Bad news for those of you who were hoping Blu-ray would become a passing fad that vanished like Betamax, LaserDisc and HD DVD. The high-definition format only continues to pick up steam as giant HDTVs continue to infiltrate households and people decide plain ‘ol DVDs are no longer good enough. High-Def Digest, which admittedly has a horse in the race, reports the Blu-ray format is thriving. [More]
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Long Queue Waits Sort Of Defeat The Point Of Netflix
By 2.6.10
Jeff is patiently waiting for the recently released movies in his Netflix queue, but his taste in films is evidently working against him. He says that the top ten discs in his queue all have long waits, and he is frustrated. Is he being throttled, a victim of having popular tastes, or both? [More]
Lexicon Puts $500 Blu-Ray Player In New Case, Charges $3000 Markup …And Gets Caught
By 1.17.10
If you’ve always suspected that high-end audiovisual equipment is sort of a ripoff, the folks at Audioholics have confirmed some of your suspicions. In their review of the $3500, THX-certified Lexicon BD-30, the site just came out and said it: the player is another manufacturer’s very nice $500 Blu-Ray player slapped inside a new case and sold with a $3000 markup. [More]
Star Trek Blu-ray Digital Download Codes All Used Up?
By 12.30.09
Nero, the Romulan villain who was driven mad by lens flares in the latest Star Trek movie, found a way to travel forward in time and use up a bunch of authorization codes included in special edition Blu-ray sets. For now, until Paramount’s support staff get back from the holidays, all you can do with that third disc is flash light into the eyes of people around you and call yourself J. J. Abrams. [More]
Firmware Update Borks Man's Samsung Blu-ray Player, Samsung Says Too Bad
By 12.18.09
Maybe manufacturers need to rethink how warranties work when it comes to firmware updates. Justin’s Samsung Blu-ray player recently alerted him that there was an update available, so he told it to proceed. What he ended up with was a dead player. Now Samsung says because it’s out of warranty for repairs he has to pay them $90 to get it working again. [More]
Samsung's Repair Service Can't Seem To Fix My Blu-Ray
By 12.8.09
Matthew raves about Samsung’s Twitter customer service (@samsungservice), but is incensed about the repair process itself, which he says has failed to stop his Blu-ray from freezing up like Sean Suisham. [More]
Fight Club Blu-ray Messes With Viewers
By 11.18.09
If you bought or rented the new Fight Club blu-ray and brought it back to the store convinced you rented a faulty disc, you’ve been Punk’d by director David Fincher. When the disc boots up it displays the menu for Never Been Kissed for a few seconds before showing its true Fight Club colors.
Warner Bros. Offers Discount Blu-ray Upgrade Program
By 11.18.09
Warner Bros. has thought of a way to boost sagging Blu-ray sales. The DVD2Blu program lets you mail up to 25 DVDs (discs only), with a prepaid shipping label, to a processing plant — after having paid $8 to $10 online for each film — to get new, factory-sealed Blu-ray versions sent back to you.
Netflix Will Screw You For The Right Price
By 11.11.09
Hollywood studios are sick of you renting their DVDs and want you to start buying them again. The way to trick you into this, they figure, is to withhold the discs from rental companies for a month, forcing you to get all antsy and run out and buy them.
Check Your Netflix Envelopes This Week For Blu-ray Coupon
By 10.21.09
Hacking Netflix spotted some sweet savings on the inside of envelopes sent out by the movie rent-by-mail service: $50 off coupons that would bring the price of an Insignia Blu-ray player down to about $100 or $150. The coupon expires Saturday.
Walmart Move Could Render DVD Sales DOA
By 10.6.09
The Wall Street Journal reports Walmart is cutting back DVD displays as part of its effort to appeal to “higher-end” (read: Target) shoppers.
Sony Will Let Gamers Transfer Blu-ray Movies To PSP In November
By 9.30.09
Sony announced a while back that it would boost its foundering PSP by allowing gamers to transfer copies of Blu-ray films to the handheld device — but only if they also own a PS3.
Are Blu-ray Netflix Customers Paying Extra Because The Discs Keep Cracking?
By 7.6.09
Do you rent Blu-ray discs from Netflix? Have you had any show up with a crack on the outer edge that makes the disc unplayable? Victor just wrote to us that he’s received several Blu-ray discs lately that are damaged, and he’s wondering if it’s just him or part of a wider problem.
A Dagger For Blu-Ray: GameStop Deems Discs Un-Tradeworthy
By 6.30.09
Blu-ray sales may be on the uptick, with sales up 72 percent so far over what they were last year at this point, but apparently the format isn’t so hot at GameStop, which is apparently phasing out accepting the high-definition movie discs in return for cash or store credit.
Netflix Raising Blu-Ray Rates By $1 Per Tier
By 3.30.09
Netflix is raising its rates for Blu-ray subscribers (again). The rate change is between $1-$9, increasing by $1 for each successive tier. The breakdown, via Engadget, and what Netflix emailed customers, inside.
Watch Out For Firmware Shenanigans At Best Buy
By 1.2.09
Reader Erin writes in to warn readers that Best Buy is offering a thirty-dollar firmware update to certain Blu-Ray players, and warning that without the update, some newer titles might not work. Erin checked the manufacturer’s website and found no announced firmware updates, and the newer titles play just fine.
$1 Netflix Price Hike For Blu-Ray Access
By 10.10.08
Netflix will be start charging you $1 more per month to offset the costs of Blu-Ray movies, starting November 5. You have to opt-in to the Blu-Ray access, and the $1 surcharge, by going to “your account” and “add Blu-Ray access.” If you don’t already have Blu-Ray access on your account, then your membership price stays the same. Sounds like they needed to invent a way to make more money and this fee, admittedly small, seemed the best way to go about it. Copy of the email they sent subscribers, inside.
Iron Man Blu-Ray Release Connects To Internet When You Insert It
By 10.2.08
If you buy the newly released “Iron Man” Blu-ray disc and pop it into your computer, and it starts trying to download some mystery content from the Internet for the next 30-45 minutes, here’s what’s happening and how to turn it off. Thanks, Paramount, for your shoddy “interactive” quiz nonsense.
