Gladiator starring Russel Crowe is getting a special two-disc Blu-Ray treatment, with a release date of September 1, 2009. Amazon has it available for preorder for $27 (regular $49.99). The discs will feature both the original and an extended version of the film along with separate audio commentaries for each version. List of extras below:

• Audio Commentary: Two separate commentaries accompany the original theatrical version and extended version of the film.
• The Scrolls of Knowledge: The original trivia track has been newly enhanced with focus points allowing viewers to access a series of new behind-the-scenes featurettes exploring key scenes and how they relate to the historical accuracy depicted in the film. The extended version of the film also includes a deleted scene marker.
• Visions From Elysium: Topic Marker-Viewers can tag moments of interest throughout either version of the film, allowing them to create “shopping lists” of topics to learn more about. Thanks to the Blu-ray player’s memory, the topics will automatically be loaded when Disc 2 is inserted, giving viewers immediate access to featurettes and galleries of interest.
• Strength And Honor: Creating The World of Gladiator-The definitive documentary on the origin, production and impact of the Oscar-winning classic. The documentary includes an all-new Enhanced Viewing Mode allowing viewers access to additional interviews and behind-the-scenes material.
• The Making of Gladiator: HBO First Look special.
• Gladiator Games: The Roman Bloodsport-Learning Channel special.
• Hans Zimmer: Scoring Gladiator-An exploration of the rousing soundtrack.
• My Gladiator Journal: Personal diary of the young actor who played Lucius.
• Image & Design: Featurettes and galleries covering the production design, storyboards, costumes and more.
• Abandoned Sequences & Deleted Scenes
• VFX Explorations: Germania & Rome-Shot deconstruction with the visual effects artists.

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If you’re unfamiliar with the term optimal viewing distance, essentially it means a distance from your television at which your eyes best observe the details offered by the resolution of your television. Each resolution (480, 720, and 1080) has its own optimal distance, but there can be other factors involved in how well you view detail, such as the quality of your eyesight.

A classic article on the subject is Carton Bale’s “1080p Does Matter – Here’s When (Screen Size vs. Viewing Distance vs. Resolution).” To help people understand optimal viewing distance, Bale created a chart (seen at the top of this article). Discussing the difference between 720p and 1080p at normal viewing distances, Bale reaches the conclusion:

If you are a videophile with a properly setup viewing room, you should definitely be able to notice the resolution enhancement that 1080p brings. However, if you are an average consumer with a plasma on the far wall of your family room, you are not likely to be sitting close enough to notice any advantage.

The 720p vs 1080p question is becoming a moot point, as production of 720p HDTVs has all but halted in favor of 1080p. But it may be interesting to know whether you are sitting too far away from your HDTV to take advantage of all that HDTV has to offer.

Bravia Theatre Sync, when combined with a select number of Bravia televisions and other Sony audio and video products, makes devices work in unison when you want to perform a specific action. With “One Touch Play”, operations that took several steps have been reduced to one. For example, press the PLAY button on the remote, watch the audio and/or the video component(s) turn on, then the BRAVIA television will turn on and switch to the correct video input.