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You know how Blu-ray discs show films in high-def, usually at a resolution of 1080p, with greater clarity and detail than we’ve ever seen before in home theatre? Well, apparently, this increase in resolution has brought with it a revelation of unknown celebrity nudity – hidden naughty bits only now revealed to our pervy eyes thanks to new Blu-ray technology. Or so says popular celebrity-flesh cataloguer, Mr. Skin in an expose just published by The New Yorker (subscription required to read article).

“Blu-ray quality is six times better than DVD,…If you watch a movie on Blu-ray, something you thought was just a shadow will suddenly be revealed as a breast or a butt…We’re going to keep looking at all these movies as technology makes them better and better. Who knows? We may even discover something in ‘The Sound of Music.’ That would be the holy grail for me, to find a nude scene in a G-rated movie.”

I’m not sure about you but I’m not so thrilled with the notion of discovering anything that would interest Mr. Skin in a film like The Sound of Music!

But I guess he’ll absolutely adore that clip above: a few moments from one of the cut-scenes included on this weeks Terminator Salvation Blu-ray, featuring Moon Bloodgood changing her clothes in the rain. Apparently she’s got her top off. I dunno. I can’t really tell. I guess we’ll have to wait for Mr. Skin to use his eagle eyes and his Blu-ray player to know for sure.

With his history, I wouldn’t be surprised if he found something in Diora Baird‘s deleted scene from Star Trek either!

Previously on The Blu-ray Blog: Terminator Salvation: Win a Ducati Motorcycle Sweepstakes!

Via: Gizmodo

If you’re not watching HD Nation, we can’t be friends. No seriously. Don’t even try to talk to me. Especially about Blu-ray or TVs or … well, just don’t even talk to me.

HD Nation is Patrick Norton and Robert Heron, both ex of Tech TV, hosting a new show every Tuesday about our favourite topic – High-Def stuff! And this episode is a particular delight! Shot during Blu-Con 2.0 a couple of weeks ago, the guys managed to nail down interviews with some pretty influential folk as well as getting some footage of Martin Scorsese‘s keynote Q&A. Check out this episode and then head on over to revision3.com/hdnation to watch more and subscribe!

Previously on The Blu-ray Blog: Blu-Con 2.0 – Blu-ray Conference News Round-up

The Blu-Con 2.0 Presidents Panel included (L-R) moderator Jessica Reif Cohen, Mike Dunn of Fox, Ron Sanders of Warner, Craig Kornblau of Universal and David Bishop of Sony Pictures. Photo: Home Media Magazine

(NOTE: This article was written yesterday, Nov. 4th, 2009. The Blu-ray Blog suffered some downtime offsetting its publishing by one day.)

I really wish I could have attended Blu-Con 2.0 yesterday but I’m playing in a new band and we’ve got a big show tonight. Rushing back to Montreal from Los Angeles this morning would have left me a bit exhausted for our performance tonight so I decided to skip out on Blu-Con this year in the hope that the conference would receive ample coverage from other outlets (I’m really looking forward to Bill Hunt‘s update on the Con on his site The Digitial Bits. He should have it posted later today!) So far, I’ve read a bunch of reports from Home Media Mag, Video Business and The Hollywood Reporter. Nothing too exciting or informative but I’ve got a few comments and suggestions to add to what’s been written, so let’s just dive into my round-up of articles that are out there so far:

Home Media Mag: Best Buy Exec: Portability Blu-ray’s Biggest Obstacle

“Mike Vitelli, EVP of Best Buy’s customer operating groups, compared consumers’ choice between DVD and Blu-ray Disc to buying a cup of coffee, but being charged a different price if you take it to go. … Calling portability the No. 1 obstacle for mass Blu-ray adoption, Vitelli said consumers today may be aware of Blu-ray and its benefits, but they’re still not familiar with it.”

I’ve got a beef with Mike, (His company, Best Buy owns Future Shop here in Canada. They are liars.) so I’m going to hold my tongue here. But lack of portability is an issue. It impacts me directly. I think it stinks that I can’t get an Apple laptop/notebook computer with a Blu-ray drive in it. Lame!

Home Media Mag: Studios Say Economy Accounts for Majority of Industry Trouble

“The home entertainment industry’s current malaise is 80% due to the economy, and the business should be back in growth mode by 2012. So say the home entertainment presidents of four of the six majors, speaking Nov. 3 at a Blu-Con 2.0 panel discussion moderated by Merrill Lynch senior analyst Jessica Reif Cohen. … Ron Sanders, president of Warner Home Video, said he expects sellthrough of physical discs, down just less than 14% so far this year, to rebound slightly before 2009 draws to a close, thanks to a powerful pre-holiday release slate. … (Mike Dunn, president of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) maintains the economy accounts for 80% of the decline in disc purchases, with catalog exhaustion a further factor.”

You know why your industry is in trouble? Because everybody is aware of the price of an optical disc now (I know, Blu-ray discs are more expensive and nobody takes production, marketing and distribution costs into account. But I’ll tell you what – nobody cares. The perceived value is more important to the consumer.) It’s tough for consumers to validate spending the suggested retail price of $44.99 for a rom-com like The Proposal when they can rent it for a couple of bucks or download a rip for free. You guys have got to price media more competitively! And the double-dipping has got to stop! I have so many friends who won’t pick up a title they want because they’re afraid there’s going to be a better, more complete version the following year. Your short-sighted need for cash is killing your consumer’s desire to consume!

In terms of selling Blu-ray, it’s quality that matters. And quality restorations! I can’t tell you how many people I know who have been sold on Blu-ray by experiencing CBS/Paramount‘s dazzling transfers of the old Star Trek series or MGM‘s incredible Dr. No disc. More evidence comes in the new restoration of Wizard of Oz selling out at retail! Warner can’t keep the stores in stock! Don’t just count on the newest, flashiest Transformers film to sell the format. Spend the money on your catalogue films. Restore and remaster for HD. Sheesh. Excuse me while I take a break to watch my North By Northwest Blu-ray disc, newly restored by Warner (Keep up the great work guys!)

Home Media Mag: Scorsese: Blu-ray Is Incredible

“Celebrated filmmaker Martin Scorsese has emerged as one of Blu-ray Disc’s biggest cheerleaders, praising the high-definition format for faithfully recreating the theatrical experience better than any of its predecessors, including DVD. … The director of such films as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas and The Departed also applauded Blu-ray Disc’s superior audio capabilities, including the option of including the original mono or “crude stereo” soundtracks along with the enhanced sound choices. … Scorsese added that the clarity of Blu-ray allows classic movies to look new and crisp again, making them a lot more palatable to younger audiences.”

I dunno. Scorsese? I mean, his movies are amazing but he wouldn’t have been my first choice to speak about Blu-ray. But I get it. Big name, Hollywood director brings more heat to the Con. The crowd will love it. Press will love it. Me? From the coverage I’ve read so far, I think the keynote was a gimmick. It sounds like Scorsese has a genuine love for the format but, outside of raving about the how great Blu-ray can look and sound, I’m not sure he had a whole lot to add.

The Hollywood Reporter: Martin Scorsese talks up Blu-ray

“Meanwhile, Sony senior vp restoration and mastering Grover Crisp said Scorsese’s infectious enthusiasm for Blu-ray seems has been a boon for Sony and others working on disc remastering and special features.

“It has been great because he has also gotten other directors like Michael Mann and Christopher Nolan involved as well,” Crisp said.”

Okay. I stand corrected. Scorsese did have something to add. I guess he’s roping in other directors to the Blu-ray passion. That’s all right by me! It would’ve been nice if he’d spoken about extending the format beyond the presentation of film on Blu-ray. How about his take on what Blu-ray can do for special features? Or its connectivity – allowing fans direct access to filmmakers/studios? Or where he sees this format existing in a world quickly being overtaken by comparatively poorer quality, streaming or downloadable options? Or how about this…

High Def Disc News: Ultra-High Definition Television Coming as Early as 2017

“Featuring a resolution of up to sixteen times that of current high def standards, and twenty two channel audio, (Ultra-High Definition) is the next step forward for television. UHD, like HD, will come in two different resolutions. The lower resolution of 4K – 3840 x 2160 – is four times that of 1080p, while 8K – 7680 x 4320 – offers sixteen times the resolution.”

Uhhh…okay. So, we’re already on to the next format. Guess nobody was really talking about this at Blu-Con, huh?

Further coverage of Blu-con:

Variety: Bullish on Blu-Ray: Confab predicts format’s bright future

Video Business: Scorsese a fan of Blu-ray

Video Business: Streaming content popular Blu-ray player feature

Warner Home Video and their PR partners-in-crime gather journalists together at fantastic events every quarter to present their upcoming wares. In this case, Warner’s Q4 offerings – a host of titles we’re expecting in the coming months like Rome: The Complete Series Box set, The Sopranos: Season One, Gone With the Wind, North By Northwest, The Hangover and the new offerings from the Harry Potter franchise, including the most recent film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as well as brand new Ultimate Collector’s Editions of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This time around, however, they had more to say than just product introductions. They were all about Blu-ray!

Blu-ray Smarties!!!

There were Blu-ray demos, Blu-ray smarties, Blu-ray table settings and even a Blu-ray girl! All the reps were dressed like scientists and the room was gussied up to look like a lab. We drank Blu-juice from test tubes and marveled at an SD/HD comparison of the Wizard of Oz (It looks amazing! Took my breath away. Definitely a contender for Blu-ray disc of the year!) There was a lengthy presentation about the ins-and-outs of the technology and a Blu-ray collection giveaway. And as we departed, we were all given black t-shirts with a sound activated Blu-ray panel on the front.

The Blu-ray girl!!! Seriously…This girl is covered in Blu-ray discs.

These things are always a fun time. And lord knows, I enjoy chatting about movies and Blu-ray and movies on Blu-ray, so I kind of felt like Warner was throwing a little party just for me! Can’t wait for the next one!

Blu-ray Sushi! Blu-ray Star-Fruit! Blu-ray Coconut Chicken thingies!!

I’ve been waiting for this to materialize in some form or another. I knew it would happen some day. I just didn’t expect to be able to control my PS3 with my iPhone via a Fast and Furious movie related application.

So, it turns out that Universal Studios Home Entertainment has beaten all the iTunes App Store developers to the punch and come up with a way for us to control our Blu-ray players through an application downloaded onto an iPhone or iPod Touch. The bummer of it is that it’s such a specific and limited control that we’re offered through the device that it’s almost not worth the bother, at this point. But I see a lot of potential here. On July 28th the studio will release the film Fast and Furious on Blu-ray with a “Virtual Car Garage” bonus feature that uses BD Live technology. If your player is connected to a network, you’ll be able to manipulate this content on-screen by using a free app you can download onto your iPhone or iPod Touch through the iTunes store.

According to the article at Home Media Magazine, Universal intends to broaden their reach into our set-top boxes and connectivity through mobile devices,

“On subsequent Universal Blu-ray Disc releases coming later in the year, consumers will be able to access bonus content found on their Blu-ray Disc releases and download it onto their iPhone or iPod Touch. They’ll also be able to use the devices as a virtual remote to control their Blu-ray Disc features and access additional information while watching the movie.”

I don’t know about you, but while I find this kind-of cool and all, I’d much rather just have an app on my iPhone that works as a full-on PS3 remote control! Why has no-one developed this yet?! I mean, Sony could have released one themselves and, at $0.99 probably made back all of their losses on the console. Why is Universal the first one to take advantage of this obvious hole in the market?

Read the full article at Home Media Magazine: Universal Bows iPod Touch/iPhone Apps for Blu-ray

Once again Warner Bros. is taking the lead in the home video industry and is doing something about that stack of HD-DVD coasters they conned you into buying two years ago. Instead of putting your drinks on them, you can package up your old, dead media, throw some loose change at Warner and they’ll get you back some shiny new Blu-ray discs in 4-5 weeks for your trouble. While not a perfect deal (there are a handful of limitations in place) Warner is at least attempting to rectify the damage caused by the format conflict. When will the other major studios do the same?

Red2Blu Trade-in Program

1. Click here and select the HD DVD titles you want to exchange for Blu-rays.
◦ Limit one exchange per title
◦ Upgrade fee of $4.95
◦ Shipping fee of $6.95 per order ($8.95 per order for Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico)
2. Mail the original cover-art to Warner’s processing center
3. Receive new discs in 4-5 weeks

In addition, if you’re looking for something to do with your busted up HD-DVD player, Engadget has got you covered.

Via: blu-ray.com
and: EngadgetHD