The big red empire is becoming a digital trend setter...

Netflix is out to own your television.

The Internet rental service has been gradually taking over set-top boxes in living rooms throughout America, incorporating its streaming content solution into any device willing and able.

The list of Netflix-ready Blu-ray devices, which now includes the PlayStation 3, is rapidly growing. Coupled with an outstanding rental delivery service, the Los Gatos-based company seems poised to turn the movie industry upside down again.

Yet, despite bloggers’ concerns that its online streaming strategy and Blu-ray surcharges are part of some nefarious plot to prematurely kill the Blu-ray format, Netflix insists it’s all about the customers.

“Everything we focus on is customer satisfaction,” replies Steve Swasey, Netflix VP of Corporate Communications, “If we can’t say, ‘How does this get back to customer satisfaction?’, we don’t do it.”

And to Netflix’s credit, the company has ranked on top the ForSee survey results for customer satisfaction nine years in a row. Stateside, the company is almost unanimously loved with a subscription base that has swelled to over 11 million.

Still, there are Blu-ray and audio/video enthusiasts that claim that Netflix is inadvertently destroying the fledgling format with its streaming service. A service which now streams select titles at 1080p, and while nowhere near the quality of a Blu-ray disc, may prove ‘good enough’ for mass consumers.

Netflix doesn’t see it that way; streaming video is merely a natural evolution for a retailer determined to avoid the same fate as its predecessor, Blockbuster.

“Netflix changed the way Americans rent movies ten years ago, when it offered the subscription DVD-by-mail service,” remarks Swasey, “But the vision all along has been that we were going to be doing it over Internet, and that’s why the company is called Netflix and not DVDs-by-mail.”

Should you start pawning off you Blu-rays immediately, or is the crisis overblown?

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We may have gone overboard on the pumpkins.

Summer is over. Get lost, humidity. Time to make way for fall leaves, spiced ales and rainy weather.

Oh yeah, and pumpkins!

With Halloween just a month away, we’ve compiled a list of our top ten most anticipated Blu-ray releases for October. From the summer’s largest blockbuster to reissues to indie flicks, we’ve got the spectrum covered.

So what made the list? Continue to find out.

1. Friday Night Matinee: John Carpenter New feature celebrates best and worst of Carpenter's filmography on Bl
2. Welcome to BlurayDaily.com! Your all-new guide to the awesome world of Blu-ray movies!

Yeah, I'll do anything for money now.

John Carpenter is a director with a very awkward career path, best known for creating one of the most iconic horror films of all-time and a handful of movies that eventually found success on home video, but not in theaters.

His ability to scare and enthrall is unrivaled, and his impact on a new generation of filmmakers is being felt today.

His peers cite his camera work and storytelling abilities as reasons he should be admired, but his loyal fans remember him for his candid behavior and innate ability to entertain.

With the advent of high definition, some of his works are once again finding a new audience.

So in an effort to speed up your indoctrination into all things Carpenter, this retrospective will break down which ones are truly worth your time and which ones aren’t.

1. The Hit List: Trick or Treat Edition Our top ten most anticipated Blu-ray releases for October.
2. Welcome to BlurayDaily.com! Your all-new guide to the awesome world of Blu-ray movies!

Blu-ray Daily is a site conceived by lovers of the Blu-ray format. We’re not just enthusiasts; we’re the geeks who run up credit card debt building our massive, alphabetized collections. We’re painfully addicted – our only relief to ramble on endlessly about Blu-ray to friends, relatives, or strangers on the street! Like Smack to a junkie, a fresh new Blu-ray is just the fix we need, and it’s our hope that Blu-ray Daily becomes the high definition crack den for the masses.

Our daily content will reflect this level of obsession: Every title we review will come complete with timecode references for quotes and scenes, and a photo gallery detailing what the packaging looks like in the real world, inside and out. If it’s a sequel, you can bet we line up the spine with the original so you can get an idea of what it will look like on your shelf.

It’s this kind of thoroughness (read: nerdiness) that we hope will also make Blu-ray Daily a great source for custom Blu-ray covers provided by readers like you, then voted on and discussed by the rest of our community. In fact, whether in user comments, over in the Blu-ray forum, submitting custom covers or reader reviews, Blu-ray Daily is fully geared around reader interactivity.

Our review system is also a little outside the norm, including all the scoring categories you’d expect but with the addition of a BIAS paragraph, exposing the individual reviewer’s personal prejudice about any component of the disc at hand. Here’s our review structure breakdown:

STORYTELLING: Because a good story is at the center of every good film, documentary, or television show, we grade our movie’s overall value based on its storytelling and not on the amount of bonus features found on the disc.

LIGHT: This portion of the review will discuss the compression and transfer found on the Blu-ray disc just like every other site, but unlike the others we will discuss the look of the film, right down to decisions made by the director of photography and what camera the film was shot with.

VIBRATION: Our sound review pays close attention to factors that matter the most. This section will also touch upon soundtrack choices, score, and production sound.

PACKAGE: Bonus features, cover artwork, case, digital copy, booklet or lack thereof will all be discussed in this section. We will also provide links to stellar fan artwork in this section when available.

BIAS: As discussed above, this is a fun little section full of hate and prejudice.

Our final rating is beautifully simple and self-explanatory: Avoid, Consider, Rent, Buy, and Treasure – the latter reserved only for discs that are truly deserving.

It’s also the source for the Blu-ray news that matters to you, delivered in a manner that makes it an enjoyable read.

Bluray Daily is part of the Kikizo Network, the guys who’ve got more than 12 years of video games publishing expertise, and whose Kikizo.com site reflects a similar level of passion and unprecedented executive/creator access to the games business.

Blu-ray Daily’s launch editor is Carl Johnson, an avid fan of Blu-ray. Carl has worked with Kikizo ever since we launched a fine Nintendo website many years ago. Just as his passion for Nintendo made him editor of that site back in 2000, in 2009 he’s the obvious choice for this launch: Blu-ray is his new Nintendo.

Typically based in Hollywood and an avid maker of his own short films (with proper actors and everything), Carl will make sure you are fully taken care of here. Be sure to check back daily for new additions to the site, including interactive features and all the latest news, reviews, features, and previews.

BlurayDaily is here! We hope you enjoy it, and we can’t wait to hear your feedback in the comments and over in the Blu-ray forum.

(Read the launch press release here)

1. Dollhouse SE available only at ComiCon Set to include a love sonnet from Joss Whedon.
2. Big Sales Boost For Blu-ray Blu-ray marches on in Europe as disc sales hit an all-time high.
3. Star Trek warps home November Set your Blu-ray players to stun!
4. Friday Night Matinee: John Carpenter New feature celebrates best and worst of Carpenter's filmography on Bl
5. Gone with the Wind 70th Anniversary Blu-ray Warner Bros. specs a Blu-ray that will make you give a damn.

Epics that demand Blu-ray resolution.

Few movies absolutely require high definition playback, but all three Lord of the Rings movies fall into that category. With endlessly vast locations and hugely epic battle scenes, watching these films on DVD is a tragic waste of time and should be avoided at all costs. If I were a high ranking secret government official I would order all DVD and VHS copies of Lord of the Rings be gathered up, shredded, then placed in a container attached to a nuclear war head and launched at North Korea. I would then tax every citizen, even those starving inhabitants of third world countries, in order to fund mandatory ownership of the extended edition of the trilogy on Blu-ray.  

A pretty face, even prettier on Blu.

While the theatrical cuts will soon be available, no collection is complete without Peter Jackson’s much longer, and arguably superior edits. It would also be a nice treat if some of the fantastic bonus material from the DVD set made its way onto Blu-ray in full 1080p. And finally, I would like the entire set to come in thick, pre-weathered leather casing. I want the set to feel heavy when I pick it up, its weight reflecting the grand scope of the Hobbit’s journey. And would some Hobbit scent soaked into the leather be too much to ask for? I think not. 

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