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Posts with tag BluRay

Blu-ray Releases on October 7th 2008

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Oct 7th 2008 at 8:01AM

Sleeping BeautyThere are a few day and date releases this week, but we don't think any of them are the biggest title of the week. Sure 'Sleeping Beauty' doesn't fit in the Blu-ray demographic, it does mark a significant milestone in Blu-ray's path to replacing DVD. In fact it marks the very first Disney Classic to be released on Blu-ray, which we're sure will help more than one father convince his wife they need to go Blu. Next up is 'You Don't Mess with the Zohan', which although it looks down right silly, it is sure to be good for a few laughs. The rest of the lineup this week is all Halloween, all the time, as just about every studio goes into its catalog to release every horror classic we can think of. But if you think this is a big week, just wait until next week.

For starters 'The Matrix Trilogy' finally drops on Blu, but there are also plenty of other catch up titles from Universal and one or two more from Warner. Those alone would make some week for Blu, but we haven't even mentioned the latest Indiana Jones movie which is sure to be a hot seller. While no one truly knows the future of Blu-ray, there's little doubt that we will have a much better look into the future after this holiday season thanks to every studio throwing everything they have to make Blu-ray successful.

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Sony Unveils World's Lightest Blu-ray Laptop

by Darren Murph, posted Sep 23rd 2008 at 4:37PMBreaking News


It took a few days hours longer than expected, but Sony's VAIO TT is here. And it's sexy. This 11.1-inch beauty features a sub-1-inch thick, 2.87-pound chassis made from carbon-fiber, and Sony claims it's the lightest notebook on the planet to pack Blu-ray capabilities.

Arriving in a variety of configurations, the VAIO TT is available with an XBRITE-DuraView LCD, Intel's Centrino 2 technology, an HDMI output, dual channel 256GB (128GB x 2) SSD setup with RAID, Sprint WWAN (EV-DO Rev. A) and Windows Vista running the show. The Fall-bound TT -- which will arrive in premium carbon black, silk black, champagne gold and crimson red outfits -- will start at around two large, with the Blu-ray model going for $2,700 and the SSD edition demanding $2,750.

There's no direct mention of a battery life figure, which scares us just a tad, but you can dig into the full release just after the break.

Don't miss the gallery over at Engadget.

Continue reading Sony Unveils World's Lightest Blu-ray Laptop

Engadget HD

Blu-ray Releases on September 9th, 2008

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Sep 9th 2008 at 7:01PM

Baby Mama Blu-rayAs we push closer and closer to the one thousand title mark for Blu-ray, during this season of TV shows, catalogs, and B+ movies, we get more and more excited for what's to come. But for now we'll have to appreciate what we have, and we only wish we though 'Baby Mama' looked funny. That's not to say there isn't at least one good title in this week's slate of eighteen, just nothing new. For example, who doesn't like 'Kill Bill,' 'Cool Hand Luke,' or 'Jerry Maguire?' And that's not to mention one of the most inspirational sports movies of all time, 'Rudy'. If none of these interest you, just wait until next week, which has a pretty impressive lineup to offer. Personally we're looking forward to a few of 'em like 'Leatherheads,' 'The Love Guru' and the very first two Weinstein Blu-ray movies ever.

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Engadget HD

Blu-ray Releases on August 26th, 2008

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Aug 26th 2008 at 7:01AM

Redbelt Blu-rayHere we are at the last week of August, and although there hasn't been that many titles to get excited about, there have been more titles released then ever before. Starting with September, the rest of the year looks like the trend of more than ten titles a week will continue, but more interestingly, there are quite a few to look forward to. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we can enjoy a few day-and-date releases like Sony's 'Redbelt' and Fox's 'What Happens in Vegas.' At the same time Warner has a few classics to share, including a personal favorite, 'Pale Rider.' Universal continues to play catchup by releasing previous HD DVD titles on Blu-ray with 'Heroes' (season 1 and 2) 'U-571' and 'End of Days.' Overall it's not as bad as it's been, but looking forward to September, there are over eighty titles on the calendar and with Weistein finally getting in the mix in a couple of weeks, the time is finally arriving for Blu-ray to put up or shut up.

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Engadget HD

Blu-ray Releases on August 19th, 2008

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Aug 19th 2008 at 4:30PM

Street Kings - Blu-rayAnother slow August Tuesday for Blu-ray releases this week, as there are only a few day-and-date titles. Of those, the best we can think of is 'Street Kings', but it isn't a hard decision when a title like 'Prom Knight' has a IMDB score of 3.1. We have another TV series on Blu-ray this week though, with Fox's Terminator show which oddly enough is distributed by Warner -- those TV rights are always much more complicated then they should be. Next week looks to be better though, as Universal has a whole slew of catch up titles, including Season 1 and 2 of 'Heroes', and Fox's new fun comedy 'What Happens in Vegas'.

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Engadget

Pioneer To Launch Blu-ray Recorders By Year's End

by Nilay Patel, posted Jul 8th 2008 at 4:01PM

Blu-ray recorders have been on the scene for a while now, but now that the format war's over, it looks like more companies are starting to commit to BD-R devices -- like Pioneer, which announced today that it'll have a Blu-ray recorder out in Japan by the end of the year.

The company didn't say what model it would be or what price point it was aiming for, but the tech is being jointly developed with Sharp, so hopefully it's have a family resemblance to units like the 1TB AQUOS BD-HDW20 in everything but the $2,611 pricetag.
Engadget HD

Blu-ray Releases on July 8th, 2008

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Jul 8th 2008 at 8:12AM

Batman BeginsAfter nine months of waiting, Blu-ray fans will finally get to watch 'Batman Begins' in HD on their preferred format. And just in time too as the new Batman movie hits theaters in a few weeks. Sure it's hard to call 'Batman Begins' the hottest new release when it is barely a new release, but when you look at the rest of the titles this week, it isn't hard to understand. In fact, the only other title we considered was 'The Ruins'. 'Sleepwalking' also looked like a decent flick, but we just don't think it has that much appeal for the average HD junkie. Next week's lineup isn't much better though, but the week after, Universal jumps in with three new titles including two installments from the successfully 'Mummy' franchise.

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Engadget HD

'The Godfather Collection' Hits Blu-ray on September 23rd

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 1st 2008 at 2:19PM


Catching 'The Godfather' on HD VOD is one thing; catching the famed trilogy on remastered Blu-ray is another. On September 23rd, Paramount will (re)release what's sure to be a holiday favorite in 'The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration.'

The package will be available in both DVD ($72.99) and Blu-ray ($119.99) formats, and videophiles will be elated to know that director Francis Ford Coppola oversaw the restoration process himself. The four-disc BD set will be presented in 1080p with Dolby TrueHD, and extras junkies should find plenty to love as well. For a rundown of what to expect on each disc, check out the read link below. [Source: The TMR Zoo via Electronic House]
Engadget HD

Blu-ray Releases on July 1st, 2008

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Jul 1st 2008 at 9:07AM

Vantage Point Blu-rayWe have fourteen new titles for Blu-ray this week and believe it or not it is a slow start to the biggest Blu month to date. The biggest week is at the end of the month, when twenty four new releases hit the streets thanks to some help from Universal's first Blu-ray titles.

Although there are plenty of new titles this week, there really isn't much to talk about. The biggest title is easily 'Vantage Point', but that isn't saying much as one of the only other day-and-date releases up against it was 'Meet the Browns', which with its IMDB rating of 2.2 puts it at number seventy on the list of all time worst movies.

There are a few good catalogs this week though, like 'In the Line of Fire', there are also a few concerts. Next week doesn't have as many new releases with only eight, but it is Batman week as the nine month wait for a Blu-ray version of 'Batman Begins' is finally over. Now Warner, about 'The Matrix'...

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Engadget HD

Blu-ray Releases on June 24th, 2008

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Jun 24th 2008 at 7:45AM

10,0000 BCAfter last week's abysmal lineup, it is good to see a few good titles this week as we count down the last month before every major studio is releasing Blu-ray movies. But while we wait for Universal to get on board, we still have a good selection coming our way.

This also happens to be the very last week with an HD DVD new release, but the last title from a major studio were about a month ago. '10,000 B.C.' is probably the biggest title on this week's slate, but 'The Spiderwich Chronicles' and 'Persepolis' aren't slouches either. These titles help round out a pretty good month, but July should be the best yet -- but it does get off to a slow start.

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Engadget HD

Blu-ray Releases on June 3rd, 2008

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Jun 2nd 2008 at 5:43PM

There Will be Blood Blu-rayThis is the week that many have been waiting for. The week where Paramount finally opens the floodgates and officially releases all those titles on Blu that were previously available. The biggest Paramount release to make its HD debut is without a doubt 'There Will Be Blood' (IMDB 8.5) followed by 'Cloverfield,' but the rest are no slouch either.

But while we wait until the end of July for the last previously Red studio to go Blu brining just about all of Hollywood together behind one format -- Fox, Warner, and MGM open the classics flood gates with some very famous titles like the 'Dirty Harry' franchise and 'Patton.' So while our total went up by 51 titles this week thanks to Paramount and others, there is still at least one good movie released exclusively on DVD this week in the way of 'Control' (IMDB 8.0) thanks to Weinstein. Regardless of one missing title, we'd be surprised if there was any movie fan who couldn't find something to watch this week, so enjoy it until the next title drought.

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* Blu-ray total does reflect 32 Paramount titles that were previously officially unavailable.

First Blu-ray Record Released

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted May 30th 2008 at 10:15AMBreaking News

Divertimenti Blu-ray recordFans of high-def audio rejoice: The first Blu-ray recording has been released. Fans of anything other than Divertimento, hold your horses: The first release is from Trondheimsolistene, an orchestra from Norway. 'Divertimenti,' as it is called, will be released by the 2L label in full HD audio glory along with a SACD track for those not on the Blu-ray bandwagon just yet.

Formats include 2.0 LPCM, 5.1 LPCM, 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, 5.1 Dolby True HD, 5.1 Dolby Digital at 48KHz, and it has been confirmed to work just fine on the PS3.

[Source: 2L via MiC]
Engadget

DVDPlay to Add Blu-ray Discs in Movie Rental Kiosks

by Darren Murph, posted May 30th 2008 at 8:17AM


When Blu-ray hits the food mart, you know it has gone big time. DVDPlay just coined itself the "first rental kiosk operator to offer Blu-ray Discs," as it laid out a plan to shove BD flicks into its machines as early as June 10th. Vanilla DVDs will, of course, continue to be offered alongside the newcomers, and best of all, the rental fee for Blu-ray Discs won't be a penny more than what is already charged for DVDs ($1.49). Those with DVDPlay kiosks around can inspect their local machines for 'Untraceable' and 'Men in Black' in under a fortnight, as those two are specifically noted as titles that will likely be offered up early on. [Source: AOL Money via TheManRoom]
Engadget HD

Blu-ray releases on May 27th, 2008

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted May 27th 2008 at 3:40PM

RamboParamount has us all messed up again this week thanks to the fact that all its releases got pushed back to June 3rd. We tried our best to be accurate last week, but still managed to list two Paramount titles that we were unable to find at Amazon or at our local Best Buy. Not a big deal as all of the titles we were expecting last week, and the 32 previously released titles, should all be available by next week -- so we can finally get rid of the asterisks.

On a slow week like this, it is easy to be the best release, but that doesn't mean we aren't excited to check out the latest in the Rambo franchise as well as enjoying part two and part three in HD for the first time. Interestingly, while the new Rambo movie includes a 7.1 PCM sound track, the older three all feature 5.1 DTS-HD MA. We find this very odd and really wonder why Lionsgate wouldn't go with DTS-HD MA on all of 'em. If you're not into anything this week, don't worry as next week has something for everyone with 18 new releases, 4 Paramount titles delayed from earlier this year, and we finally expect to see the 32 previously available Paramount titles on the shelf.

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* Blu-ray total does not reflect 32 Paramount titles that were previously officially available.
Engadget HD

50 Years of NASA Footage Hits Discovery in HD this Summer

by Richard Lawler, posted May 9th 2008 at 12:39PMBreaking News


Sure now we get live HD from the ISS like it's nothing, but much of the last half century of space exploration has never been seen by most in anything other than grainy analog broadcasts. That'll change in June once When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions debuts on Discovery Channel, drawing from more than 150 hours of NASA footage, called a cross between 'The Right Stuff' and EHD fave 'Planet Earth.' The Orlando Sentinel mentions the new doc is part of a push to ensure funding to speed further space explorations, as long as they provide more great HD opportunities we're all for it. Look for the Blu-ray boxed set July 24 for $79.95. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]


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