It looks like Netflix is sending us some double messages. The company that just announced it's fueling LG's new Blu-ray players with its streaming film/TV service now appears to be raising subscriptions on Blu-ray rentals. According to a tipster to Engadgethd.com, subscribers looking for Blu-ray rentals will be charged $1 extra a month. This could get tacked onto subscription fees in the next 30 days.
Now a dollar extra isn't so bad.  I probably lose that much or more between couch cushions each month. But it has to leave Netflix customers a little confused.
"Please buy the new Netflix-enhanced Blu-ray player coming from LG this fall!," cries the rentailer's management. "But HA! You'll have to pay more to rent the Blu-...Read More

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Celebs did make it out to the DKNY Beach House, featuring a Fox and MGM Blu-ray screening room. Possibly making some of you guys' weekends, here is a shot of a very leggy Carmen Electra. You'll have to deal with her boyfriend though in the shot as well.

Apparently, Carmen and her boyfriend watched The Simpsons on Blu-ray.

Here's another photo of Tori Spelling and child about to check out Alvin and the Chipunks on Blu-ray.

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Geez, as if it's not complicated enough having to sort through the new picture-in-picture and BD-Live capable Blu-ray players from the older gen models. But it appears Costco is selling Sony's latest under an exclusive model name. Thanks to some shopping by Format War Central's Tyler Pruitt, it looks like this Costco version, sold under the model name BDP-BX1 is mainly a slightly cheaper version of Sony's just streeted BDP-S350. Each essentially seem to hold the same features.  
The BDP-BX1, also seen at Sam's Club, is selling at $379.99, marking a $20 price drop from the widely available $399 BDP-S350. These models mark Sony's first BD-Live ready set-tops, where users will be able to access Web-based content once a firmware upgrade is made avail...Read More

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Circuit City is advertising a $100 price break on Panasonic's picture-in-picture Blu-ray player, pushing it to $399, as the company rolls out its more advanced BD-Live player to shelves. You have to wonder if that $399 price point will hurt Panasonic's push for its latest BD-Live model, widely tagged at retail to $699?
Already thinking ahead, probably, Circuit City has reduced the Panasonic BD-Live player to a relatively more attractive $599.
But I think the main goal for Blu-ray backers is to just encourage people to adopt hardware, regardless at what price point. 
Circuit City is also rallying around the format this week with a $19.99 Blu-ray Disc sale. Many titles, including&n...;Read More

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Amazon.com is the latest retailer that seems to be driving home home the symbiotic relationship between PS3 gaming and Blu-ray viewing. In a Blu-ray consumer email I received today, Amazon.com was highlighting both upcoming Blu-ray movies and upcoming PS3 games. 
Makes sense to me. I almost wonder why we don't see more marketing tying a PS3 game with a like-minded Blu-ray movie. Amazon.com's featured film and game titles seem at the least guy-oriented. For films, the site was singling out the upcoming releases of Stargate: Continuum, Dark City (the Director's Cut), The Hunt For Red October and Rolling Stones doc Shine a Light. 
Listed upcoming games were Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, Madden NFL 09, Soul Calibur IV and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. 
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Sony executives are being quoted out of E3 that they will be phasing out the 40 GB PS3, in favor of solely supporting its 80 GB model. Starting in September, Sony will launch a $399 80 GB PS3, representing about a significant price drop from its earlier tag.
According to this Seattle newspaper blog, Sony senior VP Peter Dille said the company wanted to make PS3 a simpler purchase for consumers. And at the $399 price, matching the smaller-capacity 40 GB tag, the 80 GB should represent a good deal for people.
But those hoping Sony would eventually discount the littler 40 GB PS3, to coincide with a $399 80 GB PS3 seem to be out of luck. Also to the dismay of some, the new $399 80 GB version, will not feature backwards compatibility with Playstation 2 games. That matches the capabilties of the c...Read More

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A little sarcasm there - but I think these new Blu-ray set-tops will have to start dipping more towards the $250-200 mark before people start really noticing.  True, Best Buy's $329 Insignia, down from $349 in June, is one of the cheapest latest generation set-tops available at retail. The only one lower is Wal-Mart's $298 Magnavox, which is in fact holding the same Funai-built machinery as the Insignia.
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If you are like a lot of guys, this question is stupid. Naked girls, of course! Well, this proved to be somewhat of a problem for the 'Blu-ray Lounge,' presented by Playstation and the Digital Entertainment Group party Monday night at the legendary Playboy Mansion.
The main theme of the party, tied into the ESPY sports awards, was to offer party-goers a chance to play poker with professional athletes while mingling with Playboy bunny types. 
Many women attendees were literally naked, wearing only body paint which barely hid their private parts. Playstation and DEG, rightly so, saw this as a fabulous opportunity to plug Blu-ray content at a high-profile media event. It looks like a big goal was to facilitate the press getting footage of famous guests, such as Jose Canseco, playing Playstation 3 or watching Blu-ray films. Various PS3s high-def...Read More

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Blu-ray is getting invited to some very high-profile events this summer. Fox and MGM have set up a Blu-ray screening room inside the DKNY Beach House in Malibu, putting the format dead center in front of partying celebs that stop by this fashionable pad. Blu-ray movies set to screen on a Panasonic 103-inch plasma at this location, dubbed 'Fox and MGM's MaliBlu Screening Room,' include Batman: The Movie, Juno and Live Free or Die Hard.
Also, the DEG and Sony Computer Entertainment are co-hosting a 'Blu-ray Playboy Kick-off Party' this Monday night at the famous Playboy mansion in Los Angeles. Tied to this year's ESPY Awards, many of the invited guests are VIP sports personalities, including Carmelo Anthony, Charles Barkley, Reggie Bush, Jose Canseco and Robert Horry. Party-goers will get access to the 'Blu Lounge,' located alongside the mansi...Read More

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Blu-ray fans became excited about the possibility of a 400 GB Blu-ray disc, as word came out that Pioneer was developing technology that would support that immense sized capacity. 
But according to Pioneer's Andy Parsons, this 400 GB creation is not meant to be a new fangled Blu-ray disc, which currently tops out at 50 GB. He tells me that this is a 16-layer technology that would help to refine Blu-ray hardware playback.
In Parsons words, "It's a proprietary sixteen layer disc with new technology that make it easier for a playback device to see each individual 25 GB layer by rejecting 'crosstalk' from adjacent layers. They are just leveraging Blu-ray optical components, which would mean that any player that would play these new type of discs would also be able to easily p...Read More

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Blockbuster will be introducing Blu-ray rentals into its stores in Taiwan, says Engadget, citing The China Post. By the end of the month, the Taiwan locations will each carry 50 Blu-ray titles, growing to 100 in the next six months. Blockbuseter will help market the new format by setting up demonstration areas powered by Samsung players.
Such international expansion should help the format's establishment. Blockbuster does seem to be shaping up as a signficant force in Blu-ray retail, according recent NPD surveying. Last year, Blockbuster did not place among the top 5 retailers where consumers said they preferred to shop for Blu-ray titles. But after March surve...Read More

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Blu-ray has scored its first official testing center in China. CESI Technology, which just joined the Blu-ray Disc Association, will be in charge of the center in China.
The spin from the BDA camp is that CESI's commitment represents positive momentum for eventual Blu-ray format adoption in China. Thanks to the CESI's center, Blu-ray product development and retail roll-out should be sped up in the country.
Or according to Sumitaka Matsamura, chair of BDA's China Task Force, "The establishment of an official test center in China is critical to the acceptance of Blu-ray Disc in China."
CESI management is hopeful that the center will open up jobs for the country as well as create an effecient marketplace to produce Blu-ray products locally.
At the same time, the BDA announced that the Chinese-based digital...Read More

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