LATEST ADDITIONS

Back in July <I>UAV</I> <a href="http://ultimateavmag.com/news/072306supernews/">reported</a> the exciting news that accompanying the November 28th DVD release of this summer's <I>Superman Returns</I> would be new, vastly expanded special editions of <I>Superman: The Movie</I>, and the fabled, somewhat legendary <I>Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut</I>. Well, the news gets better still. Not only will <I>Superman Returns</I> see a day-and-date release on both Blu-ray and HD DVD, <I>Superman: The Movie</I> and <I>Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut</I> will also be released on HD DVD November 28th with the now de rigeur 1080p video and Dolby Digital Plus sound.

Sometimes an idea is so appealing—world-shaping concepts like communism, capitalism, free love, or spandex clothing—that it blinds believers to shortcomings that are otherwise glaringly obvious to those on the jaded, dispassionate periphery. We may look down our noses and scoff, yet it's hard to dismiss the power of simple belief.

At the Home Entertainment Show this past June, the Home Theater staff put together the HTGamer Gaming Pavilion. The purpose was twofold. Not only did it give expo attendees a place to rest their weary feet for a spell, the pavilion allowed them time to relax and experience gaming on three different home theater systems. The first image these lucky attendees set their eyes on as they entered the room was a small rebel force attempting to break through the tyrannical Empire's lines of storm troopers in Star Wars: Battlefront II. An Alienware Aurora 7500 high-performance PC fed the image to the InFocus Play Big IN76 DLP projector and onto a Stewart GrayHawk screen. Even in a less-than-optimal convention environment, the IN76 produced an awe-inspiring image. But how would it perform in a theater?

With more than a little excitement, I hooked up the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray disc player. Here it is, the first Blu-ray player to hit the world. I put it right on top of the Toshiba HD-XA1 HD DVD player, which I'm sure the Blu-ray people would love to hear, and the HD DVD people not so much. I ran the HDMI cable to the virtually reference-quality Yamaha DPX-1300 projector, put in my old standby The Fifth Element (of course), and sat back, ready to enjoy. The disc started up promptly (take that, Toshiba!), and, within seconds, there was Blu-ray. It only took a few seconds more before I uttered something along the lines of, "What the hell?"