A highly stylized flick like Sin City is sure to look great in high definition, so you're probably already planning to grab when it the
Recut, Extended and Unrated version hits Blu-ray this week. For those who can't wait or are on the fence, MovieWeb has this quick snippet (embedded after the break) of Cine-Explore Bonus View special footage from the home version that shows off how the special effects were done while the movie plays on in the background. Other than that, the disc packs a couple commentary tracks, a 5.1 audio track including audience reaction (apparently so you can pretend you're at one of those movie theaters you no longer go to) and an interactive comic book.

It's a new year and NetBlender has a new change of gear, pairing with BluFocus to bring last year's BD Touch software -- and its BD-Live enabled Blu-ray player to iPhone / iPod Touch connections -- up to version 2.0, featuring crossplatform capability with other WiFi enabled handhelds like Blackberry, Android and Palm Pre. While going iPhone exclusive hasn't hurt some apps, hopefully we'll see wider adoption of the technology, which can enable things from making the phone a remote control to using it as a keyboard, downloading files from the disc or playing games, now that it supports more than one platform. More info should be available once it hits the floor at NAB 2009 later this week.

That's the word, with a small but vocal group of subscribers claiming their discs are repeatedly arriving with small cracks on their outer edges. It's unclear what might be to blame, even with the extra coating to prevent scratches on Blu-ray, they could still be susceptible to automated mail processing machines, manufacturing defects or perhaps a spontaneous game of mail Frisbee. The Mars Box blog experienced this issue back in '07 with the disc pictured above, but in the last few months reports seem to be picking up again. It's really too bad those extra costs can't buy tougher packaging like the cardboard slips GameFly uses, but Netflix told Wired the problem is "infinitesimally small" and changing shipping wouldn't be cost effective. We know plenty of you rent your discs, let us know, have you been afflicted?

[Via Hacking Netflix]

Read - The Mars Box
Read - Wired
Read - AVS Forum

Sony's CEDIA booth was stocked with the outfit's latest pair of Blu-ray HTIB systems, and for those looking to dive into the Blu and get into surround sound at the same time, neither set is a bad choice. Each BD deck is actually customized specifically for these packages, and while the innards are likely similar to the those found in the BDP-S550, the inclusion of an internal amplifier makes 'em special. See which speaker style suits your fancy in the gallery below.

Sony's latest high-end Blu-ray player was sitting pretty at the outfit's CEDIA booth, so we did exactly what you figured we would -- stop by and snap some pictures. Though the unit wasn't exactly compact, the build quality seemed sufficient and the design was suitably simple. As you very well know by now, the gallery is below.

While some other manufacturers are churning out Blu-ray decks with price tags closer to the magical $200 mark, Sony's bucking that trend by aiming squarely at those with bulging wallets and even fatter egos. The November-bound BDP-S5000ES one-ups the BDP-S350 by being BD-Live-capable (as opposed to BD-Live-ready) and boasts an Ethernet jack, external flash memory port, a 1GB Sony Micro Vault Tiny (gee, thanks!), Quick Start mode for getting those BDs spinning quicker and an ultra-special 14-bit HD video processor, which "improves standard-definition and high-definition picture quality with the help of HD Reality Enhancer and Super Bit Mapping technologies." Infringing on Toshiba's latest playground is the highly-touted Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology, which unsurprisingly upconverts DVDs to 1080p in order to make the most of your splendid DVD collection. You'll also find niceties such as an RS-232C / IR input, BRAVIA Sync and an XMB-inspired user interface -- now, if only we could find the secret sauce that makes this package worth the $2,000 asking price. (Psst... full release after the cut.)

Criterion's firmed up its release plans, backing off the initial October projections and announcing the first five flicks to get the C stamped on their Blu-ray case. Included are three classics already out on Criterion DVD due November 18 - The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Third Man and The Last Emperor. The following week Bottle Rocket and Chungking Express hit day and date with their DVD counterparts, all for the promised MSRP of $39.95 (tagged $31.96 in the Criterion store.) Original aspect ratios, BD-50 dual layer discs and the company's usual care and attention to detail, of course, are part of the package, the only question is whether you can wait one more long month.

Blu-ray recorders have been on the scene for a while now, but now that the format war's over, it looks like more companies are starting to commit to BD-R devices -- like Pioneer, which announced today that it'll have a Blu-ray recorder out in Japan by the end of the year. The company didn't say what model it would be or what price point it was aiming for, but the tech is being jointly developed with Sharp, so hopefully it's have a family resemblance to units like the 1TB AQUOS BD-HDW20 in everything but the $2,611 pricetag.

What's this? Best Buy finally released the Insignia NS-BRDVD blu-ray player for an affordable $349.99. The design, like other in-house Insignia-branded products, is questionable, but if you were looking into the PS3 as a player, this could be a $50 cheaper option if games aren't your thing. The unit outputs at 1080P, decodes Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD, and decodes 2-channel Dolby TrueHD. Outputs include stereo audio, composite video, component video, optical Toslink, digital coax, and HDMI. No word on image quality just yet, but based on previous Insignia products, we're not holding our breath.

[Thanks, Jordan]

With HD DVD, things are just going from bad, to really bad, to worse, to car-crash-you-can't-stop-looking-at. You can file this one under that latter category, as Wal-Mart has officially announced its intentions to stop stocking HD DVD players and movies by June. According to reports, the retailer came to the decision after Netflix and Best Buy made announcements concerning their position in the HD format war. Susan Chronister of Wal-Mart wrote on the company's blog, "By June Wal-Mart will only be carrying Blu-ray movies and hardware machines, and of course standard-def movies, DVD players, and up-convert players." Susan went on to deliver what we consider a total burn by adding, "if you bought the HD [DVD] player like me, I'd retire it to the bedroom, kid's playroom, or give it to your parents to play their John Wayne standard-def movies, and make space for a BD player." Look, we're not gonna say that this is it for HD DVD, but... uh, it doesn't look real great.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Finally, Michael Bay has stepped down from Cheese Mountain to pontificate on the finer points of the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray war. Speaking from the inner-sanctum of his lair -- located equidistant from the Church of Scientology and a gigantic cotton candy stand -- Mr. Bay reminds us that, "Blu-ray's better, and I told everyone," then goes on to further prop himself by adding, "I was very vocal about it. I knew HD [DVD] was not going to make it." We're glad that Bay can sleep at night, safe in the knowledge that the mere "quality" of the formats decided the winner of this battle, rather than massive business partnerships fueled by the desire for marketshare. He wrapped up his message (actually given at an awards ceremony held by the Visual Effects Society) by saying, "Am I thrilled? It really wasn't my fight, but remember what I said in the press? I was kind of saying HD [DVD]'s going to lose... No one believed me." He then slammed a trophy he was receiving to the floor, pointed to the packed room, and yelled, "In your face, HD DVD!"

[Via Blu-ray, thanks Kiwi616]