Blu-ray Award-Winners Not Found in NZ

In a depressing reflection of the NZ HD market, four Blu-ray releases recognised for their excellence this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas have yet to go on sale here.

Lost: The Complete Collection was judged TV Title of the Year and A Christmas Carol, 3D Title of the Year.

In NZ, only individual seasons of Lost have been released on Blu-ray and only the DVD of A Christmas Carol – although in Australia you can buy it on 2D Blu-ray.

Hopefully their recognition by the Digital Entertainment Group in its 14^th annual Creative Excellence Awards will spur Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which handles Disney product, to release both here.

20^th Century Fox’s The Sound of Music: 45th Anniversary Edition, which won Classic Title of the Year, is due in April and the BBC’s Life, which won Nontheatrical Title of the Year, hopefully around the same time, presuming it’s aired on Prime by then.

Only two of the major award-winners are out here: Avatar: Extended Collector’s Edition, which picked up Theatrical Title of the Year; and The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story, which was judged Music Title of the Year.

Panasonic and Sony were the big winners in the DEG Emiel N Petrone Digital Innovation Awards, named after the group’s founding chairman.

The winner in the Sight category was Panasonic, for its TC-P50VT25 50-inch Viera full HD 3D 1080p plasma TV (the TH-P50VT20Z in NZ); the winner in Source category was Panasonic’s DMP-BDT100 full HD 3D Blu-ray player; and the winner in the Sound category was Sony’s STR-DA5600ES 7.1 channel network multi-room a/v receiver.