Netflix to charge $1.00 extra for Bluray

[cal_tony]

Received an update Email from Netflix re. my account today.
They indicated that Bluray movies were more expensive than DVDs and beginning with my Nov
bill they would be charging me an extra $ 1.00 month for unlimited access to Blurays.

My account lists the options for DVDs, Blurays and HDDVDs. However, even though still carry them,
they did not indicate an increase for HDs. They also indicated that I could change my profile before than to
eliminate the $ 1.00 charge for Blurays.

It had been mentioned earlier by others that this was something being looked at, so here it is.

Tony

[bunginuts]

I got the same email. Figures, yeah blu-ray costs more but I think its the first of price increases. I rent very few blu-ray discs so I removed them. I have a 27 inch hdtv and with my PS3 upscaling everything I can't tell a quality difference with DVD's. Besides I have pretty much every movie I wanted on DVD, I'm not going to start over after I spent all this money on them.

[zoobie]

thats why sales are slow with blu-ray players
they've changed the format when many don't even have a DVD player yet

[MJA]

I got the same email. Figures, yeah blu-ray costs more but I think its the first of price increases. I rent very few blu-ray discs so I removed them. I have a 27 inch hdtv and with my PS3 upscaling everything I can't tell a quality difference with DVD's. Besides I have pretty much every movie I wanted on DVD, I'm not going to start over after I spent all this money on them.

you will notice a quality difference between both on 50"/60" size HDTV

[Vidd]

$1 more is reasonable. At least it only applies to those who choose Blu-Ray and not everyone.

I was afraid they would increase it between 5 and 10 dollars more.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

got the email this morning.
No big deal considering they've dropped the price I pay each month 4 times since I first signed up -- it's still cheaper than it was back then.

[cal_tony]

I didn't voice my own opinion in the initial post on this thread since I listed it as news.

But like others above, Since it's only a Dollar and I have no intention of removing the Bluray category from my profile. Having said that, let me also say again that I have rented just about everything avail in Bluray or HD Dvd. So far, If I were to buy a Bluray disk the only one would be Ghost Rider. I've rented it 7 times and watched it twice for each rental. But, since I'm charged by the month, I haven't felt compelled to buy the movie. Other than that, I have become as disillusioned with Bluray as I have become with DVDs. Both formats are great, but the commercial products rarely maximize the abilities of either format. Recently I rented Ironman, first on DVD because the Bluray was on a wait. I was surprised because the DVD, in most scenes was extremely clean. When I received the Bluray, I thought it might be like the Fantastic 4. Clear as can be throughout. But, it wasn't. Some scenes were better than the DVD but most were about the same in picture quality.

I mention this because in my opinion the loss of Bluray, in most instances just wont be missed. Blu ray is just not what it could be.
It's not Blurays fault, it's the fault of cinematographers, directors and editors. When they produce visual sh*t than thats what you will see regardless of format.

Hopefully new products like the XD-E500 might, if improved, be more impressive than either format.

Tony

[redwudz]

I have seen quite a few 'remakes' labeled as Blu-ray. I haven't looked at many, but I wonder if they are just converted from SD quality to the Blu-ray format?

I just got a Blu-ray DVD ROM player, and I also use Netflix, so I will be looking.

[CubDukat]

I don't have a Blu-Ray setup yet, and while I think it would have been better if they decided to apply to users that actually rent BR discs, it's such a small amount that I have no problem paying it. After all, it's not as if I'm not going to go BR eventually; I just have to build the right system to put one in.

[lordsmurf]

I have seen quite a few 'remakes' labeled as Blu-ray. I haven't looked at many, but I wonder if they are just converted from SD quality to the Blu-ray format?

Similar to LD dumped to DVD, way back when. Years and years -- a decade, sometimes, if at all -- went by, many complaints, before a "good version" was finally released. I doubt BD would get the same treatment.

[Ai Haibara]

Huh. I actually hadn't thought about that possibility. Rather than spend time and money going back to the masters and re-mastering them, upscale an existing DVD source, maybe filter it a little, then press it to an HD disc and release it to the market.

[CubDukat]

I'd say there was no way in hell they could get away with it. Look at the stink over some of Sony's early MPEG-2 titles like The Fifth Element. And that was a true hi-def title. I think if you try to up-rez a standard-def title, people are gonna catch on that it's not true hi-def. As good as up-rezzed stuff may be, it's not even as good as bad hi-def.

Generally the people who buy higher-end things like LaserDisc and Blu-Ray more or less know what quality is, and they're gonna know when someone's trying to get over on them. I think we're also past the stage where really bad transfers can be blamed on still learning the authoring process. We're far enough into BD's life that we shouldn't be getting really bad titles from major studios, and we should reject them soundly whenever we see them.

[Ai Haibara]

Maybe. But not everyone buying Blu-Ray is a videophile. (I'll admit here and now that I haven't seen what upconverted DVD looks like at all, even on an HD TV, so I probably shouldn't continue, but... ) If the general public would be satisfied with it looking 'decent' on their HD, with no obvious (to them) problems, they could theoretically still get away with selling a lot of sub-par discs.