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I just received an e-mail from Netflix saying that there will be an increase in the subscription fee for unlimited access to Blu-ray movies.  The increase is a whopping $1.  Assuming they aren’t singling me out, this should effect plenty of Netflix subscribers.

This new fee will start on November 5th, 2008.  If you don’t want to get hit with the fee, you can turn off access to Blu-ray movies by going into your account and changing your settings.  This is far from the end of the world.  It is only a dollar more a month to get higher quality videos from Netflix.  More details as they come.

Vudu first teased us with the announcement a few weeks back that they would soon be offering Blu-ray quality downloadable movies.  However, at the time, the details were limited and the service was only available to a limited group of beta testers.  Well, flash forward a few weeks and Vudu has officially made the HDX service available for everyone.

The new HDX movie downloads will be the equivalent of Blu-ray quality, meaning they will come in 1080p at 24 frames per second and are optimized for those viewing on a 40-inch or larger HDTV.  Currently, Vudu has around 50 titles ready to go in the new HDX format with plans to add any new HD release in the HDX format as well. Additionally, they are also working to bring all the current HD movies into the HDX format; of course, they have not given any timeline as to when that will be completed.

Perhaps the best news is that these 1080p HDX formatted titles will retain the same pricing as the HD movies which range from $4 to $6 each. While the new HDX format sounds great, the one big drawback here is that these movies will require roughly a 4 hour download time prior to watching.  That alone could be enough to make this not worthwhile for the average movie viewer.

Continue reading to check out the full press release…

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Companies are finally realizing that with the economy the way it is that if they want people to keep renting their movies, they need to make them less expensive.  Enter the DVD kiosk.

DVDPlay, the country’s first automated and remotely managed DVD rental kiosk company, recently noticed a need to change their pricing to make it even easier and cost efficient for the customers.  Starting October 1st, all of their DVD rentals will be only $1, and this price will extend to some of their Blu-Ray titles as well for a limited time.

Plenty more on the DVD kiosk business after the jump.

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Sony announced their latest series in its VAIO notebook lineup - the VAIO TT series. Sony says that these notebooks would be the world’s lightest with Blu-ray disc technology. TT notebook models weigh around 1.3kg and measures only an inch thick.

But certainly, being thin and lightweight are not all there are to the VAIO TT notebook series. TT units to be released later would have various features specific to each of the notebook models. The Sony VAIO TT notebook series also feature an 11.1-inch widescreen display powered by the XBRITE-DuraView LCD technology partnered with an energy-saving LED backlight.  In addition, there is an HDMI output connector for connecting the notebook to an HDTV.  These Sonys use Intel’s Centrino 2 inside which should help with power consumption.

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Sharp has just unveiled its latest player, which has been dubbed the Aquos BD-HDV22 and it is hard to imagine just what they were thinking because this player offers a mix of some very old and very new formats.

The BD-HDV22 offers a combination of a Blu-ray disc player, a 250GB hard drive and a VHS recorder. Yes, I said VHS. Definitely a strange combination. Although I would not say that a VHS is completely obsolete at this point, I am sure they are still around in many homes, but I cannot imagine why anyone would want to buy a VHS/Blu-ray combo player. You would think that if you were moving up to Blu-ray quality then any VHS tape would look very poor and almost seem unwatchable at this point.

Anyway (and also possibly thankfully) Sharp is planning to release the Aquos BD-HDV22 only in Japan. It is expected to go on sale November 25 and will retail for a not so cheap $1,500.

Read [Sharp Japan] Via [CrunchGear]

Imation has announced that it will be bringing the fastest recordable Blu-Ray discs to the U.S. market under the TDK name.  The recording speed of these BD-Rs is 6X.  That might not sound very fast considering DVD and CD recording rates are in the double digits, but, keep in mind that Blu-Ray stores much more data than DVDs.  These 25GB per layer (up to 50GB for dual-layer) discs can transfer data at an awesome 216 Mbps.  That means it can transfer 25GB of data in 17 minutes.  That rate is equal to 20X DVD-Rs, but 25GB would require 6 DVDs as opposed to one BD.  These BD-Rs will be available this October; one BD-R will cost $13.99 and one BD-R dual layer will cost $32.99.

This news comes just three months after a Reuters report saying that the adoption rate of Blu-Ray is faster than the DVD adoption rate at the same time of its life cycle.  That can be pretty surprising considering an ABI survey from April 2008 showed most people aren’t buying Blu-Ray players just yet.  Although, with the rise of the HDTV, more Blu-Ray players would make sense.  Blu-Ray has a larger capacity that can hold uncompressed High-Definition video and completely uncompressed sound.  It is currently the best physical format for sound and video.

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The NS appears to be aimed more at the low end market with its starting price at $650.  It comes with 3GB of RAM and maxes out at 4GB.  If you want to watch Blu-Ray movies, that is going to cost you.  The price jumps up to around $1,000 for the Blu-Ray model, but that also includes a boost in RAM to 4GB instead of the standard 3GB.  For that cost difference, you could almost pick up a PS3.  There does not appear to be a configure-to-order feature for the NS on Sony’s site.  The NS weighs in at a hefty 6.4 pounds and has a 15.4 inch display.  Unfortunately, the display has a resolution of only 1280x800 which means even if you get the Blu-Ray option, you will not be able to watch movies at full 1080P resolution on this screen.  That being said, it is usually very difficult to see the level of detail that 1080P offers on such a small screen.  The NS comes in white, blue and silver.

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The new BD300 Blu-ray Player from LG is more than just a device to play Blu-ray format discs, as it can do a whole lot more.  The BD300 allows for the streaming of movies, and can support many audio formats and has refresh rates of both 24Hz and 60Hz.  Additionally, the BD300 does not have to be updated manually at any time, because an on-board Ethernet connection insures regular online updates.

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After Panasonic and Sony, it’s now Pioneer’s turn to announced their new Elite BDP-09FD Blu-ray player. And like the other new Blu-ray players, Pioneer would not just let the competitors outwit them in features and functionality. As such, Pioneer’s new Blu-ray player boast of advanced features as well that include 16-bit video engine, I/P conversion, video scaling, video adjustments of HD and SD content and QDEO processor and Renesas Technology’s video decoder. The result of all these technology? - a full 1080p video viewing pleasure with smoother picture free of artificial noise.

Other features of the BDP-09FD Blu ray player include Pioneer’s Adaptive Bit Length Expansion technology which enables the player to represent the purest color of the movies, BD movie restoration, 8-bit color production, dual HDMI 1.3a outputs and BD-Live support. 

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Panasonic has announced its 4th generation Blu-ray players dubbed DMP-BD35 and DMP-BD55. According to Panasonic, both players are capable of reproducing movies with colors that are exceptionally faithful to the original. This feature can be attributed to the players’ PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus video processor which was developed for more than 15 years. When these Blu-ray players are connected to a Panasonic VIERA HDTV they can display movies in sharper and more vivid color. 

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