News
Avatar has dominated the headlines this week. From news that it was the best selling one-day disc just about everywhere, to word that it passed the Dark Knight for the total sales lead in just four days (maybe), to problems with playback on some Blu-ray decks, it was a Pandora-ish week.
Other Na’vi-related topics included:
- Will Avatar’s Blu-ray success (nearly 40% of all Avatar discs sold were Blu-ray) lead to a new hardware sales jump?
- Is the success of the 2D version bad news for 3D TV?
- Vudu gets extras, your Blu-ray does not.
Elsewhere, the MLB.TV on Playstation 3 gets reviewed and gets high marks. Is football the key to getting sports fans to cut the cable? And finally, if you’re a space nut, or a Star Trek The Next Generation fan, you might want to check out the NASA Hubble documentary that’s available for free download in HD(ish) video narrated by Brent Spiner (Data).
Marketshare/Sales
Marketshare for week ending April 18 was 12%, a slight dip from last week. Worse was the revenue number of $15.77 million, the lowest since September of last year (though it was a 46% increase over a year ago, wonder what came out in April last year? We talk about that too.) The top Blu-ray sellers list sees Hurt Locker jump to No. 2 out of nowhever, selling 51% of it’s discs on Blu-ray.
Blu-ray Review – Avatar | DoBlu.com review
Vitals: MPEG-4 AVC, 1.78:1 aspect ratio, DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, DVD Copy
Hardly a negative thing can be said about this disc. We got so wrapped up in the technical marvels of it all, we totally forgot to talk about the movie itself. Maybe you can check out the new DMZ podcast for that. Colors are amazing, detail is razor-sharp, effects are wonderfully rendered. A few nit-picks here and there were all we could find to ding the disc on. Simply put, it’s reference-quality video and with so many out there already, could be the fencepost Blu-ray people see to rally to the new format in larger numbers.
On the audio side, things are as good, possibly better (assuming your daughter doesn’t turn your subwoofer volume down). One of the most active surround fields we’ve heard, great panning and positioning, crisp and clear. This disc has it all, except extras that is. Nothing on this disc besides the movie. Will the number of discs sold this time out hurt sales of the November 3D/extras-loaded release?
Matt also takes a peek at The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, It’s Complicated and some gaming news as well, including Super Street Fighter IV, Super Tecmo Bowl on Xbox Live Arcade and Dead to Rights Retribution.
What we’ve seen/are watching
- Thanks to Geek Tonic for the listings. Happy Town premiered on ABC, that was about it. Elsewhere Phil’s watching Treme on HBO and America, the Story of Us on History.
- The HD Sportsman is headlined by the NHL and NBA playoffs and Saturday’s Kentucky Derby (NBC, 4 p.m., 1080i).
Blu-ray deals/Releases
A full week of releases on May 4, led off by Saving Private Ryan.
As for deals:
- Get The Dark Knight for $9.49 on Amazon
- Buy more save more on Universal discs at Amazon.
- Get Armageddon and Tombstone for $35 together at Best Buy.
- Get $3 off Avatar with purchase of another action movie at Amazon. One of the choices is one of my all-time fave Blu-rays, iRobot. Get ’em both for $30.
Click here to download Episode 31!
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Brent @GeekTonic, MolsonFL, Josh/Adam, Phil Lozen, Matt Paprocki and others. Matt Paprocki said: RT @lozenp: Seen in HD 31 is live, Avatar news and #bluray review, some gaming news, and @doblu first show as co-host. http://is.gd/bNySj […]