New to Blu: January 30-February 5

Downton Abbey’s 2012 Christmas special, Journey to the Highlands, is the week’s sole new release on Blu-ray.

In the US, the movie-length episode has been included on the just-released season three set.

But because Universal Pictures NZ wanted to offer season three on disc in time for the Christmas market, it goes on sale here as a separate volume without extras.

The US edition includes what seems to be an exclusive extra: a 48-minute “Behind the Drama” retrospective of the first two seasons but it’s unclear if it has a 2.0 DTS-HD MA audio mix as US reviews have conflicting specs.

Two other HD shows also bow on disc this week but are DVD-only: First Crossings and High Country Rescue.

As with NZ movies, the higher cost of releasing local content on Blu-ray in a market as small as ours has discouraged programme makers from distributing their shows in HD on disc.

But a TVNZ spokeswoman says with costs coming down, “we are looking at a couple of titles as a potential Blu-ray release.”