Geek In Me

by Richard Lawler via engadget.com

Buried under predictions that 2012 will bring dominance for Blu-ray over DVD and breaking news that the PS3 just may have had a hand in winning the format war the Entertainment Merchant’s Association 2008 Annual Report on the Home Entertainment Industry holds survey results showing 87% of PS3 owners reported they watch Blu-ray movies on their console. That’s a stark contrast to last year’s NPD survey indicating 60% of owners didn’t even know it played them. We don’t know what’s behind the jump, be it better marketing/consumer education, or something wrong with how one the surveys were conducted. You can mull that one over during the fast money round while also peeping results that say 22% of HDTV owners think they’re watching HD programming, but in fact are not — not like we haven’t heard that before.

via gizmodo.com

Panasonic is doing its part to see Blu-ray make even more of a success with its new LM-BR25MD and LM-BR50MD disks for home disc-burning. Both are single-sided, write-once BD-Rs, compatible with Blu-ray Disc Recordable Format version 1.3, and they’re 25GB and 50GB-sized. They’ll be released in Japan in July, at a price of $15 for the single-layer 25GB disk and $37 for the dual-layer 50GB version, but you’ll have to wait to find out when they’ll be coming to the US.

by Richard Lawler via engadget.com
The Criterion Collection’s long-awaited HD debut — delayed by that annoying format war — finally has a date, as well as a list of the first movies getting a definitive release in 1080p. If that wasn’t enough, try this bit on for size: They won’t charge viewers extra for the privilege. That’s right, according to the e-mail that went out to subscribers today, all Blu-ray releases will feature HD picture and sound (no word on what codecs, although we expect nothing but the best considering the company has been mastering and restoring all releases in HD for years now), all the supplemental content and a matching (unspecified) price to their standard DVD editions. The complete email and list of a dozen movies follows after the break, along with a note that The Last Emperor will also be released in its original theatrical version on both formats for $39.95, while Walkabout will be an all-new edition.