Samsung has officially released pricing on its 2010 line of Blu-ray players ranging from $179 to $499. The BD-C6900 (which won Best of Innovations at CES 2010) features built-in 3D playback, Netflix and Blockbuster apps, social widgets, and a slim design with transparent cover (so you can be mesmerized by the spinning of your Blu-ray discs). The BD-C6900 also comes with 1GB internal memory and 7.1 channel audio. Full Story
Samsung’s new line of multimedia R80 notebooks will hit Best Buy stores on Sunday, March 7. Two of the three R80 models are loaded with nVIDIA GeForce graphics cards (R580 and R780) and the less expensive R480 and R580 models come with internal Blu-ray Disc drives. It’s strange that the more expensive R780 doesn’t come with a BD drive, but those are specs we got. The 16:9 hi-def resolution LED displays vary in size according to the model. (See chart below.) All three models include HDMI ports. Full Story
“And you may ask yourself– Well…how did I get here?”
As incredibly invigorating as it was upon its initial release in 1984, the Talking Heads’ concert film Stop Making Sense is still unlike any concert film made and yet it continues to influence the genre, becoming the singular totem of 80s-era music on film. Though there are plenty of other concert films that may rank higher in historical importance (Woodstock, Gimmie Shelter, The Last Waltz, to name but a few) as cultural touchstones for a generation, the Talking Heads concert, impeccably filmed in an unobtrusive manner by Jonathan Demme (though fully conceived by the Talking Heads) ranks far above them all in terms of cinematic importance as a pure document of rock n’ roll energy that transcends itself to become performance art. Full Story
Where the Wild Things Are will release on Blu-ray Disc and DVD this coming Tuesday, March 2. The movie adaptation of the classic Maurice Sendak children’s book is directed by Spike Jonze, known for his music video direction and the Jackass series. The BD aspect ratio is 2.40:1 with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and extras run about an hour and fifteen minutes. Amazon is now selling the Blu-ray Disc for $23.49
It isn’t the first time Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus has been released on disc in high-definition, but this year’s upcoming Blu-ray Disc comes at the film’s 50th anniversary, and will contain extras and deleted scenes never included in the previous HD DVD version. Full Story
Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are headed for Blu-ray Disc March 23, 2010. The releases will include both Blu-ray and DVD versions as Combo Packs. Disney Home Entertainment will also release special edition standard-def DVDs of the films on May 11, 2010. Full Story
Amazon has a bunch of Blu-ray Discs priced at $12.99, which is a deal considering most Blu-rays list for $29.99 or higher, and it costs $5 to rent a Blu-ray Disc from Blockbuster. If you dig around, you can find Blu-rays that cost less than DVDs. Below are some of the better titles available at $12.99. You can also check out the full list
Sony and The Weinstein Company have reached an agreement to distribute DVD and Blu-ray titles from the studio, which previously partnered with Genius Products, Inc., until last year. Full Story
Coinstar CEO Paul Davis said Redbox will most likely begin offering Blu-ray Disc rentals from its over 22,000 rental kiosks throughout the U.S. by the middle of 2010, that according to Home Media Magazine. Although a rental fee was yet to be determined, the CEO said the fee will “for sure be higher” than standard DVDs. Full Story
Six-time Oscar nominated film Up in the Air will release on Blu-ray Disc and DVD Mar. 9, 2010. The Parmount film was directed and co-written by Jason Reitman who has been nominated for Best Director, and stars George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, who are also Oscar nominees. Full Story
Set in 16th century Japan Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, loosely based on Shakespeare’s King Lear, tells the story of Lord Hidetora who while dividing his land among his three sons ends up banishing one of them. Extras include audio commentary, A.K., a 74-minute film about Kurosawa by director Chris Marker (La Jetée), a 30-minute making of documentary, interviews and booklet. This film is in Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 with English subtitles, 1080p video at 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Full Story
It’s one of the films we’ve been waiting for on Blu-ray and it’s headed for release on Paramount’s Sapphire Series this coming May 4. Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, and Tom Sizemore are just part of an all-star cast in a film that paved the way for the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” and the upcoming “The Pacific.” The Blu-ray release of Saving Private Ryan will be a two disc set loaded with extras including interviews, narration and documentaries. Unfortunately all extras are in standard-def, but a couple of trailers will be in HD. Aspect ratio is 1.85:1 at 1080p and audio will be DTS-HD Master 5.1. The film will join other Sapphire Series labeled films such as Braveheart and Forrest Gump. See full extras details below: Full Story
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Running Man gets the high-def treatment this week. This is a film from back in ‘87, around the time Predator, Twins and Raw Deal were released. Now it’s out in 1080p at 1.78:1 aspect ratio (originally 1.85:1) with DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1. Full Story
A sneak peak of upcoming film The Twilight Saga: Eclipse will be found on special fan edition Blu-ray and DVD releases of Twilight: New Moon. Walmart (now taking pre-orders) will exclusively carry “The Twilight Saga: New Moon Ultimate Fan Edition” which contains seven minutes of behind-the-scenes footage and a scene from the upcoming film. Full Story
Zombieland topped Blu-ray rentals for the week ending Feb. 7, 2010, according to Blockbuster. The film, starring Bill Murray, Woody Harrelson, and Emma Stone, grossed $75 million at the box office last year. Coming in second and third for top Blu-ray rentals were “Surrogates” and “The Hurt Locker.” (“Zombieland” and “Surrogates” were also the Top 2 DVD rentals respectively.) Full Story
The $200 Blu-ray player is the Sony BDP-S470 and it will handle 3D content after a firmware upgrade headed your way this summer. No it’s not quite a 3D player yet, but the firmware upgrade will make it one, along with the higher-end BDP-S570 ($250) player and the BDV-E770W and BDV-E570 home theater systems. Full Story
There are lots of re-released Academy Award Winning films on the on the Blu-ray shelves this week. The packaging on these releases will be different than the originals, with a gold background to indicate an award winning film. Some other re-releases, like Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, boast digital re-mastering and audio upgrade to DTS HD-Master Audio 5.1.
The Godfather (Coppola Restoration) Parts I and II have been released as single Blu-ray Discs under the Sapphire Series label. Although they were already available in giftset form along with Part III, some of you may have held out for only the first two films. Full Story
What are the current top selling Blu-ray Discs? According to Home Media Research, the top selling BD for the week ending Jan. 17 was The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment), followed by The Hangover (Warner) and District 9 (Sony Pictures). In fourth and fifth place positions were Inglourious Basterds (Universal) and Halloween II (Sony Pictures). Full Story
Paramount has just launched its online store, selling Blu-ray Discs as well as DVDs, t-shirts, and other movie-related memorabilia. Among the Blu-ray Discs are the company’s Sapphire series releases which include such titles as Braveheart, Gladiator and Forrest Gump. Full Story
Hot on Blu-ray this week is Michael Jackson’s This is It from his summer 2009 rehearsals. The rehearsals, which took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, would have prepared Jackson for a 50-date world-wide tour. 120 hours of tape were edited down to almost 2-hours of footage of the “King of Pop.” Aspect ratio is 1.78:1 with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Features include “Smooth Criminal” featurette, a new “Thriller” vignette, BD-LIve and interactive playlist. Full Story
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