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Hollywood studios are changing their home-video strategy

Just read this information on the LA Times regarding Hollywood Studios adopting their current home-video strategies in order to catch-up with technology and customer’s demands.

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

Source: Dawn C. Chmielewski, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

BUYERS BEWARE! HDMI Cable Scams

For those looking to get a new HDTV, PS3 or XBOX 360, I think you should see this first before spending tons of money in HDMI cables and connectors:

http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/marketplace/packing_the_deal.wmv

In a report by CBC’s Erica Johnson, three HDMI cables were rounded up for testing and supplied to Maxine Caron, a CBC production engineer. The group consisted of a well know brand name cable ($216 Canadian), Best Buy’s house brand (Rocketfish $110 Canadian) and a the generic 15ft. HDMI cable obtained via the internet for $6 plus $6 shipping.

Caron compared his source HDTV test signals to the output of each HDMI cable being tested at CBC’s test facility. The findings, all three HDMI cables tested reproduced every single pixel of the HDTV source. Caron commented that all three cables reproduced exactly the same image, including color quality, sharpness and black level. There was no performance advantage using the higher priced HDMI cables!

Here is a good site where you can find good deals on high definition cables and wall mounts for HDTVs:

http://www.monoprice.com

Enjoy!

Thanks to HDGURU.com for the heads up!

Blu-Ray vs HD Downloads

Just read an article in the new Home Theater magazine about the upcoming War between Blu-Ray and High Definition Downloads (HD Video-On-Demand). Now that the format war is over with Blu-Ray the winner, it was quite interesting reading different scenarios threatening new champion. It is fair to mention that even those new HD Video-On-Demand (VOD) services are promising (with secret negotiations happening at this moment between Microsoft and NetFlix), they all depend of your broadband connection. It means that they will need to overcome bandwidth limitations when downloading these movies before becoming mainstream. In addition, one of the main issues that those companies are facing is pricing and availability. If you go to a Blockbuster or use an online rental service, you can rent any Blu-Ray without worrying about late return fees. This is great for people like us who loves to watch our movies even more than once In fact, some of us even have a personal collection of these Blu-Rays already in place. In the case of HD VOD, you will need to have a PC hook-up to your HDTV (not so easy for regular people), use one of the cable/satellite providers or buy a Xbox 360, Apple TV or Vudu Unit. The main disadvantage of these technologies is that you are entitled to watch your movie for a period of time. Once the time has expired, you are not longer able to watch the movie nor even to be download it or RIP it (I could get killed only for mentioning this here).

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.