Just a few weeks ago, in mid-December, Comedy Central and Paramount Home Entertainment
announced that
South Park - The Complete 12th Season is on the way, both in DVD format and - for the first time ever - in high defintion Blu-ray Disc format. These hit stores day and date on
March 10th. But as it turns out, some of our early information from the studio wasn't quite correct!
Late yesterday the folks at Paramount released the finalized package art for both versions of this release. And not just the front side, either (which looks unchanged from the early artwork
we showed you first, the day after the announcement). They also provided rear cover art for both releases, and it reveals a few noticable things!
The good news is that the list of bonus material we told you about in the original report is exactly on-target, for both versions! The "Day-by-Day Making of
South Park", "Making Boobage" featurettes and Behind the Scenes of "About Last Night" are all there, along with the mini-commentary tracks by show creators Matt and Trey that are customarily included. The Blu-ray version notes that the "About Last Night" bonus material is presented in high definition.
The news that may give Blu-ray fans some pause, though, is how the packaging for that version also clearly notes that the high-def level presented here is 1080i, instead of the superior 1080p level. Why interlaced instead of progressive? We got the opportunity to ask to a Comedy Central rep about this (and we appreciate the time taken to fill us in, so we could pass it on to you!). We're informed that 1080i is MTV Networks broadcast delivery spec, and so they had to go with that level of HD for the immediate future, because that's what is available.
Another question we asked had to do with the aspect ratio. The rear package art for the DVD format version of
The Complete 12th Season clearly shows a "Full Screen" aspect for the video. However, the Blu-ray Disc rear art doesn't say one way or the other! Paramount's info had previously stated, in multiple places, that the BD release would also be full screen. Not so, the Comedy Central rep informs us. The standard DVD will be full screen, but the hi-def Blu-ray will be widescreen. "Why can there be a difference?," we asked. The answer given is that "
South Park delivers broadcast tapes in 4:3 for SD and 16:9 for HD." So basically each format will present the show as originally broadcast, which is different for each level of definition.
The DVD release, besides full-screen video, will have English - Stereo audio. The Blu-ray version, besides 1080i widescreen video, will have audio tracks available in English - Dolby TrueHD 5.1, English - Dolby Digital 5.1 and English - Stereo. Running time for both versions is 308 minutes for 14 episodes. Below is the front and rear art for
the DVD version, followed by front, rear and spine art for
the Blu-ray release.
