Blu-ray and multiple discs for movies....why?

So while Internet journalists continue to take the worn out stance that Blu-ray is necessary to reduce disc numbers, I'm looking at my newly purchased Dark Knight disc that has 3 discs in it. WTF.

Two of those 3 discs are Blu-ray. Isn't the whole damn point of Blu-ray to prevent this kind of thing? Shouldn't all of this content fit on their one "massively storage spaced" disc? It just doesn't make any sense. With Kill Bill vol 1 and 2, I understand they are trying to rape our wallets just because they can by making them two unnecessary separate purchases. But the Dark Knight is ONE movie.

So why is it okay for movie studios to pump out unnecessary multiple discs, but not for video games to pump out necessary multiple discs? Sure, the media is different, as-is the method of entertainment. But it seems to me that Blu-ray is NOT being used to its purpose here. Obviously they either want to gorge on price or they think that multiple discs shows more value to the consumer.

Yes, I appreciate the "free digital copy" that comes on the DVD in the set. But even that could have been on a separate layer of the Blu-ray disc so a DVD drive could read it. That's another tech possibility they've wasted even though HD-DVD is unfortunately out-of-the-way.

Consumers get pwned no matter the stance the take.

I guess DVD does win in that I still hear people constantly call BD "Blu-ray DVD", which has got to bother a few execs somewhere.

Not time to buy Blu-ray yet

Foxbusiness.com says it may not be time to buy Blu-ray yet.

In short:

Prices are still too high
Prices will go down in time
Featuresets haven't propagated throughout hardware yet
Most users are happy with DVD (and upscaled DVD)

For those who want to watch HD movies:

Try Blockbuster or Netflix.

That sounds about right to me. However, I disagree that Blu-ray is always "night and day" when compared to DVD. I'll happily compare DVD and Blu-ray on my 1080p television. There is a difference, but it's only really noticeable in scenes with little movement. During action...the High Def matters little, or if you are further than 20 feet away from the TV.

No rush, but if you want HD movies now, grab a PS3. It's your best bet.

Making news out of minute sales differences

I'm getting tired of the gaming media making headlines about minor changes in sales statistics. Sometimes they compare a 100,000 or less difference when discussing millions of units sold. Whether it's the PS3, 360, or Wii, it's getting a bit out of hand. 5-10% or more may be numbers to be concerned with, but anything less is just market flux.

When it comes down to the wire, it is very realistic that we could see an even market. The Wii has captured the world, but we still question such over the long term. The DS has consistently had plenty of stellar games where the Wii cannot say as much. This could easily change, but it is too soon to say.

Prices on the more advanced consoles are coming down. One thing the 360 and PS3 can do is perform anything technical that the Wii can do. They are just a motion controller away (the PS3 will probably need a different controller form factor). The Wii can't do what the other consoles do, however. Once the more powerful, more feature-filled consoles are affordable to the masses...it's hard to imagine the Wii holding its top spot. However, don't consider that a proclamation that it will drop to the bottom. More than likely, they'll all stay evenly spaced unless a brunt of million-selling games ends up on one specific console.

Last time, the PS2 got most of the games, and plenty of exclusives. At its continually dropping price, it's no wonder why it came out on top. But in this generation, exclusivity is fading leaving many widely popular titles available on gamers' preferred platforms.

Seeing the market with these aspects in mind, I think the gaming media should ease up on the war. We've already lost a solid movie format because the media didn't concentrate on what made HD-DVD better, but rather Blu-ray's arbitrary maximum storage number. Rather than worrying about who sold a few more or few less units in a month or year, we should be correlating that information to specific game releases. Even better, we should be concentrating on what the console manufacturers will be doing to keep us entertained, not on meaningless short-term numbers.

TeamXbox discovers VMD; gets over-excited

It looks like someone pointed TeamXbox to the "been around for a while" VMD format. Apparently, HD gets appended to the beginning of it to let us know that it's serious.

As a reminder...EVD/VMD uses multiple layers with a RED laser. This is why the players are multifuctional and under $200 right out the door. If memory serves correctly, they use up to 10 layers at 5GB each...1080p is supported and they are plenty capable of anything that HD-DVD and Blu-ray can do (whether they have the rights is another matter).

It just shows how these companies are ripping us off. Unfortunately, VMD isn't likely to go far since it has no studio support (HDCP support not required, which they won't like).

Catchup Quickie: Mini Blu-ray discs = good

Smaller discs would have made this format war a bit more noticeable I think. Personally, I'm tired of the standard size of DVDs and CDs. I'm ready to move on.

It looks like mini-blus are being used in some new recorders. They hold 7.5GB at the moment, but with multiple layers, that should be increased to enough to hold a 2 hour movie. Screw extras, give me more space in my entertainment center.

Free Blu-ray Casino Royal for me? Nope...they're sending it to UK

From Sony,

Thank you for registering for PLAYSTATION®Network.

PLAYSTATION Network opens the door to a new world of exciting entertainment opportunities.

Being one of the first to register you have qualified for a free Blu-ray Disc™ of Casino Royale™. We will aim to deliver your disc within 45 days.

For full terms and conditions of this offer please visit
uk.playstation.com/ps3/registration

Please note that during registration on PLAYSTATION Network, you will have been asked for a valid home address during the process so that the Blu-ray Disc can be delivered to you.

Sweet. But notice how they want me to visit "uk.playstation.com"? Yeah. So they are going to try to deliver this free movie to Ogden, Utah in the United Kingdom. I wonder if I still would have received it if they would have let me change the country to the correct one.

Countries open to the offer: Europe, Middle East and Africa, except employees and agents of SCEE and their families. The 41 countries are: UK, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Russia, UAE, South Africa, Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Israel, Malta, Iceland, Greece, Cyprus, India

Good luck with that, Sony!