Portable Potential

Blu Ray is slowly popularizing itself in the home entertainment market today and could very soon become mainstream (most people are just waiting for the price tag to go down).

In anticipation of suck a day Panasonic has released the first portable Blu Ray player, the Panasonic DMP-B15. At $800 the player matches the pricing of the disks, but I guess that’s to be expected. If you’re investing in Blu Ray already odds are your desperate for portability. With an 8.9 inch LCD display the size of the device is nothing to sneer at, but Blu Ray is all about picture to begin with. The player comes packaged with its own remote.

I know I don’t have the cash to invest in any Blu Ray at the moment, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the picture quality and technological progression. Just like DVD’s, one day the prices will come down.

Twilight Mama

I can’t let the weekend pass without commenting on the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. I know I’m not the only Twilight Mom out there.

To be honest, it’s been a while since I have purchased a DVD. I typically prefer downloading to my Tivo via Amazon Unbox.  However, I just had to have the three-disc set from Target.

Now buyers have so many options–one disc, two disc, blu-ray, HD, download.

Target scored with the three-disc bonus and they let buyers have a free download of the movie from iTunes.

Amazon kept their pre-order customers happy by offering a free digital download so you didn’t have to wait for delivery on Monday since the movie came out on Saturday (12:01 a.m.)

How did you get your Twilight fix?

Two for One

Infinity Storage Media has unveiled the first DVD Blu Ray hybrid disk.

The disk is single sided but provides both DVD and Blu Ray data (basically the disk can play in both a Blu Ray player and as a standard DVD).  This is especially convenient since most of us already own DVD players and I don’t know that I’m ready to give mine up.  Lets be honest some of us are waiting for Blu Ray prices to drop before we invest, but wouldn’t it be nice to build up a library in advance?  More importantly it makes traveling easier since, even if you already own a Blu Ray player, Blu Ray does not yet have a portable device like DVDs nor do laptops support Blu Ray disks (but they do support DVDs).

Infinity it the first company to actually bring such an idea into production, and it certainly can’t hurt home movie popularity.

To Blu-Ray or not to Blu-Ray

I love the latest technology trends, but my budget is usually a few years behind. Case in point–Blu-ray. I would love to buy one this holiday, but I know the price will go down. Currently they run about $300+ although some makers already dip into the $200s.

One of my earliest money memories is of my parents buying their first VCR. It was about 1985 and it cost $700. It was fancy. It had stereo sound and special features for the nascent technology. Now, of course you can get a VCR for about $30. 

Blu-ray, however, is smart. It has already beaten out its competitor HD DVD to be the next generation format of choice. Sony, who lost the Beta vs. VHS war, made its stand with Blu-ray and won out.

New movies are being released in Blu-Ray format and my neighborhood video store has an ever-growing wall of Blu-ray discs. Also, unlike DVD players vs. VHS, the new Blu-rays can play my current library of DVDs.

Now the real question in my family is do I invest in Disney Blu-Ray DVDs like the new release Sleeping Beauty or stick to the traditional DVDs. I know I am going to have them for years to come, and I really don’t want to have to replace them all a few years down the road. 

I guess I may be checking out those Blu-rays sooner than I thought.

The Big Knight

I have seen The Dark Knight (twice) and it was excellent.  Don’t ask me to choose between Dark Knight and Iron Man though because I can’t do it.  On the other hand I have come to the conclusion that the movie experience can be defined, in part, by screen.

Leading up to the Dark Knight weekend Batman Begins was making its rounds on TV.  I really liked the original, and I still do.  Most of the major characters made their revamped debut there:  Gary Oldman’s Jim Gordon, Michael Caine’s Alfred, Morgan Freeman’s Lucius Fox, and of course Christian Bale’s Batman.  There performances were great in the original, if not even more so in the new Batman.  No matter where you watch the movie that will never change, what does change is spectacle.

Anyone will admit that aside from noise, trailers, and special popcorn the movie experience is defined by the “big screen”.  It all adds to the adrenaline, the rush, the experience.  So what can be done once the summer blockbuster season fades and the DVD release finally provides a daily fix for superhero addictions?

Well, there are a few possibilities.  With the exploding market of LCD, Plasma, and HD TV’s picture quality at home can rival that in many theaters, even size is catching up (though hardly superior).  Home Entertainment Systems , 72” sets, and Blu Ray projectors have all contributed to the quality jump in the home viewing experience.

So maybe I’ll have to see The Dark Knight a couple more time before it leaves theaters, but when Iron Man comes out on DVD (hopefully in September) maybe I won’t miss the long ticket lines so much after all.

7 Remote Controls - And Yes, I Need Them All

It’s true - I have 7 seperate remote controls in my living room, and I’m pretty sure I need all of them. As far as I’ve been able to determine, there really is no such thing as a “universal remote control”. I have to admit, there are the really high end remotes that claim to really be universal, and some even claim to “learn”, but even a gadget freak like me can’t justify paying more for the remote than I paid for most of the devices it would control.

Why do I need 7 remotes? I guess we need to start with a quick snapshot of my living room tech:

• TV: I have a 60 inch Sony LCD-projection HDTV. Above it are mounted 2 32-inch flatscreen HDTV’s. I know it sounds like a lot of TV, but if you drop by on Sunday during football season, you’d understand. I once described this setup to a female friend who suggested that it would be cheaper to just hang a neon sign that says “I don’t ever plan on getting married”, but until she gets married herself, her opinions are suspect.
• Surround-sound home theater audio system, of course
• Up-converting DVD player - I have so much invested in my DVD collection that I’m scared to upgrade to Blu-Ray, because when I do, I’ll have to fight the urge to replace hundreds of standard DVD’s.
• Media PC - I’ve already outlined the genesis of this particular toy.
• 3 HD DirecTV receivers - they’re the only way I can get every football game every week
• Cable TV DVR - Even with satellite, I like cable. I like on-demand. I want to hedge my bets against thunderstorms knocking out satellite (a real issue in Florida).
• HDMI Switch - The Sony only has one HDMI input, and I want to use HDMI for satellite, DVD and PC input. (My cable DVR won’t work with the HDMI switch due to some overzealous copy-protection)

Let’s put aside the snide comments about my OCD for a moment and get back to the remotes…

Even though 3 other remotes (sound system, cable, satellite) would all turn the Sony on, none of them can toggle through the video sources. Same thing for the Westinghouse remote for the 32’s.  I could probably lose the DVD remote and control it through the home theater, but with the manual long gone, so are the codes. The PC doesn’t have remotes, unless you count the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. Nothing can replace the DVR or satellite remotes (but at least 1 use 1 satellite remote, not 3) and the HDMI switch has a one-button remote to change sources that no other remote can replicate.

So there we are. I know what each one does and I’m OK with it. My friends have trouble figuring it all out, but their teenage kids have no issues at all.  And for some reason, I take solace in that.

Oh - by the way, iTunes sucks. Somebody tell Steve J…