theatre - so there should not have been a problem with it. The print was exceedingly grainy.

Just for the sake of completion, upcoming Warner releases that we may see day-and-date on HD DVD:

7/18 -- ATL
8/1 - V for Vendetta
8/22 - Poseidon

None of these have been confirmed yet, but I don't think we've missed any recent theatrical releases from Warner so far, so...probably a safe bet.

A total aside: Slither is coming out from Universal in October, and hopefully that'll be a day/date release as well.

What does ATL stand for?

Atlanta, although ATL (as in, those three letters) is the title of the movie.

Ah, never heard of it....Ill pass....ill buy Poisedon though.

The Fugitive was remastered as well, but the HD DVD used the older master anyway for some reason.

I wish one of the dvd sites would contact them and ask. I'm curious to see what their reason is.

Yeah but the Fugitive remaster happened quite a while ago...I believe 5 years.

Universal has a new edition of Scarface coming out on October 3rd on sd-dvd....Since this has been playing on HDnet movies, I wonder if they will announce an HD-DVD version soon for that release date?

Also, new line is releasing a double dip on the LOTR series....i wonder if this means they are in the works for HD or BD?

EDIT - Universal has a se edition of Lock Stock and 2 Smoking barrels the same day as Scarface....would be nice to see them both show up on hd-dvd too!

Extended Editions or theatrical - hmmmmm

Looks like both via seamless branching.

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releas...he-rings6.html

Im curious if and when we get our first 2 disc HD-DVD...I wonder if the cost is keeping a studio from releasing one.

Supposedly insiders have said LOTR won't be until next year at the earliest. Apparently they're waiting to make it work for BOTH formats at the same time.

Well that sucks. Although, I wasn't really expecting LOTR this year anyway.

I don't see what your point is.

It was a newer OLD transfer.

Blazing was a new transfer. Shawshank is also new. One would hope (assume) that they would use this new transfer because it was done in the last couple of years. It's still new.

Shawshank has been broadcast in HD recently (TNT and I think HDnet movies), so I bet they would use the same transfer.

Right, it's aired on both. (The Shawshank Redemption is to TNT what Beastmaster used to be to HBO.)

Showtime has been playing Shawshank in HD alot lately. Picture looks very good.

No doubt. I think they they get paid $50 everytime Morgan Freeman talks about hope. And why do they advertise "Watch it three times in arow!" Who needs to see Along came Polly 3 times?

Maybe it would help in understanding the Matrix sequals...

Sorry to go off topic.

??? I'd think WB/NewLine would be eager to put those out as exclusives for HD...

If they can still get out Kong, HP, JP, and the Matrix films for the holiday season that'd be awesome.

Nah. AFAIK, New Line isn't jumping for joy to be exclusive because they're not. In fact, I don't see ANY studio going out of their way for this format as of yet. Too much to lose.

I'd say...expect Batman next month. Kong in August. Sept and Oct are up in the air.

I also expect Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to debut on HD DVD this year.

You're still not making any sense. Let's spell this out:

The Fugitive
DVD release in 1997.
DVD Special Edition in 2001.
HD DVD recycles the 1997 master, not the 2001 master.

The Shawshank Redemption
DVD release in 1999.
DVD Special Edition in 2004.

While we'd hope that Warner uses the 2004 master (was it even a different master?) for the HD DVD, there is a possibility based on what happened with The Fugitive that they may use the older one instead. And being 2 years less old than The Fugitive's original master doesn't excuse the studio from not using the best and most recent source.

Unrated Dukes of Hazzard and Enter the Dragon (!!!) on 7/11.

Glad to see something else coming out in July. I think that makes 4 titles now, all releasing on the same day. Friday Night Lights and Pitch Black being the other 2.