In case you missed it

It’s been a busy week that’s kept me from posting a lot. So, in an effort to keep you up to speed, here’s some things you might have missed if you weren’t paying attention:

PS3 adds DTS-HD Master Audio – It’s becoming harder to argue that the PS3 isn’t the best Blu-Ray player available. This week comes news that the console will be adding DTS-HD Master Audio support (as well as DTS-HD High Resolution). Interstingly, the PS3 encodes the signal internally but can’t pass it bit for bit to your receiver (yet), but the jury is still out on if passing that signal straight through will actually sound better. Either way, this is exciting news for Blu-Ray fans and PS3 owners. Prepare to crank that volume knob.

Blockbuster announcing set-top box – The way things are going I might have my own set-top box in the near future. Everyone seems to be announcing these things lately, and my gear rack is already full. Netflix announced one a while back, but there’s been no movement on that one. Meanwhile, Blockbuster is set to announce this one next month, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Wal-Mart, Amazon join the HD DVD rebate game – Circuit City and Best Buy have already been running programs, and word came this week that Amazon and Wal-Mart would join the fracus. Amazon sent people a $50 gift certificate in the mail, Wal-Mart will be allowing refunds, with receipts, on purchases made after Nov. 1, 2007.

Also last week, the first BD-Live titles were released. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The Sixth Day both came out. Unfortunately, for HD DVD adopters like me who were used to a mostly flawless online experience with HDi discs, the results so far for both BD-Live titles have been less than spectacular, with most users reporting long (we’re talking 4-5 minues) load times on online content. Hopefully this is something that gets better with time.

High Def DVDs make up more than 21 percent of Amazon top 23

Sorry for the sentence masquerading as a headline, but I wanted to make sure my point got across. Right now on the Amazon.com DVD bestseller list, high def media makes up 21 percent of the top 23 titles listed, and three of those titles are in the top 10.

I Am Legend (which amazingly sits at No. 1), No Country for Old Men (No. 8) and Enchanted (No. 9), all on Blu-Ray, make up 30 percent of the top 10 DVDs being sold at Amazon right now. Granted, all three are getting deep discounts, Legend is nearly half off list at $18.95, but read below that and it means that there’s enough players out there now that this type of thing can happen.

We’ve seen this in the past on rare occurances (Planet Earth on HD DVD was the first one I can remember), but this is the most representation I can remember seeing on the top 25. The I Am Legend combo HD/DVD comes in at 21 and the Remastered Fifth Element on Blu Ray is 23.

Dead technology, get your dead technology, cheap!

Update 4:30 p.m. – Microsoft has announced the new price will be $49.99 starting tomorrow. Best Buy jumped the gun, it seem.

If you’re into retro, or you’re an Xbox 360 owner looking for a bit of up-conversion on the cheap, act fast. Best Buy is selling the now discontinued HD DVD add on for the 360 for a deliciously cheap $49.99. Rumors of this price point were flying last week, but this is the first I’ve seen of it being true. I’ve also been told Kmart has it for the same price, but it’s not listed on their site.

A quick check of Circuit City and Amazon this morning showed they were still holding to a price point over $100. That’s not likely to last too long.

Microsoft announced over the weekend that it was discontinuing the drive. While it had been part of the Toshiba five free movies promotion, I haven’t heard if that’s still going or not, so caveat emptor. However, if it is, add in King Kong in the box and you get the Microsoft remote (handy if you have Media Center and use the Xbox as an extender), King Kong and five other movies for 50 bucks. Not too shabby.

If you’re into that sort of thing.

Don’t forget: I’ve got six Hulu Beta invites left for the next six people to hit this link, add my new RSS and drop a comment. Technically, I can’t trace back if you added my feed, so really you can just drop a comment. I don’t want to tell people what to do. Unless you’re into that sort of thing, too.

New HD DVD sale at Amazon, 57% off

Amazon has started a new sale on HD DVDs, offering 33 discs at 57 percent off list price. This is in addition to their 50 percent off sale on 150 other discs. Barnes and Noble has a similar 50 percent off sale.
The crown jewel of the new Amazon sale is undoubtedly the full Matrix trilogy for just 44 bucks. Also on the list are: Phantom of the Opera (always a highly-rated disc), George Clooney hits Good Night and Good Luck and Syriana, and holiday classic The Polar Express.

If you have an HD DVD player, nows the time to get some cheap discs to add to your collection.