The Avengers Blu-Ray Review

I'm not going to do a review of the Avengers movie. If you want that there are about a thousand websites you can go to that say more than I ever could. This review is about the five combo blu-ray package.

Extras / Behind the scenes:

The extras in this package are decent. If you watch all of them they will keep you distracted for quite a while. The deleted scenes are fun but in the end you know why they ended up being deleted. There are a couple of exceptions.

DVD:

This is a nice to have but not a need to have. This is a nice addition if you have a friend you want to lend this movie too.

Blu-Ray:

The quality of this blu-ray is not notch. Sometimes you'll get a blu-ray that just doesn't seem right. The picture quality might be off or the sound isn't what you would expect. This one lives up to Disney Standards it's the best you can get.

Blu-Ray 3D:

I guess this is nice to have but i don't have 3D TV so I can't eally comment on it.

Digital Copy:

What can I say...AWESOME! I say this because Disney acctually gives you a digital copy! A real copy you can put into iTunes or your other media server. This is not that horrific piece of trash known as "Ultra Violet" that some other studios give you. Thank you Disney for not going that route.

Sound Track:

This is another thing Disney has been doing lately. The Muppets Blu-Ray also did this. You can download the sound track for free. In most cases these are not songs I would have bought but this is a nice touch. It really ends up adding value to the whole package.

Comic Book:

You get a free digital avengers comic book. That's not too shaby.

Poster:

You can also get an Avengers poster at no charge. It's not that nice but it's still a nice overall addition.

Packaging:

This is the only hit or miss part of this package. The hologram on the front is cool even if it makes your eyes hurt. The part that isn't cool is how the dics are found. Most of the time each dics has it's own snap in. In this package the DVD and digital copy are stacked on top of each other (on the same snap) and the Blu-Ray and 3D are stacked on top of each other. That just seems kind of cheap.

Price:

Right now you can get this for 19.99. WOW! If a family of four went to see this in the moives you paid a lot more than that. In many cases a family of two paid more than that if they saw the 3D version. This is a real bargin.

Nathan Rose vs. Jim Hill – The Wager

I could never figure out why Nathan Rose champions Blu-Ray like a rabid animal. I like Blu-Ray. I have a PS3 and own a number of Blu-Ray movies. I think they are good and was on board from the launch of the PS3 but I don’t turn into a poo flinging monkey if someone disagrees about Blu-Ray.

I thought this was odd so I did what I do…I looked into it.

During my research I discovered that back in 2005 a heated dispute took place between Nathan Rose and Jim Hill. The dispute was over the future of home entertainment. Nathan claimed that Blu-Ray was the future while Jim Hill claimed that digital copy was the future.

The two nearly came to blows before deciding to create a wager. If Blu-Ray became the industry standard, Jim would have to award Nathan ownership of Jim Hill Media. If digital copy became the standard Nathan would have to award Magical Mountain to Jim.

At first I thought who cares? Would anyone really want either? Then I looked into it. It turns out that that Magical Mountain actually owns Magic Mountain in California. Six Flags only has a lease for it. Jim Hill Media was originally called Chapel Hill Media and actual owns all of Chapel Hill North Carolina. In other words this is the mother of all wagers.

Both Nathan and Jim tried to get the upper hand. Using their unlimited contacts and astronomical resources they both caused massive shifts in the world of entertainment. Nathan single handedly crushed HD-DVD. It wasn’t Sony it was Nathan. After that he put the screws to DVD executives and forced them all to convert to Blu-Ray ASAP. If they didn’t he said he pull strings and the WDW Mafia would be paying a visit (see The DIS – WDW Mafia’s Legal Front).

Jim single handedly convinced Netflix, Apple, and Amazon to jump on the digital delivery bandwagon. He threatened them with removal of everything Disney if they didn’t. Yes…Jim Hill has those kinds of connections.

Jim and Nathan’s epic battle was witnessed by many Disney insiders. One in particular took notice and wanted to end the feud. The only problem is – how could you negate the wager? Only one person in the Disney Community has that kind of power. Yes I’m talking about Deb Wills (see How Does Deb Wills Do It?). Deb waved her wand and POOF! All high end Disney Blu-Rays come with Digital Copy.

Now Nathan and Jim are friends again thanks to Deb Wills.