Warner Bros. has started an amazing program for those of us who have a bunch of useless HD-DVDs sitting around. You can now trade them in for their blu-ray counterparts for $4.95!
In fact, the great Harry Potter set with all five movies can be traded for only $14.95.
Head over to red2blu.com to get started!
The war is officially over.
Toshiba has announced it will end its production of HDDVD players by March 2008. They have said that customer support will continue however.
Now the other issue is that anyone who has bought a blu-ray player that is not a PS3 (why would you do that anyway?) are going to be pretty peeved as they will not be able to take advantage of the new blu-ray features such as Picture in Picture special features or any internet based features.
This is because they are not able to update their profiles to be compatible with the new discs.
Basically the only player capable of this is the PS3.
I wonder if those X Box 360 Blu-Ray player rumors will start gaining ground now...
Sorry folks!
Quick notice to anyone waiting for reason to jump on the HD bandwagon. If you head into your local Best Buy you can pick up the XBox 360 HD DVD player for $179.99 and get a free copy of Heroes Season 1 in HD. The set is normally $99.99 but if you buy the player you get it free.
I took advantage of this offer myself even tough I don't have an HDTV yet.
The player also comes with King Kong and the normal offer for 5 more HD DVDs for free by mail. So with that, I'm expecting Babel, The Thing, Full Metal Jacket, The Frighteners, and Troy. I also got Transformers in HD. Not a bad haul for $200 bucks I say.
As far as I know this is in-store only so might wanna get a move on if you're interested.
Edit: This deal is also available at buy.com and you can save $10 bucks by signing up for google checkout.
In response to yesterday's Paramount's High Def DVD Announcement (they signed an exclusive with HD, not Blu-Ray), Transformers directorMichael Bay has been quoted as saying on his forums "I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks! They were progressive by having two formats. No Transformers 2 for me!"
Suuuure Mr. Bay, sure.
As you know, 300 was released last week, and there was no doubt it would be a huge hit for home video.
The Hollywood Reporter states:
"On the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart for the week ending Aug. 5, the actioner outsold its closest competitor, Universal Studios' "Hot Fuzz," by a margin of more than 7-to-1. On Home Media Magazine's video rental chart, "300" took the top spot with estimated rental earnings of $11.9 million, compared with $6.4 million for the second-ranked "Hot Fuzz," even though typically strong sellers make weak renters."
No word yet on how much 300 actually took in dollar wise for home video sales. But for High Def sales, Blur-ray outsold HD DVD 2-to-1.
