New to Blu: TV > October 5-11

Fans of TV’s top-rating comedy will get a bigger Bang for their buck this week on Blu-ray.

Warner Bros is simultaneously releasing seasons three and four of The Big Bang Theory in HD.

The latest season is on sale for $50 but season three, which was released last year only on DVD, is new to Blu for only $35.

Exclusive to the S4 Blu-ray is footage of the live taping of an episode while common to the Blu-ray and DVD is Actor on Actor: The Big Bang Theory of Relativity, in which the stars interview one another about their experiences on the show.

US critics gave the release higher marks for its picture quality, calling it “a fine presentation” that “looks superior to its 1080i broadcasts”.

WB also is going big on Blu for two other TV series this week: seasons seven of Entourage and two of The Vampire Diaries.

The latter has a retail price of $70 while the first season is being re-promoted on Blu-ray for $45.

While S2 is said to maintain the darkly stylised trappings of season one, “the 1080p presentations contained on the season two set offer stronger visuals, and are better able to render the series’ dark, brooding, vampire accommodating cinematography”.

Indeed, the episodes “look fantastic … totally clean and visually precise in every moment”.

There are extras on the show’s werewolves, Nina Dobrev’s dual-character turn, a visual-aid-enhanced guide to the serpentine layers of character relationships, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and producer commentary on the episode, Masquerade.

Entourage’s seventh season ($50) is its second on Blu-ray (the S6 Blu-ray is being re-promoted for $35).

“The show looks fabulous in HD – the format really captures the lavish lifestyle and beautiful locations” and while bright colours dominate, “darks hold their own too, and even though a little grain makes an appearance in what seems like every one out of three transitions between scenes, the transfer remains high quality”.

Extras comprise two shorts and three producer/cast commentaries.

Also new are season four of The Twilight Zone (“the black and white photography is absolutely marvellous in HD”) and the 20-disc Stargate: Atlantis – The Complete Series.