Audio Video News

Now here's the kind of of re-release I think we can all get behind. It's no secret at all that longtime DVD demo favorite, Luc Besson's <I>Fifth Element</I>, was released early on Blu-ray in a transfer that was shockingly poor. Sony is essentially admitting it was wrong (excuse me, I think I just saw a pig fly by my window), and is re-releasing <I>Fifth Element</I> on Blu-ray on July 17th and is offering an replacement program for people who bought the original Blu-ray Disc.

Ever wanted to pay for the cable channels you want and lose the rest? You might eventually get your way, thanks to a bill just introduced in Congress.

USA Today reports that PricewaterhouseCoopers is predicting that HDTV sets will be in 59% of homes in 2011, up from 12.7% at the close of 2006. As for DVRs, 39% of all homes will have 'em in 2011, up from 11.8% in 2006. Coolness. Me, I've got three...

Today I bring very sad news. Randy Tomlinson, a valued contributor to Ultimate AV and, more importantly, a close personal friend of over 30 years, dating back to when we were both in the Air Force, was killed this past Saturday morning in the crash of a private plane in northern California.

In what could be a major blow to HD DVD in the format war, DVD rental giant Blockbuster announced that it will expand rental of Blu-ray Discs exclusively into 1,450 stores by mid-July. Blockbuster will continue to rent HD DVD discs online and in the 250 stores in which it has been renting both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs since late last year. For a running total, that's 1,700 exclusive Blu-ray stores and 250 stores stocking both formats.

What a difference a single dollar makes in the online DVD rental business. Blockbuster decided to take aggressive action to gain traction in the online DVD rental business, which "projections" show as increasing 43% during the 2007 according to Blockbuster's Shane Evangelist (how's that for a cool name?!). So, it is now offering a subscription plan called Blockbuster by Mail that's a whole $1 cheaper than its existing Blockbuster Total Access plans. The Blockbuster by Mail plan will be online only as opposed to the Total Access plans which is comprised of both online and in-store rentals.

Talk about news stories of ironic proportions. On Monday the HD DVD Promotional Group trumpeted record sales of standalone HD DVD players three weeks into an agressive marketing campaign that featured major advertising support and $100 in-store rebates on players. According to the press release, 150,000 standalone HD DVD players have been purchased by consumers, representing 60% of the dedicated player market.