Jo-Ver 360: HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on January 29th, 2008

And so it begins this week, as Warner's first title to be affected by the three week delay for HD DVD is released for Blu-ray. Meanwhile HD DVD fans will have to wait until February 19th to check it out. But that isn't the only thing that is in three weeks, as the first decent title for the red camp also comes out that day in the way of American Gangster. But the bad news for red doesn't end there this week because there are only three titles and we can't say we've ever heard of any of them. Of course this isn't that surprising considering HD DVD's ace in the hole Universal and Paramount are on the bench for the third week in a row. At the same time Blu-ray's lineup isn't anything to call home about either, but at least it includes a day and date in Invasion and Daddy Day Camp -- yeah, we're not excited either. Probably the most interesting title this week is the cult comedy classic Mony Python's Life of Brian, which includes both a TrueHD and LPCM sound track, that the reviewers say doesn't really sound any better -- but at least the video quality delivers. Looking ahead to next week, there isn't much to get excited about either, but at least Universal has a title for red.

HD DVD 381 vs Blu-ray 427*

Blu-ray