Apollo 13 (Universal 27778)
Video: widescreen, 1080p, 480p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital 2.0

As I mentioned last month, some HD DVD titles do not show dramatic improvement over their standard-definition (SD) versions because the upsampling of my Toshiba player makes SD DVDs look so good. But this relative lack of difference will also depend on a good mastering for DVD-Video. Apollo 13 has not received the best treatment on SD DVD, so the difference between that and the HD DVD edition is astounding. The focus is sharper, the feeling of three-dimensional space more pronounced. And, oh my, the colors -- the bright colors of the early 1970s fairly leap off the screen without any bleeding. To borrow an ad slogan from that era, they look "Rinso bright." The Dolby Digital Plus sound eliminates the distortion that plagued big climaxes in the regular DD soundtrack, there are a wonderful openness and transparency, and voices sound quite natural. The extras are the same as on the DVD, minus the IMAX version. The two audio commentaries can be accessed from the Special Features menu while the movie is playing. If you have a 50" or bigger HD screen properly tweaked to ISF standards, this release will look so filmlike you’ll be looking around to see where the projectionist is hiding.

Assault on Precinct 13 (Universal 30016)
Video: widescreen, 1080p, 480p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital 2.0, DTS 5.1

This 2005 remake of John Carpenter’s original low-budget movie is not as good overall, but it has its moments and features some gripping action scenes as a large team of corrupt policemen tries to take over, by any means possible, the soon-to-be-closed 13th Precinct building. The HD DVD picture reveals many intricate details: tire tracks in snow, graffiti on jail-cell walls, and stubble and subtle worry lines on the male actors’ faces. This is the first HD DVD I’ve seen with a choice of soundtracks, in this case DTS or Dolby Digital Plus. I heard little difference between them, though DD Plus was just a bit more open and transparent, with subtly better definition -- differences best heard in the music accompanying the end credits. The extras are the same as on the SD DVD. The disc performed flawlessly. Viewing this disc was like a theatrical experience.

Blazing Saddles (Warner 80925)
Video: widescreen, 1080p, 480p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital 2.0, Dolby Digital mono

Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, one of the funniest genre satires ever made, is guaranteed to give you a belly laugh a minute. Still, I wondered why it was chosen to be one of the first HD DVD releases -- until I watched it. The western landscape, the frontier town, costumes, hair, beards, sweat, and just common dirt are rendered with such incredible detail as to be amazing.

Moreover, the colors seem far more rich and deep than on the SD DVD. Some reviewers can’t tell much difference between Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus as delivered through the DTS circuits, the default when you use an optical connection. Perhaps it’s just my Outlaw surround processor, but I surely can. The DD Plus sound is transparent and clean as the proverbial whistle. Frankie Laine’s vocal on the title song has such realistic presence that I could swear he was standing right behind my screen and singing to me. Watching Blazing Saddles in HD DVD was like watching a movie -- not just in a theater, but in a good theater, and perhaps even better than that. The extras -- production featurettes, deleted scenes, a trailer, and a screen-specific commentary -- are standard definition.

The Bourne Supremacy (Universal 25167)
Video: widescreen, 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital 2.0

This taut, well-crafted espionage thriller includes an excellent central performance by Matt Damon. The SD DVD had very good picture and sound, but the HD DVD is even better. Some of the original photography was gritty and grainy, and it still is here, but it no longer looks accidentally so. The outdoor vistas of Berlin and Moscow benefit greatly from the HD transfer, and the colors are still cool but richer. The sound on the SD DVD was excellent; the HD DVD’s Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack is just a tad more transparent, and sounds seem more specifically located within the 360-degree soundfield. This makes that incredible car chase through the streets and tunnels of Moscow even more exciting.

This is the first HD release to include an extra feature made especially for the medium. Turn on "Bourne Instant Access" and a little screen pops up in the lower-right corner showing commentators and production footage as you watch the movie, like the familiar picture-in-picture (PIP) feature of broadcast TV. The PIPs here are perfectly coordinated with the film itself -- you hear people talking about exactly what you’re watching, or are shown the making of the scene currently onscreen. Or you can turn off the PIP video and just hear the audio commentary. It’s very cool. The rest of the copious extras are those included on the original release and are in SD.

The Chronicles of Riddick (Universal 27777)
Video: widescreen, 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital 2.0, DTS 5.1

To like this space opera you probably have to be a fan of Vin Diesel, who’s onscreen at least 90% of the time. If you can ignore the turgid plot, this sequel to the much better Pitch Black (due out on HD DVD later this summer) offers a lot of interesting set design as well as successful special effects, all of which are clear in this excellent HD version. Much of the film is dark, but details are never lost in this transfer, which has ideal contrast. I preferred the Dolby Digital Plus sound to the DTS -- the DD was more open, transparent, and free from even a trace of distortion. All of the extras from the SD DVD are included, though the sound level on these is low, and on the last three drops even lower; you’ll have to crank up the volume considerably to enjoy them.

Constantine (Warner 80927)
Video: widescreen, 1080p, 480i
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital 2.0

Constantine is little like the graphic novels from DC Comics. But instead of being played as a comic, like Sin City, it’s played for real -- characters like Tilda Swinton’s Angel Gabriel are campy and boring. But weak as Constantine is, this HD DVD edition is very interesting. First, the picture is sharp and clean, the colors rich, deep, and varied. And this is one of the few discs out thus far to include a Dolby True HD soundtrack. The first HD DVD players from Toshiba output only two-channel stereo from the True HD format, but what I heard from those two channels has whetted my appetite for the rest of the 5.1 array. In the meantime, the Dolby Digital Plus tracks are quite fine. I’ve already said this, but it’s true: the DD Plus track was clear and transparent, with no trace of distortion.

This is the first Warner disc to include an HD-specific extra. "In Movie Experience" is much like Universal’s "Bourne Instant Access" on The Bourne Supremacy HD DVD: a screen-specific running video commentary that can be viewed while watching the film. But whereas Universal’s picture-in-picture box was always in the lower-right corner of the screen, Constantine’s "In Movie Experience" pops up in different places and sizes. These are very effective, and the information provided adds to the enjoyment of the movie. (Note: At first I found it difficult to access this feature. Unlike on most HD DVDs, Constantine’s Extra Features menu screen goes right to the top of the frame. If your monitor has aggressive overscan, the top line -- the access to "In Movie Experience" -- might be cut off or difficult to read.) The rest of the extras appeared on the regular DVD and are presented in SD video and sound.

Firewall (Warner 81027)
Video: widescreen, 1080p, 480p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0

This is Warner’s second title in the HD DVD/DVD combo format. One side contains the SD DVD version of the film and features, the other side the HD DVD transfer. It’s a clever ploy that, as far as I know, can’t be duplicated with the competing Blu-ray format. A buyer who doesn’t yet have an HD player can buy this disc and enjoy it on his current player(s), then flip it over and enjoy higher resolution when he purchases an HD DVD machine. The only problem is that these discs cost $39.95 each. Warner has also released Firewall on standard DVD, so the only market for the HD DVD/DVD edition is those who have an HD player or are sure they’re going to get one. All that aside, this action thriller looks great in HD, with sufficient extra detail to make it worth the investment. The sound, too, is excellent, with wide dynamic range and excellent pinpoint sound placement within the complete 360-degree soundfield. As I’ve come to expect from Dolby Digital Plus, the sound is very open and transparent.

Swordfish (Warner 80943)
Video: widescreen, 1080p, 480p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital 2.0

This isn’t really a bad movie, but given the star power of John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, and Halle Berry, it should have been much more. As it stands, the characters are less memorable than the chases and explosions, which are quite spectacular. In this case, I didn’t have an SD DVD edition with which to compare the HD DVD, but the fluctuations in the latter’s picture quality seemed odd. Interiors are not always sharp, yet street exteriors are breathtaking in their minute detail. Perhaps this effect contributed to the triumph of special effects over character development in Swordfish, but I suspect that we’re seeing what the director intended, and that the HD transfer merely mirrors the film’s original cinematography. The sound is first-rate. Once again, Dolby Digital Plus seems to have more transparency and less distortion (actually, none that I could pinpoint) than Dolby Digital. The first explosion, at the beginning of the film -- the one all your friends have told you about -- is thrilling, the sound traveling 360 degrees around the room to mirror the slow-motion, high-resolution, 360-degree pan onscreen. Too bad the rest of the movie doesn’t live up to this demonstration-caliber moment. The SD extras include commentaries, alternate endings, and production featurettes. As with The Last Samurai, the picture froze once for about three seconds, then proceeded without a hitch. I played the passage again but couldn’t duplicate this glitch. Toshiba, manufacturer of my HD DVD player, says it was "probably" a software defect, but might redo their correction parameters if they discover it to be a hardware problem. The pause was no more disturbing than a layer change on a dual-layer SD DVD, and I suspect it was just a random dust mote. Still, it reminded me of the early days of laserdisc and DVD.

U-571 (Universal 27779)
Video: widescreen, 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital 2.0, DTS 5.1

This World War II submarine adventure story offers plenty of excitement, as well as many opportunities -- ship interiors, bearded and sweaty faces, ocean water and spray, explosions, smoke -- for HD to shine. The preponderance of interior and night settings means that most of U-571 is dark, but that’s no problem with this properly contrasted transfer. This is one of the few times that I can’t swear that the Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack is that much better than the DTS. The DD Plus track’s marginally cleaner sound at the top end (listen for the cymbal crashes in the flag-waving music) gives it a more open feel, but the difference here is smaller than in any of the other HD DVD releases I’ve heard. The extras from the regular DVD appear here, still in SD, which, as upconverted by my Toshiba player, isn’t bad at all.

Van Helsing (Universal 26514)
Video: widescreen, 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital 2.0

So much happens in this film that I was exhausted after the first 45 minutes -- with an hour and a half still to go! The nonstop monster action might drain the senses, but it’s undeniably eye-popping on HD DVD. People morph into monsters, monsters morph into people, flying vampire harpies swirl and swoop, and Victor Frankenstein’s lab snaps, crackles, and pops with impressive bolts of electricity that create sparks aplenty. Everything is as clear as real life in this transfer, which will no doubt be used by astute salespeople as demo fodder to sell new plasma monitors and HD DVD players. Because its digital effects cause both foreground and background objects to be in focus at the same time, Van Helsing is far and away the sharpest HD DVD so far. And there is lots of sound; the Foley artists certainly earned their money, as did composer Alan Silvestri. The Dolby Digital Plus tracks are clean and transparent, letting you hear minute details amid seeming cacophony. The extras are the same as on the SD DVD set, but are included on the same disc as the overlong feature, standing as testament to HD DVD’s far greater storage capacity.