[Favorite Holiday Song]

Carol of the bells by the trans-siberian orchestra is the best song during the holidays

[HD-DVD/Blu-Ray player deals; who has 'em?]

It's hard to argue when Blu-Ray has dominated the HD format war since January! 7 out of 10 studies (including Disney and Pixar) support Blu-ray (produce Blu-Ray movies). So, if you are looking for movies on HD-DVD from these studios, good luck.

 

Blockbuster has gone 100% Blu-Ray (no HD-DVD rentals), Target is shifting further to Blu-Ray (70% Blu-Ray movies, 30% or less HD-DVD). Same for Best-Buy (70% vs 30%).

 

The el-cheapo Toshiba (the only name-brand electronics manufacturer to actually produce HD-DVD players as compared to a dozen who produce Blu-Ray players) doesn't even use the latest and greatest video resolution which is 1080P. Their machine is only 1080i.

 

Also, don't forget about the Sony PS3, every one of them is also a Blu-Ray player.

 

Here are some other recent news & deals for Blu-Ray:

 

Blu-ray news

 

Less Green; More Blu: Amazon BOGO Sale

Posted November 12, 2007 by Josh

 

In order to keep momentum rolling, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Buena Vista Home Entertainment have teamed up with Amazon for yet another Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) sale. If you missed out on the last big sale, now is your chance to purchase those titles you might have missed when they were first released. There's a total selection of 112 titles to choose from.

 

(includes Disney titles)

 

What benefits does Blu-ray offer compared to HD-DVD?

 

 

Although both Blu-ray and HD-DVD are similar in many aspects, there are some important differences between them.

 

The first is capacity. Because Blu-ray utilizes a lens with a greater numerical aperture (NA) than HD-DVD, the laser spot can be focused with greater precision to fit more data on the same size disc. This allows Blu-ray to hold 25GB per layer (50GB on a dual-layer disc), whereas HD-DVD can only hold 15GB per layer (30GB on a dual-layer disc). Blu-ray has also adopted a higher data transfer rate for video and audio (54Mbps vs 36.55Mbps). The greater capacity and data transfer rates for Blu-ray will allow the movie studios to release their movies with higher quality video and audio than the HD-DVD format.

 

The second is content. The Blu-ray format has received broad support from the major movie studios as a successor to today's DVD format. Seven of the eight major movie studios (Warner, Paramount, Fox, Disney, Sony, MGM and Lionsgate) have released titles for Blu-ray, whereas HD-DVD only has support from three major movie studios (Warner, Paramount and Universal). This is an important difference because some of the studios might only support one of the formats, so you won't be able to get your favorite movies in the other format. Choosing the format with the most content support minimizes this risk.

 

The third is hardware support. The Blu-ray format has broad support from the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers, including Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Pioneer, Sharp, JVC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, TDK, Thomson, LG, Apple, HP and Dell. The Blu-ray format will also be supported in the next-generation PlayStation 3 (PS3) video game console. This means that you will have a lot of choice when it comes to players and hardware. The HD-DVD format has far fewer supporters, so the amount of players and hardware will be very limited. Currently, Toshiba is the only company offering a stand-alone HD-DVD player.

 

Neilsen Sales Numbers:

 

Week ending 11/4/2007: Blu-Ray Sales = 71%, HD-Dvd= 29%

Year to date: Blu-Ray Sales = 64%, HD-Dvd= 36%

Since Inception: Blu-Ray Sales = 61%, HD-Dvd = 39%

 

Not a very good track record for HD-Dvd and it's sales continue to erode.

 

I would not be happy to be stuck a year from now with a $98 Toshiba A2 or $169 A3 HD-Dvd player and no new HD-Dvd movies to play on it, when I could have spent $300-$400 on a superior Blu-Ray or Sony PS3 system with many new Blu-Ray movies rolling out...

That was amazing