Checkpoint: Blu-ray Movies Galore Edition

I just finished off my disapproving preview of the PlayStation Home. It really is irrelevant as it stands right now. Now I’m listening to the latest episode of 1UP Yours. So instead of entertaining thoughts of Sony’s relatively poor sales, let’s talk about Blu-ray movies and my growing collection of unwatched movies!

• Band of Brothers
• The Dark Knight
• Wall-E
• The Godfather

I want to watch it all and no better time to start than this upcoming holiday break. My Blu-ray collection has grown quite a bit and I’ve begun to stack them. I need a new shelf or something. If anyone has recommendations for storing all this stuff, please let me know!

I’ve spoken to a few folks about jumping onto the Blu-ray bandwagon and I’m shocked to find that the price of movies is the barrier of entry. Apparently people see that $32.99 price tag a lot. Through my own frugal eyes, I only see $27.99 and less for single movies. Spread the news people, you can find deals for these movies!

Sometimes Blu-ray movies simply debut at $29.99. Take a look at The Dark Knight from BestBuy.ca:

• DVD – $21.99
• Blu-ray – $29.99
• 2 Disc DVD – $27.99
• 2 Disc Blu-ray – $34.99

An $8 high definition tax? More than worth it!

Taking a look at the hardware. You can find a Insignia Blu-ray Disc Player (NS-BRDVD) for $199.99. Not sure how well they work, but it’s one of the cheapest ones available. The Sony branded players are around $249.99. A PlayStation 3 40 GB SKU will cost $399.99 which may be tough to swallow for those who just want to watch movies.

Is the format finally there? Does it have mass market appeal yet? Almost. The pricing difference between a DVD player and Blu-ray player is still vast, but don’t say the movies are expensive — it has been surprisingly affordable for a long time now.

P.S – I’ll be watching the Spike VGAs on Sunday at 9 PM. Not for the award, but for the God of War 3, Uncharted 2 and other unveilings. For the love of all that is sane, please make the damn thing watchable.