Mizouse

Sarlacc

So not only did apple annouce the long rumored online rental service, which is being back by ALL the major studios...Not only did they announce new apple tv firmware to use the box as a set top device to rent direct from.

They also announced at least 100 HD titles would be available for rent as well.

SO, now we have Xbox live AND Apple renting HD movies online with instant demand.

A big "eat it" to everyone who said it was too soon to rent HD online

Sarlacc

So not only did apple annouce the long rumored online rental service, which is being back by ALL the major studios...Not only did they announce new apple tv firmware to use the box as a set top device to rent direct from.

They also announced at least 100 HD titles would be available for rent as well.

SO, now we have Xbox live AND Apple renting HD movies online with instant demand.

A big "eat it" to everyone who said it was too soon to rent HD online

NetEditor

Sorry, but I'm looking for more than movies encoded in 720p and Dolby Digital 5.1. And not all the HD movies are even in DD 5.1.

Yumcha

Sarlacc

Ive rented the 720p movies from xbox before and they arent half bad, and its a step in the right direction.

SupaRookie

Once you have a nice display and a decent audio setup, the high res audio and 1080p is great. I do like the idea to watch 720p, but it would be useless on my 19" LCD, lol. FYI, the money that Sony paid WB is true. That's a lot of zero.....

NetEditor

FYI -- The Blu-rays for Con Air, The Rock and Crimson Tide reportedly come with a $10 rebate coupon if you have the DVD version as well. You cut out the UPC or proof-of-purchase tabs in the DVD, cut out the UPC on the Blu-ray, fill out the form with the Blu-ray receipt.

These movies are $19.95 on Amazon. So the total would be $9.95 each.

Mizouse

BBC to Continue Dual-Format Support
Wed Jan 16, 2008 at 01:00 PM ET
Tags: Industry Trends, BBC, Warner (all tags)

Warner's switch to Blu-ray exclusivity will not sway its distribution partner BBC Home Video from its dual-format stance.

That's word from from a company spokesperson, who late yesterday told TVShowsonDVD.com that the BBC will continue its format-agnostic strategy for the time being, and that they "will evaluate the marketplace before committing to one format."
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The company cited the stellar sales of its 'Planet Earth' box set (whose HD DVD version has outsold the Blu-ray) as added reasoning behind the decision, as well as an upcoming line-up of multiple (but as yet unannounced) high-def titles it has planned for both formats in 2008.

The BBC's decision to stay put come in the wake of moves made last week by Warner subsidiaries New Line and HBO to shift to Blu-ray exclusivity. The BBC is now the only Warner-distributed company to remain format neutral.

NetEditor

Cars also has this deal.

fdl

Maybe this is a dumb question, but if a movie wasn't filmed in true HD (as I'm sure Conair or the Rock weren't), whats the point of having a Blu-Ray version? Can it really be all that much better?

Mizouse

its been discussed before.

something about from film they scan it at like 4000 res or something.

NetEditor

Movies shot on film are different. The resolution of film is much, much higher than an HD camera. To transfer a movie shot on film to disc, the stock negatives are scanned using high-resolution scanners, which are higher resolution than 1080p. For instance, Blade Runner: The Final Cut was scanned using 4k scanners. So you can very definitely get a much better picture as long as the stock negatives are in good condition.

Silver™

What about international movie studios (those outside the US), are they all going Blu-Ray too?

I am sure they aren't as influential as the US studios, but perhaps they could help HD-DVD live on, especially at a lower price point which would seem to matter more overseas.

NetEditor

The problem is that Blu-ray's market share in Europe and Asia is actually higher than in the U.S. The U.S. is HD DVD's best market.

svtmike

I have Goodfellas on BluRay, and it looks fantastic compared to the DVD.

Doom878

I wonder if the HD broadcasts of these movies are doing it the right way as NetEditor indicated or if they're just doing stretch-o-vision. It sure seems that on TNT/TBS they stretch it.

PixelHarmony

I remember reading somewhere on the AVS forum where they break down BR, HDDVD, and Standard DVD's to grade video and audio. Most movies were better in high def over standard, some were marginal. I believe those reviews were done by analyzing still images side by side.

Anyway this could be a good resource in determining the quality of your HD movie prior to purchase / rental. Again this might be strongly subjective.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/

SupaRookie

I just got this in my inbox. A good laugh for Friday. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=friS4OOcdgQ

Billiam

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...of-player.html

srika

srika

seriously - great news for Sony - kudos to them for future-proofing the PS3's Blu-Ray.

llJrockll

iTrader: (2)

IMO it's quite sad that sony or any other company can't produce a better Blu-ray player (stand alone) other than the PS3. Serious videophiles out there are not going to budge and buy a gaming console.

I'll be getting a Blu-ray player once the version 2.0(+) is available and at an affordable price.

srika

Well, it has to do with now. If you want one now, best choice is PS3. If you want a good stand-alone 2.0 player, you're gonna have to wait.

NetEditor

I think the whole Profile 2.0 thing is overblown anyway. I don't really watch or use the special features, even on DVDs. Personally, I love the Superbit DVDs that got rid of all the extras to devote more space to the audio and video of the movie itself.

Billiam

BTW, is it just me or does anyone else think these Blu-Ray 1.1/2.0 features (and the HD-DVD equivalents) are pretty much just ?
About the only remotely practical thing I can see is firmware updates over the network connection. Even with that, how many homes actually have an Ethernet jack where the player is? Just setup wireless? Well if you've got the know-how to do that you probably also have the know-how to download and burn a disc image to update your firmware.

CLpower

I know more then a few die hard videophiles that bought a PS3 strictly for bluray, most have never even played a game on it

AdamNJ

Have you ever seen the extra features (that HD DVD has and Blu-Ray 1.0 doesn't)? I tried them out on my Bourne Ultimatium HD DVD and they were pretty friggen cool. I was impressed, so was my friend. I was just demoing the features to my friend and I haven't spent the time yet to "actually use them".

Doom878

A lot of the videophiles have to get 2.0 to be up with the times.

Billiam

Can't say I have. What impressed you on the Bourne disc? I personally don't want interactive games or the ability to chat with other people on my movie discs. Give me making of documentaries, additional/raw footage, alternate cuts, production stills, prop galleries, etc...

Mizouse

man, its looking bad for HD DVD if people have to resort to signing an online petition in order to save HD DVD.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/...of_signatures/

Mizouse

actually ive wondered if those online petition things even do anything, most of the time its fake signatures and obscene comments.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Meh. There's an online petition for everything these days. That doesn't mean shit. Plus, most of them are crap and have no use anyway.

I mean, the TV network completely ignored my petition for Gumble 2 Gumble.

AdamNJ

There was some sort of interactive trivia game where clips would play and then it would pause and ask you questions.

but I thought the PIP was really cool. It would have the commentary/how it's made playing in the little window, and the movie in the main window. audio still playing for both (movie at a lower vol - you can probably swap it) so you actually can still watch the movie and hear the PIP stuff at the same time.

Silver™

Warner Home Video's defection from the HD DVD camp may have put a damper on hardware sales.

In the week since the studio's surprise early-January announcement that after May it will support only the rival Blu-ray Disc format, sales of HD DVD players ground to a virtual halt, giving Blu-ray hardware a whopping 93 percent sales advantage, according to data from the NPD Group.

According to raw retail data collected by NPD, consumers bought just 1,758 HD DVD players the week of January 12, down from 14,558 players the week before. In contrast, consumers bought 21,770 Blu-ray Disc machines, up from 15,257 the previous week.

http://www.reuters.com/article/indus...10822520080124

Yumcha

Well, maybe it'll lose only to gain an "underground elitist" type following...which isn't so bad?

ChodTheWacko

Yeah, MI3 HD-DVD had the same Pip commentary and it was fantastic.

timmahh

Funniest thing ever for the format war gurus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywWfmRdOmJ0

HD Players are now down to almost Christmas prices [remember when Wal-Mart had the secret sale - $98 for Toshiba HD-DVD Player, now it's $148)

I loveee my PS3 & Blu-Ray!

llJrockll

iTrader: (2)

I think it's even more pathetic that the Bluefanboys have a petition to kill of HD DVD.

http://www.petitiononline.com/EndWar/petition.html

consumer petitions are worthless.

Doom878

FYI buy.com has some BD's for $15 + s/h.