Jason and the argonauts While

Jason and the argonauts

While a lot of non-gamers might balk at buying a game machine as their primary movie player, the PS3 might actually be the best Blu-ray player on the market today. Movies start up much faster than on most standalone Blu-ray players, and the PS3s Internet connectivity lets you download new firmware updates for the BR player whenever theyre released. The 100 gift card is just part of Wal-Marts renewed push to attract high-definition shoppers. The retailer said in a news release that it is boosting the number of 1080p televisions on its shelves by 58 percent, with new models and larger sizes. There will also be a hi-def Blu-ray experience area in 1, 200 stores to explain the technology. Thats good, because less than half of HDTV owners even know what Blu-ray is, and jason and the argonauts nine percent of HDTV owners plan to buy a Blu-ray player. Andrew D. SmithGuest blogger A new report from ABI Research suggests the biggest impediment to Blue-ray DVD sales isnt Internet downloads but user eyesight. The folks at ABI said that many people cant tell the difference between a Blue-ray DVD and the regular one played on up converting DVD player. This strikes me as absurd. Its like saying that most people cant tell the difference between color and black-and-white. Up-converting a standard DVD does make it look better, but it doesnt look anything like true high definition. Anyone who has viewed an upconverted standard definition DVD image can attest to the fact that picture quality is far superior to that created by the now-obsolete video tape technology. Further complicating the Blu-ray buying decision is the fact that Blu-ray players are still in the 300 range, while upconverting players go for as little as 60 How can people who spend more than a grand on a nice television think it sane to forgo HD movies in order to save a couple hundred bucks? Are people really this blind? More importantly, will people whose eyes actually work jason and the argonauts get less true high definition because many Americans are apparently blind? Like I mention in the article, the program is pretty technical, and not as user-friendly as amateurs might like. But the calibration tools will give you a better picture, if youre patient enough to muddle through the jargon and complex directions. UPDATE: Reader Phil Dunlop e-mails to say that I should have mentioned that you can hire a professional calibrator who uses specialized equipment to fine tune your picture beyond anything that a disc like DVE can provide. I was focusing more on the do-it-yourself calibration options, but it is worth noting that there is another level of picture tweaking available for those who want to go the extra mile. With managed copy, youd be able to easily and legally copy the movie to your computers hard drive or to a portable video player. The idea is that movie buyers would finally get the convenience that music listeners had been enjoying for years with rippable music CDs. Well, it looks like managed copy is finally, slowly starting to appear on Blu-ray discs. High-Def Digest sends word that Lionsgates upcoming Blu-ray version of the latest Rambo movie will include a second disc with a standard-def version of the film that you can download onto your PC, iPod, iPhone and possibly other devices. Lionsgate joins Fox as the first studios to embrace whats now being called digital copy Fox offered its first digital copy movie with the March 11 Blu-ray release of Hitman. Its too bad that consumers are only getting standard definition digital copy versions of these movies, rather than the awesome HD prints. On the other hand, 1080p Blu-ray movies can run up to 50-gigabytes or so, and thats a lot of data even for the current crop of mammoth hard drives, much less the relatively puny memory of most portable devices. And its definitely nice to see studios following through on a promise that a lot of people never thought theyd keep. UPDATE: While Im complaining about my lack of HD movie copies, though, things could be a lot worse. For example, Cuba has just lifted its ban on buying DVD movie players. But air conditioners remain prohibido until next year, and toasters yes, toasters are off limits until 2010, due to limited power supplies. Hooray for communism! Andrew D. SmithGuest blogger Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy told analysts in New York that the demise of HD DVD would inspire studios to unleash a torrent of titles on Blu-ray. He estimated that the Blu-ray library at his company would jump from 500 today to 1, 500 or more by years end. Unfortunately, the cost of buying all those Blu-ray discs, which are more expensive than jason and the argonauts DVDs, may cause Netflix to raise prices. It seems apparent that content will cost us more, said McCarthy, who was quoted in a VideoBusiness story. Whether we raise prices will be entirely a function of churn, subscriber acquisition costs and gross margins. The New York Times Freakonomics blog has an interesting post up where several tech and management experts ruminate over the triumph of Blu-ray and the fall of HD-DVD. While there are some interesting points made, I think most of the experts fall victim to the increasingly trendy notion that Blu-rays victory is merely one successful battle in an ultimately doomed war against online video downloads. Lets be clear: downloadable HD video is years, perhaps even decades, away from going mainstream. With HD-DVDs corpse not yet cold, the Blu-ray folks send word that theyll be at North East Mall in Hurst next month to show off all the cool features of their technology. While you could basically get the same demo by strolling into any Best Buy store, the Blu-ray show will be showcasing not-yet-released Blu-ray titles, including Finding Nemo, which should look fantastic in HD.