Audio Video News

Hollywood studios are throwing more weight behind the Digital VHS format. Several new titles will appear as high-rez videotapes in the coming weeks, including Gosford Park and Basic Instinct.

Universal Studios and Artisan Entertainment are two film companies backing D-VHS, which has yet to win significant market penetration, despite the fact that it is the only true high-definition film format available to consumers. On February 25, Universal will release Robert Altman’s critically-acclaimed Gosford Park, as well as the Denzel Washington vehicle The Hurricane. The Family Man will round out Universal’s D-VHS offerings for the month, with each priced at $44.98.

Artisan will soon release seven D-VHS titles at $34.98 each: Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Reservoir Dogs, Glengarry Glen Ross, and First Blood, all to appear in the first quarter of 2003. Second quarter release will include Dirty Dancing, Stargate, Young Guns, and Standing in the Shadows of Motown. D-VHS titles already available from Artisan include National Lampoon's Van Wilder and Terminator 2.

The Universal and Artisan releases will bring the total number of commercial films available on D-VHS to about two dozen. Last summer, JVC debuted the first D-VHS deck at approximately $2000. The format has strong support in Hollywood for its robust copy protection, but has yet to appear on the radar of many consumers.