The Vault – TrueBlood-Online.com

The new True Blood Season 2 Blu-ray Disc has a social networking feature that fans of the HBO series can really sink their teeth into: automatic updates to their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Described as the most extensive Facebook-linking feature in a Blu-ray Disc so far, the True Blood Live Feed sends updates to Facebook and Twitter as viewers watch the episodes. Each of the 12 episodes has at least eight scenes that can be posted to Facebook, too, direct from the discs.

“For True Blood, we have such engaged and passionate fans that we really wanted to provide them with a way to extend the fiction beyond what they see in the show,” says HBO’s Sofia Chang, “and share that passion with their friends.”

When a customer inserts any of the five discs into an Internet-connected Blu-ray player including the Sony PlayStation 3, they get an introduction about the Live Feed and can enable the updates. Viewers choose one of three factions: Vampire, the anti-vampire Fellowship of the Sun or mind-influencing Maenad. They can upload a photo that will be transformed and posted on Facebook as they watch more (a vampire fan will turn pale, with blood on his mouth).

As viewers watch discs, an update such as “(your name) just came out of the coffin to watch Episode 1″ would be sent to Facebook and Twitter. Fans also can earn virtual gifts; a viewing marathon might earn a vampire royalty crown.

True Blood’s Facebook feature may be the most elaborate foray for Blu-ray, but it isn’t the first. Previous releases such as Sherlock Holmes have had special live events with actors or directors. A Watchmen Director’s Cut event with director Zack Snyder let viewers chat on Facebook.

Studios hope that such new features will drive upgrades to Blu-ray players — in 11% of U.S. homes, up from 6% in 2009, according to the NPD Group.

Not bloody likely, says Scott Hettrick of tech news site HollywoodInHiDef.com. “In most homes, the Blu-ray player is not in the same room as the computer or Internet modem,” he says, so “most people cannot easily connect the Blu-ray player to the Internet.”

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On May 25 the True Blood season 2 DVD and BluRay will hit the shelves in the USA. A couple of weeks ago several clips were released with BluRay extra’s – watch them here – and with the release date approaching fast the first reviews have appeared on the internet.

In addition to a goodly amount of commentary tracks, this DVD also includes bonuses that are a lot of fun. Both on the final disc of the set, the chapter for “Fellowship of the Sun” is broken down into four sunny, cheery homilies about God’s word — and killing vampires wherever you find them. A spoonful of sugar does indeed seem to help the stake go down. These segments, two led by Steve Newlin, and two by Sarah, comprise a total of twelve minutes of info on how to live a pro-living life.

“The Vampire Report” is a nearly half-hour news show taken straight out of the world of True Blood. Featuring all new characters, the report (delivered by Victoria David) includes stories about how vampires have incorporated themselves into brand new television shows (Holy Self-Referrals, Batman!), including soaps, reality television, and infomercials. There are also stories about sports scandals, stupid criminal videos, and a bit on the arrest of a vampire for a murder committed over 150 years ago. Breaking up the bits are commercial breaks with PSAs about getting tested for Hep-D and a montage of “I’m an American” statements from vampires supporting the American Vampire League.

DVD

Disc 1
01. Nothing But the Blood
02. Keep This Party Going (optional commentary with Nelsan Ellis and Michael Lehmann)

Disc 2
03. Scratches
04. Shake and Fingerpop

Disc 3
05. Never Let Me Go
06. Hard Hearted Hannah
07. Release Me (optional commentary with Raelle Tucker and Michael Ruscio)

Disc 4
08. Timebomb (optional commentary with Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgard and John Dahl)
09. I Will Rise Up
10. New World in My View (optional commentary with Ryan Kwanten and Sam Trammell)

Disc 5
11. Frenzy (optional commentary with Rutina Wesley, Alan Ball, and Daniel Minahan)
12. Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ (optional commentary with Anna Paquin and Michelle Forbes) (optional commentary with Alexander Woo and Michael Cuesta)
Bonus Features:
Fellowship of the Sun: Reflections of Light
- Who Needs Marriage?
- Do You Want to Live Forever?
- Detoxify Your Marriage
- It’s Hip to be Alive
The Vampire Report: Special Edition
(source The Trades)

The Bonus Materials on the BluRay are presented in 1080i Hi-Def (HD) video with DTS 2.0 Stereo sound.

All Discs Include:
• “Recap” from previous episodes, as well as a Season 1 recap available on the first episode.
• “Preview” each episode before you watch it.
• “Enhanced Viewing” which includes:
  —”Character Perspectives” provides you with further information of the story with input from characters such as Hoyt, Pam, Karl, and Steve Newlin.
  —”Flashback/Flashforward” allows you to do just as the title suggests, catching you up on pieces of the story you may have missed, or simply want a peek of from the future.
  —”Pro/Anti-Vampire Feeds” provides you with updates and information from both parties.
  —”Hints/FYI” is basically a trivia track with informative details, hints, and clues.

Disc 1:

• “Commentary on Episode 2 ‘Keep This Party Going‘ by Nelson Ellis (Lafayette) and Michael Lehmann (Director)“
  —No extras aside from those listed above

Disc 2:

Disc 3:

• “Commentary on Episode 7 ‘Release Me‘ by Raelle Tucker (Writer) and Michael Ruscio (Director)“
• “Commentary on Episode 8 ‘Timebomb‘ by Stephen Moyer (Bill), Alexander Skarsgard (Eric), and John Dahl (Director)“

Disc 4:

• “Commentary on Episode 10 ‘New World in My View‘ by Ryan Kwanten (Jason) and Sam Trammell (Sam)“
• “Commentary on Episode 11 ‘Frenzy‘ by Rutina Wesley (Tara), Alan Ball (Writer), and Daniel Minahan (Director)“

Disc 5:

• “Commentary on Episode 12 ‘Beyond Here Lies Nothin’‘” WITH TWO TRACK SELECTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM:
  —Track 1 with Anna Paquin (Sookie) and Michelle Forbes (Maryann)
  —Track 2 with Alexander Woo (Writer) and Michael Cuesta (Director)
• “Fellowship of the Sun: Reflections of Light” (12:14, DTS 2.0 @255kbps) is divided into 4 chapters as Mr. & Mrs. Newlin covers topics such as “Who Needs Marriage?“, “Do You Want To Live Forever?“, “Detoxify Your Marriage“, and “It’s Hip To Be Alive“.
• “The Vampire Report: Special Edition” (23:50, DTS 2.0 @1.5Mbps) is an entertaining faux news report.

Overall the bonus materials are enough to keep fans entertained with the commentary tracks which include great cast & crew feedback as well as the “Enhanced Viewing” mode and its features. The faux news reports and such are also very entertaining if you enjoy the show as they run pretty lengthy and are presented in 1080i HD video quality. (source High Dev Disc News)

The season 2 DVD and Blu-Ray will be released on May 25, but you can already see a sneak peek of the bonus content on the HBO True Blood website. Four videos of character perspective have been released; Hoyt, Karl, Pam and Steve Newlin explain how they see things.

According to IGN.com HBO will release True Blood – Season Two across DVD and Blu-ray on May 25, 2010.

Not a whole lot is known about the releases right now, aside from the fact that the Blu-ray version will span five discs and all 12 episodes will be flavored with “True Blood enhanced viewing,” according to the box art, as depicted below. The DVD will be available for the MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) of $59.99, while the Blu-ray will run at the MSRP of $79.98.

You can preorder both at Amazon for a much more favorable price.

Fans are anxiously awaiting the release of the True Blood season 2 DVD and Blu-Ray, no release date has been announced yet. But at least we now know what the outside of the box looks like.
The Blu-ray’s box, which has a corner banner describing the 5-disc set as having “True Blood Enhanced Viewing” on all 12 episodes exclusively on this version, while presenting them in 1080p “Full HD Video” and DTS-HD Master Audio. “Exclusive New Blu-ray Features” are also mentioned. One of those features will be the comments spoken by Pam (Kristin Bauer).

The Blu-Ray and the DVD are already available for pre-order on Amazon.

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The True Blood season finale was watched by 5.114 million viewers.

The amazing first season DVD success for True Blood continues. In its 16th week of release it added on another 62,123 units – a 12% increase from week 15, along with another $2.2 million in sales. Its sixteen week totals are 1.49 million units with estimated revenue of almost $52 million.

The second season of True Blood is available for pre-order on Amazon.

The amazing story of HBO’s True Blood just doesn’t stop. From DVD’s that topped the weekly sales to setting new series high in viewers every week, this week up to 5.332 million — it’s an impressive tale.

Last week True Blood scored 4.46 million so the week over week growth is almost 20 percent (19.55 percent).

True Blood was the #3 show on cable for the week.  And when you consider that HBO is only in about 1/3rd of the homes most basic cable networks have access to, that’s impressive.  Will it get to Sopranos style impressive? It’s certainly trending in that direction.  The  Sopranos was often the #1 show on all of cable, despite being available in relative few homes.

And, the amazing story of success for the first season of True Blood on DVD continues.  For the week ending August 16, 2009,  True Blood was the top selling TV show DVD.  It was a slow week without many new releases, but still, True Blood raked in an additional $1.59 million and is approaching $46 million in sales.

On a revenue basis True Blood is the 11th best selling DVD of the season.  The only other TV show in the top 50 is 24, which is now #50 (and falling, and the list we see ends at 50, so…) with $18.184 million in sales.

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When it comes to DVD formats the world is inconveniently divided in zones. The American DVD’s (zone 1) cannot be played in Europe (zone 2). So people like me have not been able yet to purchase their copy of True Blood’s season 1, but Amazon UK offers us the solution. True Blood Season 1 DVD and Blu-Ray are available for pre-order and will ship on October 26.

These are zone 2 DVD’s and are only viewable in: UK, Europe, Japan, South Africa and Middle East. (Albania, Andorra, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Vatican City, Yemen, Yugoslavia).

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Amazon.com has included True Blood: The Complete First Season Blu-Ray Box in there hot summer sales. The Blu-Ray Box will now cost you only $45.99, the DVD Box sells for $38.49.
If you already bought True Blood’s season 1… you can pre-order the DVD and Blu-Ray of season 2.

After being bumped out of the #1 spot for a week, HBO’s True Blood: The Complete First Season is back on top after selling 136,000 units (nearly $4.5 million), a slight increase from last week. It’s nearing 1 million units sold after 4 weeks of DVD sales.

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