The Force of Blu Ray
Maybe it is time to get a Blu Ray Player. I don’t own one yet, I have to admit. It’s expensive, the movies are ore expensive, but if I needed a reason I think I have one now.
George Lucas has announced that in 2011 Star Wars, all six films (although I probably only need the original trilogy) will be released on Blu Ray. I didn’t even know they weren’t available yet, but again, I haven’t been paying attention to that particular market. Anyway, if there were a movie I’d want to watch with crazy clarity, Star Wars would be it. Now all I have to do it find the money for a Blu Ray player.
Common Sense Media launches new app
One of my favorite go-to sources for staying on top of media for my kids is Common Sense Media. The website offers real-world reviews for experts, parents and kids of movies, books and video games.
You can’t possibly play every game, pre-screen every movie and read every book your child will encounter, but sometimes you do want to know what they might be exposed to. Now you can get info on the go with the site’s new iPhone app. It’s free!
This would have been really helpful the other day at the library when my son wanted to check out a book that upon getting home and reading the review was totally inappropriate.
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Light Cycle
In honor of this week’s comic con festivities in California, here’s a fun little story about one of the movies being showcased. Tron Legacy, the sequel to the Jeff Bridges light cycle original, will be coming out in the next year. To get ready for the comeback merchandise is already hitting the market. Best so far? A working light cycle.
That’s right, for $35,000 you can own a working street legal light cycle with Tron helmet. Awesome! There will only be five (obviously very limited edition) but that just heightens the cool factor.
How to Build Iron Man
If you ever wondered about the actual use of 3D printers Hollywood has your answer in the form of the new Iron Man movie.
All that beautiful armor was printed on the Object Eden 3D printer, not only for models, but for actual costume pieces to fit the actual actors. It’s a movie about technology so using the ultimate technology to create it makes perfect sense. Forget mere character models and costume ideas, these work their way into actual in film world. See the movie, it’s excellent.
DVD2BLU
Warner Brothers offers DVD2BLU a service to let you trade in your old DVDs for new Blu-ray versions for a fraction of the cost of new disks.
Customers can choose from 90 of the company’s most popular titles to upgrade. They go to the DVD2Blu site to sign up and then send the DVD version they own to the service. Warner Bros. then ships back the Blu-ray copy in 4-5 weeks. Pricing starts at $4.95 (with free shipping on orders over $35)
There is a limit–25 films per household.
Iron Man
The movie of the summer came out this past weekend (for me at least) and in honor of the man in the iron mask (the movie I’m speaking of is Iron Man 2 in case you’re still wondering) I thought I’d mention this fun little gadget in his honor.
Two of my favorite things, Iron Man and USB’s, combine in this 4GB mini Iron Man USB. Designed to look like the hero himself the helmet removes to reveal the USB connector. It’s expensive for only 4GB (at $40) but that doesn’t change the awesome look. And isn’t that what Iron Man is about? Looking very very cool.
3-D movies lead to movie price hikes
The popularity of 3-D blockbusters such as Avatar are leading movie theaters to test the waters with new price hikes that started this weekend.
In some areas, the prices have gone up as much as 26% with New York topping out with almost $20 for an IMAX ticket. The average increase is 8.3 %. The bad news is the upgrade in prices also affects traditional 2-D screens as well with the average price up 4%.
For my family of four to go to a 3-D movie at my local theater it would cost $46 before popcorn, drinks or snacks. Fortunately there is still matinee pricing that is less. In some areas it could be as high as $63.
Apparently the movie industry thinks moviegoers are willing to pay more to see 3-D and they aren’t willing to leave money on the table. Time will tell if this gamble pays off.
Oscar Tech
Tomorrow is the big night for the Oscar nominees. There are a lot of big changes for this year’s show including the first 3-D movie up for Best PIcture–Avatar.
In addition, there are 10 best picture nominees for the first time ever. I’m still a little undecided about this change. I mean “Up” is in the running. Really? It was cute, but Best Picture–I think not!
For true tech fans, some of the biggest awards have already been handed out. The Scientific and Technology Awards were give Feb. 20 and 21. I won’t pretend to understand what all of the technologies do, but suffice it to say that these individuals are the true magicians who allow the actors and directors to create the imaginary worlds we love so much.
If you want to learn more about the science behind the movies, visit the Academy’s website.
Movie Transfer
So I remember taping things on VHS, and there are a few family tapes left in a closet at my house. My bet is there are loads of people out there with far more tapes in storage than I have. It can be depressing watching the turn over from VHS to DVD and now to digital and wonder what will become of those embarrassing home movies.
Roxio’s VHS to DVD software works to fix a little bit of the problem. For $80 you can update your home tapes to home DVD’s with a computer and a VHS player. The program comes with a USB cord that connects between the computer and VHS player and transfers the tapes content over.
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.
