The Blu-Ray Upcoming, News & Info Thread

[UTtoyfan]

From the Digital Bits website:

"All righty then... we're waiting on additional artwork and details from the studio, but we've learned from our sources in the meantime that all of the newly announced Paramount Blu-ray titles will feature Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio, save for the titles originally authored last year (like Face/Off, Next and Blades of Glory). However, we're told that going forward, Dolby TrueHD audio should become a standard feature on the studio's Blu-ray titles as they're newly authored. Also, most of the new titles will be on BD-50 discs and many of the video extras will be in full HD.

We've also learned that many of Paramount's previously released Blu-ray titles will be officially returning to store shelves in May, including Aeon Flux, Babel, Black Snake Moan, Coming to America, Dreamgirls, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Sleepy Hollow, The Untouchables, Trading Places, We Were Soldiers and World Trade Center (all due on 5/20). You might also recall that the Blades of Glory Blu-ray was yanked right before it was set to be released last year. We'll, it's now finally streeting on 5/20 as well. Here's the cover art we have so far for the new titles - Bee Movie, Face/Off, Next and Blades of Glory..."

[Agent23]

I laugh at those clowns who paid $200 - $400 for the 'Blades of Glory' Blu-ray's that slipped out into circulation a few months back...

:lol

[hairlesswookiee]

I laugh at those clowns who paid $200 - $400 for the 'Blades of Glory' Blu-ray's that slipped out into circulation a few months back...

:lol

for real?? i can't see myself ever paying that much for a movie. i'd rather download it for free. :emperor

[The ill Jedi]

I laugh at those clowns who paid $200 - $400 for the 'Blades of Glory' Blu-ray's that slipped out into circulation a few months back...

:lol
Those are the people that have nothing better to do with their money, they just wanted to have bragging rights about having something that shouldn't exist. :rolleyes:

[Radagaster]

So, anyone notice that there haven't been any decent good sales (ie, under $15) ever since BD won the war?? I'm still waiting for the prices to come down, because the list of must-buys is piling. But, at over $20 a pop, I'm willing to play the waiting game.

[hairlesswookiee]

^^exactly. i ran by target and they only had limited movies that were under $20.

[Kabukiman]

So, anyone notice that there haven't been any decent good sales (ie, under $15) ever since BD won the war??

A week or two ago, Target had a bunch of titles at $14.99, Amazon had a buy 2 get 1, and this week Fry's has a number of titles at 14.99.

That's just off the top of my head, but I went searching, I'm sure I'd find more.

[hairlesswookiee]

can someone find me a cheap copy of the first Underworld movie???

[Jesseawilson]

When I looked the cheapest I found was Amazon, $18.95.

I have kept about 20 Blu-ray titles in my cart for the past few months so I would not for get to buy them. What I have noticed is that since the format war ended the prices have gone up and average of $5.00 a title. Not only that but the pricing changes alot, almost daily on some titles. Every time I look in my cart I get a new alert about one of the prices changing yet again. They had even changed Underworld Evolution from $14.99 to $24.99. I see they finally wised up and knocked it back down to $19.99 now as I log into my Amazon cart. Everything in my cart went down by a dollar accept the Rambo box set which came down $2.00 to $32.95.

Among some of the titles dropped were V, Batman Begins, and the two National Treasure movies.

[UTtoyfan]

Saw this in today's Fry's ad:

Fox blu-ray titles $14.99:

I, Robot
Fantastic 4 - Silver Surfer
X-Men 3
Mr Brooks
Die Hard
Independance Day
Pathfinder
Man On Fire
Robocop
Die Hard 2
Rescue Dawn
Kingdom Of Heaven
Alien Vs Predator
Mr and Mrs Smith
Live Free Or Die Hard
Sunshine
The Day After Tomorrow
28 Weeks Later
Me, Myself and Irene
Eragon
The Simpsons Movie
Ice Age 2 - The Melt Down
Night At The Museum
The Hills Have Eyes 2 Unrated
Die Hard 3

And if you don't have a Fry's, the online site also has these for $14.99
www.frys.com

[The ill Jedi]

X-Men 3
Man On Fire
Robocop
Alien Vs Predator

I'm gonna pick these up tomorrow, my bro called me earlier and alerted me about the sale, I was just about to replay the message here. Thanks Toyfan! :rock

[UTtoyfan]

X-Men 3
Man On Fire
Robocop
Alien Vs Predator

I'm gonna pick these up tomorrow, my bro called me earlier and alerted me about the sale, I was just about to replay the message here. Thanks Toyfan! :rock

yeah, i'm definitely gonna head to Fry's in the morning. Definitely gonna get Xmen 3.

Oh and I'm already waiting for Iron Man on Blu-ray. Thanks Paramount for finally releasing movies(again) on Blu-ray.:rock

[The ill Jedi]

Cloverfield Blu-ray Gets Detailed

Official specs on the Blu-ray release of the J.J. Abrams-Produced film 'Cloverfield' are in from Paramount. As hoped by many, this Blu-ray release will include full 1080p video as well as Dolby TrueHD audio. Video codec information is currently unavailable from Paramount. Additionally, this release features an exclusive Blu-ray-only feature in the so-called "Special Investigation Mode." Sounding much like a trivia track, this feature provides the viewer with tidbits of information on the film as the story unfolds.

Special Features include:


Special Investigation Mode (Blu-ray exclusive)

Commentary by Director Matt Reeves

Document 01.18.08: The Making of Cloverfield featurette

Cloverfield Visual Effects featurette

I Saw It! It's Alive! It's Huge! fearurette

Clover Fun featurette

4 Additional Scenes

2 Alternate Endings w/optional commentary

14 Easter Eggs


'Cloverfield' arrives on Blu-ray, June 3rd.
Looks to have the same Special Features as the standard, except for the investigation mode. I bought this on SD but can't wait to own it on Blu! :rock

[bagelsncheesey]

X-Men 3
Man On Fire
Robocop
Alien Vs Predator

I'm gonna pick these up tomorrow, my bro called me earlier and alerted me about the sale, I was just about to replay the message here. Thanks Toyfan! :rock

Don't pick up AVP yet, Fox is re-releasing it on Blu this Fall/Winter.

[Jesseawilson]

Don't pick up AVP yet, Fox is re-releasing it on Blu this Fall/Winter.


I doubt it's going to be $15 when they do.

[bagelsncheesey]

I doubt it's going to be $15 when they do.

That's really not the point though, being that it will be worth the $25 when it comes out.

And most likely, you'll be able to get it on Amazon for $18 :monkey1

[Jesseawilson]

What will make it worth $25.00?

Money is always exactly the point to a Jew BTW

[The Josh]

Should I just get the 40gb PS3 or keep looking for the 80gb?

[KitFisto]

Should I just get the 40gb PS3 or keep looking for the 80gb?

I bought a 40gb. More than happy with it.

[Sick Boy 82]

Should I just get the 40gb PS3 or keep looking for the 80gb?

Wait for the LE 80GB MGS PS3 to come out in June and you get the game free with it and another controller.

[KitFisto]

Wait for the LE 80GB MGS PS3 to come out in June and you get the game free with it and another controller.

Yeah, but you're stuck with the Snake graphics ON you're PS3.

[Sick Boy 82]

Yeah, but you're stuck with the Snake graphics ON you're PS3.

There is no graphic on the PS3, on the words Meta Gear Solid 4 on it near the top of the top cover. And I think it looks much better in the awesome grey color than the shiny, fingerprint and dust collecting black.

Frakin Sweet!!!

http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2008/04/mgs4ps31.jpg

[KitFisto]

There is no graphic on the PS3, on the words Meta Gear Solid 4 on it near the top of the top cover. And I think it looks much better in the awesome grey color than the shiny, fingerprint and dust collecting black.

Frakin Sweet!!!

http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2008/04/mgs4ps31.jpg

Oh, I saw a previous pic that had a big pic of Snake on the PS3. I would not want that, but if it;s not on there then it's not bad.

[Jesseawilson]

I got the 40g, it was all about the bengamins for me. I got it for $349 on black friday.

[bagelsncheesey]

What will make it worth $25.00?

Money is always exactly the point to a Jew BTW

Well to you then, buying it now would be great :lol

But being as Ill is not Jewish, and would most likely prefer a movie with retouched blacks and extras, PIP, etc... i'm thinking he'll want to wait for the new one to come out.

Maybe not though.

[Jesseawilson]

Well to you then, buying it now would be great :lol

But being as Ill is not Jewish, and would most likely prefer a movie with retouched blacks and extras, PIP, etc... i'm thinking he'll want to wait for the new one to come out.

Maybe not though.


I did in fact :D along with Fantastic 4 silver surfer, X-Men 3, Man on Fire, Kingdom of Heaven, The Day After Tomorrow, Night at the Museum and a rain check for I Robot.

[The Josh]

Wait for the LE 80GB MGS PS3 to come out in June and you get the game free with it and another controller.

Can you PO this someplace?

[bagelsncheesey]

Can you PO this someplace?

Check out Game Stop, or if you have on near you, Game Crazy. They have them on PO I think.

[Sick Boy 82]

Can you PO this someplace?

No, everyone stopped taking POs for consoles. And this is supposedly super limited. I will be trying for one during the midnight release of MGS4, which is when these are gonna be out. My local Gamestop, where I get everything from, said they will be getting them, but not how many. I was told very few. And I do actually trust these guys. I've know most of them for about 2 years.

[Sick Boy 82]

Check out Game Stop, or if you have on near you, Game Crazy. They have them on PO I think.

Actually Game Crazy is taking PO for them, but not the actual console, just for a place in line! I ^^^^ing hate those guys. They are lying ^^^^^^^s!! Stay away from Game Crazy at all costs. And if you don't like Gamestop or EB Games, I'd say go to a BB or CC or even Amazon. Just stay away from Game Crazy!

[The Josh]

Got ya. I may try to get this or just pick up a 40gb. Since I'll be using this more for a BR player anyways.

[Darth Loki]

3 for 2 deal at Amazon right now. Some pretty decent titles as well.

[hairlesswookiee]

i'm looking forward to getting Batman:Gotham Knight when its released. supposed to be as good as the animatrix.

[The Josh]

I may just wait to get the LE of the MGS 4 80gb but is there an overall advantage to the 80gb PS3 compared to the 40gb? I mean as a BR player.

[Sick Boy 82]

Nope, exactly the same machine. But I would rather go with the big one right off, as lots of my friends had problems when they tried to swap out their HDD for a bigger one. Most aftermarket ones didn't work.

[SOLIDSNAKE]

I knew BLUE RAY was going to win.

[hairlesswookiee]

Got ya. I may try to get this or just pick up a 40gb. Since I'll be using this more for a BR player anyways.

i recommend looking for a used 60gb at a gamestop. only because you might decide to play a random PS1 or PS2 game sometime down the road. the 60gb is the only one that guarantees 100% backwards compatibility.

[hairlesswookiee]

Nope, exactly the same machine. But I would rather go with the big one right off, as lots of my friends had problems when they tried to swap out their HDD for a bigger one. Most aftermarket ones didn't work.
not sure about that. i swapped my drive out last october with a 250gb and its worked fine since.

[The Josh]

Got ya guys. Thanks

[Jesseawilson]

Amazon just offered me a "Quick Pick" discount for the 40G of $379.99 shipped.

[hairlesswookiee]

did a little digging on the hi def digest and found this article:
http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Band-Brothers-Blu-ray-Release/9278
basically its saying that band of brothers will be in blu ray before the end of the year!!!! WOO!!!

[KitFisto]

I picked up 300 and The Departed to replace the recently sold HD DVD versions. When in the hell are the Matrix movies coming to BR?

[Jesseawilson]

I hear ya! I just got the email about Batman Begins and V for Vendetta and have them on preorder. I want Matrix, Serenity, and Transformers to replace the ones I sold when I sold my players.

The hardest part about HDDVD losing was having to go without some of my favorite movies that were HDDVD only.

What's the dam hold up!!??

[KitFisto]

I hear ya! I just got the email about Batman Begins and V for Vendetta and have them on preorder. I want Matrix, Serenity, and Transformers to replace the ones I sold when I sold my players.

The hardest part about HDDVD losing was having to go without some of my favorite movies that were HDDVD only.

What's the dam hold up!!??

:lecture:lecture:lecture:lecture:lecture

[SSC_Nerd]

Maybe they're creating new enticing material that would even make the people who bought the HDDVD buy the Blu as well? I think Warner stated that Matrix would be out in Q4 of this year. All of those titles will certainly be out by the end of the year. Blu-ray is looking to be selling a great deal of movies by the end of the thanks to stuff like Iron Man, Dark Knight, and (maybe) Indiana Jones. They'll bring Transformers and stuff out by Christmas if not earlier, in my opinion.

[darthviper107]

Weren't they originally going to release the Blu-Ray boxset of the Matrix movies last holiday season?


Really I'd expect all the major HD-DVD releases on Blu-Ray by the end of this year. Although right now for me I'm just keeping my player. No reason to try and get rid of it, couldn't get much for it anyway.

[bagelsncheesey]

According to Amazon, the Cloverfield Blu-ray will be out on May 20th, not in early June as was reported. :rock

http://images.blu-ray.com/movies/covers/865_medium.jpg = May 20th

http://images.blu-ray.com/movies/covers/463_medium.jpg = May 20th

http://images.blu-ray.com/movies/covers/744_medium.jpg = May 20th

http://images.blu-ray.com/movies/covers/737_medium.jpg = May 27th

http://images.blu-ray.com/movies/covers/79_medium.jpg = June 24th :drool

http://images.blu-ray.com/movies/covers/788_medium.jpg = July 1st

http://images.blu-ray.com/movies/covers/5_medium.jpg = July 8th

And Starship Troopers on July 29th. Hopefully that won't be delayed again.

Lots of $$$ to be spent.

[UTtoyfan]

More Blu-ray deal goodness: 2 movies for $30 on the list of select titles at Best Buy. You can order online and pick up in store to avoid shipping charges. I think the deal may also be in store as well.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat151000050004&type=category

[The Josh]

Bought my PS3 last night and snagged Kingdom of Heaven and 300 on BR.

[The Josh]

Ordered Batman Begins and V just now. These two will be great!!

[IrishJedi]

Today, I went to MovieStop and was able to pre-order/reserve the following (all on Blu-ray):

BATMAN BEGINS: 2-Disc Special Edition (7/8/08) -WB

IRON MAN :rock (Listed as 11/08) -PAR

INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL :rock (Listed as 11/08) -PAR

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS (Listed as 10/08) -WB

X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE (Listed as 12/08) -FOX

THE DARK KNIGHT :rock (Listed as 12/08) -WB

Anyway, just FYI and a heads-up...

[The Josh]

Cool! I wonder if we'll get the other Indy films around or soon after on BR?

[IrishJedi]

The other 3 INDY films are also slated for Blu-ray in November according to them.

[The Josh]

Sweet! Now thats some good news!!

[hairlesswookiee]

Today, I went to MovieStop and was able to pre-order/reserve the following (all on Blu-ray):

BATMAN BEGINS: 2-Disc Special Edition (7/8/08) -WB

IRON MAN :rock (Listed as 11/08) -PAR

INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL :rock (Listed as 11/08) -PAR

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS (Listed as 10/08) -WB

X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE (Listed as 12/08) -FOX

THE DARK KNIGHT :rock (Listed as 12/08) -WB

Anyway, just FYI and a heads-up...

will be buying all of those except for the XFiles and Batman Begins.

[UTtoyfan]

From today's Digitalbits entry:
http://thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

"Also, many retailers are reporting a 5/20 street date for Paramount's Cloverfield and There Will Be Blood on Blu-ray Disc. We've spoken with the studio today, and that date is NOT correct. According to the studio, the titles will street on 6/3 as originally planned. The studio will be asking retailers to correct their dates. "

I guess I still have to wait for my Cloverfield.:monkey2
But at least V for Vendetta and all the catalog Paramount titles are still out next week!:D

[Fubeca]

The other 3 INDY films are also slated for Blu-ray in November according to them.

I wonder if those were filmed in High Res cuz it may not make sense to go to Blu-ray. I have noticed that all of my "Older" movies on Blu-ray are that magnificent...

[UTtoyfan]

I wonder if those were filmed in High Res cuz it may not make sense to go to Blu-ray. I have noticed that all of my "Older" movies on Blu-ray are that magnificent...

Movies that weren't filmed digitally can still look great on Blu-ray. I own Close Encounters and Blade Runner and both look glorious on BD. I'm sure the original 3 Indy films will look just as awesome on Blu!

[Bannister]

I wonder if those were filmed in High Res cuz it may not make sense to go to Blu-ray. I have noticed that all of my "Older" movies on Blu-ray are that magnificent...

Doesn't matter. Film is better quality than HD.

[occulum]

Doesn't matter. Film is better quality than HD.

exactly. As long as its a good scan.

wonder what kind of HD cams they had back in '81? ..... :monkey1

[Rock83]

Doesnt Paramount release their movies only on HD-DVD?Maybe its me that havent read the news lately?:o

[Bannister]

Doesnt Paramount release their movies only on HD-DVD?Maybe its me that havent read the news lately?:o

:lol:lol:lol

[UTtoyfan]

What's HD-DVD??:confused::confused::monkey5:lol:rotfl

[UTtoyfan]

Doesn't matter. Film is better quality than HD.

I agree. I think it's very cool that Steven Spielberg still uses film whereas most every other director has gone digital.

[darthviper107]

I agree. I think it's very cool that Steven Spielberg still uses film whereas most every other director has gone digital.

Well, the HD cameras they use for feature films shoot the same resolution as regular film cameras, which is about 4x as many pixels as 1080p.

[The Josh]

The Mummy and Mummy Returns are due out July 22nd.

[hairlesswookiee]

^^^cool. i just saw the preview for the new Mummy movie and it actually doesn't look all that bad.

[IrishJedi]

The Stephen Sommers MUMMY movies make me want to kick small puppies.

The fact that some of you actually like those movies makes me want to set the puppies on fire first.

:lol

[Kabukiman]

The Stephen Sommers MUMMY movies make me want to kick small puppies.

The fact that some of you actually like those movies makes me want to set the puppies on fire first.

Word.

As some of you know, I have a pretty high tolerance for crap. Heck, I was one of the few Godzilla 98 apologists. ("If you take out the name 'Godzilla' the 'acting' of the main female character, it's actually a pretty decent giant monster movie, imo." :lol )The Stephen Sommers Mummy was the first movie I'd ever seen that made me want to gouge my eyes out. By the end of the movie when the one guy says something like "I guess we're going home empty handed again." and Fraser looks to the chick and says "I wouldn't say that..." I threw up a bit and caught it in my mouth.

[The Josh]

^^^cool. i just saw the preview for the new Mummy movie and it actually doesn't look all that bad.

Yeah, it does look as decent as the others. Which means I should like it.

The Stephen Sommers MUMMY movies make me want to kick small puppies.

The fact that some of you actually like those movies makes me want to set the puppies on fire first.

:lol

Damn Carl can you stop beating this horse already? Some of us do like it can you live with that? Seriously, its kind of starting to get old with your constant ^^^^^ing at how bad these are to YOU. Give it a ^^^^ing rest! You just don't let up man. The horse is dead alright.

[Spideyfan]

If only the prices of the BD discs would go to dvd levels.

[bagelsncheesey]

Transformers on BLU September 2nd 2008 :rock :rock :rock

[KitFisto]

Transformers on BLU September 2nd 2008 :rock :rock :rock

SWEET! I'm looking forward to this since I sold my HD DVD copy with the player.

[The ill Jedi]

Transformers on BLU September 2nd 2008 :rock :rock :rock
:rock :rock :rock :rock :rock :rock

[The Josh]

That should be awesome on BR! Little disappointed no LOTR in 2008 but not too shocked either. Hoping for 09/10 for LOTR.

[Khev]

Damn Carl can you stop beating this horse already? Some of us do like it can you live with that? Seriously, its kind of starting to get old with your constant ^^^^^ing at how bad these are to YOU. Give it a ^^^^ing rest! You just don't let up man. The horse is dead alright.

Well you have to admit that if people like YOU didn't reward Stephen Sommers by paying to watch/own his movies then he would NOT have been offered directing reigns to the vomitous-car-wreck-in-the-making GI Joe flick and we'd still have half a chance that it would turn out decent. So there. ;)

[hairlesswookiee]

SWEET! I'm looking forward to this since I sold my HD DVD copy with the player.

why??? I still enjoy watching Transformers in HD.....

[occulum]

BLuRay sale at Amazon ..... (http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_6922232_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000233361&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-5&pf_rd_r=0SVDV67SDBK9V1BZNX0F&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=400938101&pf_rd_i=507846)

[The ill Jedi]

BLuRay sale at Amazon ..... (http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_6922232_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000233361&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-5&pf_rd_r=0SVDV67SDBK9V1BZNX0F&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=400938101&pf_rd_i=507846)
Thanks Occ!! Great sale, lots of good titles to choose from! :rock

[tomandshell]

Can't wait for Paramount to make it official and announce Transformers. It's still just a rumor until the studio confirms it, but I hope it's true. With Fox and Paramount I believe it when I get the shipping confirmation from Amazon.

If they have done a new encode of the film or added lossless audio or maybe even give us the extended IMAX version, there will be a lot of people (like me) who already own the HD DVD but would be happy to pick it up again.

[UTtoyfan]

That should be awesome on BR! Little disappointed no LOTR in 2008 but not too shocked either. Hoping for 09/10 for LOTR.

Peter Jackson is working on the LOTR trilogy, so hopefully in 2009!:chew

Here is the link:
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/hobbitnews.php?id=45413

icaroz: Will the Ring trilogy get a blu-ray release around the time of Hobbit? or sooner?

Peter_Jackson: Hi Icaroz - We are working on a blu ray version of the LOTR trilogy with Warner Bros at the moment, not sure when it is due for release. It certainly won't be this year.

[Nitro]

i'm still waiting on blu-ray player price drops. i'm not a gamer, so i don't want to force myself to spend $400 on a ps3 just to play movies. when the heck are the players going to be more affordable. it's borderline pathetic that nothing has really happened since they won the "format-war"...

[hairlesswookiee]

BLuRay sale at Amazon ..... (http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_6922232_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000233361&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-5&pf_rd_r=0SVDV67SDBK9V1BZNX0F&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=400938101&pf_rd_i=507846)
cool!!! i just ordered Hellboy and Underworld. how does Hellboy look???

and i can't wait until this ships!!! Jin Roh on blu ray!!!
http://www.discountanimedvd.com/Product-28644-Anime-Jin-Roh-BluRay.asp

[The Josh]

I'm hoping for 09 myself UT. :rock

[King Darkness]

cool!!! i just ordered Hellboy and Underworld. how does Hellboy look???

and i can't wait until this ships!!! Jin Roh on blu ray!!!
http://www.discountanimedvd.com/Product-28644-Anime-Jin-Roh-BluRay.asp

Hellboy looks spectacular!

[hairlesswookiee]

Hellboy looks spectacular!
cool i can't wait.... i eyeball it every time i go to the store,but it was always too much. now for $15 i had to buy it....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/hairlesswookiee/2006_08_23_optimus_prime_puppet.jpg


just kidding, its coming in September
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Paramount/Disc_Announcements/Transformers_Blasts_to_Blu-ray_This_September/1775

[Sick Boy 82]

Save 45% on Blu-Ray Bundles at Amazon right now.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_20890_9330080_hi_img_1/?docId=1000232811

[hairlesswookiee]

does anyone have the Masters of Horror on Blu Ray??? any of them. my local moviestop has a couple of them used for $14.99 a piece. I have both seasons on my hard drive, but if they are worth it i'll pick up the used ones and then buy the other two sooner or later.

[kain4521]

I picked up Rambo today man it looks even better on blu-ray.

[UTtoyfan]

Cloverfield is out on Blu-ray today!:rock

I may check out Circuit City to see if they have any titles that are worth "Buy 2, Get 1 Free".

[bidge1000]

Hi everyone,

I may be moving to the USA from England very soon if all goes well.
As a film fan I must have my fix of movies.
Can anyone recommmend any sites that have great prices on Blu ray in the USA apart from Amazon?

Thanks in advance

D:D

[UTtoyfan]

From highdefdigest.com
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Universal/Disc_Announcements/Report:_Universal_Plotting_Back_to_the_Future_Blu-ray_Release/1790


'Back to the Future' fans got a sneak peek this past weekend at an apparently in-the-works Blu-ray release of the '80s favorite.

As first reported by the fansite BTTF.com, 'Future' producer Bob Gale surprised fans at a special screening near Orlando with a new digital remaster of the flick, which he said had been produced for an eventual release on Blu-ray.

"What you're going to be seeing today is the digital master for the upcoming high-definition Blu-ray version of 'Back to the Future,'" Gale told the crowd. "I don't know when it's coming out yet, but I was involved in the mastering of this tape, so I can tell you that it looks absolutely beautiful!"

Gale also spoke to potential supplemental features on a Blu-ray version of the trilogy, saying only that never-before-seen bonus materials may appear, though he stopped short of offering any specifics

[The Josh]

I've got the Die Hard Collection, Predator, AVP Set, and Hellboy coming on BR. Amazon's sale got me to commit especially on Die hard for $55.

[hairlesswookiee]

I've got the Die Hard Collection, Predator, AVP Set, and Hellboy coming on BR. Amazon's sale got me to commit especially on Die hard for $55.

nice!!! the one thing that keeps me from buying the Die Hard Blu Ray set--- Live Free or Die Hard is only in the PG13 form. no deal for me.... i went out and bought the Unrated version on DVD.

[hairlesswookiee]

Hellboy looks spectacular!

thanks man and you're correct... i just watched it yesterday and it does look awesome!!!

[The Josh]

nice!!! the one thing that keeps me from buying the Die Hard Blu Ray set--- Live Free or Die Hard is only in the PG13 form. no deal for me.... i went out and bought the Unrated version on DVD.

Yeah, I'd like the unrated version but for the price it was just too hard to pass.

[Darth Waller]

From highdefdigest.com
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Universal/Disc_Announcements/Report:_Universal_Plotting_Back_to_the_Future_Blu-ray_Release/1790


'Back to the Future' fans got a sneak peek this past weekend at an apparently in-the-works Blu-ray release of the '80s favorite.

As first reported by the fansite BTTF.com, 'Future' producer Bob Gale surprised fans at a special screening near Orlando with a new digital remaster of the flick, which he said had been produced for an eventual release on Blu-ray.

"What you're going to be seeing today is the digital master for the upcoming high-definition Blu-ray version of 'Back to the Future,'" Gale told the crowd. "I don't know when it's coming out yet, but I was involved in the mastering of this tape, so I can tell you that it looks absolutely beautiful!"

Gale also spoke to potential supplemental features on a Blu-ray version of the trilogy, saying only that never-before-seen bonus materials may appear, though he stopped short of offering any specifics

I just saw that story. Can't wait to see it on Blu-ray. :banana

[The ill Jedi]

From highdefdigest.com
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Universal/Disc_Announcements/Report:_Universal_Plotting_Back_to_the_Future_Blu-ray_Release/1790


'Back to the Future' fans got a sneak peek this past weekend at an apparently in-the-works Blu-ray release of the '80s favorite.

As first reported by the fansite BTTF.com, 'Future' producer Bob Gale surprised fans at a special screening near Orlando with a new digital remaster of the flick, which he said had been produced for an eventual release on Blu-ray.

"What you're going to be seeing today is the digital master for the upcoming high-definition Blu-ray version of 'Back to the Future,'" Gale told the crowd. "I don't know when it's coming out yet, but I was involved in the mastering of this tape, so I can tell you that it looks absolutely beautiful!"

Gale also spoke to potential supplemental features on a Blu-ray version of the trilogy, saying only that never-before-seen bonus materials may appear, though he stopped short of offering any specifics
AWESOME!!! :rock

[The ill Jedi]

Yeah, I'd like the unrated version but for the price it was just too hard to pass.
There are plenty of "^^^^s" and "Mother^^^^ers" in the other three movies, I wasn't gonna buy Live Free just to hear a few more cuss words.

[Sick Boy 82]

Yeah, I just don't think that it felt right without the complete "R" rating. I will be picking up the Unrated, as I don't have my PS3 yet. Can't wait to get the boxed set though!!!

[The Josh]

There are plenty of "^^^^s" and "Mother^^^^ers" in the other three movies, I wasn't gonna buy Live Free just to hear a few more cuss words.

Yeah, plenty in the other three for sure.:rotfl I love these movies and I haven't seen the new one yet so that will be nice.

[Darth Waller]

From highdefdigest.com:

The original "buzz" is coming to Blu-ray, with Dark Sky Films announcing the high-def debut of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' for this September.

One of the seminal '70s horror flicks, the original 'Chainsaw' will mark the next-gen premiere for DVD indie distributor Dark Sky, which has set a September 30 for the Blu-ray.

Dark Sky has yet to issue any specific tech specs or supplement details, but the distributor is promising newly-remastered high-definition image and sound, as well as extensive bonus features.

Suggested list price for the Blu-ray has been set at $29.98.

[The ill Jedi]

:rock :rock :rock


Details Revealed for Band of Brothers Blu-ray

New information has surfaced regarding upcoming Blu-ray release of the HBO epic WWII mini-series 'Band of Brothers', coming this Fall from Warner Home Video. While this information should not be considered final, it does give an inside look at what to expect from this highly anticipated Blu-ray release.

Expect the release to come in a tin packaging, similar to the existing DVD release. Episodes will be digitally restored for this release and the soundtrack is expected to be encoded in DTS (though, the flavor has not been revealed).

All bonus material from the DVD release should make it to the Blu-ray, but there will also be some exclusive Blu-ray content, such as BonusView interviews with surviving members of Easy Company.

We expect to learn more about this release soon.

[SSC_Nerd]

Oh, man. How much are they gonna charge for this?:(

[Sick Boy 82]

SWEET!!! Can't wait for BoB on BR!!!!

[bagelsncheesey]

BoB on Blu = must buy for sure. :rock

[tomandshell]

The upcoming complete Sopranos collection on regular DVD is going to sell for $400. I wonder how much they would want for it on Blu-ray.

:google

[KitFisto]

One thing I'll never buy on BR is TV/HBO type series. No freaking way will I spend that kind of money on to watch a TV series no matter how good it looks. Movies = great, but I can live with regular DVD's for a series.

[The Josh]

Sweet!! I'll be getting this one for sure. Cannot wait to own BoB on BR.

[The Josh]

Amazon put Iron Man on PO today for both DVD and Blu-Ray

[bumblebee]

Amazon put Iron Man on PO today for both DVD and Blu-Ray



Did they say when the release date was?

[Sick Boy 82]

No release date posted so far. I'm hoping August or September though!!

[Sick Boy 82]

One thing I'll never buy on BR is TV/HBO type series. No freaking way will I spend that kind of money on to watch a TV series no matter how good it looks. Movies = great, but I can live with regular DVD's for a series.

Well, I'm sorry, but BSG needs to be seen in HD!! It's absolutely amazing!! I can go without Lost in HD, but I must have BSG on HD!!!!

[The Josh]

Are the Rambo movies worth snagging on BR?

[The Ringer]

No release date posted so far. I'm hoping August or September though!!

on the official Blu-ray site is is stated for a September release.

[bumblebee]

on the official Blu-ray site is is stated for a September release.



:banana:banana:banana

[The Ringer]

:banana:banana:banana

:banana:banana:banana:banana

[tomandshell]

That's funny--my Blu-ray copy of Iron Man was preordered at Amazon way back on May 26th. It was in my Gold Box so I got an extra discount.

[LewisD]

Are the Rambo movies worth snagging on BR?

Rambo and First Blood are must haves IMO. The other two not so much.

[The Josh]

See I'm not such a fan of FB but do like the rest of the movies. So thats why I'm thinking about getting the rest and I can live with the first one. :lol

[IronFingaz]

From The Digitalbits...

"Our industry sources have checked in today with word on a number of major upcoming Paramount DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases. Here's some of what you can look forward to (and when to look for them)...

The Love Guru (DVD & Blu-ray) - 9/16
Iron Man (DVD & Blu-ray) - 9/30
Indiana Jones IV (DVD for sure, Blu-ray undecided) - October
Kung Fu Panda (DVD & Blu-ray) - 11/18
Tropic Thunder (DVD & Blu-ray) - December

Here's a glimpse at some of the catalog Blu-ray titles on the way from Paramount and DreamWorks...

Anchorman: Legend of Ron Burgundy - 9/23
Old School - 9/23
Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd - 10/21
Stardust - December
Into the Wild - December

Also, we've learned that 20th Century Fox is working on the following titles for Blu-ray Disc release before the end of the year (or early in 2009 - these are in addition to catalog BD titles that we've mentioned previously)...

Daredevil: Director's Cut
Firefly: The Complete Series
The X-Men Trilogy
The Planet of the Apes Collection
The Deception
Jewel of the Nile: Special Edition
Dude, Where's My Car?
What Happens in Vegas

We'll post more information on these titles as it becomes available. As always, keep in mind that these titles and dates are unofficial and are subject to change until they're actually announced by the studio."

[The Josh]

I would think they'd put Indy 4 out on BR as well as the others.

[Darth Waller]

They better or else. :cuss

[Sick Boy 82]

I would think they'd put Indy 4 out on BR as well as the others.

Well, look at how long it took Lucas just to adopt DVD!! That guy hates change. I don't think we will see stuff on BR from Lucas until like 2009 or later!

[Amanaman]

He may not like change, but he doesn't mind "updating" his movies every now and then. :lol

[The Josh]

Well, look at how long it took Lucas just to adopt DVD!! That guy hates change. I don't think we will see stuff on BR from Lucas until like 2009 or later!

Thats what worries me.

[hairlesswookiee]

i'd love LOTR on Blu Ray!!!! and i have most of those on order through Amazon.

The Love Guru (DVD & Blu-ray) - 9/16 NO
Iron Man (DVD & Blu-ray) - 9/30 YES
Indiana Jones IV (DVD for sure, Blu-ray undecided) - October HELL NO!!!!
Kung Fu Panda (DVD & Blu-ray) - 11/18 NO
Tropic Thunder (DVD & Blu-ray) - December HELL YES!!!!
Anchorman: Legend of Ron Burgundy - 9/23 MAYBE
Old School - 9/23 MAYBE
Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd - 10/21 NO
Stardust - December NO
Into the Wild - December NO
Daredevil: Director's Cut YES!!!
Firefly: The Complete Series HELL YES!!!!!
The X-Men Trilogy YES!!!(glad iwaited on buying X3)
The Planet of the Apes Collection NO
The Deception NO
Jewel of the Nile: Special Edition NO --rental for sure!!!
Dude, Where's My Car NO
What Happens in Vegas NO

[The Ringer]

What would you guys say is the best BD Player? Suggestions?:confused:

[Sick Boy 82]

Are you talking about regular affrordable, like $1500 and lower or unaffordable, like $5K and higher??

Affordable:

Not at all a PS3 fanboy, more of a 360 fanboy. But the PS3, at this time, is the best Blu-Ray player. I do believe that when the new Pioneer Elite Blu-Ray players come out later this year, then Sony could have some contenders. Those will most likely be from $2K and down. But remember, you get a very nice gaming console with that very nice Blu-Ray playrer with the PS3!

Unaffordable:

You can open up an fancy home theater magazine and find Blu-Ray players that start at around $5K and go higher, to like $30K. These are for people with the $30K projectors.

Or just go to the AVSForum.com and they will tell you what they think. A lot of those guys are real world installer guys with tons of knowledge.

[UTtoyfan]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&plgroup=1&docId=1000250321&plpage=1

Buy 2 get 1 free at Amazon!!

This time a lot of the re-released Paramount titles are on the list.

[Darth Waller]

From highdefdigest.com:

'Young Frankenstein' to Rise on Blu-ray This Halloween

Mark your calendars, Mel Brooks fans: Fox has announced a Halloween arrival for the comedy classic 'Young Frankenstein.'

Widely considered one of Brooks' best satires, 'Young Frankenstein' will make its much-requested Blu-ray bow on October 7 (the studio previously released a special edition DVD back in 2001).

As Fox has only just alerted retailers to the date, there are no tech specs or supplement details as of yet. But given the wealth of bonus materials found on previous DVD releases, expectations are high for an equally feature-laden Blu-ray edition.

Suggested list price for the Blu-ray has been set at $39.98.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/images/post/6/6428/original.jpeg

[Darth Waller]

I just saw that Escape From New York is coming out in the UK next month. I wonder when it's coming out in the US.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51gmJ%2BmlwlL._SS500_.jpg

[Darth Waller]

From slashfilm.com: Next Futurama DVD, “Bender’s Game” Gets a Release Date

At the Comic Con Futurama panel, Fox showed some new footage for the forthcoming feature-length DVD, Bender’s Game. The trailer included riffs on high “dark matter” (i.e. gas) prices (with “Mom” playing the role of the evil oil companies), and some Futurama characters playing Dungeons and Dragons, then being transported to a Dungeons and Dragons-like world. There’s also a clear parody of The Lord of the Rings films.

The movie will be released on Blu-Ray (a first in Futurama history!) and DVD on November 4th, 2008. This post will be updated later with the some art for the movie, but in the meantime, mark your calendars for this series’ next great installment!

[Jesseawilson]

FINALLY@@!!!

Matrix Trillogy on Blu-ray:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000OPPBEQ/ref=ord_cart_shr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

[Darth Waller]

From highdefdigest.com:

'Planet of the Apes' Blu-ray Box Set

One of the most iconic sci-fi franchises in cinema history, the five 'Apes' films -- 'Planet of the Apes,' 'Beneath the Planet of the Apes,' 'Escape from the Planet of the Apes,' 'Conquest of the Planet of the Apes' and 'Battle for the Planet of the Apes' -- will be packaged on Blu-ray as 'Planet of the Apes: 40-Year Evolution Collection,' which will hit stores on November 4.

Standard extras will see all the same material from Fox's previous 'Apes' DVD releases, including multiple audio and text commentaries, the "Behind the Planet of the Apes" documentary, additional featurettes, multiple still galleries, rare archival materials, and theatrical trailers for all five films.

Exclusive to the Blu-ray box set will be a slew of bonus materials both rare and never-before-seen. Included on all five films will be an isolated score in DTS-MA 5.1 Surround audio, while the original 'Planet of the Apes' also gets a BonusView (Profile 1.1) picture-in-picture track dubbed "Science of the Planet of the Apes," which explores the scientific background of the series. Additional exclusives include a new HD featurette for each film ("Evolution of the Apes," "Impact of the Apes," "The Secret Behind Escape," "Riots and Revolutions: Confronting the Times," "End of an Epic: The Final Battle"), the BD-Java interactive game "Beyond the Forbidden Zone," and a PSA from NASA.

[Darth Waller]

Can a mod change the title of this thread to "The One & Only Blu-ray Thread" or something like that? :monkey3

[hairlesswookiee]

FINALLY@@!!!

Matrix Trillogy on Blu-ray:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000OPPBEQ/ref=ord_cart_shr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

lol..took them long enough. i'm happy with my HD DVD version though.
~~Firefly is coming out in November!!!1

[Darth Waller]

From highdefdigest.com:

Disney Planning 'Sin City,' 'From Dusk 'Til Dawn' Blu-rays for October

Early word has come from retailers that Disney is planning to bring a Robert Rodriguez double-header to Blu-ray this October, with the simultaneous bow of the cult hits 'Sin City' and 'From Dusk 'Til Dawn.'

Long-awaited by Blu-ray fans, both Rodriguez's 'From Dusk 'Til Dawn' and 'Sin City' (the latter co-directed by Frank Miller with "special guest director" Quentin Tarantino) have finally been given a retail date of October 21. (Both titles were previously-released on standard DVD in extensive special edition versions.)

As Disney has yet to formally announce either title, there are no tech specs or supplemental details as of yet. As always, we'll keep you posted.

Suggested retail price for each Blu-ray is $34.95 a pop.

UPDATE 08/15/08: We've received word from Disney that despite retailer reports, the studio has now pushed back the Blu-ray release date for 'Sin City' to sometime in early 2009. We've updated our database accordingly.

[Darth Waller]

From highdefdigest.com:

Rumor Patrol: Warner Announces 'Gremlins,' 'Goonies' Blu-rays for Japan; U.S. Next?

Warner Japan has announced an October Blu-ray release for 'Gremlins' and 'Goonies,' fueling speculation that the studio is also planning a domestic debut for the '80s classics.

Two of the most beloved hits of the decade, Warner Japan has set a simultaneous October 8 bow for 'Gremlins' and 'The Goonies' on Blu-ray, with each enjoying remastered 1080p video and extensive supplemental features.

At press time, Warner Home Video had yet to announce any U.S. Blu-ray versions of either title, nor have any domestic retailers yet listed them on their upcoming pre-order lists.

However, the overseas release of both 'Goonies' and 'Gremlins' bodes well for a future U.S. release, and we'll certainly keep you posted as this story develops.

[Fritz]

Ok I've waited long enough, why aren't Gladiator, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings available in HD yet? :tap :cuss

[UTtoyfan]

Do you guys think it reasonable to buy tv shows on Blu-ray? For example, Heroes, 7th season Smallville, 4th season of LOST, and the Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles are all going to be available on BD. I don't know if I can justify the higher prices (even the Amazon ones) since I have the previous seasons on regular DVD(for Lost and Smallville).


Decisions decisions.....:lol:lol:monkey4

[Sick Boy 82]

Um, Heroes was ^^^^ing awesome in HD when it aired and so was Lost, so I will be getting them in BR. And Terminator too. Not buying Smallville , I'll just burn the regular DVDs from Netflix.

[UTtoyfan]

Um, Heroes was ^^^^ing awesome in HD when it aired and so was Lost, so I will be getting them in BR. And Terminator too. Not buying Smallville , I'll just burn the regular DVDs from Netflix.

Cool thanks man. Yeah I saw that Heroes is coming out next week. It'll be cheaper for me at Amazon than if I went to Best Buy with my reward zone certificates. That just shows you how overpriced BB is!!:horror

[The Ween]

Cool thanks man. Yeah I saw that Heroes is coming out next week. It'll be cheaper for me at Amazon than if I went to Best Buy with my reward zone certificates. That just shows you how overpriced BB is!!:horror

UT, alot of times bestbuy.com's presell price is waaaaaaay wrong and very high. The retail price is 49.99 for the bluray. It won't be that much when it's first released. Amazon has the retail price as $69.99. I'll bet the Best Buy stores will have it for $39.99 which is pretty close to what Amazon is selling it for.

I'd hold off and check with Best Buy when it's first released. Sometimes they have extras with their's too. Or Target.

[UTtoyfan]

UT, alot of times bestbuy.com's presell price is waaaaaaay wrong and very high. The retail price is 49.99 for the bluray. It won't be that much when it's first released. Amazon has the retail price as $69.99. I'll bet the Best Buy stores will have it for $39.99 which is pretty close to what Amazon is selling it for.

I'd hold off and check with Best Buy when it's first released. Sometimes they have extras with their's too. Or Target.

This is true. I usually wait for the Sunday ads to see what's on sale that week anyway. Thanks for the tips guys. Y'all rock!:rock:rock

[SSC_Nerd]

Do you guys think it reasonable to buy tv shows on Blu-ray? For example, Heroes, 7th season Smallville, 4th season of LOST, and the Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles are all going to be available on BD. I don't know if I can justify the higher prices (even the Amazon ones) since I have the previous seasons on regular DVD(for Lost and Smallville).


Decisions decisions.....:lol:lol:monkey4

Well, I did buy the third season of LOST on blu from Best Buy when it came out, and it looks damn good. I believe that they did in fact have it on sale for the first week it came out. I wanna say I got it there for $60, but may have been 70. Personally, the price is justified if you ask me. You're getting what, at least 20 hours of HD? That's not too bad when you pay 25 to 30 for a 2 hour movie. If I like a show enough, it usually seems worth it to go for the upgrade.

[tomandshell]

I got Lost: Season Three on Blu-ray for $35, and it was absolutely worth it. I have Season Four on order at Amazon, along with Firefly. I might get Heroes: Season Two if Amazon puts it in my Gold Box one of these days.

[The Mike]

While i do enjoy Blu-Ray over HD, the explanation given in Tropic Thunder on why Blu-Ray would have won the format war hands down sealed it for me. :lol

[RoboDad]

I got Lost: Season Three on Blu-ray for $35, and it was absolutely worth it. I have Season Four on order at Amazon, along with Firefly. I might get Heroes: Season Two if Amazon puts it in my Gold Box one of these days.

I picked up Lost Season Three when it was on sale at Amazon (was it $35 or $37, I can't remember). I also just received Sarah Connor Chronicles Season One for $28. I haven't had a chance to watch that set yet, but I'm sure it will look awesome. The A/V reviews I've read were all very positive (other than the lack of HD audio).

Bottom line for me? I'm all for TV on Blu-ray, as long as the price isn't unreasonable.

[darthviper107]

While i do enjoy Blu-Ray over HD, the explanation given in Tropic Thunder on why Blu-Ray would have won the format war hands down sealed it for me. :lol

Except that wasn't true, before the win both sides were saying they had a lot of support from the porn industry.

Nope, what made Blu-Ray win was the 80% support of movie studios.

[UTtoyfan]

While i do enjoy Blu-Ray over HD, the explanation given in Tropic Thunder on why Blu-Ray would have won the format war hands down sealed it for me. :lol

I need to see Tropic Thunder still!

[The Ringer]

I need to see Tropic Thunder still!

Get to it man! Funniest movie this year!:lol

[wofford29]

I wish HBO would start putting shows on Bluray. I'd love to see John Adams and Flight of the Conchords hit soon.

[Darth Waller]

Band of Brothers is coming out soon, so it's only a matter of time.

[SSC_Nerd]

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/hellboy-ii.html

Title: Hellboy II
Starring: Ron Perlman
SRP: $34.98 (3-Disc)

Further Details:
Universal Home Video has announced 1-disc ($29.98), 3-disc ($34.98) and Blu-ray ($39.98) editions of Hellboy II: The Golden Army which stars Ron Perlman. The full details have yet to be confirmed I'm afraid (including the street date) but we can tell you that the 3-disc edition will include a digital copy of the film and around 3 hours of bonus content. The 2-disc Blu-ray edition will also include the digital copy, along with a feature that enables you to build your own comic book. Stay tuned for further details as we get them.



Check out the page for pics. Is that perhaps a statue made by Sideshow? They did that bust for the last movie release, didn't they?

[NASEDO]

Band of Brothers is coming out soon, so it's only a matter of time.

I got the regular DVD set, it will be hard to pass up, another HBO favorite was ROME, I think I would give in for that on Blu ray.

[barbelith]

Criterion going BD is awesome news. The Third Man in 1080p!

[Batty]

Criterion has an upgrade program they're introducing. It's an interesting idea if you don't care about having new artwork or a Blu-ray case for each title. I wonder if it's still $25 for multiple disc sets.

The Criterion Collection has revealed that they will offer an upgrade program for those Criterion DVD owners looking to upgrade their current collection to Blu-ray. Simply send in the DVD disc you want upgraded along with a check for $25 ($20 upgrade fee plus $5 shipping) and they'll send you the Blu-ray version of the title (disc only).

The company has pledged to use the current DVD numbering and packaging for Blu-ray releases with the only physical difference being the use of the blue Blu-ray case. That way owners can simply pop the Blu-ray into their existing DVD case and maintain the overall "look" of their collection.

It was also revealed that pricing of Blu-ray titles will be similar to that of the DVDs. Criterion has been mastering their titles in high definition for some time, so there is little additional cost (to them) to put the title out on Blu-ray. This, they say, will help people decide on which version to pick up when they begin releasing new titles day-and-date on both formats.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1697

[Sick Boy 82]

Good deal.

Also, for everyone that's always asking what Blu-Ray player should I get, well Criterion's reference player is the PS3. If Criterion considers them to be the best, then just get a PS3.

If they are not spending $1K on the Blu-Ray player, then neither should you!

[DinoLast]

Not only is my PS3 a Blu-Ray player
But I'm using it to view the sideshow freaks forums right now :rock

[UTtoyfan]

Got the Sarah Connor Chronicles on Blu-ray last night. Used my Best Buy Rewards and the whole thing turned out to be $19.99. Not too shabby!:banana

Great show too, I watched the first few episodes when it aired but never got the chance to see the final ones.

[Sick Boy 82]

Well, for everyone asking if there was a better Blu-Ray player than the PS3, we have told you there is none better. Even the movie company Criterion was using the PS3 as their reference player!

Well, that was true until just a few days ago. Pioneer has brought out the monster to crush the PS3 and you can get one soon. That is if you want to shell out an additional $1700 to watch your Blu-Rays in the best way possible. This thing is ^^^^ing ridiculous!

http://gizmodo.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/08/Pioneer_BDP-09FD_ANGLE_600.jpg

http://gizmodo.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/08/Pioneer_BDP-09FD_REAR-600.jpg

Pioneer Sneaks Out $2200 Elite BDP-09FD; First Blu-ray Player That Crushes the PS3 (http://gizmodo.com/5040707/pioneer-sneaks-out-2200-elite-bdp+09fd-first-blu+ray-player-that-crushes-the-ps3)

The only thing I want is the dual-HDMI out! That would be awesome, as my reciever doesn't have the best video processor. I would love to hook one HDMI Cable straight to the Panny Plasma and the other one just to the reciever! 1080P/24 & 7.1 DTS-HD & Dolby TrueHD!!!!

[RoboDad]

Man, I wants me one of those. Anybody want to start a fundraiser for me?

:monkey3

[hairlesswookiee]

pass....too much money. i'd rather spend the money on a new 65" tv. the PS3 looks great as a blu ray player and i don't see it as much of an improvement to warrant that much cash.

[UTtoyfan]

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Wellspring/Disc_Announcements/Wellspring_Brings_Fanboys_to_Blu-ray/2026

The movie "Fanboys" hasn't hit theaters yet (Sep. 19 according to IMDB), and the company has already announced the November 18th date for the Blu-ray release. That's fast! :horror

[Sick Boy 82]

pass....too much money. i'd rather spend the money on a new 65" tv. the PS3 looks great as a blu ray player and i don't see it as much of an improvement to warrant that much cash.

It's got an image processor out of a $185,000 projector!! It does 4 times the resolution of 1080P!!!! A 1080P processor is 2MP, the one in this receiver is 10MP! They had a 25 foot screen up and the guy couldn't see pixels at any distance. That's why is costs what it costs. And it does full DTS and Dolby out per channel, which means it will probably sound better than anything you've heard before.

And oh yeah, it weighs 50 lbs, so it can literally crush a PS3! :lol

Of course, it should have the label: "only ballers need apply", but hopefully in the light of stuff like, we will see a drop in other players prices and new models coming out around Black Friday for the first real push of Blu-Ray since it won the HD war. Hopefully we will be seeing nice players with the quality of the PS3 from around $200-$300.

[The ill Jedi]

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Wellspring/Disc_Announcements/Wellspring_Brings_Fanboys_to_Blu-ray/2026

The movie "Fanboys" hasn't hit theaters yet (Sep. 19 according to IMDB), and the company has already announced the November 18th date for the Blu-ray release. That's fast! :horror
I think it's gonna be a very limited release in theaters, that's why the DVD & BD will be coming out so soon after.

[The ill Jedi]

It's got an image processor out of a $185,000 projector!! It does 4 times the resolution of 1080P!!!! A 1080P processor is 2MP, the one in this receiver is 10MP! They had a 25 foot screen up and the guy couldn't see pixels at any distance. That's why is costs what it costs. And it does full DTS and Dolby out per channel, which means it will probably sound better than anything you've heard before.

And oh yeah, it weighs 50 lbs, so it can literally crush a PS3! :lol

Of course, it should have the label: "only ballers need apply", but hopefully in the light of stuff like, we will see a drop in other players prices and new models coming out around Black Friday for the first real push of Blu-Ray since it won the HD war. Hopefully we will be seeing nice players with the quality of the PS3 from around $200-$300.
Wow, wish I had the cash for that, sounds amazing!

[Reinhardt]

seriously sounds amazing. so on a regular 1080p tv though, does it make a difference that this dvd player is 4 times the resolution?

and what does it mean that it does full DTS and dolby per channel? what do the other dvd players do that are different?

[Sick Boy 82]

seriously sounds amazing. so on a regular 1080p tv though, does it make a difference that this dvd player is 4 times the resolution?

and what does it mean that it does full DTS and dolby per channel? what do the other dvd players do that are different?

Won't make much difference on a TV, it will make some and I'm sure the moives will run smoother, but if you ran it through a nice projector, this thing would kill!

It's more for high-end audio, when you don't have a receiver and have a pre-amp & amp(s) set-up instead. That's why it has separate audio outputs. That way you have a separate channel for each speaker and then run them to the amps. Just check out AVSForum.com and the guys wth the really nice set-ups don't have receivers. Receivers kill video and sound a lot of times, even when run through HDMI.

For example, I don't run my PS3 to my receiver with HDMI, only the Optical Out, as I don't like the way it processes my video for BR movies and the sound quality better through the Optical.

[Natrix]

It's got an image processor out of a $185,000 projector!! It does 4 times the resolution of 1080P!!!! A 1080P processor is 2MP, the one in this receiver is 10MP! They had a 25 foot screen up and the guy couldn't see pixels at any distance. That's why is costs what it costs. And it does full DTS and Dolby out per channel, which means it will probably sound better than anything you've heard before.

And oh yeah, it weighs 50 lbs, so it can literally crush a PS3! :lol

Of course, it should have the label: "only ballers need apply", but hopefully in the light of stuff like, we will see a drop in other players prices and new models coming out around Black Friday for the first real push of Blu-Ray since it won the HD war. Hopefully we will be seeing nice players with the quality of the PS3 from around $200-$300.

I don't know if you read both the articles but I think you are getting it a little twisted around. It sounds like the $185,000 projector combines four 1080P signals to get the 10MP where this blu ray player only uses the same image processor. The blu ray player can still only output 1080P which would still be 2MP unlike the projector. It will probably process the image better if it is a high end processor but I don't know how much sharper the image will be due to the limits of a 1080P output.

The 2 HDMI ports are cool for true audio/videophiles and it would probably be worth it for an actual home theater but for the vast majority of people it would be overkill.

[Natrix]

For example, I don't run my PS3 to my receiver with HDMI, only the Optical Out, as I don't like the way it processes my video for BR movies and the sound quality better through the Optical.

I don't know what you use for a PS3/receiver combo but I notice a HUGE difference between HMDI and optical sound and HDMI sounds better to me everytime because of the bandwidth for the advanced audio formats.

[Sick Boy 82]

I don't know what you use for a PS3/receiver combo but I notice a HUGE difference between HMDI and optical sound and HDMI sounds better to me everytime because of the bandwidth for the advanced audio formats.

I have an old *** Sony that isn't that great, on of the first with HDMI and doesn't do all the fancy codecs. Saving up for an Onkyo TX-SR806!!

[Reinhardt]

Won't make much difference on a TV, it will make some and I'm sure the moives will run smoother, but if you ran it through a nice projector, this thing would kill!

It's more for high-end audio, when you don't have a receiver and have a pre-amp & amp(s) set-up instead. That's why it has separate audio outputs. That way you have a separate channel for each speaker and then run them to the amps. Just check out AVSForum.com and the guys wth the really nice set-ups don't have receivers. Receivers kill video and sound a lot of times, even when run through HDMI.

For example, I don't run my PS3 to my receiver with HDMI, only the Optical Out, as I don't like the way it processes my video for BR movies and the sound quality better through the Optical.

thanks bro. i'll probably be having more questions for you as i shop for a bluray player and new receiver soon.

[Sick Boy 82]

I don't know if you read both the articles but I think you are getting it a little twisted around. It sounds like the $185,000 projector combines four 1080P signals to get the 10MP where this blu ray player only uses the same image processor. The blu ray player can still only output 1080P which would still be 2MP unlike the projector. It will probably process the image better if it is a high end processor but I don't know how much sharper the image will be due to the limits of a 1080P output.

The 2 HDMI ports are cool for true audio/videophiles and it would probably be worth it for an actual home theater but for the vast majority of people it would be overkill.

Yeah, this won't do anything really on your TV, but a nice projector will really shine through. You will probably see smoother video, but not a resolution change, because your TV is the limiting factor.

And sorry, I guess I didn't clarify that of course the Pioneer won't be out putting at 10MP, just the projector.

[Natrix]

I have an old *** Sony that isn't that great, on of the first with HDMI and doesn't do all the fancy codecs. Saving up for an Onkyo TX-SR806!!

You should still be able to have the PS3 decode everything (True HD or DTS-HD MA) to PCM and send that to your receiver. You really don't need a newer receiver to do the decoding as long as your receiver can accept multichannel PCM though HDMI. You should then be able to notice a difference.

Is your PS3 updated to the latest firmware so that it can decode both of those codecs? Did you check the correct audio settings in the PS3 set up so that it outputs the correct audio signals when you were connected through HDMI?

AUDIO SETTINGS

From the XMB Settings menu there are two drop down menus that you will need to check.

* First there is the "BD/DVD Settings" menu which include a sub-menu for setting the audio output format (with sub-menus for each HDMI and Optical outputs).

* Also from the XMB Settings menu there is a drop down menu for "Sound Settings" and it is here that you select to have the audio output via either HDMI or Optical (one or the other, not both) with sub-menus under each for selecting the specific audio formats to be supported for that type of output.


In most cases: You should set your PS3 to output Bitstream if you are using an optical digitial connection (i.e., Toslink) from the PS3 to your Audio/Video Receiver (AVR), and you should set it to LPCM if you using a HDMI connection to an AVR. These are the default settings.

The PS3 will not bitstream advanced audio formats to your AVR (i.e., it can only bitstream basic Dolby Digital and DTS surround audio formats). The PS3 can decode all of the Blu-ray Disc standard and optional audio formats and convert them to multichannel LPCM and pass that to your AVR via HDMI. Thus, to get the full advantage from the superior audio formats offered on BD, as compared to DVD, you must connect your PS3 to an AVR that has HDMI inputs that can accept multichannel LPCM (most AVRs that have HDMI inputs can do this except for a very few low-end models).

The PS3 console has three types of audio outputs. The advanced high resolution Dolby, DTS and multi-channel PCM surround audio formats are only fully supported when using the HDMI output. However, if you are willing to live with just a 2-channel output in PCM (rather than the full surround sound formats) the improved fidelity offered by the advanced high resolution audio formats can be provided via the optical digital audio and even the analog audio outputs. Also Standard Dolby and DTS surround formats (as used on DVDs) can be output via the optical (Toslink) digital audio connection in bitstream format. The following table shows what audio format is output for each type of connection for the different audio formats that may be found on BDs, DVD, and SACD (Super Audio CDs).

http://www.dtvmax.com/images/PS3_Audio_Table.jpg

[Natrix]

Yeah, this won't do anything really on your TV, but a nice projector will really shine through. You will probably see smoother video, but not a resolution change, because your TV is the limiting factor.

And sorry, I guess I didn't clarify that of course the Pioneer won't be out putting at 10MP, just the projector.

I don't think I was the only one that was confused. I think everyone else thought you were saying the Pioneer was outputting 10MP too.

[Sick Boy 82]

I have mine before the HD audio came around. I got it in Japan in 2003 before I came back to the states. Ask Josh (DA81), I had the most pimped sound system in the barrack (4 huge towers and 4 sorrounds) except for the TV. But me and my roommate did have a 40" tube tv! The thing weighed like 300-400 lbs.!

[shiveringmelody]

I finally broke down and got a PS3 to go with my new tv (52 inches of a visual heaven with HD and tivo!.....gah tv just got so much better, now I just need some Bose speakers to complete my home theater). I can't wait to see Iron Man on blu-ray, I just wish Stand By Me was on blu-ray! X-mas should be very good for me with that Bank Robber Joker and TDK on blu-ray!!

[Darth Waller]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/business/media/27disney.html?_r=3&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Disney, like other media companies, is counting on high-definition Blu-ray discs — and companion technology that connects them to the Internet — to reinvigorate its highly profitable home entertainment business. But so far, Blu-ray players are selling more slowly than expected, apparently because people are not convinced they need a better DVD experience.

So Disney is sending in the troops. The company will release five “platinum” titles from its library in the Blu-ray format over the next two years, hoping that classic animated movies will spur wider interest.

The films are “Pinocchio,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Fantasia,” “Fantasia 2000” and “Beauty and the Beast.” The company had previously announced plans to introduce one such title, “Sleeping Beauty.”

[Kabukiman]

It's time for a bit of mea culpa from me...

You see, ever since I got my PS3 specifically to play Blu-Ray discs, I've been whining about how Blu-Ray isn't all that much better than DVD. My standard line has been that the sound is superior to DVD, but the picture isn't all that (other than a seemingly wider color pallette).

I came to this conclusion when I compared PotC 2 Blu-Ray and standard and well as Halloween, back to back. While I could tell the difference when I sat right up to the screen, I couldn't tell the difference from my couch.

I researched and kind of determined my tv set was too small to see the difference. (37")

Well, long story short, I've suspected I was near-sighted for some time now. Last week, I got tested and confirmed it. The optometrist said that it was pretty mild and I could get by without glasses, but said I would have an easier time seeing the scoreboard at Miller Park with glasses.

I picked up my prescription today, and let me tell you, I was way the ^^^^ wrong about Blu-Ray not being a significant upgrade from standard. I watched a couple movies and did some comparisons again, and standard DVD just looks like garbage now.

[Natrix]

It's time for a bit of mia culpa from me...

You see, ever since I got my PS3 specifically to play Blu-Ray discs, I've been whining about how Blu-Ray isn't all that much better than DVD. My standard line has been that the sound is superior to DVD, but the picture isn't all that (other than a seemingly wider color pallette).

I came to this conclusion when I compared PotC 2 Blu-Ray and standard and well as Halloween, back to back. While I could tell the difference when I sat right up to the screen, I couldn't tell the difference from my couch.

I researched and kind of determined my tv set was too small to see the difference. (37")

Well, long story short, I've suspected I was near-sighted for some time now. Last week, I got tested an confirmed it. The optometrist said that it was pretty mild and I could get by without glasses, but said I would have an easier time seeing the scoreboard at Miller Park with glasses.

I picked up my prescription today, and let me tell you, I was way the ^^^^ wrong about Blu-Ray not being a significant upgrade from standard. I watched a couple movies and did some comparisons again, and standard DVD just looks like garbage now.

You've just taken your first step into a larger world. :lol

[Vader AL]

It's time for a bit of mea culpa from me...

You see, ever since I got my PS3 specifically to play Blu-Ray discs, I've been whining about how Blu-Ray isn't all that much better than DVD. My standard line has been that the sound is superior to DVD, but the picture isn't all that (other than a seemingly wider color pallette).

I came to this conclusion when I compared PotC 2 Blu-Ray and standard and well as Halloween, back to back. While I could tell the difference when I sat right up to the screen, I couldn't tell the difference from my couch.

I researched and kind of determined my tv set was too small to see the difference. (37")

Well, long story short, I've suspected I was near-sighted for some time now. Last week, I got tested and confirmed it. The optometrist said that it was pretty mild and I could get by without glasses, but said I would have an easier time seeing the scoreboard at Miller Park with glasses.

I picked up my prescription today, and let me tell you, I was way the ^^^^ wrong about Blu-Ray not being a significant upgrade from standard. I watched a couple movies and did some comparisons again, and standard DVD just looks like garbage now.

i hope you aren't an umpire for the Brewers........:confused:

:D

[The ill Jedi]

...I picked up my prescription today, and let me tell you, I was way the ^^^^ wrong about Blu-Ray not being a significant upgrade from standard. I watched a couple movies and did some comparisons again, and standard DVD just looks like garbage now.
:rock :rock :rock

[hairlesswookiee]

yup HD is a major upgrade from DVD. right now my tv is only 720p and i literally crapped myself the first time i watched a blu ray. just wait until you get a serious surround system. that's another huge leap above DVD.

[GuruAskew]

yup HD is a major upgrade from DVD. right now my tv is only 720p and i literally crapped myself the first time i watched a blu ray. just wait until you get a serious surround system. that's another huge leap above DVD.

You actually defecated in your pants?

Have you ever heard David Cross's bit about people misusing the word "literally"?

[galactiboy]

Man, I can't wait to get a BluRay player... I could buy one now, but it would be more responsible to wait until the end of the month when I get paid.

Probably would have done it already, but the wife needed a camcorder... goodbye $400 :monkey2

[UTtoyfan]

It's time for a bit of mea culpa from me...

You see, ever since I got my PS3 specifically to play Blu-Ray discs, I've been whining about how Blu-Ray isn't all that much better than DVD. My standard line has been that the sound is superior to DVD, but the picture isn't all that (other than a seemingly wider color pallette).

I came to this conclusion when I compared PotC 2 Blu-Ray and standard and well as Halloween, back to back. While I could tell the difference when I sat right up to the screen, I couldn't tell the difference from my couch.

I researched and kind of determined my tv set was too small to see the difference. (37")

Well, long story short, I've suspected I was near-sighted for some time now. Last week, I got tested and confirmed it. The optometrist said that it was pretty mild and I could get by without glasses, but said I would have an easier time seeing the scoreboard at Miller Park with glasses.

I picked up my prescription today, and let me tell you, I was way the ^^^^ wrong about Blu-Ray not being a significant upgrade from standard. I watched a couple movies and did some comparisons again, and standard DVD just looks like garbage now.

Glad you finally saw the light. Hallelujah!:banana :D

[Batty]

Akira will be released on Blu-ray in February.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1826

[uscmhicks]

awesome. :rock

[CelticPredator]

I'll wait till the price goes down. I do not see my self paying for $30 movies.

[Sick Boy 82]

I'll wait till the price goes down. I do not see my self paying for $30 movies.

I've nerver, ever paid $30 on Amazon, even for brand new movies. They usually sell for around $20. And they are having a huge 50% sale on 4-pages worth of BR movies.

[McHavyck]

Akira will be released on Blu-ray in February.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1826

:drool :drool
:rock :rock

[CelticPredator]

I've nerver, ever paid $30 on Amazon, even for brand new movies. They usually sell for around $20. And they are having a huge 50% sale on 4-pages worth of BR movies.

Here its always 30. They're selling What Happens in Vegas for 30 bucks...:monkey4

[Vader AL]

From Netflix:

Dear XXXXX,

As you may know, Blu-ray movies are more expensive than standard definition movies. As a result, we're going to start charging $1 a month (plus applicable taxes), in addition to your monthly membership charge, for unlimited access to Blu-ray movies.

The additional charge for unlimited Blu-ray access will be automatically added to your next billing statement on or after November 5th, 2008 and will be referenced in your Membership Terms and Details. If you wish to continue getting Blu-ray movies for $1 a month more, you don't need to do anything. If not, you can remove Blu-ray access anytime by visiting Your Account at the Netflix website.

If you have questions about this change or need any assistance, please call us anytime at 1-888-638-3549.

-The Netflix Team

[galactiboy]

Akira will be released on Blu-ray in February.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1826

Awesome, that is a definite must have film :rock

[Kabukiman]

From Netflix:...

As long as they don't take away my multiple profiles again, I'll gladly give them their extra dollar.

[Batty]

Anyone see this deal? Buy a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player and get the Ultimate Matrix Collection for free.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-BD-P1500-1080p-Blu-ray-Player/dp/B0014H16V0/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1224047795&sr=8-1

[IrishJedi]

Pretty kewl WB Blu-ray Sale @ DEEP DISCOUNT (http://www.deepdiscount.com/DVD----Warner-Blu-ray-Sale_stcVVcatId479899VVviewcat.htm?utm_campaign=22 165wbbluray&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=10-06-08&?utm_source=WhatCounts). Some as low as $14.76 (including ROAD WARRIOR, THE SHINING, and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE). :rock

[Sick Boy 82]

Dude, Clockwork Orange rocks so hard on BR!!!! That, Blade Runner and Kingdonm of Heaven Directors Cut are absolutely stunning on BR!!!!

[Krypto]

Anyone see this deal? Buy a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player and get the Ultimate Matrix Collection for free.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-BD-P1500-1080p-Blu-ray-Player/dp/B0014H16V0/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1224047795&sr=8-1

If this were a Panasonic or Sony player, I would jump right on this deal, because I would buy the Matrix Collection on Blu-Ray anyway. But it being a Samsung player, it would have to be closer to $150 for me to consider it. They make great LCD's, but not good BR players. Circuit City has the best in-store deal on this though - $249.99 + Free Matrix BR.

[UTtoyfan]

Fry's Electronics will have each of the 6 Bond movies coming out on Blu-ray tomorrow for $16.99 each. This is in store ONLY and is good for tomorrow only.
That's the cheapest I've seen for these.

http://shopping.dallasnews.com/ROP/Ads.aspx?advid=2519

[Fritz]

Interesting Article...

SOURCE - ZDnet (http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=365)

Blu-ray is dead - heckuva job, Sony!
Posted by Robin Harris @ 12:31 pm

Blu-ray is in a death spiral. 12 months from now Blu-ray will be a videophile niche, not a mass market product.

With only a 4% share of US movie disc sales and HD download capability arriving, the Blu-ray disc Association (BDA) is still smoking dope. Even $150 Blu-ray players won’t save it.

16 months ago I called the HD war for Blu-ray. My bad. Who dreamed they could both lose?

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory
Delusional Sony exec Rick Clancy needs to put the crack pipe down and really look at the market dynamics.

In a nutshell: consumers drive the market and they don’t care about Blu-ray’s theoretical advantages. Especially during a world-wide recession.

Remember Betamax? SACD? Minidisk? Laser Disk? DVD-Audio? There are more losers than winners in consumer storage formats.

It’s all about volume. 8 months after Toshiba threw in the towel, Blu-ray still doesn’t have it.

The Blu-ray Disc Association doesn’t get it
$150 Blu-ray disc players are a good start, but it won’t take Blu-ray over the finish line. The BDA is stuck in the past with a flawed five-year-old strategy.

The original game plan
Two things killed the original strategy. First the fight with HD DVD stalled the industry for two years. Initial enthusiasm for high definition video on disk was squandered.

Second, the advent of low cost up-sampling DVD players dramatically cut the video quality advantage of Blu-ray DVDs. Suddenly, for $100, your average consumer can put good video on their HDTV using standard DVDs. When Blu-ray got started no one dreamed this would happen.

Piggies at the trough
The Blu-ray Disc Association hoped for a massive cash bonanza as millions of consumers discovered that standard DVDs looked awful on HDTV. To cash in they loaded Blu-ray licenses with costly fees. Blu-ray doesn’t just suck for consumers: small producers can’t afford it either.

According to Digital Content Producer Blu-ray doesn’t cut it for business:

Recordable discs don’t play reliably across the range of Blu-ray players - so you can’t do low-volume runs yourself.
Service bureau reproduction runs $20 per single layer disc in quantities of 300 or less.
Hollywood style printed/replicated Blu-ray discs are considerably cheaper once you reach the thousand unit quantity: just $3.50 per disc.
High-quality authoring programs like Sony Blu-print or Sonic Solutions Scenarist cost $40,000.
The Advanced Access Content System - the already hacked DRM - has a one-time fee of $3000 plus a per project cost of almost $1600 plus $.04 per disk. And who defines “project?”
Then the Blu-ray disc Association charges another $3000 annually to use their very exclusive - on 4% of all video disks! - logo.
That’s why you don’t see quirky indie flicks on Blu-ray. Small producers can’t afford it - even though they shoot in HDV and HD.

The Storage Bits take
Don’t expect Steve Jobs to budge from his “bag of hurt” understatement. Or Final Cut Studio support for Blu-ray. I suspect that Jobs is using his Hollywood clout from his board seat on Disney and his control of iTunes to try to talk sense to the BDA.

But the BDA won’t budge. They, like so much of Hollywood, are stuck in the past.

A forward looking strategy would include:

Recognition that consumers don’t need Blu-ray. It is a nice-to-have and must be priced accordingly.
Accept the money spent on Blu-ray is gone and will never earn back the investment. Then you can begin thinking clearly about how to maximize Blu-ray penetration.
The average consumer will probably pay $50 more for a Blu-ray player that is competitive with the average up-sampling DVD player. Most of the current Blu-ray players are junk: slow, feature-poor and way over-priced.
Disk price margins can’t be higher than DVDs and probably should be less. The question the studios need to ask is: “do we want to be selling disks in 5 years?” No? Then keep it up. Turn distribution over to your very good friends at Comcast, Apple and Time Warner. You’ll be like Procter & Gamble paying Safeway to stock your products.
Fire all the market research firms telling you how great it is going to be. They are playing you. Your #1 goal: market share. High volume is your only chance to earn your way out of this mess and keep some control of your distribution.
Time is short. Timid incrementalism will kill you.

Like Agent Smith delivering the bad news to a complacent cop: “No, Lieutenant, your men are already dead.”

[blakus939]

good, is all i can say on the topic

[darthviper107]

I don't like how Blu-Ray won, but they definitely have made mistakes.

Really they should reduce the cost of players, they aren't going to make much money on players anyways and the point is to get people to replace their DVD collection with Blu-Ray, and for the average consumer they won't care when the players are $200 and up. Plus people don't really know what high-definition is, it gets applied to so many things and in Blu-Ray commercials they just say High Definition and that's it and no one knows why they should care.

[Batty]

Serenity Blu-ray details-

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=2023

[UTtoyfan]

Serenity Blu-ray details-

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=2023

Can't wait!:banana

[Kabukiman]

Recordable discs don’t play reliably across the range of Blu-ray players - so you can’t do low-volume runs yourself.
Service bureau reproduction runs $20 per single layer disc in quantities of 300 or less.

How quickly we forget DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RDL, DVD+RDL, etc.

Recordable DVDs were also costing about $20 per disc during the infancy of the format. This is nothing new.

The article does make a point about the upconverting DVD players though, many people do not see a big enough of a difference to make the switch. More and more people are switching to BD, but I don't think we'll ever see the mass switch like we did from VHS to DVD though.

[Krypto]

I've been saying it for a few years now - Blu-Ray is the new Laserdisc. It's there for the small group of people that want the absolute best quality available, even though to the vast majority of people, it's a small improvement that's not worth the extra time and money to invest in. It might stick around for a couple of more years, but I don't see Blu-Ray lasting much longer than that.

Upconverters are certainly hurting Blu-Ray sales. I recently bought a Pioneer 1080p upconverting player and am amazed at how DVD's look. It's remarkably close to Blu-Ray, IMO. Before buying this player, I was likely going to switch to Blu-Ray once we started seeing $99 players and -$10 discs, but now...no way. And the thing is that these upconverters will only get better with time.

Well...maybe when they're $99 or less, I may pick one up and a few of my favorites that are available, but otherwise, DVD is still the format to beat.

[Sick Boy 82]

I don't know, I love my PS3 and my new BR collection!!

I don't really see BR going away anytime soon. Just look for prices to come down this year during the holidays.

And just buy your stuff on Amazon and cheap e-tailers like that, so much cheaper than BB and CC and other B&M stores!

Also, just picked up The Incredible Hulk, The Bank Job and IM on BR!!!! They look ^^^^ing awesome!! Can't wait for Wall-E, TDK Tropic Thunder and the rest that are all coming in the next few weeks!!!!

[Jesseawilson]

I've been saying it for a few years now - Blu-Ray is the new Laserdisc. It's there for the small group of people that want the absolute best quality available, even though to the vast majority of people, it's a small improvement that's not worth the extra time and money to invest in. It might stick around for a couple of more years, but I don't see Blu-Ray lasting much longer than that.

Upconverters are certainly hurting Blu-Ray sales. I recently bought a Pioneer 1080p upconverting player and am amazed at how DVD's look. It's remarkably close to Blu-Ray, IMO. Before buying this player, I was likely going to switch to Blu-Ray once we started seeing $99 players and -$10 discs, but now...no way. And the thing is that these upconverters will only get better with time.

Well...maybe when they're $99 or less, I may pick one up and a few of my favorites that are available, but otherwise, DVD is still the format to beat.

I don't care what anyone says. On my 1080P TV I notice a significant difference between DVD and Blu-ray. Since I was already buying a PS3 all I am spending is an extra $5-$8 a movie which is more then worth it to me. Did I go out and sell off all my DVD's like I did my VHS when DVD came out? No. But I did however buy some of my favorite movies over again in Blu-ray and they were worth it. I would much rather have 2 Blu-ray movies then 3 DVD's any day.

[Sick Boy 82]

I don't care what anyone says. On my 1080P TV I notice a significant difference between DVD and Blu-ray. Since I was already buying a PS3 all I am spending is an extra $5-$8 a movie which is more then worth it to me. Did I go out and sell off all my DVD's like I did my VHS when DVD came out? No. But I did however buy some of my favorite movies over again in Blu-ray and they were worth it. I would much rather have 2 Blu-ray movies then 3 DVD's any day.

Hell yes brother!! All hail 1080p in all it's ridiculously amazing glory!!!!

And hey, if you thought regular movies couldn't look any better on BR, just check out cartoons on BR!!!! The new Futurama movie looks so damned amazing on BR! My friend had an early copy and its just frakkin' awesome!!

[darthviper107]

How quickly we forget DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RDL, DVD+RDL, etc.

Recordable DVDs were also costing about $20 per disc during the infancy of the format. This is nothing new.

The article does make a point about the upconverting DVD players though, many people do not see a big enough of a difference to make the switch. More and more people are switching to BD, but I don't think we'll ever see the mass switch like we did from VHS to DVD though.

It's not the burning part that's the problem. It's that you might get a Blu-Ray burner drive for your computer and anything you burn only plays on half of the players you try it on, even though it's supposed to work on everything.

[Radagaster]

Hmm . . .I do have to agree however that BR discs should be set at a nice price to even be tempting. The attempt by Disney to throw in the original DVD alongside the BR disc is certainly helpful. It sure smells like what HD-DVD did with the combo discs.

Meanwhile, it is looking like BR is ending up like a niche market. For the non-discerning customer, an upconverted DVD is certainly nice, especially with the picture qualities of today's DVD discs. I know that the only thing I'm getting with the BR version is:
1) scoff-proof discs
2) less number of discs required
3) possibly higher audio bitrates
4) BR exclusives (PiP and seeing the specials in HD)

Still, that may not win over the average Joe. And therein lies the rub. What would make the average Joe want to buy BR? Because the audio or video quality may not be the slam dunk . . .

[wookster]

The problem is that the leap from VHS to DVD was a quantum leap, I was utterly amazed. But now I have regular DVD, a HD TV and surround sound and I'm happy. I've seen friends Blu-Ray but I wasn't convinced, no big jump at all.

[darthviper107]

For me it's a pretty big deal.

Perhaps once OLED displays become big it will make a difference. They've got 4 times as many pixels as current HD displays and since the next format is already being worked on--which is basically IMAX size, but they'll probably just go to theater resolution 4K--then it'll probably make people skip Blu-Ray and just go for that.

[quadcent]

what...... :horrori've still got some HD movies on order through amazon, does this mean i'm probably not getting them. when did this happen, bluray wins over hd????

[hydrobud]

im staying with regular DVD until its obsolete . i have way to many movies to change formats now.

[darthviper107]

what...... :horrori've still got some HD movies on order through amazon, does this mean i'm probably not getting them. when did this happen, bluray wins over hd????

If you mean HD-DVD then you should still be able to get it if it's in stock. And Blu-Ray shouldn't be going away any time soon.

[Krypto]

I don't care what anyone says. On my 1080P TV I notice a significant difference between DVD and Blu-ray. Since I was already buying a PS3 all I am spending is an extra $5-$8 a movie which is more then worth it to me. Did I go out and sell off all my DVD's like I did my VHS when DVD came out? No. But I did however buy some of my favorite movies over again in Blu-ray and they were worth it. I would much rather have 2 Blu-ray movies then 3 DVD's any day.

I did an A-B comparison between Blu-Ray and an upconverted DVD on my 42 inch Panny plasma. I used Batman Begins. I would really tell very little difference between the two, even in close-ups. The power of a Blu-Ray is greatly diminished when you have a very good DVD transfer being utilized by a Pioneer or Oppo upconverter. As wookster said, the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray is not that big, certainly not as much as VHS to DVD was. Blu-Ray is more to DVD what Laserdisc was to VHS.

Blu-Ray is more and more turning out to be a PS3 format, as opposed to a home video format, since the PS3 is the only machine that will play 99.9% of all discs it seems. And shelling out an extra $200+ for the PS3 versus a standalone (which likely won't play a percentage of discs) is not helping the format's growth at all.

[NASEDO]

Some Hi-Def DVD's look great and some just like dvd.
The Blu-ray Pirates of the Caribbean films look good and "The Thing" on HD-DVD looks awesome. But I do find myself ordering more blu-ray movies now. Unless the price is too much from regular dvd.

[barbelith]

The power of a Blu-Ray is greatly diminished when you have a very good DVD transfer being utilized by a Pioneer or Oppo upconverter.

Not really. The best technology in the world can't invent image data from nothing. Once you know what to look for in an image it's impossible to mistake even the best DVD for a true 1080p picture.

[wofford29]

Not really. The best technology in the world can't invent image data from nothing. Once you know what to look for in an image it's impossible to mistake even the best DVD for a true 1080p picture.

Depending on the size of your screen and your viewing distance.

[Sick Boy 82]

Not really. The best technology in the world can't invent image data from nothing. Once you know what to look for in an image it's impossible to mistake even the best DVD for a true 1080p picture.

Seriously! When I first got my HD-A30, I watched Top Gun on HD-DVD. And it was so much more amazing than watching it on my HD-DVD add-on player! I mean it kicked the DVDs *** from front to back and all around! I'd never really "seen" a film before. I noticed all the little imperfection on the film and loved it. It made the experience so much more!!

Oh and just to let you know, I've literally seen Top Gun about 100+ times. I was in the Navy and it's the standard drunk movie to watch with your friends and laugh at at how wrong they got EVERYTHING!! lol

[Jair]

I did an A-B comparison between Blu-Ray and an upconverted DVD on my 42 inch Panny plasma. I used Batman Begins. I would really tell very little difference between the two, even in close-ups. The power of a Blu-Ray is greatly diminished when you have a very good DVD transfer being utilized by a Pioneer or Oppo upconverter. As wookster said, the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray is not that big, certainly not as much as VHS to DVD was. Blu-Ray is more to DVD what Laserdisc was to VHS.

Blu-Ray is more and more turning out to be a PS3 format, as opposed to a home video format, since the PS3 is the only machine that will play 99.9% of all discs it seems. And shelling out an extra $200+ for the PS3 versus a standalone (which likely won't play a percentage of discs) is not helping the format's growth at all.

I'd really like to see some kinda backup to the statement that the PS3 is the only machine that will play all the discs, are you speaking to all the extra features that blue ray dics have and that some players are not 2.0 or are you saying there is % of bluray movies that only play on certain players? I've heard that certain discs have write error flaws but thats been the same with regular dvd's over the years as well.

If you want to deal with upconvert that's fine but your only going to get
1080P out of the blueray not to mention the much superior audio tracks then your going to find on dvd's. I see a huge difference in the upconvert to 1080p and that's using an oppo.

There are more and more bluerays being released and I couldn't be happier :)




Evan

[DarkArtist81]

Oh and just to let you know, I've literally seen Top Gun about 100+ times. I was in the Navy and it's the standard drunk movie to watch with your friends and laugh at at how wrong they got EVERYTHING!! lol

:rotfl:lol:rotfl:lol

Yeah, you have to love all those incorrect hand signals and such. :duff

[Radagaster]

Seriously! When I first got my HD-A30, I watched Top Gun on HD-DVD. And it was so much more amazing than watching it on my HD-DVD add-on player! I mean it kicked the DVDs *** from front to back and all around! I'd never really "seen" a film before. I noticed all the little imperfection on the film and loved it. It made the experience so much more!!

Oh and just to let you know, I've literally seen Top Gun about 100+ times. I was in the Navy and it's the standard drunk movie to watch with your friends and laugh at at how wrong they got EVERYTHING!! lol

Hrm , that's probably because the encoding of the original DVD sucked that bad, that seeing the HD version is light years better!

The comparison gets blurred with DVDs coming out of late. I'd like to see someone say that they can tell a huge diff when they see the DVD version of the same recent movie versus its HD version.

[Krypto]

Not really. The best technology in the world can't invent image data from nothing. Once you know what to look for in an image it's impossible to mistake even the best DVD for a true 1080p picture.

I'm something of a videophile. I know what to look for. ;)

Not once did I say Blu-Ray didn't look better than DVD. It's more dependent on the source material and mastering though. Blu-Ray has more resolution, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the picture quality is going to be significantly better, it just means there's more lines of resolution. If the mastering is not up to par, it's a waste. And with Blu-Ray, some of them look fabulous and some look like an upconverted DVD. Personally, I found the difference to be negligible depending on viewing distance and not worth the price to upgrade right now. From 10-12 feet, my Pioneer produces an image on my Panny plasma that looks as good as Blu-Ray. When there's $99 Blu-Ray players that will actually play every Blu-Ray disc, then I'll bite.

[Radagaster]

I'm something of a videophile. I know what to look for. ;)

You realize your statement contradicts your action. If you're a videophile, no amount of cost will deter you from getting the latest in video technology. So, to hold out on BR or anything HD (ie, 1080p native resolution) does not support your claim of being a videophile.

Me? I'm just a techno-nut. Latest gadgetry is stuff I'm into, so BR is just part of that.

[Krypto]

Being a videophile does not mean that you need to be a gullible consumer and buy into a format spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a format that was rushed to store shelves and 2-3 years later remains unfinished without a final spec. DVD, with a quality upconverter, provides wonderful image quality provided that the DVD itself is well mastered and properly encoded.

[barbelith]

I'd like to see someone say that they can tell a huge diff when they see the DVD version of the same recent movie versus its HD version.

I certainly see a huge and immediate difference on my 46" display.

not worth the price to upgrade right now

I can sympathize with that perspective, especially in this economy.

[hairlesswookiee]

I can sympathize with that perspective, especially in this economy.

yeah, but with the prices dropping the way they are now there's no excuse why not to have a blu ray player. there's already $199 players on the market. i'm not sure how much longer it'll take to get to $99, but true videophiles would definitely buy at this price.

[Sick Boy 82]

I don't think I could live without BR!!!! BR movies looks better to me than at the theater!!!!

The only thing I still buy on DVD is porn and some BMX videos, as they don't do enough volume to justify paying for a BR transfer.

I just won't watch HD porn!! Ugh, gross. Even ******s don't look good in High-Def!! But I do have a couple of Girls Gone Wild on BR. lol

Just got Sunshine on Blu-Ray and it looked frakkin' amazing!!! Oh god did it look pretty!!!

[UTtoyfan]

Dang, they have porn of Blu-ray now? That's kinda scary for reals.:horror

[Sick Boy 82]

Yeah, not hot at all. You'd be surpirsed how well DVD hides girls messed up faces under all that whorey makeup!!

That's why I like GGW. Gives me exactly what I need. And 99% of the time, the girls are always smoking hot.

[uscmhicks]

guys , were talking about porn on a collectible forum.

SHHHHHhhhhh !!. Theres mods around . :joy:rotfl

[Bannister]

guys , were talking about porn on a collectible forum.

SHHHHHhhhhh !!. Theres mods around . :joy:rotfl

They're too busy watching porn.

[uscmhicks]

:lol:lol:lol:lol

[gdb]

guys , were talking about porn on a collectible forum.

SHHHHHhhhhh !!. Theres mods around . :joy:rotfl

Men who visit collectibles forums need porn most of all! (I know I do.) :monkey2 :wacky

[UTtoyfan]

They're too busy watching porn.

:joy:joy:banana:banana

:monkey3:monkey3

[GrueSam]

http://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forums/images/smilies/lurking.gif

[Krypto]

yeah, but with the prices dropping the way they are now there's no excuse why not to have a blu ray player. there's already $199 players on the market. i'm not sure how much longer it'll take to get to $99, but true videophiles would definitely buy at this price.

Sure there are. The problem isn't that prices are astronomical. They're not. It's that the format isn't completed and it was rushed out to compete with Toshiba's finished HD-DVD. Many standalone players won't play certain discs, which is inexcusable. The only truly great Blu-Ray player is the PS3 and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $400 for a power-hog of a machine just to watch Blu-Ray's. It's been 2-3 years since the format launched and still things remain unchanged. A major release like the Bond movies not being able to play on players that people spent several hundred dollars on is a screw-up on an epic scale and is very indicative of the format as a whole.

If Sony came out with a 10 or 20 GB PS3 for $200, they would sell-out because those of us who don't want to spend hundreds on a standalone that won't work a few months down the road would go for a cheap PS3 quickly. Sony wants to boost sales of the PS3? There you go.

[Josette]

yeah, but with the prices dropping the way they are now there's no excuse why not to have a blu ray player. there's already $199 players on the market. i'm not sure how much longer it'll take to get to $99, but true videophiles would definitely buy at this price.

For me what it comes down to is - do I want to keep collecting, or do I want a Blu-Ray player? Easy choice, since I already have all the movies and tv shows that I want on dvd and they're perfectly watchable. Collecting wins.

Maybe if I had more disposable income I might consider getting a Blu-Ray player, but even then I think I would put into my house instead because I wouldn't feel like I was wasting it.

A Blu-Ray player won't make a bad movie good, nor will it make me love my favorites any more than I already do. And I can enjoy them on dvd and put that money into something worth more to me.

[Natrix]

Sure there are. The problem isn't that prices are astronomical. They're not. It's that the format isn't completed and it was rushed out to compete with Toshiba's finished HD-DVD. Many standalone players won't play certain discs, which is inexcusable. The only truly great Blu-Ray player is the PS3 and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $400 for a power-hog of a machine just to watch Blu-Ray's. It's been 2-3 years since the format launched and still things remain unchanged. A major release like the Bond movies not being able to play on players that people spent several hundred dollars on is a screw-up on an epic scale and is very indicative of the format as a whole.

If Sony came out with a 10 or 20 GB PS3 for $200, they would sell-out because those of us who don't want to spend hundreds on a standalone that won't work a few months down the road would go for a cheap PS3 quickly. Sony wants to boost sales of the PS3? There you go.

Two words: firmware updates.

[Sick Boy 82]

The thing is, there are newer BR players that play everything for well unde the PS3s $400 mark, so why does everyone keep on bringing the PS3 up. Yes, it's one of the best BR players now. But there have been plenty of 1.0 players that played ever disc, just not all the BR-Live content.

From all 40 plus BR movies I have, I've never really screwed with the extras other than the comentary just like I do a regular movie. None of it really matters to me. But I must have a cool commentary track. If I don't, I almost don't think the movie is worth buying. I wanna hear what the director & actors really think of the movie!

That's why I can't wait for the new SModcast so I can go and watch Zack & Miri Make a Porno again with their podcast commentary track!!!!

So, to make my point, there are plenty of under $400 & $300 BE plyaers out there. And just wait for Black Friday!! Expect near $100 players with all the price cuts. Then maybe everyone will stop complaining about the prices!!!!

I love the format and hope it stays for a long time. I think that 4K is awhile off, so I'm not to worried about BR dying off soon. Until then, 99% of new moives will be on BR for me!!

[Starkiller]

The thing is, there are newer BR players that play everything for well unde the PS3s $400 mark, so why does everyone keep on bringing the PS3 up.



Because it's also a gaming machine as well as a blu-ray player. More bang for your buck.

[Sick Boy 82]

Because it's also a gaming machine as well as a blu-ray player. More bang for your buck.

I know I have one and love it. But it seems like the people hating on BR keep bringing it up as the most expensive BR player. Hell, that baby is on the cheap end and like you said, a killer console too!!

There have been cheaper BR players over the last 6 months or so. All $300 and cheaper. The thing is, they are upconverting your old DVDs as well as playing BRs. So whats the big deal??

Hell, I don't mind spending the extra money, as I can tell and like the difference BR brings. Can't wait to get HBII, Wall-E, Tropic Thunder & TDK and tons of other BRs coming out soon!!!!

[UTtoyfan]

Let's get back to Blu-ray love in the thread. :D
How about this? $9.99 Blu-rays. Some new titles in there (Sex and the City, Harold and Kumar 2)

http://search.inetvideo.com/search?w=blu-ray&view=grid

Also, according to the Black Friday website, Best Buy will have Transformers for $9.99 that Friday. In addition:

Blu-Ray movies all $16.99 after savings

The Love Guru
The Bank Job
Cloverfield
Indiana Jones & TKOTCS
The Departed
Bee Movie
Super Bad
Prom Night
300
Hitman
I Am Legend
Kung Fu Panda
John Rambo
Live Free Or Die Hard
Alien Vs Predator

Transformers early bird special - $9.99

Here's the ad for you guys to see other Black Friday goodness at BB:
http://www.blackfriday.info/sales/best-buy-black-friday-ad.html
Click on "Ad Scan" to see the actual scans. :)

[Krypto]

The thing is, there are newer BR players that play everything

That's what they were saying when the last few generations of players were released and look at them now, unable to even load certain discs. The PS3 is the only machine that seems to have the ability to load practically every disc released.

Two words: firmware updates.

Sure, Sony and Panasonic are speedy about firmware updates, but it seems many of the other brands are very lax when it comes to firmware. But really, a player shouldn't need firmware updates just to load a disc and/or play the film itself.

[Kabukiman]

I still don't get this "not able to play every disc" thing. I have multiple DVD titles that will play in some players but not others. Some will play, but display choppy menus or not be able to navigate menus.

Not being able to play every disc is a problem DVD has been plagued with since it was invented. The reason for this is because there is no standard for drives and no way to easily update set top box players to updated firmware.

While blu-ray was released even before the media itself was standardized (which is a glaring negative), the benefit of blu-ray, which has been mentioned already ad-nauseam is the ability to easily update the player's firmware.

But like Krypto said, you need to stick with the big boys if you want to get those updates.