The studios aren't punishing you.

Personally, I collect movies, not a particular format. Blu-ray players are not very expensive these days and they are backward compatible. To each his own

Just wondering, is the official release date of The Blind Side March 23? I just rented from a DVDPlay kiosk today (March 20).

Did they mistakenly release it early?

I hate it when studios release exclusive verions of movies ONLY on Blu-Ray, Unrated/Extended cuts of The Da Vinci Code, Terminator: Salvation, Law Abiding Citizen, Dungeon Seige & Cabin Fever. I do not wanna upgrade to Blu-Ray and hate it that studios are not giving me a choice

I hate it when video game companies come out with a new game for both the PS2 and the PS3, and the PS3 version is better and has more features. What the hell is wrong with them? I paid good money for that PS2 and my big collection of PS2 games, and it's really unfair that people with a PS3 get extra resolution, bigger games, and more excitement. You won't get me to upgrade to a PS3, you bastards!

And don't even get me started on the airlines with their Business Class and such.

Sorry, but as you can see, I think people that complain about Blu-rays having extra features are acting foolish. It doesn't actually matter what studios COULD do. And your opinion about what they SHOULD do is just that: opinion. The sad thing is that your opinion basically boils down to "I want, I want, I want."

I have a PS3, and surprise, my DVDs still play on it and look good on my HD TV. I am not out replacing all my DVDs. In fact, 95+% of what I buy are still DVDs. I didn't lose my ability to make "a choice" when I got my PS3 (in fact, I think I had it for about 2 years before I bought my first Blu-ray, which I bought only because it was cheaper than the DVD).

As someone else in this thread alluded to, if you're buying new releases, you clearly have the money to upgrade your player. I patiently wait for prices to drop (and drop and drop), and usually buy things used. On the other hand, you're impatient, in addition to feeling entitled to the best version of the release even though you don't have the best version of the player to play it on. You don't need to upgrade your TV if you don't want to (had my PS3 for over 3 years before I got my HD TV). Just think of the Blu-ray as another version of a "Special Edition." Compare the various releases and buy what you want, or don't buy any of them. Bitching and moaning about improving technology and studios' desire to embrace it and leave older technologies behind is pathetic. You should be thanking your lucky stars that they're still releasing DVDs.

DVDPlay kiosk says: FUCK YOU WARNER HOME VIDEO! FUCK YOU NETFLIX! and FUCK YOU REDBOX!

Not only can you rent today but you can rent it before you can even buy it in stores!

Target released the Terminator: Salvation DC as a 2 disc exclusive

I agree with everything you said here. I'm not all that interested in Blu, but I'm not about to whine about it either. However, let's be clear about the studios' "desire to embrace new technology." What the studios desire is for you to pay more money for the same product, over and over again. That's all they desire and they could give a flying rat shit about new technology. They'd be happy to use old technology as long as they are getting your money.

On a happier note, if you have a Meijer store in your area, they will have "The Blind Side" Blu-ray for $19.99 the first week.

Hmmm... Should DVDPlay choose to re-write their corporate mission statement, that may make for an interesting choice!!

Oh, shut up.

boo fucking hoo. just buy a blu-ray player already and quit your crying.

Tell me, where can I pick up any of Sony's recent film noir sets on Blu-Ray. Best Buy doesn't seem to be carrying it.

It seems like you do have a reason to switch to Blu-ray... SE features on Warner releases. That is assuming you really are missing these features and want them. That's reason. All of this stuff will play just fine on whatever TV you have right now. BRs play in SD just fine, too. Use the SD DVD copy for portability.

I keep seeing players under $80 now. It's a bite... but it will relieve your need to get these SE features.

the WB Archives are screwing over everyone

Well, you no longer have to buy Warner DVDs. In fact, if you forgo SD-DVDs for a month or two, you should have more than enough to pick up a Blu-Ray player, and you can at least watch the content you're missing out on while you save up further to buy a HDTV. Depending on how much you make, within four months max you should be rocking a reasonably nice flatscreen and a 2.0 BD player. I mean, even I could do that, and I work a crappy minimum-wage job.On one hand, this is true. On the other, Blu-Rays seem to go on sale every week. I have well over a hundred Blu-Rays, and I paid between $10 and $15 for probably 80% of them (closer to $10, too).

Warner is also going the extra step of stuffing a DVD and Digital Copy into each of their Blus, which I also appreciate. Now if I want to show the movie I just bought in HD to my neighbor or friends without Blu, I don't have to go pay $5 to rent something I own.

All of which you can continue to enjoy should you decide to pop the $100 a new Blu-ray player will cost you.
720 is not an EDTV, it's an actual HDTV. EDTVs were 480 progressive.

HDTVs and Blu-rays are not 720 or 1080 dpi (dots per inch). Their screens have 720 or 1080 lines of pixels for the entire screen, not per inch.

Just trying to help. Please continue your tirade.

You're not making any sense.

You're not losing anything if you 'switch' to blu-ray. All of your DVD collection will forever work on every blu-ray player.

And right now you are missing out. You're not only losing special features exclusive to BDs, but you're buying a less durable format.

Just buy a $75 BD player. No need to upgrade a TV. The BD player will play all your DVDs, and you'll have access to the best of both worlds.

In many cases nowadays, the BDs are cheaper than the DVDs, and in all others they are close if you're patient or use coupons.

How is the DVD format less durable than BD? I haven't heard that one before.

EXACTLY! Nuff Said-

And if you were watching BD you wouldn't have to worry about that.

As pointed out above, for every movie that gets an exclusive version on BD, there is one on DVD that BD owners got screwed on(LOTR, Die Hard 4, Mr. & Mrs. Smith come to mind). It's a two way street.

BDs have a special scratch resistant coating on them. They are impossible to scratch. I took a key to a demo disc I had, scratching it like a lottery ticket, not even a hint of a scratch on the thing.

I took Trevor's "durable" to mean "longlasting," a secondary definition of the word, and I applied that to the concept of the technology being supported longer in the future. However, this is an awesome point, too. I love the fact that none of my PS3 games or my (small number of) Blu-rays have any scratches whatsoever. And I can feel very confident when buying something used that it will be scratch-free.

I think it's true that WB is trying to steer people toward Blu. But I think it also makes business sense. For all the people complaining about lack of SD features, there are probably at least as many who would complain if there were only a two-disc SD release ("I don't want to pay for more than just the movie!"). So then they'd need to do two SD releases, which might make sense for Harry Potter but not for smaller releases. They probably figure a good portion of that two-disc SD crowd has already gone to Blu.

Ok, fair enough. I always treated my media well so scratching was never a concern, but I could see how that might be a selling point for some folks.

Having kids, renting from Netflix, lending to friends/co-workers etc. means they work every time. No getting scratched DVDs from Netflix that won't work anymore, or getting a scratched disc back from a friend. Smudges and fingerprints can still cause hiccups but those are easily wiped away.

I really don't see what the continuing issue is here.

DVD is now the new VHS. Blu Ray is now the new DVD.

Back when DVD first rolled out studios responded by stopping to put widescreen editions of movies on VHS. I could have whined and complain about it as the widescreen section at the video store started to dwindle. But it made perfect sense to me...people who are into that kind of thing tend to adopt to new formats earlier than most folks. The people who actually purchased the widescreen tapes were now buying DVDs of the same movies so there was no need to put the widescreen VHS titles out anymore.

Same with Blu-Ray. People who tend to embrace that format early on want the original theatrical presentation with optimal sound and a good selection of bonus features. More and more you are seeing bare bones DVDs come out or with very few features...maybe a making of feature if you are lucky.

Now Blu-Ray players aren't that expensive. If it's bonus features you want, buy one. I got mine for a hundred dollars on sale. So what if you can't afford a new TV yet? Watch it on a regular TV...it won't make the player explode or anything...and when you do get a new TV you can watch them again and enjoy the quality of the video image as well. But until then at least you get your movie and your bonus features.