[/quote]I haven't heard of any plans for a Bluray release anytime soon. It would be nice but I feel there may be some backroom politics holding this up. It would seem like a no-brainer for FOX to do a really cheap no-frills release as you can rent the HD on xbox and itunes here.
Last weekend I redid my movie shelf, and I've got some 500 DVDs there. Thinking about my movie-buying future, I can't see ever really replacing my "library" (except for Wing Commander!). I've got a couple dozen Blurays, of mostly new movies. About half were gifts. I think a big part of buying DVDs 10 years ago was to be able to have and watch a movie anytime I felt like it. Now, I can call up any movie on iTunes, Amazon Prime, etc and rent or buy it instantly there. Via my iPad & AppleTV, downloadable movies are both portable and easily streamable in HD to my TV. So given how little time I spend actually watching movies, I'll probably be significantly cutting back on my disc-buying from this point on.
And I suppose recording these HD broadcasts of the films would be illegal? Even for those who own a DVD copy of the film? I currently have a region 1 which I can't watch (used to on the old multi-zone player).
Whether you own it on DVD or not, it wouldn't be illegal here. DVRs that record anything and everything broadcast for personal use are very common, and sometimes provided by the cable companies.
So, copying CDs are fine - commercial DVD & BDs no.
Oh? Then this could possibly be an option.. assuming someone has the capacity to burn to a large disc.
Just did some investigating. Seems that Amazon doesn't provide the service to Australia, but the apple store does. However need to purchase a their TV 'box'. The downside is as you mentioned, rent and I'm not too sure about the legality of recording apple TV?