Razor Digital Announces Blu-ray Support with Quartet of IMAX Classics

Indie distributor Razor Digital has announced it will throw its hat into the high-def ring this fall, exclusively supporting Blu-ray with an initial launch slate of four IMAX classics.

Arriving in stores November 13 will be a quartet of IMAX favorites: 'Africa: The Serengeti,' 'Alaska: Spirit of the Wild,' 'Australia: Land Beyond Time' and 'Antarctica: An Adventure of a Different Nature.'

Citing Blu-ray's larger installed hardware base for its exclusive support of the format, Razor Digital said they have no current plans to release on titles on HD DVD, although they didn't rule out the possibility.

"You have to respond to the marketplace," Mitch Perliss, Razor Digital EVP told Home Media Magazine. "We wanted to go worldwide (with the product), and we couldn't afford to do both (Blu-ray and HD DVD)."

Razor Digital has not yet released tech specs or supplemental details for its four IMAX launch titles, but we'll keep you posted.

Retail price will be a suggested $19.95 each.

Now, now..before you go commenting about our QC Process, which is one of the most thorough possible, you need to understand why this happened.

First and foremost, we tested the disc on EVERY available BD Player and multiple versions of the SONY PS3 with various Firmware Updates. We use the same lab that produces many of the Major Studio releases, so our QC Process is exactly the same as many of major release you own.

The problem, in this case, turns out to be an incompatible setting that the Authoring System defaults to. This setting did not cause any problems on any player, including PS3 Players, which we tested this disc on, until AFTER Sony decided to change the default setting in their latest PS3 Firmware.

This had nothing to do with our "QC" and it is strictly related to evolving development of the spec and the default settings for the firmware as Sony sees fit to update on a regular basis while the player manufacturers and the authoring system software / hardware developers attempt to keep up with it all.

I know of these QC Labs you speak of but we use THX on many releases for our QC on standard DVD Discs. In the old days, these labs were of value because every Hardware Manufacturer interpreted the "DVD Spec" in their own unique way. Nowadays, the best labs ... which is all we use .. have a huge list or anomalies and work-a-rounds for the quirkiness of players that they incorporate in to most Standard Definition DVD discs.

Bottom line. The problem is with the Hardware Manufacturers, not the DVD Software in most cases.

Every HD-DVD and BD Disc on the market is defective. Most people just don't realize it because the problems may not be immediately apparent.

Also, if I produced a DVD Disc strictly to the paper spec, I can assure you that it would have some issues on certain DVD Players out there.

This is a fact of life and we accept it, although we do not accept the blame for the ongoing misinterpretation and lack of communication amongst the Technology Developers, Hardware Manufacturers and Software Developers of the A/V Production Tools.