Displaying items by tag: John Schuermann

Hey guys, this is Bill. I’ll be back with our usual news post shortly—including my non-spoiler thoughts on Dune: Part Two—but first I wanted to pop in here with this message…

My friend John Schuermann is the owner of one of the best home theater dealers around, The Screening Room A/V in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and he’s also the person who helped me select my new JVC projector for The Digital Bits’ HQ theatre.

You might recall that John and I also did this video podcast together back in November, along with Kris Deering of Deep Dive AV and Steve Crabb from TSRAV: Is Physical Media Dead?

He’s got some great deals on B-stock JVC projectors that might interest some of you. Here’s John to explain (comments below the break)... [Read on here...]

Good afternoon, Bits readers and welcome to a new week! If all goes well, it’s shaping up to be a pretty exciting one—but more on that soon.

First up today, we’ve got an exclusive early 4K Ultra HD review for you: I’ve just taken an in-depth look at Christopher Cain’s fan-favorite western Young Guns (1988) in a long-awaited new Ultra HD release from our friends over at Lionsgate! The A/V quality is excellent, the disc includes original theatrical stereo and a great new Atmos mix, legacy extras carry over (including the commentary, a historical featurette, and trailers), and there’s a terrific new doc as well called How the West Was Wild: Making Young Guns. It’s a fine release that fans of the film should really love.

Now then, our friends at Kino Lorber Studio Classics have announced that Rod Lurie’s The Last Castle (2001) is “coming soon” to 4K Ultra HD.

Also newly revealed for Blu-ray from KLSC are Ted Kotcheff’s Split Image (1962), Joseph Sargent’s To Hell with Heroes (1968), Norman Panama’s The Road to Hong Kong (1962), and Douglas Sirk’s Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952) on 1/9, followed by Andrew V. McLaglen’s The Devil’s Brigade (1968) on 1/16. And coming soon is Mitchell Leisen’s No Man of Her Own (1950). [Read on here...]

Heads-up Bits readers! I’ll be participating in a Facebook Live stream later this afternoon (November 9, at 5:30 PM PST), hosted by our friends John Schuermann and Steve Crabb of THE SCREENING ROOM AV, and joined by famed AV calibrator Kris Deering (of DEEP DIVE AV) to talk about:

• The future of physical media – DVD vs. Blu-ray vs. UHD Blu-ray
• The future of “special features”
• Licensing titles to the boutique labels
• The latest on upcoming releases
• Best Buy’s actual market share
• How good is streaming vs. physical / Kaleidescape / “Purestream”?
• Plex / Zappiti
• ...and more! We’ll also be doing Q&A, taking live viewer and listener questions.

You can read more here at The Screening Room A/V’s promo page for the event:

https://www.thescreeningroomav.com/tsrav-video-podcast

And you can join us live this afternoon at this link:

https://fb.me/e/4VLzZ79RE

We hope to see you all there! –BH

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)

We have three more new disc reviews for you today…

First up, Stephen has turned in his thoughts on Lucio Fulci’s The House by the Cemetery (1981) on 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video in the UK.

Also, Tim has posted his thoughts on Jess Franco’s Lorna the Exorcist (1974) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classic via their new Kino Cult line.

And finally, Stuart has weighed in with a review of Jack Smight’s Number One with a Bullet (1987), starring Robert Carradine and Billy Dee Williams, a Cannon title on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

There’s not a lot in the way of announcement news to report today, but we do have this: Paramount is releasing Lindsey Anderson Beer’s Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023) on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 12/19. Extras will include 5 featurettes (among them Origins, Fresh Blood, Death’s Design, Method to the Madness, and War Comes Home). You can see the 4K cover artwork at left.

CBS and Paramount are also preparing to release Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season Four on Blu-ray and DVD on 12/19. We don’t have the final cover artwork yet, but you can now pre-order the title on Amazon here. [Read on here...]

Boy, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover here at The Bits over the next few days! It’s been very busy here around the office these past several days. For one thing, my wife and I have had family staying with us for the weekend. I’ve also finally replaced my defunct Epson 5040UB home theater projector here at The Bits with a brand new JVC DLA-RS1100/NP5, and have spent time installing and calibrating it. (I’ll definitely have more to say about that later this week, though I’ll just note for now that I’m very pleased with the choice.)

But I would like to take this opportunity to thank my good friends John Schuermann (of The Screening Room AV, the fantastic home theater design and equipment retailer well known for their annual Projector Shootouts) and Kris Deering (the outstanding ISF calibrator, formerly of Sound and Vision magazine as well as his own Deep Dive AV) for their help and advice in selecting the RS1100 and getting it up and running. (Your counsel is very much appreciated, my friends!) If you’re ever in the market for home theater hardware or calibration, there’s no better place to start.

Needless to say, while I’ve been occupied with all that, our dedicated team here at The Bits has posted a number of great new disc reviews. So let’s quickly run them all down...

First of all, Stuart has offered his thoughts on Anthony Mann’s A Dandy in Sapic (1968) and Abraham Polonsky’s Force of Evil (1948) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, as well as Suzanna Raes’ documentary Close to Vermeer (2023) on DVD from Kino Lorber.

Dennis has shared his thoughts on Peter Hall’s Three Into Two Won’t Go (1969) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, as well as Luis Valdez’s La Bamba (1987) on Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.

Stephen has delivered his reviews of Jean Renoir’s legendary classic The Rules of the Game (1939) in 4K Ultra HD from Criterion, along with Jiří Barta’s The Pied Piper (1986) on Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile (via Vinegar Syndrome), and Ulli Lommel’s The Boogey Man (1980) in 4K UHD from Vinegar Syndrome.

And finally, our hard-working reviews editor Tim Salmons has posted his own take on David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997) in 4K Ultra HD, also from Criterion.

As always, more new disc reviews are forthcoming all week, so be sure to check back for them.

All right… now let’s move on to the latest release news. And there’s quite a lot of it today. In fact, it’s fair to say that it’s going to be a very expensive Q4 for fans of Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD! [Read on here...]

All right, we have big release news to report today, but first we’ve got three more new disc reviews for you all to enjoy…

Stephen has given an in-depth look at Dario Argento’s Tenebrae in 4K Ultra HD, as newly released in a terrific and loaded special edition package from our friends at Synapse Films. If you’re a fan of Argento, the gaillo genre, or this film in particular, this is a great package that you’re not going to want to miss.

Stephen has also taken a look at an under-appreciated Soviet classic by director Alexandr Ptushko, a filmmaker considered by many to be the Russian George Pal… Sampo (1959) new on Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile and Vinegar Syndrome. This is an interesting piece of cinema that also deserves a look.

Last but not least, Dennis has offered his thoughts on Graham Mason’s Inspector Ike (2020), which presents itself as a “lost 70s telefilm” and detective story spoof, a-la The Naked Gun. That’s available on Blu-ray from Factory 25 via Vinegar Syndrome, so be sure to check it out.

Now then, the biggest box office hit of the year… and what is likely to be the biggest home media title of the year as well… has finally been made official: Paramount Home Entertainment will release Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 11/1 (a date that our sources have been suggesting for a few weeks now). But here’s the real surprise: The Digital release will drop next Tuesday on 8/23! [Read on here...]