Large horror film distributor joins Blu-ray
Blue Underground, a giant distributor of cult and horror movies on DVD has announced that they will begin releasing their titles on Blu-ray later this year.
There was no word on which titles would retail first or even what quarter the movies would be released in but Blue Underground has already put word on their website that they plan to support the format with a large number of Blu-ray releases.
First started in the early 90s, Blue Underground has a large catalog of cult and horror classics, including some of the more popular titles from legends of film making like Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Larry Cohen, and George A. Romero.
Piracy is caused by lack of choice, says study
According to a new study recently released in the UK, the largest cause of piracy and other copyright infringement is simply, a lack of choice or legal alternatives. The study went as far to show that over 30 percent of UK citizens had downloaded pirated content, or at least plan to do so in the future.
The study, the 2008 Digital Entertainment Survey, really only said what many have been saying for years now; legal venues don’t have the quality or quantity of the illegal ones.
70 percent of those who had admitted to piracy also agreed that their primary reason for doing so was because “legal sites just don’t have the range of illegal ones”. The same amount of people also agreed that they would purchase the content if what they wanted was available.
Of the respondents who admitted to piracy, 70 percent also suggested that illegal venues were much faster.
Even more interestingly, 68 percent of those studied believed there was little chance they would be caught downloading and understood that many anti-piracy campaigns are more for intimidation.
Read the whole study here, its an interesting read.
Samsung cancels upcoming hybrid HD player
Samsung has announced that it has canceled the upcoming BD-UP5500 Blu-ray/HD DVD hybrid player and attributed the decision directly to Toshiba’s decision to drop the format.
The company also praised the decision, saying that have a standard format will allow the company to focus its efforts and money on Blu-ray. The older UP5000 player will still be available but the company added that the prospect of selling future hybrid players was slim.
“[A hybrid player] remains a practical solution, but the window of opportunity is smaller than it was before,” the company said in a statement.
Toshiba plans to stop producing HD DVD players later this month and prior HD DVD-exclusive studios such as Paramount and Dreamworks have dropped the format making it all but dead.
iPlayer coming for iPhone, iPod Touch
According to MacNN, the BBC is working on a mobile version of its popular iPlayer software that will make the service available on the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.
Visitors to the BBC iPlayer website through one of the portable devices will see a “small, inactive link appears in the corner of the main window, indicating that a beta version of the player software will soon be available.”
The BBC or Apple have not confirmed the link but with the iPhone SDK event coming soon, there should be more news upcoming.
The BBC is also currently developing an iPlayer for Mac users who currently cannot download any content as it is protected WMV files.
Sorry MPAA, Hollywood box office hits new highs despite piracy
Despite massive campaigns to inform the public of the dangers of piracy and its effect on the world economies,the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has posted on their website that 2007 saw new all-time highs for both domestic and global box office sales.
The MPAA’s own data figures show that the global market grew almost 5 percent$26.6 billion USD, and the US market grew 5.4 percent to $9.6 billion USD.
“From the threat and eventual reality of a writer’s strike to the global impact of film theft to concerns over the economy, the film industry faced significant challenges in 2007,” stated Dan Glickman, Chairman and CEO of the MPAA. “But, ultimately, we got our Hollywood ending. Once again, diverse, quality films and the timeless allure of the movie house proved a winning combination with consumers around the world.”
According to recent studies by the Institute for Public Innovation, movie piracy costs the US economy $20.5 billion annually including revenue loss and “related measures of economic performance.” The study goes as far as to say that the movie industry could have added 45,000 new jobs had it not been for piracy. Funny how BO sales can grow at a steady pace despite the fact that the economy is seeing a “$20.5 billion USD annual loss” right?
Vudu gets upgrades
Vudu has added a new feature dubbed the “Vault” this week, which will allow users to save space on their HDDs by “storing” any purchased movie they own on the company’s servers.
After “flagging” the movie as previously purchased, you can delete it from your HDD and re-download whenever you please at no added charge. You can also delete the file if you choose without flagging, but then re-downloading will cost you extra. Some content providers will not even allow archiving, says the company.
Other updates are “revised sort functionality, updated TV show search functionality, a revised advance settings menu, and a new Most Watched list, ranked by popularity among Vudu users.”
The company also added that an IR receiver kit would be made available for $39 USD allowing the device to be usable with universal remotes. Finally, the company also added that Vudu XL was coming, which is a 1 TB version of the Set-Top Box. The added space comes with a hefty price tag however, $999 USD to be exact.
Image Entertainment drops HD DVD
Image Entertainment has announced that it has canceled its upcoming HD DVD releases and added that it was dropping HD DVD completely to focus on Blu-ray.
Image is one of the biggest suppliers of independent titles and had supported both HD formats. Over the past two years the company released a large variety of music, special interest and theatrical releases on both formats.
Of the more notable films that have been dropped from their HD DVD releases are ‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’ and a few IMAX films.
Blu-ray releases are not affected by the decision and will be released on time.
Sony and Microsoft in talks for Xbox 360 Blu-ray drive
According to the Financial Times, Sony is currently in talks with Microsoft about a having the company offer an internal Blu-ray drive model of the Xbox 360 console.
Microsoft had backed the rival HD DVD until the format’s demise last month.
The word of the negotiations come from Stan Glasgow, the president of Sony America. Sony has not confirmed the negotiations as of yet however.
Adding a Blu-ray drive to the 360 would make the console even more competitive with the PlayStation 3 but would give Sony’s electronics division a needed revenue boost. Adding the drive would add production costs to the 360 and so a new premium model would be necessary. There is always the possibility of an external drive just like the HD DVD peripheral was.
Glasgow also added that he felt physical media would not be overtaken by digital downloads like analysts and media moguls have suggested.
“Downloading will build over time, but this will be over a Period of years,” he said.
Jailtime coming for two software pirates
Yesterday, two brothers accused of software piracy were sentenced to multi-year prison sentences, said the US Department of Justice.
Maurice Robberson and his brother Thomas Robberson were sentenced to 36 and 30 month sentences respectively and ordered to pay $1 million USD in restitution. In November both men plead guilty to felony copyright infringement.
Both men sold counterfeit software through their websites Bestvalueshoppe.com, TheDealDepot.net, CDsalesUSA.com, and AmericanSoftwareSales.com. Both men agreed to pay back all revenue made by the sites which equaled the $1 million USD restitution.
“People who steal the intellectual property of others for their personal financial gain, while defrauding consumers who think they are buying legitimate products, will be punished for their crimes, as today’s sentences prove,” said Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher.
Both men received complaints from software copyright holders but denied wrong doing. Undercover FBI agents then purchased items from one of their sites and found a network of other sites selling pirated software.
FutureShop to offer HD DVD “amnesty” deal
The large Canadian retailer FutureShop has announced that anyone who bought a now obsolete HD DVD player now has the option to trade it in for a $100 CAD discount on the purchase of one of two hybrid HD players, the Samsung BD-UP5000 or the LG BH200. The hybrid players will play both HD DVD titles and Blu-ray titles. Any HD DVD player is up for the deal no matter how much they cost to begin with.
The new deal, which will last until April 3rd, will see all the received HD DVD players donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada.
A similar deal was made recently by the giant US retailer Circuit City to allow users to return their HD DVD players within 3 months or trade them in for Blu-ray players.
