New to Blu: May 2-8

The Blu-ray of Titanic: The Mini-Series will steam on to shelves Monday — only 10 days after its double-episode finale on TV One.

The four-hour dramatisation from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes may have floundered in the ratings but those who stuck with it will appreciate the inclusion of a raft of extras.

They include an HD making-of half-hour, a writer-producer-director’s commentary and Words of the Titanic, a 46-minute, 2010 documentary about the sinking of the ship told with excerpts from passengers’ diaries, letters and journals (albeit in SD).

The Guillermo de Toro-produced horror film Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark goes direct-to-disc with an excellent AVC MPEG-4 encode.

“Seriously, I never knew this many shades of black and grey were possible. Dark films are a real test for any display, straining black levels, dynamic range, and contrast abilities … And yet, even in its inkiest moments, the film sparkles with clarity and dimension.”

“Additionally, fine detail and texturing score very highly, especially in this context. During the sequences with more normalised lighting, the image is even more impressive.”

The Cameron Crowe written and directed-comedy, We Bought a Zoo, “shows all the strengths of its fine Super 35mm source of very recent vintage.

“A thin, reserved, and nicely textured layered of natural film grain overlays a clean and sharply detailed imaged with vibrant colours, strong primaries and nicely extended shadow details. Contrast is wide while flesh tones are natural.”

“Simply put, the film’s 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer looks gorgeous, and I can’t find any real fault in its presentation.”

New on the back-catalogue front are Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (“a truly scrumptious presentation”) and a double-bill of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies/Phantom of the Opera – 25^th Anniversary Edition.