Personally I think there is not an assumption in the world that is more wrong. HD content is the future of movie and television entertainment, it’s only a matter of time before the FCC follows through and removes non-digital cable and more companies jump on the high-definition bandwagon. For that reason alone this battle between Blu-ray and the Netflix HD service on the Xbox 360 is important to everyone who cares about this form of entertainment. I will look at the positives and negatives of each service and at the end choose a sole winner, based only on these points and my personal interaction with the service (which has ramped up over the past month for purposes of this article). This is only a comparison of the actual Xbox 360 Netflix service, as that is what most of our readers would want to know about.

Blu-Ray: It’s well-known that the major reason Blu-ray was able to conquer HD-DVD in the format war was the release of the Playstation 3, which had a built in Blu-ray player and was offered at a much lower price than anything the competition could sell. Once the format war was over and Blu-ray won it’s right to be the lone-provider of disc-based HD content to consumers most thought this was the end; it was Blu-ray or nothing (see below why this is not the case). Blu-ray has a ton of positive things going for it: 1) the resolution is unbeatable, 2) it is easier to sell movies in a physical form, for now, 3) thanks to the PS3 it has a huge user-base, and 4) many studios exclusively support Blu-Ray for their HD content. The negatives for me are a bit more serious: 1) expensive (around $20 per movie), 2) expansive but not complete catalog of available films, 3) physical nature of Blu-rays can be destroyed/lost/damaged, and 4) inconvenience of going to brick-and-mortar store to pick-up/purchase a Blu-ray (or delivery time from internet).

Netflix HD: It was a big day when Microsoft announced that it’s New Xbox Experience (NXE) would include the option to use Netflix’s service right from the comfort of your own home via the Xbox 360 console. At first I was a bit skeptical but after some time with the service it has become a daily thing in our family’s home. If there is some down-time me and my wife pull up the Netflix webpage, put some movies in our queue and sit down to decide what to watch. The process is so simple that I have taught my brothers, sister, and parents how to do it (they all now use Netflix instead of their Blockbuster subscriptions). For me the positives of the integrated Netflix HD service are overwhelming: 1) ease of use, 2) availability of HD movies, documentaries, and television shows (lots of unknown content), 3) instant access (no wait for store trip or delivery time), and 4) decent HD quality of content. The few negatives are: 1) not as large of a selection as Blu-ray and 2) depending on internet issues watching movies can be a hassle.

And the winner is . . . Netflix HD, by a small margin. This could change over time and feel free to bash and/or disagree with my opinion. The future of entertainment is heading in a downloadable direction, personally I have been getting a lot more use out of the Netflix service than my growing Blu-ray collection. People want instant access to things, and Netflix HD is currently the best option for that. Only time will tell if the service continues to be supported and the movie selection continues to grow. Sound off in our forums by clicking the link here or in the comments section below.

Source: PlanetXBOX360

Tags: NetFlixHD, Xbox 360, Blu-Ray, Sony HD movies, nxe, Xbox Live

Panasonic gets the three-dimensional ball rolling

It’s no secret that Panasonic has been prepping digital technology for the home. The company showcased its pre-production technology at this year’s CEATEC show in Japan.

Panasonic has made its bid for 3D supremacy official this week, however, by submitting a proposal to the BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association) for a new 3D Blu-ray standard.

What the company has proposed is for a standard to store 3D left/right-eye, two-channel Full HD imagery.

For the format to work, Panasonic has also put forward the idea of a new type of HDMI cable to play the three-dimensional images.

Another dimension

With Hollywood starting to embrace 3D has the future format of choice – James Cameron’s Avatar is released next year and Disney is currently adding another dimension to its Pixar output – Panasonic has done well to get in there first with a new standard.

The BDA is said to be working fast to get the proposal sanctioned, looking at starting formal discussions by the end of this year, with the 3D standard, according to Tech On, in place as soon as 2010.

Source: Techradar.com

Tags: 3D, Blu-ray, Pixar, Panasonic

Samsung is adding the ability to stream Netflix videos and Pandora’s online music service to its latest Blu-ray players. Starting today, a free firmware update will add both services to the BD-P2550. (The nearly identical BD-P2500 will get Netflix support, but not Pandora.) The Samsung players join the LG BD300 Blu-ray player, the Roku Netflix Player, and (once a forthcoming firmware update goes live in November) the Xbox 360 as the only devices to date–outside of a PC–that can access Netflix’s online viewing service.

Both Samsung players have been available at retail for several weeks. In addition to Netflix and (for the 2550) Pandora support, a subsequent firmware update due on October 30 will add DTS-HD audio support (on-board decoding for DTS-HD High Resolution, bitstream output for Master Audio) for both players, and BD-Live support for 2550 (it’s already available on the 2500). Those features are in addition to the players’ already impressive feature set, which includes HQV video processing (which, in previous players, provides improved quality when playing standard DVDs); 7.1-channel analog audio outputs (good for interfacing with older AV receivers); and 1GB of on-board flash memory (no need for adding an SD card or USB flash drive to deliver compatibility with online BD-Live features).

The Netflix viewing experience should be nearly identical to that offered by the Roku player; it offers unlimited viewing of the growing (12,000-plus) library of on-demand movies and TV shows to any Netflix subscriber on the $9/month plan or above. The ad-supported Pandora personalized Internet radio service is free.

Both players carry a list price of $400, so anybody with even a passing interest in music should opt for the BD-P2550 (available at Best Buy). CNET will have a complete hands-on reviews of the players as soon as the full firmware updates become available.

Source: Cnet.com

Tags: Samsung, BD-P2500, BD-P2550, Blu-ray, Netflix, Pandora

In total, 95 titles are included in the sale covering multiple studios like Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, Anchor Bay Entertainment and others.

The marquee title in the sale is Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas re-priced at 43% off list at $22.99.

Other notable titles in the sale are 300 for $18.95, No Country For Old Men for $19.95, Short Circuit for $8.99 and National Treasure 2 for $19.95.

Click here to view and shop the complete list of all 95 Blu-ray titles on sale.

Amazon’s other Blu-ray promotions include the Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc player priced aggressively at $199.99 (more info or purchase from Amazon) and a buy three Blu-ray Disc movies and get a free Playstation 3 Blu-ray Disc remote control offer (view the list of eligible titles).

Thanks to TheHDRoom for the heads-up!

Tags: Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray sale, Amazon, Blu-ray Disc sale

EngadgetHD has been keeping a close eye on the prices of Blu-ray players, and recently noticed that both the Samsung BD-P1500 and Sony BDP-S300 have fallen below the $200 mark at certain stores (RadioShack and Amazon, respectively.) This is right in line with previous reports of falling Blu-ray prices, and while the BDP-S300 is pretty old, the BD-P1500 is currently Samsung’s most recent Blu-ray player. In many ways, these cuts are more important that the budget players we’ve seen from Insignia and Memorex, since for many people it’s a lot easier to drop $200 on Blu-ray if they know they’re getting a “Sony”.

EngadgetHD’s link to RadioShack is no longer working and we couldn’t find the BD-P1500 on the site by searching–we’re guessing they’re sold out. But if you can find the BD-P1500 for $200, it’s a much better deal than the BDP-S300. When we tested the BDP-S300, we found it painfully slow and it only supports the older Profile 1.0 standard. The BD-P1500, on the other hand, is currently Profile 1.1 compatible and is upgradeable to Profile 2.0, and considerably faster to use than the BDP-S300. The BD-P1500 is also on deck to get DTS-HD Master Audio decoding in the future, which means you’ll be able to get high resolution soundtracks using most HDMI-equipped AV receivers.

Source: crave.cnet.com

Tags: Sony, BDP-S300, Samsung, BD-P1500, Blu-ray

It seems that Studio executives don’t expect any single technology — video on demand, digital downloads or Blu-ray — to replace the DVD cash cow. Because of this, they are planning new strategies that will benefit end users.

Here are some of the key things they are improving:

- Some studios are testing offering online and cable rentals on the same day as DVD releases to boost sales.
- Hollywood studios now want to open a new “window” — offering high-definition versions of movies for rental viewing in the home ahead of their DVD release — if the Federal Communications Commission grants cable and satellite companies permission to block in-home copying.
- Check more information here

Representatives from SonyNEC Optiarc, the optical drive arm of the joint Sony and NEC collaboration, have revealed that they predict prices of Blu-ray combo drives – which can read Blu-ray discs and write DVD and CD – will reach sub-$100 prices by this upcoming holiday season. Additionally, it is expected that similar notebook drives would reach the $150 level by that same time.

They also predict that Blu-ray burners – those drives that can write to Blu-ray discs – will go for between $150-200. These lower prices will make the drives more accessible to computer manufacturers as consumer demand for Blu-ray drives steadily increases. Additionally, those looking to add some Blu to their existing systems will have a less expensive option to do so.

More information here…

blu-ray.com

In conclusion, if you put all these things on a balance, I thing Blu-Ray has a clear advantage (and we didn’t mention picture quality and interactive features). The great majority can buy a Blu-Ray player, hook it up on their HDTVs and watch their favourite titles without internet, PC and time limitations. Perhaps in the near future, when broadband connections become world-wide available and affordable then we can think these type of services as a true competition for Sony’s baby.