If you were tempted by the ES Series Blu-ray Player sale price but thought it was still to high, Sony has sweetened the offer.
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This offer is valid until May 22nd.
If you like the idea of having an ES Series Blu-ray Player but not the $700 price tag, Sony Style has a great offer.
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Use coupon code SONYBDPS1000 at checkout for the discount.
This offer is valid until May 8th.
Sony Style is now shipping the new Sony BDP-S570 3D Blu-ray Disc Player with a retail price of only $249.99.
This player is certainly feature rich, with not only 3D but also BD Live via built in WiFi, but also BRAVIA Internet Video streaming and DLNA capabilities, plus iPhone/iPod touch remote control.
Sounds like a nice player and it is great to see all these features at such a reasonable price point.
March 2nd 2010 marked the arrival of the big budget movies on Blu-ray this year, with the Sony Pictures release 2012.
This epic disaster movie ponders if mankind even has a future after cataclysmic events from an ancient Mayan prophecy.
The sun has gone into a new strange phase and neutrinos are heating the Earth’s core at an alarming rate.
Lakes are drying up and Los Angeles is suffering small tremors on a regular basis.
Meanwhile author turned limo driver Jackson Curtis is taking his family out on a camping trip, only to discover ‘the truth’ from a rambling crackpot radio announcer.
Can Jackson and his family escape the destruction as Los Angeles slides into the Pacifc?
Will they uncover the obligatory international government conspiracy to protect the wealthy and elite from the end of times?
Certainly the film makers have gone to great lengths here to present an exciting movie, but in reality it runs too long and the destruction of the planet’s icons becomes monotonous after a while.
They could easily have slashed millions off the special effects budget by making a tighter two hour movie.
In addition, while sometimes it is fun to turn the brain off and munch on the popcorn, this movie took the suspension of belief thing to a whole new level - so much so that it just fails to be even close to credible.
On the other hand, this film features top notch practical and computer generated special effects which are on a scale never previously seen.
The cast is also a pretty decent ensemble, including John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, Woody Harrelson and Chjwetel Ejiofor.
2012 was directed by Roland Emmerich, famous for epic special effects movies including The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day, as well as factually loose period pieces like The Patriot.
Emmerich promises that this will be his last disaster flick.
The movie was given a a bit of a hard hard time by critics - it earned a Rotten Tomatoes score of 39% and IMDb score of 6.1/10, which I think is a pretty fair assessment.
2012 had a strong run at the cinema, reaching $166.1M at the US box office.
The video on the disc is an AVC 1080p encode at 22 Mbps, and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1.
The movie looks great, as you would expect from such a high budget production.
For full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc, check out the details page for 2012.
The main audio is lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 5.1 channels - 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.
The disc is a dual layer BD50, with 41.7 GB used and is coded for All Regions.
Supplements for this title include Bonus View Picture in Picture streams and BD Live Network features.
The BD exclusive movieIQ feature allows movie details to be researched as the movie plays.
The Picture-in-Picture option features the director’s Vision, including pre-visualization, storyboards and behind-the-scenes footage, as well as interviews with cast and crew.
The first disc also features a commentary with writer/director Roland Emmerich and co-writer Harald Kloser.
Additionally an alternate ending that is a little more sugar coated than the theatrical version is present on the first disc.
Most of the special features are on the second dedicated supplemental disc.
There is a small selection of deleted scenes where good choices to be removed from the movie.
BD Java is put to good use in the Interactive Mayan Calendar where you can enter a date to reveal your horoscope and find your Mayan personality profile based on your birth date.
There is also a short featurette that covers the Mysteries of the Mayan Calendar and the extensive cycles that it includes.
The Designing the End of the World featurette is the main making of documentary, and it largely covers the computer generated and practical special effects that were combined to form the images on the screen.
In a lot of ways a film buff will likely find this segment is more interesting than the movie itself, especially with the scale of the practical effects used to give the film a feeling of authenticity.
The history and nature of the director is covered in the Roland Emmerich: Master of the Modern Epic featurette
The Science Behind the Destruction featurette looks into potentially plausible real causes for the disasters presented in the film.
The actors in the film take center stage in the The End of the World: The Actor’s Perspective featurette, which covers the casting and the challenges of acting in this kind of movie.
The Countdown to the Future featurette investigates the potential for the the end of the real world in 2012 due to increasingly unusual solar activity and the phases of Mayan calendar.
The Time For Miracles music video by Adam Lambert of American Idol fame is included along with a ‘making of’ feature for the video.
The Digital Copy for PSP is actually included on the supplemental Blu-ray Disc and is transferable to the PSP via a PlayStation3.
A separate DVD disc contains the Digital Copy for iTunes and Windows Media.
Whether you consider it an amazing disaster epic or an amazingly epic disaster, the two disc edition of 2012 is a great Blu-ray Disc release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Even if the movie isn’t all that appealing to you, this disc is an excellent choice for demonstrating the capabilities of Blu-ray Disc and your home theater system.
The retail price is $39.95, or order it right now at Amazon for $24.99, saving 37%!
If you are not interested in all of the special features and the digital copy, you can find the 2012 Single Disc Version for a little less at $23.99, though I think the extras are worth the extra $1 myself.
Extras:
Synopsis:
From Roland Emmerich, director of The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day, comes the ultimate action-adventure film, exploding with groundbreaking special effects. As the world faces a catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions, cities collapse and continents crumble. 2012 brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors. Starring John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Woody Harrelson and Danny Glover.
Right now you can save an extra $30 on the refurbished Sony BDPS360 Blu-ray Disc Player, now only $89.99 at Sony Style!
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This promotion ends March 13th.
Maybe the last anaglyph 3D Blu-ray has hit the shelves with the New Line Cinema title The Final Destination released January 5th.
This is the fourth in the Final Destination franchise, and while it is perhaps not as good as the first two, it is certainly an improvement over the third one.
The same theme is played out here - one of a group of teens sees a horrible disaster in their future and freaks out about it, saving them and some others from certain death when it all goes down.
Having cheated death, the group must then face death catching up with them, killing them one by one unless the chain can be broken.
This time around the main disaster is a speedway crash and subsequent stadium collapse.
The main character continues have visions of the new death destiny of the characters, and works to change the course of future events to save himself and his friends.
There are a few quirky aspects to the movie, including one character that wants to die and fails to kill himself since it is not his destiny to die next.
The film was obviously written with 3D in mind and a number of the ‘execution’ sequences and effects take advantage of the extra dimension.
While I am sure that the 3D came across well in the theater, the Red/Cyan eye channel separation for anaglyph 3D can be distracting and is not the best for channel separation, especially on uncalibrated displays which may have colour shifts.
On the fun side, the opening sequence pays homage to the previous installments in the movie franchise.
I did like that the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it is almost like death is fricken McGuyver this time around - a lot of the accidents don’t seem so ‘accidental’, and one or two keep you guessing as to how it will eventually play out.
It is pretty clear that death has no time for racist red necks!
The cast is essentially a host of unknown actors including Shantel VanSanten, Bobby Campo, Haley Webb, Nick Zano, Krista Allen, Andrew Fiscella, Richard T. Jones and Mykelti Williamson.
The Final Destination was directed by David R. Ellis, who was the man behind Final Destination 2 and more recently Snakes on a Plane.
The movie received a fairly harsh critical response with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 28% and an IMDb score of 5/10.
The Final Destination was fairly successful in the cinema though, reaching $66.5M at the US box office.
The video for the 3D version is a VC-1 1080p encode at 24 Mbps, and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1.
The regular 2D version of the movie has a significantly lower bitrate - less than 16 Mbps - though is still VC-1 at 1080p.
Check out the details page for The Final Destination to see full resolution PNG screen captures from both the 3D and 2D versions.
The main audio is lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 5.1 channels - 16 bits resolution at 48 kHz.
It is interesting to note that a number of Warner releases coming up have DTS rather than their traditional Dolby TrueHD audio codec.
The disc is a dual layer BD50, with 34.2 GB used and is coded for All Regions.
The disc features a selection of supplements that include BD Live Network features and a Digital Copy for both Windows Media and iTunes.
As previously noted, the disc includes both 2D and 3D versions of the film, which are by necessity completely different encodes of the movie due to the cyan/red right/left eye arrangement.
It will be interesting to see if New Line releases this title down the line using the new Blu-ray standard for 3D which would no doubt result in a much better presentation.
Additional footage is presented in the form of a pair of alternate endings and a selection of deleted scenes.
Body Count: The Deaths Of The Final Destination covers a selection of the death sequences in the movie and storyboard and previsualization comparisons are presented for the two main disaster sequences.
Lastly the disc features an exclusive first look at the new A Nightmare On Elm Street remake due in theaters soon.
The Final Destination was made for a specific audience who will no doubt appreciate this tongue in cheek yet graphic installment from the franchise.
The Blu-ray Disc is a pretty tidy release from New Line Cinema, though I have to wonder if there is a Full HD 3D Blu-ray release coming down the line some time.
The retail price is $35.99, or order it right now at Amazon for $19.99, saving 44%!
Extras:
Synopsis:
A strange premonition causes friends to abandon their day at the speedway, just before a crushing pileup hurtles cars into the bleachers with fiery consequences. They have cheated Death. But Death is only getting started.
Panasonic has amped up their CES 3D demonstration this year with a presentation on a 152 inch 4k2k plasma display.
The demo covered a number of Panasonic technologies, including the new live 3D cameras and the improved plasma technology needed to work with their 120Hz shutter based 3D.
Panasonic also had a wide range of Blu-ray support elsewhere in their booth, showing their range of players including their portable model.
It is great to see Panasonic bringing so much innovation to their players and displays.
Be sure to follow Blu-rayStats on Twitter to see more CES news.
December 22nd also marked the release of a new Blu-ray documentary title - It Might Get Loud released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
The initial concept here was to make a documentary about the Electric Guitar, from the perspective of the people that play them.
The result however goes way beyond that, offering not only insight into how these musicians feel about the instrument, but also biographies of the men and selected segments of them jamming together.
The film making team arranged a meeting of three guitar virtuosos from different eras - Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin, The Edge from U2 and Jack White of The White Stripes.
While all are successful guitarists, each has a distinctive style and offers different philosophies and approaches to the instrument and music in general.
Perhaps the most entertaining to be was Jack White, whose philosophy is to make things more difficult in order to strive for better.
All in all I found this to be a fairly entertaining documentary, one that I would recommend to music fans with an interest in the creativity of the folks behind the music.
It Might Get Loud was directed by Davis Guggenheim, who won an Academy Award for his work on An Inconvenient Truth.
The critical response to the movie was strong, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 78% and IMDb score of 7.5/10.
As is typical for a documentary, the film had a small release in the cinema, earning $1.6M at the US box office.
The video on the disc is an AVC 1080p encode at 28 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.
The historical source material varies in quality, though the new footage was obvious shot in HiDef.
Check out the details page for It Might Get Loud to see full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc.
The main audio is lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 5.1 channels - 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.
The disc is a dual layer BD50, with 41.1 GB used and is coded for All Regions.
An audio commentary is included, featuring director Davis Guggenheim, producer Lesley Chilcott and producer Thomas Tull.
There is quite a selection of deleted scenes, including a number of performances that were omitted from the film.
An extensive press conference from the Toronto Film Festival offers more insight into the film and how it was made.
This title also features the BD Live Movie IQ feature, allowing background information on the cast and crew to be displayed while watching the film.
For me, It Might Get Loud was an enjoyable documentary, and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has put together a tidy release with a pretty decent feature set for such a small film.
The retail price is $37.95, and available at Amazon for $23.99, saving 37%!
Extras:
Synopsis:
Unlike any other rock n roll documentary, It Might Get Loud gets three legendary guitarists - The Edge (US), Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) and Jack White (the White Stripes, The Raconteurs) - onto an empty soundstage to create an unparalleled music summit. In the process of jamming together they bring their own perspectives and craft, inspiration and how each use their own unique backgrounds in order to create their own musical rebellion and revolutionary sound.
Harry Potter fans are no doubt thrilled with the December 8th Blu-ray release of the most recent movie in the series - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from Warner Home Video.
Perhaps needless to say, this movie is based on the 6th book in the incredibly popular series authored by J.K. Rowling.
In this latest movie edition, Harry finds a potion text book with additions and enhancements for the potions from its owner, the Half-Blood Prince.
The text book helps Harry top the potions class, winning him a luck potion.
Meanwhile Dumbledore works with Harry to track down the splintered soul of Voldemort and Draco Malfoy becomes the tool of the evil wizards.
The main criticism I have of the movie is that it does not play well as a stand alone film, leaning heavily on what came before and setting up circumstances for what is to follow.
I am sure however than fans of the series will very much enjoy seeing yet another installment from Harry Potter’s wizard world brought to life on home video.
In addition to the core players Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, the cast includes Tom Felton, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Helena Bonham-Carter, Robbie Coltrane and Alan Rickman.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was directed by David Yates, who also directed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and will direct the two remaining films in the Harry Potter series.
The movie was well received by critics, garnering a Rotten Tomatoes score of 83% and an IMDb score of 7.4/10.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was a huge hit in the cinema, earning an amazing $301.9M at the US box office.
The video on the disc is a VC-1 1080p encode at 18 Mbps, and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1.
The film definitely has a bit of a strange look about it, though it is not clear if this is due to the original elements or the encoding for the disc.
You can see for yourself at the details page for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which features full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc.
The main audio is lossless Dolby True HD with 5.1 channels - 16 bits resolution at 48 kHz.
The title comes with two discs, and the main disc is a dual layer BD50, with 31.1 GB used and is coded for All Regions.
Special features are numerous and include Bonus View Picture in Picture streams, BD Live Network features and a Digital Copy for both Windows and iTunes for download.
The package also contains a DVD version for legacy DVD players.
The movie disc features Maximum Movie Mode, which inter cuts segments with Daniel Radcliffe with the main feature.
The disc also contains picture in picture focus featurettes.
The BD Live features included a Live Community Screening where Blu-ray owners all over the planet tuned in last weekend to watch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince simultaneously, synchronized with actor Daniel Radcliffe and producer David Barron in England.
With an audience from as far afield as Yemen, this live chat also differed in that it was more of a cast chat, with no director involvement (though David Yates was originally planning to attend).
Perhaps as a result the discussion was lot less technical than the chats in the past - you can see most of what transpired at the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Live Community Screening Gallery page.
The second disc contains only extras, including a selection of eight additional/deleted scenes.
There is a half hour behind the scenes featurette where the cast takes the audience behind the scenes for a number of aspects of the film production.
The J.K. Rowling: A Year In The Life feature studies the life of the Harry Potter author over the last year of writing the final book in the series.
Tom Felton leads the What’s On Your Mind? segment where he asks the young cast of Harry Potter a bunch of questions, for the first answer that comes into their head.
Glad to see a few of the cast would most like to visit New Zealand!
In the One-Minute Drills: Cast Members Sum Up Their Characters feature, the cast sums up their characters’ adventures in 60 seconds each.
The disc also contains a sneak peek at ‘The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter’ at Universal Orlando Resort, a theme park adventure based on the Harry Potter stories.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince release from Warner Home Video is nice addition to the Harry Potter Blu-ray library and a must own for fans of the franchise.
The retail price is $35.99, though it is a great deal right now at Amazon for $16.99, saving 53%!
Extras:
Synopsis:
Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Even as the decisive showdown looms, romance blossoms for Harry, Ron, Hermione and their classmates. Love is in the air, but danger lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same.
A new image gallery for the Harry Potter Live Community Screening is now online for your viewing pleasure.
Folks who missed the screening can get an idea as to the questions asked and answered.
I thought it was interesting that this live chat was a lot less technical than previous ones, perhaps due to the main actor being the key speaker.
So look for questions about Daniel’s favourite Christmas traditions and whether he would prefer to be invisible or to fly.
Director David Yates was actually scheduled to be included in the chat but was replaced with producer David Barron at the last minute.
Another aspect of the Community Screening that was much more apparent this time was the variety of nationalities of the participants.
There were clearly folks online from Europe, Asia, the Americas and even Yemen - I find it intriguing that anyone in the world can effectively be part of such events.
Now a question - are you interested in seeing these live community screening image galleries?
I have not created one for Terminator Salvation yet, though I can if there is interest.
It takes a lot of time to put this together so I am would like to gauge the interest before I set about creating another one.
Please leave your feedback in the comments.
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