New to Blu: February 19-25

It’s game on fans for Game of Thrones fans, with multiple editions of season three being released on Blu-ray.

The variations range from the standard five-disc set to exclusive packaging at Mighty Ape and additional extras and optional figurine with the JB Hi-Fi editions.

“One of the most beautiful shows on television once again receives one of the most impressive video presentations that the small screen has to offer.

“Clarity is absolutely exceptional throughout the season, offering an impeccable sense of texture and fine detail that brings all of the series’ varied locations, intricate costumes, and staggering sets to life.”

“As stunning as Game of Thrones’ video presentation may be, the experience is made complete by yet another rousing, wholly immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track.”

“As far as this Blu-ray set is concerned, HBO have gone all out in providing us not only with an immaculate A/V presentation, but an exhaustive amount of supplemental material that will suck you into Westeros like nothing before.”

“Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa explodes onto Blu-ray with an excellent region B locked 2.35:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer that though peppered with some very minor problems, doesn’t fail to impress.

“From the off, we’re treated with exactly what the Red Epic cameras can do.”

“Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa will not test the muscles of your audio system.

“But if you appreciate excellent fidelity and nuanced dynamics you will be very pleased with the lossless 5.1 track.”

“Extras run to a multitude of deleted scenes it was a pity to ditch from the main event – they give almost every sequence more room to breathe, and a lot of decent lines were lost to the cutting room floor.

“Stronger still is an unusually thorough making-of, which stresses the lengths to which Coogan went to perfect every Partridge-ism.”

“Escape Plan arrives on Blu-ray in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 2.39.1 widescreen and it looks excellent.

“Colours really light up here (at least outside, when we’re in the prison, things are dark and dreary – just as they should be) and in general the transfer really pops.”

“The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 sound mix might not be the last word in active surround placement, but it’s generally well done.

“There are certainly plenty of split surround effects that find themselves in the fronts and rears and some effective panning across the soundstage also adds some width to the surround experience.”

Critics were divided over The Family’s HD strengths.

In one camp: “The Family features a sporadically strong 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode. The film is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio and offers a nice dusting of film grain.

“The amount of visible detail bounces between fantastic and ‘meh’ throughout the entire movie.”

In the other: “Strongly sharp and colourful with contrast dialed in perfectly, the image is near-reference quality with lots of detail to be seen especially in facial features as close-ups reveal every crease, crag, and wrinkle.”

Also new are:

• Runner Runner (“often quite beautiful looking, with somewhat pushed contrast and deeply saturated colours”)
• Pawn Shop Chronicles (“a nicely detailed, technically strong transfer that’s free from problematic artifacts”)
• Battle of the Year (“a near perfect image across the board”)
• Stranded (“good picture, better audio presentation and forgettable supplements”)
• Freaky Deaky
• Chicks Dig Gay Guys
• Hammer Horror Collection.