Tag Archives: blu-ray

Walmart and VUDU Team Up to Bring Your DVD Collection to the Cloud

Have a bunch of DVD’s you bought before the glorious HD DVD vs Blu-ray war ended? Surely, you stopped buying DVD’s once Blu-ray won, right? Either way, Walmart and VUDU are teaming up to bring your movies to the cloud for a small price: $2 for same video format streams (DVD to 480p or Blu-ray to HD) or $5 for the high definition stream of your DVD movie.

I can’t think of any arguments why you would want to convert your DVD’s to the same quality cloud version since that’s already possible to do on your own with tools like HandBrake. While VUDU has arguably the best streaming format for high definition AND surround sound home theaters, there’s no reason to watch a streaming version of a title if you already own the Blu-ray. Streaming video and audio quality pales in comparison to Blu-ray quality. The $5 fee to gain access to the high definition stream sounds like the most appealing service to me. If you’ve watched a lot of high definition content in the recent years and try to watch even a minute of those DVD’s you own, I’m sure you’ll cringe.

Naturally, since the service is new, not all studios are signed on although many of the major ones are: Paramount Home Media Distribution, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Warner Bros, and just recently, DreamWorks Animation.

The service starts today at 3,500 Walmart locations.

So is it possible to borrow a friend’s DVD and get the VUDU HD stream for $5? I hope to test out the process as soon as possible and report back!

Source: VUDU

Redbox and Warner Bros. Deal Expires. Redbox To Acquire Titles Through “Alternate Means” (UPDATED)

It turns out that Redbox understands movie lovers: if we don’t catch a film in theaters, we want to watch it as soon as possible when it comes out on DVD Blu-ray. Unfortunately, studios have yet to realize the evolving consumer/market is not the same it was years ago.

Earlier this year, Warner Brothers proposed a deal with Redbox that would impose a 56 day delay between retailer release and rental availability. Rather than agreeing to these terms in an exchange for discounted discs, Redbox has decided to take its ball and go home. As a result, Redbox will have to purchase titles from retailers at a bulk price. The first Warner Brothers title Redbox plans to make available after finding a new source is “A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas“, which comes out February 7, 2012.

Come April, eyes will be on Universal Pictures as their deal with Redbox expires. Currently, Universal’s release window is 28 days and there is no word yet if that length will be doubled.

A few questions remain:
Will these rentals be the retail versions with all bonus features?
Will this added cost be transferred to customers?
Will availability of these new Warner Brothers discs be more limited than others?

Rather than fighting with content distributors like Redbox and Netflix, studios might be better off dropping windows. It’s no secret that consumers are cutting back. We can no longer afford to buy a title that may only be watched once after purchase. Sometimes we pass on watching a movie in the theaters because the reviews don’t justify the cost of a ticket and that rationale certainly wouldn’t change when the Blu-ray release is even more than a ticket. How about we just accept purchases are for hardcore collectors and rentals are for casual watchers and just release them both into the wild at same time?

UPDATE (2/8/2012): It looks like Redbox has pushed back the release 1 week to 2/14/2012. Source: redbox

Source

Darth Vader say Noooooo!!

Star Wars Fans Say No to Darth Vader’s Noooooo!!!

“Noooooo!!!”

What’s that the sound of? It’s the scream of about a million Star Wars fans*, upon learning the addition of a new sound byte to their beloved original Star Wars trilogy.

The original Star Wars trilogy is being released on Blu-rays. Some review copies have come out and in the final climactic scene of Return of the Jedi, where Darth Vader saves Luke by throwing the emperor over the railing, Vader now says “No. Noooooo!!!”

Watch the following clip (from WideAsleepFilm):

Many devote fans do not like this addition. In fact, they loathe George Lucas even more. (Remember, how much hate Lucas got for adding Hayden Christensen to the end Jedi-ghost scene of Return of the Jedi?) There are more changes in the Blu-ray, such as the animal scream that Obi-wan uses to scare off the Sand people in Episode 4, or that Ewoks can blink now.

No one likes messing with a “winning formula”, especially Star Wars fans. Time and time again, it seems George Lucas, whether he means to or not, tests the loyalty of his fans by adding things that weren’t part of the original, or by creating a new trilogy that is both laughable and cringe-worthy (episodes 1-3).

As much at it hurts not to have Star Wars in Blu-ray beauty, in the end, if you don’t like it… don’t support it.

What are your thoughts on this addition?

Watch more Star Wars Blu-ray additions on WideAsleepFilm YouTube

 

 

* – Rough guess of the number of fans screaming.