Monday, August 20

'Battlestar Galactica' Receives HD-DVD Treatment

Source: Buddy TV

Battlestar Galactica fans have often kvetched over the lack of an HDTV broadcast. In fact, Galactica has been broadcast selectively on Universal's High Def cable channel, but not in its entirety, just enough to steel fan's woes that Sci-Fi channel broadcasts only in standard. In fact, with its crystalline CGI effects and cinematic photography, Battlestar Galacitca is made for HDTV. Fan complaints have finally been answered with the announcement of the entire first season being released on High Definition DVD.

The complete first season of Battlestar Galactica will be made available on HD-DVD format on December 4. The retail price for the six disc set is $100, meaning you can probably pick it up on Amazon and similar outlets for a cool $80. The set will be saturated with all the HD DVD extras you could possibly want in addition to the brand new 1080p transfers.

No Blu Ray set has been announced, and likely won't be. The format war rages on with some popular shows like Heroes and Battlestar coming up on the HD DVD end of the battlefield, while many others, such as Lost, square off from the Blu Ray side. With retailers continuing to choose sides as well, there is no end in site for the format war.

The release of season one, unfortunately, did not bring any news on subsequent seasons of Battlestar Galactica becoming available in high definition formats. Whether the experience proves profitable enough to warrant the remaining seasons crossing into High Definition land in the near future is really irrelevant. Consumer Electronics has predicted enough hardware will be in consumers homes over the next couple of years to make High Definition reissuing a thriving business, regardless of which format wins the technology race.

The release of the High Definition set coincides with Sci-Fi's planned release of the Battlestar Galactica prequel “Razor,” which will be released in an uncut standard DVD release.

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