Back in August 2005, Universal Studios released
House - Season 1 on DVD, and it arrived in "letterbox" widescreen, instead of anamorphic widescreen. Just ahead of that release, we
reported on the differences between these two, including an explanation from the studio about how "
a tight production schedule" for that release prevented the studio from bringing it out with the better video treatment. All three seasons sets released since then (
Season 2, Season 3 and
Season 4) have received anamorphic widescreen treatment. Now, at last, fans will have the opportunity to get the first season in 16x9 anamorphic!
Universal has announced that on
February 10th, just two weeks from tomorrow, they will release a repackaged
House - Season 1 DVD set. They haven't described or shown pictures of what the repackaging will consist of, though we suspect it will be the "thinpak" (super-skinny disc cases) that have been popular with TV-DVD releases in recent years. However, they've also shown this release as "anamorphic widescreen." We've taken time to validate this with the studio, to be sure it wasn't a wording mistake or anything. They've confirmed that the new release will indeed be Anamorphic Widescreen, and that this is the first time it's been released that way.
Key artwork for the packaging ought to be the same as the previous release, and we know that the contents (including extras) are the same as well. Language options also remain the same: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and subtitles in English and Spanish. This six-disc release still clocks in at a $59.98 SRP, but can be
pre-ordered at a discount. Our thanks to reader "Jerolyn" for help with this story.
