News
Netflix announced another agreement delaying new releases from the mail-order movie rental service. After initially coming to terms with Warner, the red-enveloped ones have now added Fox and Universal to the list of delayed releases. This means, among other movies, Avatar will not be available on Netflix on April 22 like it will be for the rest of the world.
Over at the Digital Lifestyle, they have an article about Microsoft trying to add Silverlight support in networked TV, STBs and Blu-ray players.
EngadgetHD peeks at SnapStream’s 50-channel DVR. Wow, just wow. Meanwhile, the BDA announced plans for a new spec that allows for up to 128GB on a single four-layer disc. Don’t get too excited, current players won’t read this shiny space-hog, as it’s initially aimed at storage archives.
From the “wouldn’t it be nice” file, this theater featured in Electronic House sports 16 networked Xbox 360s among other things.
Marketshare/Sales
Sherlock Holmes leads sales the week of 4/4, while the week ending 3/28 saw sales at $45.46 million (the highest since November) paced by Toy Story, Blind Side, New Moon and Toy Story 2. Marketshare sits at 12% .
Blu-ray Review – 2012
Vitals: MPEG-4 AVC, 2:40.1 aspect ratio, DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, Digital Copy
The movie itself, it’s terrible. Plot holes, worthless characters, and a story that leaves you wondering how movies like this get made. On top of all that, it stretches on for a mind-numbing 2 hours and 38 minutes. Why?
But, this being a popcorn, summer action film, it relied more on spectacular effects than anything else. And they were spectacular. Lots of stuff blows up, and LA gets destroyed (along with a majority of the rest of the world). The video, suprisingly, was pretty uneven. The opening scene featured a lot of noise and banding, and that sent a bad tone for me. Black levels were uneven, deep and strong at points, grey and detail-less the next. Colors were generally sharp, and detail was above average save for the previously mentioned black-level issues. Overall it was not the presentation I had hoped for. Aurally, however, this movie is punishing. Once it gets going, it doesn’t stop for nearly an hour straight. Bass is strong throughout, though it tends to be a bit muddy and lacks uniformity at times. Surround action is also strong throughout. What it lacks in video, it makes up for in audio. Bottom line, though, if you don’t have the ability to crank your system up and let this movie overtake your theater, it’s best left to the bottom of your rental list.
What we’ve seen/are watching
- Glee returned this week on FOX. Adam makes fun of me for it. Thanks to Geek Tonic for the listings. .
- The HD Sportsman is SLOOOWW after a week full of the Masters and NCAA hoops action. NBA and NHL playoffs highlight this week’s slate.
Blu-ray deals/Releases
Things look pretty good in the April 13 and 20 release schedule. Apollo 13 is the highlight of the planned new releases on April 13, while Oscar nominee Crazy Heart highlights the 20th. Of note, Avatar comes out on April 22, a Thursday.
As for deals, Amazon has sales on popular discs Iron Man ($16.99), Up ($17.99) and Apollo 13 ($18.99, at Best Buy as well). The online retailed also has a buy two action movies, save $3 on Avatar.
Click here to download Episode 29!
|
|
Seen In HD Subscriptions | |
|
|
 |
|
