With the furore surrounding the battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray, the "third format" — HD VMD — has been quietly getting on with doing hardware and content deals around the world.
NME has done an exclusive worldwide distribution deal with SFM Entertainment, which will see a number of rare and classic film and TV titles being released to the global market.
NME’s "Bundle Box" will include Rudyard Kipling’s "The Jungle Book," "Sudden Death" staring Robert Conrad, "Instant Love," "Wilma," "Bud Greenspan’s Favorite Stories of Olympic Glory," "Bud Greenspan Remembers the 1936 Olympics," and the four tele-features based upon the Emmy-winning TV series "Cagney & Lacey."
Other movie titles being considered for release by SFM through NME’s HD VMD Bundle Box include: Academy Award-Winning "The Hellstrom Chronicle," "Murph the Surph," Monkees of Bandapur" and "Get Rollin.’" The two companies plan to follow-up these releases with a HD VMD Bundle Box of classic television shows constituting of "Real McCoys", "Make Room for Daddy", "Adventures of Jim Bowie", and many others.
Whether HD VMD will ever take off as a serious contender to the other high definition formats remains to be seen, but there could certainly be a market for those interested in more niche titles.
