Memorex releases a cheaper Blue Ray player than a PlayStation 3.

According to there website It can do this:
* Progressive scan Blu-ray Disc player 1080p capability for higher definition video content
* Full HD 1080p, DVD up-conversion up to 1080p (480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p), 24p, 60p video frame rate
* Multi-channel audio content (supports more advanced Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD)
* BD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R DL, DVD+R DL, CD-ROM, CD, CD-R/-RW
* 16:9 / 4:3 picture select
* On-screen graphical user interface
* Slow motion function (2x - 4x - 8x)
* RW/FF play function (2x - 4x - 8x - 16x)
* VFD display

[ad#ad2-left]The price of the unit at Memorex is 269.99$.   I think this is a great buy if all you need is a blue ray player.  Cheaper than buying a PS3.  Although if you want to buy a PlayStation 3 to play games and also watch movies on it that is still a good deal.   So why buy this player,  this will  not play games and keep your happy.

Is Hulu the "salad course"?

As I've been watching Hulu the last few months.  I've come to think that Hulu isn't offering us the viewers the chance of a full course meals.  They seem to like to stop after the first 2-3 seasons on most of the shows.    I recently contacted Hulu about the Naruto episodes and here's what they had to say about it:

Thanks for the email. On background, sometime in the coming weeks, Hulu
will get the remaining episodes of Naruto Season 1, and we'll also get
episodes from Season 2-3 in the future as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.
Brandon Boone

[ad]

So why does Hulu do this? I have a theory and this is one that most people will agree on. My theory is that the distributors are trying to entice us into buying the rest of the seasons from someplace, like Amazon or Itunes. Now I am going to have to say this is really stupid way of business and will sooner or later create even more of a demand to download these shows illegally. In the past people have always looked for the cheap way to watch there favorite shows.

Increasingly people are using BitTorrent to download their favorite TV-shows. The rise of unauthorized downloading of TV-shows is a signal that customers want something that is not available through other channels. It’s more about availability than the fact that it’s free and should be viewed as an opportunity, not a threat.
[Via Torrentfreak]

It is one thing to offer free content and get revenue from the free content. It is another to offer free shows and encourage people to download the rest of the show illegally.

Why do they want to buy the rest of the episodes, it is simple math.  They are wanting to get the money for each DVD you buy.  In today's economy there seems to be less and less Blue ray sales.

[ad]

Published: September 23, 2008 - 08:18PM CT

The numbers show that Blu-ray's market share dropped 13.39 percent from the previous week, and that DVD's numbers actually went up by 0.15 percent. Netflix CEO Barry McCarthy recently told Home Media Magazine that he didn't expect Blu-ray to have much of an impact on the company's DVD business in 2008 at all. Citing high player prices, he said that only a fraction of Netflix subscribers currently rent Blu-ray disks.

[via Arstechnica]

Although, this is a couple weeks old article from arstechnica, I thought it was more relevant than most. It talks about how people can't afford to buy a player and the BD Dvd's due to the high prices and charge more than they should. So why do it in the first place? I don't know but all this is showing people are having to choice cheaper and cheaper ways to watch what they want because of the US economy slinding further into recession.

[ad]

What is your most favorite show or movie?  Are you willing to pay a lot for the movie?  These are questions,  that we have to challenge Hulu and other shows on why they only have 2 or 3 seasons of a particluar series.  Is it right to have lure us into the episode and not offer more episodes later on?

Blu-Ray Laser Phaser! - video powered by Metacafe

Warning: you will not learn how to build a Blu-ray phaser in this video. Oh, you will see someone building one, but only in the, "look how cool I am" kind of way. Still, the prospect is just geek heaven enough to set our hearts aflutter. And when we say "aflutter," we mean providing us precisely 15 seconds of interest before we move on to the next piece of the Internet. Because while Warhol predicted our 15 minutes of fame, we've easily cracked a minute with the rise of embedded video. [blogmond]

Nice I want one!! ;) I will have to find out how to build one!!

Blu-ray Copy Protection Cracked, Disk Copying Software Out by Year's End

Slysoft, the makers of AnyDVD, CloneDVD, and many other disc-copying software apps, have just cracked the Blu-ray BD+ copy protection. This means, if Slysoft's predictions are correct, a commercially-purchasable suite to copy Blu-ray movies will be available by the end of the year. However, Blu-ray blanks—especially dual-layer ones—are still so costly right now ($40+ for a writable) that it's not financially feasible for people to be duping their own movies. You know, unless you really enjoy the blank disc look over the professionally done Blu-ray disc with the proper case and materials. Weirdo. [Golem via Inquirer]

I wonder how long this takes before they dump Blu-ray Disc!!