High Definition Optical Discs (Blu-ray and HD DVD)

Sorry there's no $400 3D discs for sale this week, just your average number of regular films. Alice in Wonderland comes out in its 3D, and then there's the Shrek Quadrilogy with hopefully the final Shrek chapter.

MissingRemote's Pick of the Week

Inception ** I'm not sure how much of an introduction is needed for this fantastic movie from director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) and starring Leonardo Dicaprio and what seemed to be the entire cast of The Dark Knight. The movie revolves around the idea of breaking into peoples minds and stealing things from their dream world. Very innovative idea and the special effects are just awesome. Great movie all around that actually has lived up to the hype. If you're buying this, keep in mind with any movie this big be prepared to see several versions and "collectors" editions.

Raise your hand if you've heard this before, the slumping economy is hurting the **** industry. It seems to be a defacto excuse for a lot of big companies. But...if DVDs and Blu-ray are so dead, then why does a movie like Avatar break records on sales? Inception's coming out...I think it will do just fine. I think this is more an issue for TV Series viewers who used to have to wait for the DVD to catch an episode they missed. But if the studios now have this additional licensing revenue (either advertising from their streams on their site or the fee a company like Netflix pays them), then doesn't that counter the loss of physical revenue?

Sure they might not sell 500,000 copies of The Office, but if now they sell 300,000 copies, and they have 1,000,000 people viewing episodes then that sure sounds like a good balance. I'm slightly bothered by the article mentioning that people are going online for "free" episodes they missed--the content airs "free" with advertising on broadcast TV just as it does online. Eventually these will sync up and I think they'll make even more money in the long run. A good movie/TV show will always be in demand.

Now a combination of the economic downturn and the digital revolution has forced the video industry to face up to the same crisis that still traumatises record companies – how to make up the income lost when your key physical product is in decline and predicted to become obsolete within 20 years. Sales and rentals of DVDs and Blu-ray discs fell by 7% to $10.9bn in the first nine months of this year compared with last year, according to the industry body The Digital Entertainment Group; and the British Video Association says DVD sales fell 5.6% last year. The fall was most severe in new-release titles, which account for 25% of the market, with sales crashing 15% in 2009.

I actually thought they had done this last year...but apparently I'm wrong. Slysoft AnyDVD is THE best software for ripping your Blu-ray and DVD movies to your hard drive, strictly for backup purposes. So...if you find yourself needing something like that you may want to take advantage before you have to start paying for upgrades. The upgrades are CRITICAL as new movies come out with newer encryption schemes which require patches.

For new purchases only, as of January 1st 2011, SlySoft will discontinue the 'lifetime' update subscription. This is being announced well in advance to give everybody a final opportunity to acquire SlySoft products with lifetime free updates or change his limited subscription to lifetime.

Slysoft

I'm sure this will get better as we get closer to black monday, but Amazon has some pretty sweet Blu-ray deals with lots of titles at only $7.99. Just a reminder, if you feel so inclined you can use the Amazon link box on the right column and help the site out a bit.

Amazon has many Blu-rays & TV Series on Sale from as low as $7.99. Free shipping with Prime (free student or parent/caregiver accounts available) or if you spend $25 or more. Use slick fillers to find other eligible items to help reach the $25 requirement.

Slickdeals