The Mouse Does Blu-ray
By Shane C. Buettner July 20, 2006 — Exclusive Blu-ray Disc supporter Buena Vista Home Entertainment has announced its first wave of titles on the HD format. Hitting Stores on 9/19 from Walt Disney Pictures will be one time trade show demo favorite, Dinosaur, along with Eight Below. Rounding out this first small group are Miramax's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and The Great Raid.

On October 17th the second wave breaks with Glory Road and Haunted Mansion from Walt Disney, Dark Water and Gone in Sixty Seconds from Touchstone, and The Brothers Grimm from Dimension. All the discs are specified with 1080p video, and MSRP will be $34.99. Street prices will be lower of course.

The timing of these releases could potentially bode well for BVHE as Blu-ray players from Pioneer and Panasonic are due in stores in September, and Sony's player is due to hit stores on October 25th. While Samsung's BD-P1000 is in stores, that player's launch has been beset with problems, the latest of which is an admission by the company that a chip in the player was inadvertently programmed to the "on" position, locking in enough noise reduction to soften the image substantially. On the plus side, Samsung's initial timetable for having firmware updates for existing players and corrected production models in stores is September as well.