"Your Baby Never Looked Good In Blue"

Update: Well, just one week later, and HD-DVD has surrendered.


That is unless that baby is Blu-Ray high def disc.

Big sigh of relief here. Blu-Ray is going to win the high def disc war over HD-DVD. Netflix is not going to offer HD-DVD anymore at the end of the year. And BestBuy is going to push Blu-Ray exclusively now, though there may be still some HD-DVD stuff in the back somewhere. All this after Warners pledged to go Blu-Ray only, and halt HD-DVD releases in May 2008- all major movie studios save for Universal and Paramount are Blu-Ray only.

"What? There was a high def disc war?" Yeah. Most people don't even know there was a war on.

Anyways, I got a PlayStation 3 (60Gb) sometime last year b/c I traded in my original PS2 and a bunch of accessories at GameStop. And paid for the PS3 using a new Sony credit card which gave $150 cash back after the 1st purchase. So $599 Ps3 - $100 PS2 trade-ins - $150 Sony credit card offer = $350+tax!

I haven't had time to play games since getting married almost 7 years ago now. (Wow. Time flies.) So I got it primarily for the Blu-Ray capability, but at the time, the hd disc war victor was still undetermined. I did pick-up LEGO Stars Wars for PS3 a while back, but of course, haven't had time to play at all.

We're in S.F. at my parents on the weekends, so I've left the PS3 there for my dad to enjoy w/ his 55" Sony LCD projection set. And I watch a few scenes on Blu-Ray while folding laundry or reading the newspaper. Pretty pictures, baby.

When DVD first came out, my dad being an amateur audio/videophile got the top of the line $1200 Sony DVD player at the time. Still has it. Of course, that thing doesn't do all the things that a <$100 DVD player can do today like upconvert to 1080i, progressive can, HDMI out etc. It can't even play some CD-ROMs and DVD+/-R discs. Can't play MP3. My cousin, who worked at Sony at the time, helped us get it at the employee store, so my dad ended up paying just under $700 I think.

Now, my dad had the gaul to ask me what's the Ps3 good for since it costs $600. I was like, "Dad, dollar for dollar the Ps3 is a waaaaaay better buy today than that 1st Gen $700 Sony DVD player was back then." Plus I got it for just $350! Anyways, he's sold on the PS3 now.

My dad likes the PS3 b/c:
1. It streams his digital pictures and mpg movies from his WinXP across the home network.
2. It has memory card reader so he can just plug in his SD cards and view pictures.
3. It is also an upconverting DVD player now, after one of those software updates.
4. It's a Blu-Ray player.

Ironically, I thought the Blu-Ray part would be what he'd like the most. But funny thing is that's what he likes it for the least!!

It's also pretty easy to find Blu-Ray discs for pretty good discounts now...
Feel free to borrow:
Superman Returns
Mission Impossible 3
House of Flying Daggers (amazing colors)
Curse of the Golden Flower
Kung Fu Hustle
Ratatouille
Cars
Spider-Man 1, 2, 3
Casino Royale
LOST Season 3

Note that LOST is broadcast in 720p on ABC TV, but the Blu-Ray is full 1080p. It looks amazing compared to the already beautiful HD broadcast. Can't wait for them to release Seasons 1 and 2 on Blu-Ray too.

"Your Baby Never Looked Good In Blue" is a reference to an old Expose' song.