Saw was $16.99? Damn. I bought Descent there or $24.99...didn't see Saw.

They haven't carried Saw since BD launched. It was strange to see it pop up again. I think it may have been shipped from another store as Walmart tends to shift around high-def product to different markets. Also, it had another UPC sticker created and taped over the original. Looked like a store specific code that you'll find on alot of newer dvds. I almost bought it, but I was holding out hope that LionsGate was going to remaster that one with VC-1 and re-release next year.

Oh well. I bought Saw from Blockbuster for $24.99 with some easy credit. Who know the old Planets of the Apes DVDs would get me $30, lol.

Samsung BDP-1000 is now $569 at Amazon.

Since I always said I'd give BD credit when it was due, congrats on finally putting out a decent release with Flight Plan. VC1 with great quality and all the extras.

What other BD titles are VC-1?

Pretty much all the Warner ones except for the original 2-3 releases IIRC, which are ports from the HD-DVD. Flightplan was the first BD only VC1 disc.

I apologize for not being clearer, I had meant BD only VC-1 discs.

What upcoming BD only releases will be VC-1?

I don't think we really know. Flight Plan completely snuck in under the radar. I don't think we'll see any other currently BD-only studio besides Disney and Lion's Gate using VC1.

That works for me as there is probably at least 100 titles I would buy BD only VC-1. I hope that Fox at least will look into Xmen and Spiderman on VC-1 as well. Pirates should be incredible on VC-1.

Casanova is the only other confirmed one.

I think you're putting the cart before the horse. On the same day that Flight Plan came out, the others were all AVC. There's no guarantee that any of their future releases will be VC1. It's possible that they were just testing the waters but doesn't mean that they're committing to it. Same with Lion's Gate. I had heard a rumor a while back that they were re-encoding to VC1 for their upcoming releases but who knows until they're out.
Oh...and Spiderman is Sony. You're not going to get it in VC1.

Is there any word on what Chicago and Hitchhiker's Guide will be?

nope. check highdefdigest. if you click on the individual titles, they'll say what codec they use.

Is there something wrong with the AVC encoded discs though? It's not like they're MPEG2.

I don't think there's anything wrong with it, per se. I only have one title (Finding Neverland) and although it does look very good...it doesn't look as sharp as the other VC-1 titles. Is it the transfer? Is it the encoding? is it the way it was filmed? Who knows. These HD formats are blurring the lines to a point where even *I* am unsure.

One thing is for sure, VC-1 does a better job at compressing with space in mind and that helps for getting all those extras on the discs. Clearly with AVC titles, BD still doesn't put all the extras on there. Fox proves that.

I think for a BD50, MPEG2 works fine. I watched World Trade Center on BD the other night and it looked incredible. Just as good as I've seen on a HD DVD disc. The Covenant got a 5 star video rating from High-def Digest. Granted, it was probably the worst reviewed film of '06, but for PQ, it got the highest mark. It was a BD-25 using MPEG2. But what helped that film is not only the new print, but the 90 minute running time. MPEG2 can look great.

The Descent also. That one was supposed to be BD50 with MPEG2, but I believe it was confirmed on AVS that it was BD50 with AVC. This is probably my new favorite BD. Great film, great extras, great a/v.

Samsung Drops Blu-ray Player Price:
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...ayer_Price/410

The Interpreter on HD DVD looked as good as 90% of the VC-1 encoded titles I've seen. If all the BD studios went to AVC and included the friggin' extras, I'd be more than happy.

Not really CES news so I'll update this thread. Look what Rio found over on AVS.

Hitachi took their GBW-H10N Blu-Ray drive, and with a change of firmware and modified optics they are reading the quad-layer 200gb discs.

Possible 4k x 2k resolution, though a long way off.

If this happens, then you would have film quality at home. The only problem would be display devices. What would a display of that resolution cost even if it existed? I shudder to think

Not sure if this was from CES either so:

SONY PICTURES TO INCLUDE PORTABLE MOVIE FILES ON BLU-RAY DISCS

Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp.'s film studio will add a feature to its Blu-ray DVDs that allows copies of movies to be moved to laptops and other devices, as part of an effort to gain wider acceptance of the parent company's high-definition format.

Sony Pictures Entertainment will include portable files on Blu-Ray DVDs that can be transferred without a download, David Bishop, head of Sony's home entertainment unit, said in an interview this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Sony may add the feature this year, Bishop said.

``It's not currently part of anything on our current release schedule, but we'll probably roll it out sometime this year,'' Bishop said on Jan. 8.

This may be a stupid question, but I don't want to read all 13 pages of this thread.... When can the general public expect a $400 dollar Blu-Ray player? I am goin' to buy the HD DVD addon for the 360 tommorw, but I also want to eventually invest in a Blu-Ray player. I know right now the cheapest one is a PS3, but I really dislike Sony in general (don't want to get into that debate.. ), so I would like to avoid the PS3 and just buy a stand alone Blu-Ray player in the near future.

At the moment, there isn't one. The PS3 remains our cheapest option. I have a feeling it will stay that way for a long time.