‘Dark Knight’ becomes best selling movie of 2008, on iTunes
Apple has noted that despite not even being released yet, the Warner Bros. smash hit The Dark Knight has already become the best selling movie download of the year on iTunes.
According to figures from BoxOfficeMojo, “The Dark Knight” is $4 million USD away from making $1 billion in theaters and analysts expect DVD, Blu-ray and digital sales to break records as well.
“The Dark Knight” just beat out the Pixar smash hit WALL-E as the top selling download, a more impressive fact because The Dark Knight is running on only pre-orders. Numbers 3-5 in the top selling movies of the year are “Kung Fu Panda,” “Iron Man” and “National Treasure: Book of Secrets.”
‘Dark Knight’ becomes best selling movie of 2008, on iTunes
Apple has noted that despite not even being released yet, the Warner Bros. smash hit The Dark Knight has already become the best selling movie download of the year on iTunes.
According to figures from BoxOfficeMojo, “The Dark Knight” is $4 million USD away from making $1 billion in theaters and analysts expect DVD, Blu-ray and digital sales to break records as well.
“The Dark Knight” just beat out the Pixar smash hit WALL-E as the top selling download, a more impressive fact because The Dark Knight is running on only pre-orders. Numbers 3-5 in the top selling movies of the year are “Kung Fu Panda,” “Iron Man” and “National Treasure: Book of Secrets.”
MySpace testing mobile video streaming service
MySpace
has announced they have begun testing a streaming video service for cellular phones.
The global rollout of the video beta for MySpace Mobile began today and will work on streaming-enabled phones such as the BlackBerry Bold and Nokia N95.
Users can access the site through m.myspace.com from their phones to view videos they or others have uploaded as well as content from providers such as TMZ, National Hockey League, National Geographic, The Onion, and College Humor.
“Video is a natural next step for us in mobile,” John Faith, vice president and general manager of Mobile for MySpace, added in a statement. “MySpace will continue to grow our video library as we increase delivery channels in order to keep pace with our users’ accelerating desire for video consumption.”
The videos will be supported by RipCode which uses real-time transcoding to allow viewing from multiple headsets.
“As the volume of video grows and the number of mobile devices supporting video continues to expand, companies have to find alternative solutions to deliver content to their customers across multiple screens,” Brendon Mills, CEO of RipCode, added.
Amazon MP3 store opens in UK
Amazon today has expanded their popular Amazon MP3 store to the UK, marking the first time the store had been available outside the US.
The store will be almost identical to its American counterpart and will sell DRM-free MP3 tracks and albums that can be played in any media player.
The launch of the site is missing many artists’ catalogs but Amazon says they will be adding music regularly.
Another interesting note is the pricing. Apple’s iTunes charges a fixed price of £0.79 per song but Amazon will charge between £0.59p and £0.80p “depending on the currency and popularity of the content.”
Full albums are steeply discounted and can sell for as low as £3 for major groups.
The large e-tailer expects to expand the store into other countries in the next year including Canada, France and Japan.
Pioneer 400GB Blu-ray discs will play on PS3
The manufacturer Pioneer has confirmed that its upcoming 16-layer Blu-ray discs will play back on most current standalone Blu-ray players including the Sony PlayStation 3.
The discs boast an impressive 400GB capacity and are finally headed into production by 2010 after being introduced earlier this year by Pioneer.
Current Blu-ray discs consist of either single layer 25GB discs or 50GB dual-layer discs.
The company also added that it will begin manufacturing 40-layer 1TB discs in 2013.
PS3 firmware update adds full screen flash viewing
Eric Lempel, Sony’s Director of PlayStation Network Operations, has posted on the official PlayStation 3 blog that the upcoming PS3 firmware update, version 2.53 will bring improvements to the Flash Player via the internet browser.
From the blog:
“Hi everyone, in the next PS3 firmware update (v2.53), coming soon, we’re improving the way the Flash Player works with the internet browser. In addition to being able to access more sites using Flash, you’ll be able to enjoy:
* Full-screen mode playability
* Live movie (using RTMP format) playability
Now it’s going to be even easier to enjoy web content on your PS3, in full-screen!”
Although that is the most notable update, gamesareevil says this is the full update list:
Users
* You now have an option to set the PS3 to turn off automatically after a background download or installation of content. This option is available when you turn off the system while content is being downloaded or installed.
Settings
* BD/DVD has been renamed to Video Settings
* Sequential Playback has been added as an option under Video Settings
[More]>>
‘Jasper’ Xbox 360s finally available
According to a flooding of posts over at xbox-scene, it appears that the cooler-running Jasper-based Xbox 360 consoles have begun arriving in stores featuring the highly anticipated 65nm GPU which should significantly reduce RROD failures.
A quick way to note if your new console is indeed a Jasper-based model is to check the power supply. A Jasper will use 12.1A power supplies, while all current models draw 14.2A.
Looking at the serial number can also give you an indication as it is assumed that any model made on October 23rd 2008 or later is a Jasper model.
Samsung Blu-ray player upgraded to stream HD from Netflix
Beginning this month, Samsung’s Netflix-streaming Blu-ray players will be upgraded to allow access to the rental company’s over 300 high-definition movie and TV titles.
The two current Netflix model, BD-P2500 and BD-P2550, offer access to Netflix’s 12,000-strong “Watch Instantly” streaming service, but almost all of those titles are in SD. A firmware update coming this week will allow the players to handle HD playback however.
The content, in an effort to save buffering time, will be in 720p resolution and will also include only standard definition audio.
“Our state-of-the art Blu-ray players truly have become the ultimate HD digital entertainment delivery system with the latest support to allow HD streaming from Netflix,” said Reid Sullivan, VP of marketing, audio/video and imaging at Samsung Electronics America. “By understanding changing consumer interests, we are making it easier for consumers to experience a vast world of captivating content, instantaneously, all at the touch of a button.”
LG Netflix Blu-ray player gets upgraded to HD too
Following the move recently made by Samsung, LG Electronic has announced that their LG BD300 Netflix Blu-ray player will receive a firmware upgrade as well that will bring HD streaming capabilities to the player.
The LG BD300 was the first standalone player that had built-in Netflix “Watch Instantly” capabilities but will become the third player to upgrade to HD capabilities.
Although not considered a standalone, the Microsoft Xbox 360 also has access to the HD instant streaming from Netflix. The content will be delivered in 720p, with standard definition audio, in an effort to cut down buffering time.
“LG is proud to offer Netflix HD Instant Streaming for the BD300. As the first manufacturer to offer instant streaming on a Blu-ray player, LG continues to expand entertainment options for consumers as high-definition streaming and other online video content grow in the months and years ahead,” added Allan Jason, LG Electronics digital media VP.
Criterion begins releasing Blu-ray titles
The prestigious Criterion Collection will begin releasing titles on Blu-ray beginning December 19th, following delays that pushed the launch from October until now.
Criterion’s technical director Lee Kline feels the wait will have been worth it once the consumers see the quality of the discs.
“If our Blu-ray discs are going to come out, then they’d better look right,” Kline said. “We had to make sure that the compression was right, that the audio encoding was up to par. And we had to make sure that the discs played on all players, particularly the older generation models, as well as PlayStation 3.”
Kline also noted that the publisher has been in the “high-def business” since the late 90’s and have been remastering approximately 90 percent of their standard definition library in HD “then down-converting for a standard-def release, giving them a more film-like look.”
“We pulled the high-def masters that we’ve done [for the films in the first wave of Blu-ray releases] and looked them over—and we haven’t had to go back to change anything,” Kline said. “All the technology we’ve taken to make these high-def masters are still fine.”
Something else to note is that Criterion’s Blu-ray movies will not be housed in the blue-colored boxes that most other releases are in, and the boxes will not have the Blu-ray Disc logo either. All the titles will be priced identical to their SD counterparts as well.
