Deluxe: Blu-Ray treatment of Inception is out of this world

We appreciate that companies want to dress up the HD Blu-Ray releases of films nowadays, but this treatment looks to be really something else entirely. Check it out:

For a moment it appeared that the sweet Limited Edition release of Christopher Nolan’s Inception on Blu-ray would be a European only thing, but Warner Bros. has made it available for US customers as well, exclusively via its WBShop.com website. Located by a few Blu-ray.com forum posters, it looks to have all the fixings, with art cards, totem, PASIV instruction manual and of course the metal briefcase itself with Inception Blu-ray and DVD held inside. Preorders are $49.95 and ship December 6, so don’t forget to figure in overnight shipping.

That price tag is something else as well, but if you’re a 1080p fan and a big follower of the box office hit, this is the way to go, no doubt about it.

Big Time Blu-Ray release day: BTTF and Aliens among the jewels

It seems at least a few days a year, major movie properties get their due on Blu-Ray, and that’s the case as of Oct.26th, as two major movie anthologies get their releases on the HD disc medium, along with a slew of other major and minor movies. The volume of titles is pretty rapidly expanding now for BR, and it shows little sign of slowing down.

Among the releases, complete with our own previous coverage of the titles on the links:

Back to the Future: 25th Anniversary Trilogy (Universal)

Alien Anthology (Fox)

Sex and the City 2 (New Line)

And that’s just the tip of the release list. We always appreciate companies who take the time to remaster classic films for 1080p, as they really benefit from the increased resolution. It’s a trend we hope continues well into the future.

Super Slim HD: Ultra-Thin 3D Blu-Ray player to be released by Sharp

Speaking of the word Sharp, the design of this thing is mega-sharp: a super-thin Blu-Ray player with tons of great features, as described here:

Remember that slimmer-than-slim Blu-ray 3D / BDXL player that Sharp demonstrated at CEATEC? Looks like the world now has a ship date and price, though you aren’t likely to be keen on either. The unit itself — which measures but 35mm thick and looks eerily familiar to the slimmed-down PlayStation 2 — will tout a Blu-ray recorder while supporting BD 3D and BDXL playback, and there’s even compatibility with OTA broadcasts for those looking to toast television to blank Blu-ray media. Naturally, a contraption this awesome is going to be reserved for the Japanese market, with reports suggesting that it’ll ship anywhere between mid-December to early January. The real kicker, however, is the price — at ¥85,000 ($1,047 based on today’s exchange rate), we’re surmising that only a handful of individuals can afford to give this thing the time of day.

We imagine this will have a pretty limited market given its feature set and price combination.

Extra, Extra: Inception Blu-Ray HD to include 90 mins of exclusive extra features

We like it when companies load their HD Blu-Ray releases with extra features that are exclusive, as it encourages those on the fence about 1080p to move over to the light side already. That will be the case with Inception, the hit theater release when it arrives on Blu-Ray Dec. 7th (estimate street date).

Extras include a unique “Extraction Mode,” probably similar to other Warner Maximum Movie feature where the director comes in and explains details in PiP (something we really dig), and a full DTS-HD MA soundtrack as well that’s supposed to be ear-blowing.

The sellsheet for the $35.99 Blu-ray (with Digital Copy and DVD version) combo pack will include more than 90 minutes of exclusive extras featuring the director and star Lenoardo DiCaprio in commentaries and documentaries about the film. Look for it in December if you’re a big fan   of content-heavy HD discs.

Stats: 17% of US Homes now have a Blu-Ray Player

Latest stats: 17% percent of U.S. households now have at least one Blu-ray player, according to a new NPD Group report, as reported by Home Media Magazine. The report also said that 20 million U.S. households own both a Blu-ray player and a DVD player, while 95% percent of surveyed U.S. households have a DVD player (nearly everyone in other words).

Another curious stat: 25% of households with a HDTV also have a Blu-Ray player (for obvious reasons), and Centris added that younger, wealthier consumers with children are more likely to buy a Blu-ray player for their homes, which in theory is a rapidly expanding demographic.

We like the fact that it is rapidly growing as a market, but in sobering reality, it isn’t totally replacing DVD as a medium as of now. It still has a ways to go to grow into that role, though it definitely has a nice head start.

BR Bonanza: Blu-Ray bumper crop of catalog releases

It’s about time, we say: many studios have started to really pour out the catalog releases for Blu-Ray, expanding it far beyond what many had planned for BR as a medium. It means nothing but good things for the format as a whole. Take a look at this release list for October 5th:

Beauty and the Beast (Disney)
2001 Maniacs (Lionsgate)
The Blair Witch Project (Lionsgate)
Blue Mountain State: Season One (Lionsgate)
Bad Lieutenant (Lionsgate)
Hard Candy (Lionsgate)
High Tension (Lionsgate)
Open Water / Open Water 2: Adrift (Lionsgate)
Secretary (Lionsgate)
Wonderland (Lionsgate)
Battle of Britain (MGM)
The Pink Panther 2 (MGM)
Robocop Trilogy (MGM)
Mad Max (MGM)
Troll 2 (MGM)
Bones: The Complete Fifth Season (Fox)
Delgo (Fox)
The Last of the Mohicans (Fox)
The Exorcist (Warner)
The Maltese Falcon (Warner)
Splice (Warner)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Warner)
The Year Without a Santa Claus (Warner)
30 Days of Night: Dark Days (Sony)
The Karate Kid (Sony)
Baseball: The Tenth Inning (PBS)
Fingerprints (Image)
Sisters (Image)
Grindhouse (Weinstein)
The Human Centipede (IFC Films)
Journey to Shark Eden (National Geographic)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (New Line)
The Oxford Murders (Magnolia)

Come now, you know Troll 2 is at the top of your viewing list. Admit it.

Sharp Tech: New trio of HDD-armed Blu-Ray players make their appearance

It seems the newest trend among media players is to extend beyond simply playing back media, but storing and presenting it a new way, which is Sharp’s intention with this new trio of players debuting across the globe soon (later in the US than on Asian shores). Read on:

You won’t find this trio hitting US shores anytime soon, but those situated in Japan have a new gaggle of Sharp BD decks to ogle. The BD-HDW65 and BD-HDW63 both include a pair of TV tuners, BDXL support and compatibility with Blu-ray 3D titles, with the only difference being the hard drive — there’s a 500 gigger in the former and a 320GB drive in the latter. The BD-HDS65 goes with a single digital tuner, a single analog tuner and a 500GB hard drive, which might prove useful for storing copious amounts of drama from Sky TV. You’ll also find WiFi integrated throughout, not to mention an Ethernet jack, HDMI output, component jacks and DLNA support.

Whispers are that the first two should ship next month, with the last unit going on sale in Japan mid-November; pricing is as expected, not cheap. We’re hearing ranges from ¥90,000 ($1,066) to ¥120,000 ($1,422), which moves this one into the elite category price wise.

Warner Exec: ‘Blu-Ray will be around for many years’

Warner Bros. big-wig Barry Meyer has been quoted as stating that DVDs and Blu-ray HD discs will be around for a number of years, according to an article by Home Media Magazine, and that despite some predictions that discs will soon be replaced by Video on Demand and streaming video type media, Meyer told an industry conference last week that disc sales seems to be solid and stable after several quarters of small percentage declines.

This is good and bad news, we suppose. The good news: The discs you’re buying now won’t be obsolete in just a few years. The bad news: eventually, yes, On Demand streaming will replace hard media for many in the know. Of course, discs will always have some place among those who can’t be bothered with fancy tools or modern technology of any kind, so they won’t die off completely.

Meyer continues: “The physical DVD market is going to be around a lot longer than VHS was. That little silver disc is a pretty ubiquitous thing. It is high quality, usable on a lot of different devices, portable and all that. And until we start getting digital into that place that is as ubiquitous, playable on multiple devices and as portable as DVD, I think you will see physical hanging around for a long time.”

We do agree, but will add that Blu-Ray (in our opinion) will replace standard DVD within the next 5-10 years or so, even among much of the mainstream audience, especially considering the quick decline of players and disc prices.

More Blu-Ray News: The Incredibles coming soon?

We always like to keep tabs on new 1080p releases on the HD medium, and this one would be quite cool if it happens: the now modern classic animated masterpiece, The Incredibles. Here’s a quick take on this possible coming soon event:

Just when we’d plotted out all our future Disney disc purchases, TheHDRoom is back with a roundup of Blu-ray release date rumors and what’s included but one of our favorite flicks, The Incredibles. It’s a bit shocking we haven’t seen this movie (among many, many others) on Blu-ray yet, but the site says to keep your early 2011 calendar open for now.

Feel free to keep an eye out for this and more films headed to BR in the near future. Now that Redbox has BR stocked openly, it should only be a matter of time for many great films to head to Blu-Ray.

Firmware Update: Welcome and Hello, 3D HD Blu-Ray and PS3

It appears Sony is on the ball with the very latest in HD 3D Blu-Ray, and after much discussion, rumor and turmoil, Sony is about ready to unleash 3D Blu-Ray support for the PS3. The following describes in more detail the news itself:

We’ve been waiting for 3D Blu-ray support to hit the PS3 for a good long while now, and Sony’s been promising it would happen for, well, exactly that same amount of time. Yesterday the company confirmed that the 3D-enabling 3.50 firmware update is less than a week away, dropping on September 21.

We like the news, as the further this drops into the mainstream, the better chance it has of not being a bust. We applaud (finally!) Sony’s efforts to catch up with this technology.

Black Friday Predictions: Big Bargains on the way?

50″ HDTVs for $550? 32″ LCD HDTVs for less than $200? Blu-ray players for $70 or less? Yes, all of that and more could happen this Black Friday, according to several web sites that regularly monitor such sales every year.

These are just some of the awesome deals that retailers will offer on HD-related products on Black Friday, predicts a web site that tracks retailer discounts on what has become the unofficial opening of the holiday shopping season, BlackFriday.org. We believe them, since they’ve been pretty on the mark most years up until now.

We love the deep discounts, but another rumor we’re really excited about: Blu-Ray discs selling around the $5 mark that time of year as well, which should help the medium make some inroads with penetration market wise, and bring the hi-def experience within the budget of many more people.

Bonuses are good: New Blu-Ray release to include free HD movies

While the release of Charlie St. Cloud on Blu-Ray isn’t always cause for celebration (unless you’re female or a ‘sensitive’ type guy), but more noteworthy on this release is the inclusion of bonus HD movies available through internet streaming, included on the disc via BD-Live, a much discussed but little used BR feature that could have potential, but is hamstrung by lack of widespread acceptance so far.

It’s the second flick by Universal to offer buyers their choice of bonus movies viewable through internet streaming. Lorenzo’s Oil and What Dreams May Come (also like the Get Him to the Greek deal because both films have not yet been released on Blu-ray) can stream to a user’s HDTV via their BD-Live connected Blu-ray player, almost magic-like.

We like the bonuses, but we’re also hoping other studios pick up on this sort of thing and offer it in the future.

More Exclusivity: Bolt and Alice 3D Blu-Ray made Sony only

Another day, another exclusive 3D Blu-Ray deal made. We aren’t really sure this is the best thing for the medium long-term, but companies seem to think this is the best path for market acceptance, for some reason. This time Disney made the deal with Sony, and here’s the whole rundown:

This time it’s Disney, opting to align its Alice in Wonderland and Bolt movies with Sony products over the holiday season as the two team up on “consumer and retail education, promotion and marketing support for in-home 3D devices and content.” That means buyers of Sony 3D TVs and Blu-ray players may have one of the above as a pack-in, while everyone else waits ’til the unspecified time when they’re released at retail. Hear that? That’s the sound of 3D early adopters queueing up Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs for the umpteenth time, camping out in line for Monster House next week or wildly overpaying for pack in / overseas 3D discs only they can’t otherwise get on eBay.

We agree that this will create an artificially high market for awhile, and may prevent wide penetration in the industry for awhile. We’ll see how all of this shakes out, as we don’t have a great feeling about all these exclusive 3D BR deals going on right now.

Exclusivity: Panasonic gets Avatar 3D Blu-Ray all to itself

In an interesting bit of BR HD news, it seems the age of exclusivity deals have arrived, as Panasonic secures an exclusive deal to distribute the hit movie in the 3D Blu-Ray format. It’s a big deal for the company, even if demand early on is not expected to be overwhelming.

The exclusive will run for an unspecified period of time, probably not forever, as we expected. But during that period, Panasonic will be able to include the disc with the purchase of a Panasonic 3D HDTV, or even sell it separately at retail.

It wasn’t clear exactly how it was expected to be sold (and the company didn’t make it obvious in their recent press releases), so we’ll wait and see what happens once it hits in early December. We suspect it’ll be a bundle of some kind to push those models out the door.

Update Glitch: Samsung Blu-Ray players having update troubles

In a seemingly small (but very annoying) issue with the frequent updates that HD Blu-Ray players need to operate properly, Samsung has had to have users roll back their recent firmware update to allow the playback of certain movies. Apparently its happened before, as well. More details here:

As annoying as continuous Blu-ray player updates are, usually having the latest one is the best way to play more movies. Unfortunately the opposite was the case for Samsung (again) with the v2.09 update posted recently for its 2009 BD-Px600 line of players. Forum posters on CNET and AVSForum report the upgrade blocked them from playing Universal and Warner Bros. movies, which conveniently lock up after displaying the title image. Samsung’s rolled back to an older firmware version (v2.07) on its support site that should fix things for now, but with some users still having problems downgrading, all they can do is wait for the next update, whenever that arrives. Some help line reps have said the new version should arrive “in a couple of weeks,” but it’s not like you really wanted to watch Clash of the Titans or Book of Eli right now anyway, right?

This could be the only holdup to having BR HD take over the home media market; consumers don’t like to play musical updates just to watch a movie. Let’s hope they all get their act together soon so that this can all progress the way it was intended to.

Movie Update: Blu-Ray version of Star Wars to appear in 2011

The long-awaited, frequently rumored Star Wars Blu-Ray set will be debuting in 2011, based on a big-time conference announcement that recently took place. In attendance was Lucas himself, who also said some other things that purists may not like. Read on:

As rumored, all six Star Wars movies will be released together on Blu-ray in 2011 for the 35th anniversary of the release of A New Hope. George Lucas personally announced the set on stage at the Celebration V event, and showed off a deleted scene from Return of the Jedi that will be included (embedded after the break.) While the “highest picture and audio quality” and extensive special features are promised, what won’t make it to Blu-ray are the original versions of the movies; Lucas told the New York Times that only the special editions will be included, since restoring the original versions in high enough quality would cost too much.

Lucasfilms has deep pockets, so its more like ‘we can’t be bothered to do it’ as the reason the originals won’t be included. No exact release date has been set yet, but we’re guessing early 2011 as the approximate date.

Opinion: Are 720p resolution HDTVs worth it?

There’s an ongoing debate in some circles about the benefits of 1080p vs. 720p HDTV units, and which is worth considering. Is the extra cost (although not very much these days) for a 1080p worth it, or will many even be able to tell the difference?

Some say those with average or poor eyesight can’t tell the difference between the two reses, and small surveys and such seem to support this idea. Also important is how far you plan to sit away from the TV; if you’re 8′ or further from the set, you may not be able to tell any difference. If you’re 6′ or closer, you’ll probably see it even if your vision isn’t great.

So how about all of you? Is 1080p an important feature for you these days (especially with the lowering of Blu-Ray prices), or does it not really matter?

3D Gambit: Samsung unveils line of new 3D HDTVs

New product announcements are always fun, and this time is no exception. Samsung announced some new 3D HDTV product releases today, and the news spread quickly among the video elite. They also introduced the first portable Blu-Ray player too, which should spur further acceptance of the media in the mainstream. More data (and pic) courtesy of Engadget:

Earlier today, Samsung pulled the curtain off (quite literally, might we add) its newest 3DTVs and the world’s first portable 3D Blu-ray player at its New York City press conference. We were able to slap on a pair of the 3D specs and spend a bit of time staring at the (admittedly amazing) 65-inch LED 3DTV, the fairly mediocre sub-$1,000 720p 3DTV as well as form some early impressions of the Blu-ray player.

Their impressions: 3D is still expensive if you want it good, and the portable BR player is nice but overpriced. About what we expected.

List of 50 Movies improved by Blu-Ray/HD

We all know watching certain movies and content in HD can improve the overall experience in general, but particular films can really heighten the experience by watching them on your On-Demand provider or Blu-Ray disc vs. standard def viewing.

We finally have a very fine list compiled by the folks at TVPredictions.com of movies where BR can greatly increase the viewing pleasure quotient of the respective cinematic pieces (now that’s a mouthful).

Feel free to check it out here: Link

Blade Runner and The Dark Knight are highlights of this list on HD in our opinion. The dark details of each world are really highlighted with the extra clarity and sharpness of the HD picture. Check out all the films on this list (well, maybe not the dreary and tepid ‘Max Payne’) and you’ll have plenty of entertainment for many weeks and months to come.

Going HD: Redbox adding $1.50 Blu-Ray rentals this fall

It seems even a big portal like Redbox cannot resist the siren song of BR HD discs, as they have announced plans to add the high-def media to most outlets as of a few weeks or so, and nationwide by Fall or so. More details via Engadget:

It’s really no surprise that Redbox is going nationwide with its $1.50 Blu-ray rentals, at every step along the way of its Hollwood dealmaking, the company has pointed out its aim towards procuring a supply of high definition movies, and now the day is finally here. The high definition disc packing kiosks currently number 13,300, and the plan is to have Blu-ray in all 26,000 locations by the fall. While we spotted plenty of Blu-ray enabled locations with a San Francisco zip code, other areas in the Midwest and East Coast weren’t so lucky.

We applaud Redbox for getting with the HD media revolution, and hopefully this will make the format more palatable for mainstream consumption down the road.

« Previous Page — Next Page »