New to Blu: TV > March 7-13

Having proved there is an audience for blue-chip natural history documentaries in primetime with Frozen Planet, let’s hope the next batch TVNZ buys from the BBC are in HD.

Anyone who compares the Blu-ray of Frozen Planet, which went on sale today, with the SD broadcast won’t regret their purchase.

As well as superior resolution and a DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, the triple-disc set comes with the bonus documentaries, On Thin Ice (which TV One aired last week) and Science at the End of the Earth, and six Freeze Frame video diaries about the making of each episode.

Initially, season one of The Killing was scheduled for today, too, but will now launch on March 14 — the same day as its US release.

That means it will go head-to-head with season one of Game of Thrones, which is out today in the US but won’t go on sale here for another week (High-Def Digest acclaims it as “a reference quality, jaw dropping transfer”).

Also new on Blu from the BBC is the 2011 Doctor Who Christmas special, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.

The 1080i presentation is “excellent … on par with the video quality of Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth and Sixth Series.

“Colour and contrast are dead on, primaries are sure to grab your attention, skintones are chilly but natural, and black levels are nice and deep.

“Detail is terrific too, with wonderfully resolved fine textures, crisp edge definition, little to no ringing, and decidedly decent shadow delineation.”

Also out this week are WWE Royal Rumble and a raft of anime titles that includes Soul Eater Collections 1 & 2 and 3 & 4, Gantz 2: Perfect Eater, Fairy Tail: Collection 2, Dragon Ball Z: Level 1.2, Chaos; Head Collection, and Naruto Shippuden Movie 2: Bonds.