Well, the news late today about Sony deciding to come into the affordably priced standalone market by introducing a Blu-Ray player of their own that will come out in the spring/early summer. The BDP-S300 will retail for $600 and unlike the first gen that’s $300 more, will actually include CD playback. So now that they’re making their strides towards affordable hardware (stop with the PS3 argument) with more price drops to come, it’ll be interesting to see when, how much and how often the cheaper HD-DVD equipment does…
In terms of disc releases this week, both camps share the Steve McQueen films Bullitt and The Getaway, and the Nine Inch Nails film Beside You in Time, while the Blu-Ray gang gets Stranger Than Fiction as an exclusive.
And hey, since everyone is enjoying the post-Oscar hangover, in terms of existing (and possible) next-generation DVD releases, get ready for Pirates of the Caribbean on Blu-Ray in May of this year, and Marie Antoinette will be coming as well. Babel and The Departed are existing dual-format titles, while Letters From Iwo Jima is an unknown.
My apologies for the brevity of this column, however I’ll do my best to return with more next week (some of us are on the Warner Chat on HTF as I write this). So until next time high definers, keep the brightness low and the resolution high!
