HD Bonus Content: Any Exclusive Goodies in There?


Once again the two next-gen editions of 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' differ when it comes to high-def supplements. This time, the HD DVD version gets the edge, exclusively featuring one of Warner's In-Movie Experience picture-in-picture video commentaries, plus a trio of additional web-enabled features.

In-Movie Experience (HD) - By now, most are probably familiar with Warner's "IME" tracks, which use the HD DVD format's picture-in-picture capabilities to offer true interactive video commentaries. 'Order of the Phoenix' is more diverse than usual in terms of its material, combining traditional PiP with additional elements. Activate the track, and you can view three sets of footage. The first is a standard PiP commentary, featuring "Dumbledore's Army," aka a group of younger actors from the film, who pop up sporadically to add random (and often rambling) comments on the film. I can't say this is the most incisive ommentary I've ever heard, but younger fans will probably enjoy it. Also interspersed throughout the film is pop-up trivia, which is encoded as a subtitle stream. There's nothing here that will surprise even casual Harry Potter fans, but it's fun nonetheless. Finally, the IME track also branches off to a series of "Focus Points," which are a series of short making-of vignettes, described in detail below...


Focus Points (HD, 63 minutes) - The only extra shared between both the HD DVD and Blu-ray versions, this is a collection of approximately 28 vignettes (1-3 minutes each) that each explore into a specific aspect of the film's production, covering much of the effects, but also key characters, locations and story themes. Taken as a whole, these go a long way toward offering a true documentary, at least compared to the lame set of standard extras. Also spiffy is that all of the Focus Points are presented entirely in 1080p/VC-1 video, and can be accessed either as a stand-alone supplement or via the HD DVD's IME track.


Had the HD DVD only included the above extras, it would have been satisfying enough. But there are also a trio of additional web-enabled features that further distinguish 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' as truly cutting-edge when it comes tonext-gen interactivity.

Live Community Screening - A true high-def first, this new feature allows multiple owners of the 'Order of the Phoenix' HD DVD to simultaneously watch the film via their own individual web-connected players. Playback is controlled by a single "host" user, who initiates the invitation-only viewing, and can control the film by pausing and playing the feature on everyone else's machines. Participants can also text between their remote devices, creating a virtual "live chat" environment while they watch. Unfortunately, since 'Order of the Phoenix' has not yet streeted as I write this, I couldn't try out this feature as no one I know actually has the disc, but it certainly looks cool.


Share Your Favorite Scenes - Using Warner's standard HD DVD bookmarking function, you can assemble a list of your favorite scenes from the film, and share them with other registered users online.


Downloadables - Since no Harry Potter experience would be complete without the hawking of products, here you can buy various downloadables, including ringtones for your phone, and various desktop patterns and widgets.

This is also where the two next-gen editions begin to vary, with some obvious (and some not so obvious) differences between the Blu-ray and the HD DVD/DVD combo. The biggest is that these features are formatted in full high-definition on the Blu-ray, while the HD DVD gets only standard-def video. Also of note, both the standard-def DVD and the Blu-ray include a 44-minute TV special that has been been excised from the HD DVD.

TV Special: "The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter" (HD, 44 minutes) - This syndicated television special was produced to help prime the pump for 'Order of the Phoenix's theatrical release last summer. Unfortunately, it's pretty lousy -- at least half of the runtime is film clips, with the rest dominated by interviews with so-called Potter "scholars" who are mostly just writers of cash-in quickie books. Actual cast & crew of the Potter films only appear through brief EPK interview snippets. This is studio promotion at its most blatant. (Note that as mentioned above, "The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter" is only included on the Blu-ray and standard DVD versions of 'Order of the Phoenix,' and not the HD DVD combo.)


Featurette: "Trailing Tonks" (HD, 19 minutes) - This one gets my vote for the best of the slim extras. Young actress Natalia Tena (Nymphadora Tonks in the film) is our guide, providing an intimate tour of Leavesden Studios, the production home for all five of the Harry Potter films. It's often fascinating to see the inner-workings of the site of so many famous films, and as the diminutive Tena bounces around from set to set, we also get to visit fellow cast and crew, seen in a rare, relaxed light. Though Tena herself can be a bit annoying at times, this is a unique and rather excellent little extra.


Interactive Feature: "The Magic of Editing" (HD) - At first, this appears to be a standard featurette -- director David Yates and editor Mark Day offer a 5-minute introduction to the art of film editing, which is very basic and obviously geared towards the younger set. However, the feature then leads to an actual interactive editing session. Here, you can select different shots from a single scene, arrange them in your own order, and polish the sound. Again, it's basic, but rather fun, and I suspect teens especially will get a kick out of it.


Deleted Scenes (HD, 10 minutes) - This collection of odds and ends is edited together as one big lump. Sadly, most of the content is simply scene extensions or other run-on moments -- there are really no big cut scenes here for fans of the book. It's also worth nothing that very little of this material revolves around Harry or the other main characters; instead, it's dominated mostly by the older denizens of Hogwarts (including an impressive two-minute take of Emma Thompson going all-out in the name of slapstick comedy).


...and that's it for the standard extras. Sadly, there are no theatrical trailers included for any of the Harry Potter films, nor any other promotional materials (a still gallery with all of the film's many international posters would have been especially welcome).

...and that's it for the standard extras. Sadly, there are no theatrical trailers included for any of the Harry Potter films, nor any other promotional materials (a still gallery with all of the film's many international posters would have been especially welcome).