The first HD players were released in April, 2006. Blu-ray players followed in June 2006.
The first NZ HD-DVD title is Peter Jackson's 'King Kong', which showed up on HD,
14 November 2006. Again, there are those who will no doubt say that 'King
Kong' is not a New Zealand title, although that would be quite a stretch, but
if the criterion is that it has to be mostly New Zealand, with little outside money or input,
perhaps 'The World's Fastest Indian' would do, released 13 Feb. 2007. There are only three films that can be found on HD DVD: 'The Frighteners', 'King Kong' and 'The World's Fastest Indian'. The last known HD DVD release worldwide was on December 15, 2008.
As of June 2010, there are 12 titles on Blu-Ray DVD with the first being 'The World's Fastest Indian', released 13 Feb. 2007, however 'The Lord of the Rings Trilogy' Blu-ray is sold as three separate packages.
The Blu-Ray world is divided into three regions: Region A includes most of North, Central and South American, Southeast Asian countries plus Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. Region B includes most of European, African and southwest Asian countries plus Australia and New Zealand. Region C contains the remaining central and south Asian countries, as well as China and Russia. Unlike DVDs, Blu-Ray discs are, so far, usually ALL REGION and therefore the only consideration will be if you can play an NTSC or PAL designed disc. Below I have added a "?" after some of the region designations because I have been unable to confirm. I would appreciate hearing from anyone that can help with confirmations. Blu-Ray details, including pricing, will be found within the information at the linked title pages.
