New to Blu: December 26-January 7

US critics were in two minds about 2 Guns’ transfer.

In one corner: “2 Guns comes with a 1080p AVC/MPEG-4 encoded transfer that delivers a good but not great image that is occasionally impaired by some soft focus around the edges and a general lack of fine detail in certain segments of the film.”

In the other: “2 Guns takes aim with a killer 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation that rarely, if ever, disappoints.

“Contrast is a touch hot and delineation oppressive, but colours are warm and carefully saturated, black levels are exceedingly deep (with only intermittent instances of crush), and skintones look great.”

But all agreed the audio encode was a blast: “2 Guns gets an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix (@ an average 3.6 mbps, up to 4.3 mbps for the louder sequences), which fills the home theatre in an effective way.

“The subwoofer gets a workout here, as one might expect with all the explosions and gunplay.”

“Red 2 was shot on 35mm and is presented in 2.40:1, 1080p video on this Blu-ray.

“The picture quality is typical for a modern, light-hearted action flick, including heavy blacks, soft highlights, and vivid, computer-assisted colours.”

“Colours really light up here and as the movie makes use of a very natural looking colour scheme the transfer really pops.

“At the same time, the colours don’t bleed, they stay really well defined and distinct.”

“Jobs is presented in a 2.35:1 1080p VC-1 encode (@ an average 31 mbps) that excels in bringing Russell Carpenter’s lush camera work to the home theatre.

“On a technical level, this is a lovely transfer, full of warm colours and plenty of texture.”

“Sharp, vivid, and clean, this is a very impressive picture that’s essentially problem free.”

Unfortunately, the local release omits the director’s “consistently interesting” commentary.

Going direct-to-disc are: Allegiance (“video and audio are solid”); Make Your Move; The To Do List (“great video and audio”); Enemies Closer; and Vikingdom.

Given its stellar HD broadcast on TV One, A Place to Call Home – Season 1 should look outstanding on Blu-ray while The Bible: The Epic Series can only but improve on its SD Vibe presentation (“excellent audio/video”).