Universal really comes to the rescue this week with a very nice slate of releases. As if Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series wasn't enough -- although totally unaffordable for most people -- there is also Season 4.5 as well as the entire Fast & Furious franchise. On top of all that, there is 12 Monkeys which is a classic that we can't wait to see in HD. Fox also has a few titles this week including the first season of Dollhouse and Sony has the classic depressing drama, A River Runs Through It. The other really notable titles this week -- for geeks at least -- is a little Doctor Who and Torchwood, both courtesy of the BBC and Warner. This should give you plenty to watch in the next few weeks, which is a good thing since releases get skimpy again next week.

• Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (Universal)
• Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5 (Universal)
• Fast & Furious (Universal)
• The Fast And The Furious (Universal)
• 2 Fast 2 Furious (Universal)
• The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (Universal)
• 12 Monkeys (Universal)
• Dollhouse: Season One (Fox)
• Miss March (Fox)
• A River Runs Through It (Sony)
• Green Lantern: First Flight (Warner)
• Doctor Who: Planet Of The Dead (BBC Warner)
• Torchwood: Children Of Earth (BBC Warner)
• Torchwood: The Complete Second Series (BBC Warner)
• Gilbert And Sullivan: The Pirates Of Penzance (Kultur)
• The Inglorious Bastards (Severin)
• National Geographic: Rhino Rescue (NatGeo)
• HD Aviation - 100 Years of Flight (Picturebox)
• Repulsion (Criterion)

Finally, Universal has confirmed the rumors that Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series will arrive on Blu-ray July 28, packing the previously noted $349 MSRP for the 20 disc set. There's plenty of exclusive Blu-ray features planned, with U-control, DTS-HD MA soundtrack, an interactive guide to the ships and characters from the series, a BD-Live powered "Ultimate Battle" game, look behind the scenes with composer Bear McCreary and more. Not mentioned? Whether or not all that cash can buy a slightly better case design this time around.

[Via TheHDRoom]

Just like that, a couple of days after being confirmed, the Battlestar Galactica Complete Series Blu-ray set is up on Amazon for preorder. Sporting an MSRP of $349.98 (Amazon price: $244.99) it might make the wallet choke but we're pretty sure the three of you that didn't already click over, credit cards out, are the only ones not willing to shell out for what is (hopefully) the perfect way to catch every episode and the extended cut of Razor. Cylon pumpkin not included.

[Via TheHDRoom]

Waiting for Battlestar Galactica to come home properly has been the source of heartbreak more than once so far, but the upcoming Caprica DVD appears to confirm rumors we'll be seeing a full series Blu-ray set sooner rather than later. Internet rumors have pegged the date as July 28, and on the prequel's DVD release a promo is included referencing the complete series coming soon on DVD and Blu-ray high def, so get your pennies together, while it will certainly be expensive this should be the one that's worth buying -- if they didn't get rid of the technology for disc packaging yet.

Universal HD hopes to pump up its lineup around the Beijing Olympics, featuring Olympic Trials highlights in "Olympic Athlete Weekend" on August 2 and 3. Beyond just the coverage around the events in China there will also be plenty of extreme sports and boxing coverage all month. The news that season 4 Battlestar Galactica premieres on the station next month would be more exciting if this were last year and the Sci Fi HD simulcast hadn't launched already, but in case you didn't/don't have the station yet, there you go. Hopefully when the offices are moved from LA to New York -- along with Sleuth and Chiller -- NBC Universal will find some more compelling original content to fill the time after the Olympics are over.

Read - Universal HD presents an Olympic themed August in honor of the Beijing Olympics
Read - Emerging nets moving to New York

It's not like we haven't seen a high-profile HD title released without the expected level of quality, but it seems the QA lapse is bugging the HD DVD camp this go 'round. Apparently, hordes of angry Battlestar Galactica: Season 1 HD DVD buyers are flocking to message boards to grumble about the shoddy packaging, scratched up discs and other picture / audio niggles that certainly should not be appearing on a $70 (or more) box set. As the above image illustrates, it seems that some buyers are receiving the set only to find a plethora of unwanted scratches (presumably due to misaligned packaging), and if the stuttering playback wasn't bad enough, some customers are also finding image quality / audio sync issues with the included mini series. So, dear readers, have any of you experienced similar headaches? And if so, what's your plan of action?

[Image courtesy of Amazon / J. Ryder, thanks Robert P.]

In case you haven't noticed, most of the best HD shows are in reruns. December is usually a month of reruns, but we've already seen an alternative season finale to Heroes, and in January when we'd normally expect to see our favorite shows come back, you can expect to see more reruns and more reality TV. There are some of our favorites that have some episodes left, like eight episodes of Lost, nine episodes of Medium, ten episodes of Battlestar Galatica, and seven episodes of Jerico. But others like the Office, Heroes, and Big Bang Theory are already out. Hopefully, the writers will get compensation for downloads before the remaining shows run out, and if not at least we'll have more time to watch all those HD DVD and Blu-ray discs.

[Via ZatzNotFunny]

The ability for a group to go on strike is a fundamental right in American, and while we don't really understand what the problem is -- we'd assume the writers want more money -- we do know we're going to miss out on some HD programming. The first shows to feel the pinch are the live shows like Leno and SNL, next up is the scripted shows which mostly seem to have about 9 episodes under their belt. Luckily some HD programming is resilient like sports and reality TV -- not that there's much HD. At this point it's hard to know how long the strike will last, but if it lasts more than a few months, at least we'll finally be able to catch up on all those HD movies we've been meaning to watch. Here's a short list of our favorite shows that will go into reruns if this thing doesn't end before too long.

Heroes - Seasons will end early on Dec 3rd
Lost - Expected to have eight out of 16 episodes ready.
Medium - Will have 9 of 22 episodes completed.
Battlestar Galactica - Has 10 hours of episodes, plus a two hour movie to air this Fall.

If you were amped up to find that Star Trek: The Original Series was headed to HD DVD, this tidbit could result in copious amounts of celebrating. Universal Studios has just announced that it will be bringing the complete first season of Battlestar Galactica to HD DVD this winter "in one elaborate box set." Reportedly, the set will be "presented in 1.78:1 widescreen anamorphic video and include a pair of audio options: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1." Additionally, the package will be brimming with extras including a "picture-in-picture video commentary on the entire mini-series, more than a half-dozen featurettes, multiple deleted scenes," and the tantalizing "Encyclopedia Galactica." Mark your calendars, folks, as the set is slated to land on December 4th for $99.98.

[Via HighDefDigest]

The rumor going around has been that NBC is considering moving Sci-Fi network smash hit Battlestar Galactica to the big leagues. A lot of us here like the series and would love to be able to watch the episodes in HD when they originally air...instead of much later in reruns on Universal HD as is currently the case. Why great high definition programming is left to sit around when there's a huge audience for it is a mystery to us. Unfortunately, NBC told TV Squad there's no merit to the BSG rumors, but we can still hope, right?

[Via TV Squad]

The recap episode of Battlestar Galactica was posted on Xbox Live Marketplace yesterday and we regret to inform you it was not high definition. We're not entirely surprised at the resolution, a 720p-encoded file would have been a long download, not to mention the Xbox 360's smallish 20GB hard drive. Unfortunately it gets worse, the presentation was in widescreen, but with included bars at the top and bottom as though it were intended only for 4x3 SDTVs. Why they opted for a version that looks like it was taped off of Sci-fi network onto someone's VHS we will never know, but with the artifacting and low quality of the file we cannot recommend this to anyone in good faith. Hopefully they will do better when the episode is aired on Universal HD in September and it will be presented natively in widescreen. Oddly, despite the low quality of this file, you can download two HD clips of upcoming kids show Viva Piñata that look fantastic; hopefully future downloads will follow their lead instead of the quick and dirty approach apparently used on BSG.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

BSG fans get ready, before the third season of Sci-Fi's series kicks off this fall, they will be following the trend of cable shows airing on network television as a recap episode The Story So Far will air on NBC's West Coast affiliates and Universal HD later this month and throughout September. The episode, covering the key events of the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica, will also be distributed on a bonus DVD at Best Buy, and via iTunes and Xbox Live. It has been confirmed that the Xbox Live download will come in mid-september, free of charge, however they haven't commented on the size or whether it will be available in HD resolution. Either way, it looks like we'll be clearing some space off the 20GB hard drive and getting on the digital distribution bandwagon shortly.

[via Joystiq]