http://www.umbrellaent.c...snoopy-come-home-bd.aspx 

Cult Australian Blu-ray label Umbrella Entertainment are releasing the first two theatrical Peanuts movies on a single Blu-ray disc tomorrow, licensed from CBS. I have no idea how representative the preview clips Umbrella uploaded on YouTube are of the actual quality but they appear to be sourced from the same master used for the old DVDs (sans the mild DVNR that affected A Boy Named Charlie Brown).

A Boy Named Charlie Brown (preview clip is stretched for whatever reason):


Snoopy Come Home:


http://forum.blu-ray.com...1228359&postcount=37 

Judging from the comments on that thread, this new Blu-ray is Region-Free. "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" is indeed presented 4:3 on the disc, while "Snoopy Come Home" is widescreen. No subtitles or extras, however.

I'm willing to bet that if this new Blu-ray is released in America, we'll get the cleaned-up Peanuts Worldwide masters (they've already treated not only the specials but also the two other Peanuts features this way; those aren't even on Blu-ray, in any event)...so importing would be a good bet if you just want the films in HD.

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Ordered this off JB-Hifi for around £12/$18; when it arrives, I'll try to provide some screenshots (though by then maybe a US release gets announced).

On a related note, I noticed there are two specials available on the UK iTunes store in HD but not on Blu-ray anywhere IIRC: It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown and Happy New Year, Charlie Brown. I assume they're on the US iTunes as well...

Received my copy yesterday, some observations of the PQ:

The two films are definitely sourced from the same transfer/master used for the DVDs sans digital clean-up. The telltale sign is that the end-credits to the first are still window-boxed and the opening and end credits are pillar-boxed for the second. As somewhat expected from a lack of digital clean-up, both boast a very natural film-like image.

A Boy Named Charlie Brown is stretched to 16:9 like the preview clip, had to manually "squish" it back to 4:3 on my monitor. The print used is marred by somewhat frequent damage, it tends to get excessive at times so how much it bothers you depends on your tolerance for such things. Colour-wise, it's pretty much the same as the DVD. Curiously the framing actually shows a smidgen more at the sides and, of course, a lot more at the top and bottom.

Snoopy Come Home is 16:9 and is much cleaner overall. I don't actually have the old DVD of this but based on screenshots online, it looks identical framing and colour-wise. There's some soft shots here and there which are either inherit to the print or the original photography. Grain looks a little more coarse though it could be the cropping making it more noticeable.

Despite the case denoting Region B at the back, the single-layered disc is actually Region Free. I should also note that the opening Cinema Central Films have been excised out of both films.

So overall, a flawed presentation of A Boy Named Charlie Brown and a reasonably good presentation of Snoopy Come Home. While not exactly on the level of Warner's remasters of the specials, they both look very nice and film-like and are certainly good upgrades to the DVDs (provided you can adjust A Boy Name Charlie Brown back to its proper ratio). Probably best to hold out for a US Blu-ray release if CBS ever get around to doing so. I hope to post some screenshots soon.