Archive for the ‘Movies’ Category

Weekly News Roundup (17 February 2008)

Sunday, February 17th, 2008

I’ve never completely trusted February. How can you trust a month that isn’t 30 or 31 days, and not only that, seems to change length every couple of years as well. February is well shifty, I wouldn’t trust it to give me the time of the day, let alone the day of the month. This issue of the roundup is a bit short of news, just like February is short of days. Don’t blame me, blame February (hey, that’s not a bad slogan).

In copyright news, the “War on Torrents” has been declared a success by the outgoing Bush administration. In a time when terrorism, the economy, the environment and many other issues are causing concern, it’s nice to see where the White House’s priorities are. The “War on Canada” continues, with a US Group calling Canada a top copyright violator. Canada is still deciding on whether to adopt tougher copyright laws, so the scare campaign is not surprising. After all, the same tactic has been applied time and time again in other countries, including Australia. Here, we’ve been forced to adopt the same harsh laws as part of our free trade agreement with the US – no DMCA, no trade, is apparently the message the Bush administration is sending out on behalf of the MPAA.

But this week really has been about HD news, and actually, mainly bad news for HD DVD. As I type this, the vulture and their fanboy riders are circling, as rumours suggest Toshiba will call it quits. It’s probably the right decision *if* Toshiba believes they can’t win or sustain the format war, and I hope they bring their expertise in producing the XA2/XE1 to bring a cheaper, new Blu-ray/dual format Profile 2.0 player, that’s also region-free. One can still dream, right? As someone who is format neutral, it’s sad to see HD DVD go along with cheap hardware prices and region-free discs, if the rumours are true. But on the other hand, being neutral was all about avoiding and mitigating the potential risks of a format dying, while being able to enjoy all available HD movies from the get go. I have a Toshiba HD-XE1 player, the best DVD upscaler you can buy for under $1,200 (and I got it for $500) and will be my main DVD player and HD DVD player to service the 30 HD DVD movies that I currently own (and I will add more titles to my collection if there are clearance sales and such). My Xbox 360 add-on drive will now become an external drive for my (as yet un-purchased) new computer for testing HD stuff. My PS3 remains my main Blu-ray player until something better comes along (Profile 2.0, bitstreaming/decoding for all audio formats, fast loading and response like the PS3). All bases covered, as they say. Anyway, the whole week started on a sour note for HD DVD when Netflix decided to go Blu-ray exclusive. This was followed by Best Buy deciding to recommend Blu-ray over HD DVD, while still stocking both types of players and movies. The biggest blow came when, previously HD DVD exclusive Wal-Mart, went Blu-ray exclusive as well. Then the rumour surfaced that Toshiba was going to drop HD DVD, and this rumour, plus possibly some fact behind it, is now what’s causing the media circus. Monday is supposed to be the day Toshiba officially announces their decision, and the official end of the format war, and I will cover whatever happens in more detail in a blog entry. In between all of this HD DVD bad news, there was one bit of “good” news for HD DVD in that Warner has not ruled out still providing movies on HD DVD after the end of May. Probably a bit pointless now.

In gaming news, I’ve not yet had the time to go over the January NPD figures for game sales (next week, I promise). Apparently, the PS3 beat the Xbox 360 for the first time in monthly sales figures, although it was largely a quiet month in terms of game console sales compared to the feverish December period. Both the Wii and 360 sold considerably less units as compared previously, and both Nintendo and Microsoft has blamed it on stock shortages after unexpected demand in December forced them to sell January stock ahead of time. This corresponds with my experiences during December, when store after store I visit would not have any Wii or 360 stock, while the only game console available was the PS3. But hardware stock issues should not affect software sales, and the 360 has another good month with 4 titles in the top 10, including the number one item (Call of Duty 4). The Wii also did well 3 titles, while the PS3 only had 1 item (Call of Duty 4 again) at 8th, the remaining two spots belonging to the Nintendo DS. More details in a blog entry next week.

And so that’s it for this week. The next few days will prove interesting for HD enthusiasts. And by HD, I mean both Blu-ray and HD DVD. People often forget that Blu-ray is HD (High Definition) as well. HD DVD is a brand just like Blu-ray, while HD is just a description of a certain type of video, like SD being used to describe DVDs.

If I were to buy a new computer today (February 2008)

Friday, February 15th, 2008

Welcome to the third ever “If I were to buy a new computer today” feature. I was going to wait until March to write this new installment (as to keep it a tri-monthly feature), but there has been some interesting developments recently that I wanted to write about (plus I don’t have anything else to write about). You can read the last instalment here.

Back in September, I first wrote about what I would be looking for in a computer if I were buying one today, and today’s blog will see what has changed in the last few month. To get a better idea of the kind of system I’m looking for, please refer to the original blog entry, but to sum up, it would be a system for playing the latest 3D games as well as a system ready for Blu-ray and HD DVD playback, but one that is reasonable in price and without the need for overclocking.

So let’s not waste any time. Here are the specs of the computer, including comparisons with the last specs from December (as compared to December: upgraded parts in blue, lower prices in green, higher prices in red):

Type: December Part: February Part: December 
Price 
($AUD):
February
Price
($AUD):
CPU: Intel Core2Duo 6750 Intel Core2Duo 8400 $227 $264
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R (Rev 2.0) Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R (Rev 2.0) $165 $156
RAM: Corsair 2 GB PC-8500 C5D Corsair 2 GB PC-8500 C5D $244 $213
HDD: 2 x Seagate 400GB 7200RPM 16MB SATA2 2 x Seagate 500GB 7200RPM 32MB SATA2 $238 $312
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB (XFX) NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB (XFX) $389 $365
Sound Card: In-Built In-Built N/A N/A
Optical Drive: LG GGC-H20L
(Blu-ray/HD DVD Reader, DVD writer)
Pioneer BCD-S02 $460 $215
Monitor: Chimei 22″ 221D Samsung 22″ 226BW $309 $397
Case: Antenc Sonata III Antenc Sonata III $179 $178
Total Price ($AUD): $2,211 $2,100

The price of the system has dropped $111, but the specification of the system has also been improved, now with a state of the art Intel Penryn 45nm CPU, a set of bigger hard-drives and a superior Samsung LCD monitor. Let’s go over each specification.

CPU: I’ve changed the spec from an Intel Core2Duo 6750 to the new 8400 part. The 8400 is Penryn chip based on the new 45nm process, which means lower power usage and a cooler CPU. Reviews of this new chip has been extremely positive, with clear improvements over the 6750. The real improvement will come later in the year when a new architecture is unveiled to take full advantage of the new 45nm process. AMD has also released their new Phenom range of CPUs, and the 9500 is an attractive package at just slightly cheaper than the 8400, although not as efficient considering it is still a 65nm part. Obviously, choosing a Phenom means a different motherboard choice to the one I’ve listed, but the price should remain similar.

Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3RMotherboard: I’ve stuck with my choice of motherboard from the last update.  I like Gigabyte motherboards, although the sheer number of models that are available for a single chipset is a big confusing at times. Gigabyte was recently chosen as the best overall motherboard manufacturer in an Australian PC magazine survey (PC Authority). The model I chose is one that supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory, allowing for a smoother upgrade path when DDR3 memory pricing becomes a bit more reasonable. Despite getting a newer motherboard, the price has actually decreased. Note that the previous chosen motherboard had ATI crossfire support, which the new one does not, but since we’re going with an NVIDIA card anyway, it doesn’t really matter.

RAM: We’re sticking with our choice from last time again. DDR3 memory is still not cheap enough for us to consider, but our choice of motherboard above means we can use DDR2 for now, and upgrade to DDR3 when they become more reasonable in pricing.

HDD: This is where the increased costs mainly comes from. An upgrade from 400 GB (which seems to be no longer available) to 500 GB, and the 32MB version as well.  Still sticking with a Seagate drive. The same PC Authority survey I mentioned above also gave Seagate the best overall award, so it’s an easy choice for me.

XFX GeForce 8800GTVideo Card: I had to think about either sticking with the 8800 GT 512 MB, or getting the new 8800 GTS 512 MB (don’t get the 320 or 640 MB version, since they are old models while sharing the same 8800 GTS name). Because the price has already went up more than $100 for the updated specs, I decided to hold off and keep the 8800 GT for now. If an extra $110 is not a big deal, then get the 8800 GTS 512MB.

Sound Card: Still going with a on-board solution. Until HDMI audio output gets sorted out, it’s probably not worth getting a new sound-card for your PC. HDMI audio output would allow the pass-thru or decoding or several of the new HD audio formats, which is not possible through SPDIF/optical due to insufficient bandwidth.

LG GGC-H20L Blu-ray/HD DVD Reader, DVD Writer DriveOptical Drive: Still sticking with the state-of-the-art Blu-ray and HD DVD dual format reader drive, which also can write to the usual DVD formats. With this drive, you can make your PC format neutral and playback both Blu-ray and HD DVD movies. The huge cost increase, especially for those that want HD movie playback right now, is therefore understandable. If you want to save a bit of money, you can get the Pioneer BDC-S02 Blu-ray reader and CD/DVD writer drive for $215, but you miss out on the ability to play HD DVD movies, which still make up nearly 50% of all available HD movies. Update: With the high definition format war appearing to be over and Blu-ray the victor, I have updated the specs to use the Pioneer BDC-S02 drive, instead of the LG dual format drive. Those with HD DVD movies and want to play them on the computer might still consider the LG drive better value. The Pioneer is exactly half price of the LG, so the extra savings means that this instalment’s computer is actually cheaper than last instalment’s.

Samsung 226BWMonitor: I’ve chosen the Chimei 22″ for a while now, so I thought it might be time to upgrade. The new monitor I’ve chosen is the Samsung 226BW 22″ model, which looks a lot nicer than the Chimei, both in terms of style and picture quality. The monitor has a resolution of 1680×1050, which is still a bit lacking for 1080p HD content, but you will need to up the size to 24″ to be able to buy a monitor that is capable of 1080p display (like the Samsung 24″ 245B), which means at least another extra $200. Others might want to consider a HDMI capable monitor (the Chimei has a HDMI capable model), but it’s not needed for Blu-ray/HD DVD playback as long as the DVI port is HDCP compatible (which it is) – the 8800 GT doesn’t even have HDMI output anyway. The main use for HDMI would be to connect external devices to the monitor (eg. the PS3), but 22″ is probably on the small side if you plan on using the monitor for watching Blu-ray/HD DVD.

Antec Sonata III CaseCase: Again, I’m sticking with the Antec Sonata III case, because it’s good value as it comes with a high quality 500W power supply (designed for quietness), and the overall build quality of the case (and Antec cases, in general) is quite good. Building a quiet system is essential if you plan on using the machine as your Blu-ray/HD DVD player. Of course, a quiet PC depends much on the type of cooling you have for your CPU and GPU.

While $AUD 2,100 (that’s $1,930 for you US folk) is a bit on the high end, we are loading the system with some very new and higher quality parts. This is a system that will pretty much do everything and then some. Whether it’s gaming or HD, it won’t disappoint. Hopefully by our next instalment, DDR3 prices will have dropped, and perhaps a new graphics card will tempt us to upgrade the specs again. So until then …

Weekly News Roundup (10 February 2008)

Sunday, February 10th, 2008

Okay, I’ve learnt my lesson. No more controversial intros for the roundup. Just to be clear, if I ever unintentionally mention I might quit writing this feature in the future, I’m most likely only kidding, unless I follow up the statement with THIS IS NOT A JOKE!! In fact, I don’t think you should take anything I write here seriously, since 90% of the stuff I write are actually complete lies.  Or perhaps the last sentence was a lie. Or was the last sentence a lie …

Copyright vs consumer rights is being fought around the globe, this time a Japanese perspective on the issue of Digital TV recordings and copy protection. Sometimes content owners just need to take a step back and see the bigger picture, because if they had their way, half of the products on the market would be “illegal”, and the other half will be filled with DRM. The RIAA, being the leaders of the Senseless Copyright Brigade (SCB), talks about forcing computer hardware and software manufacturers to implement “piracy filters” to prevent people from transferring and playing pirated music. Luckily, the people in the IT industry, who have been affected by piracy more than anybody else, will take a more sensible approach and ignore RIAA’s request. The most recent example being Verizon rejecting another SCB member, the MPAA’s, request for filtering. Good for Verizon, and I hope people reading this will buy their products and use their services to support them.

It’s been nearly two weeks since the Blu-ray free movies promo has ended, and there does not seem to be any signs that a new promotion will start in place of the expired one. The BDA seems to have stopped trying on the promotional front, maybe because they think they’ve won, or because they are saving up for one big final push. It’s not that great being a Blu-ray owner at the moment, with only two rather pathetic sales on at Amazon (one for 6 titles only, the other for 10 titles from Fox, but only a 10% discount on normal Amazon prices). If this is what we should expect if Blu-ray wins the day, then I for one hopes the format continues on for a bit longer so I can buy more cheap movies. Netflix is the most recent of companies to suggest higher HD movie prices are on the way once the war is over, so the lost revenue during the war can be recouped. On the other hand, the HD DVD people have been doing a lot more on the promotional front, with the Superbowl ad now aired (although by all accounts, it was a pretty lame effort), player price drops (which has been better received, with hardware and software sales both up compared to the horrible weeks following Warner’s announcement), movie discounts at Amazon (a new 140+ title 50% off sale is gathering immense interest) and in store promotions (at least here in Australia). Microsoft dropping the price of the Xbox 360 add-on drive is just another part of the promotion, and sales of the drive at Amazon went up an amazing 71,900% after the price cut. Perhaps some will view it as “too little too late”, but there’s still a long time between now and June, when Warner officially drops HD DVD, and anything could happen in between. Then there is also the issue of the Chinese market, which HD DVD has been making huge investments in with both an official Chinese HD format (CH DVD), and also staying out of the Chinese HD DVD market to allow Chinese manufacturers to profit from HD DVD player sales. I know for a fact that the Chinese government does not like Blu-ray (or HD DVD, for that matter) due to the excessive royalties and licensing fees, and so going with the royalty free CH DVD format is their aim, which might be even cheaper than producing DVDs since DVDs have licensing costs too. For a comprehensive and detailed view at the HD format war, the Warner’s decision, the CES, the past, present and future, there is a good article on AV Forums (not to be confused with AVS Forum). There are lots of good points made in the article, as well as some facts that weren’t so clear before – regardless of which side you’re on, it’s worth a read.

And it’s not been great time for Samsung, after being threatened with a lawsuit over their poorly designed BD-UP5000 dual format player, they are now being sued proper for their allegedly “defective” BD-P1200 Blu-ray player in a class action lawsuit. The article goes on about BD+, but the real issue is behind an update to BD-J, which Samsung promised to provide over a firmware update, but has not done so for some reason, causing certain discs to be unplayable. As a owner of a brand new Toshiba HD-XE1 player, I’m extremely pleased to be able to buy such a player (for $USD 490 with 11 free HD DVD movies, which is a steal for a player of this quality). There is currently no Blu-ray player that can match the quality of the XE1 and it’s almost identical twin, the XA2, even without considering price, and that’s something the BDA will have to address soon. A fully featured Blu-ray Profile 2.0 player with Reon upscaling, made by a company known for high end equipment such as Denon or Onkyo, is what many Blu-ray owners are waiting for. But it will take a long time before such a player can be made available, since according to a Denon rep, the reason they have not released a Profile 2.0 player is because Profile 2.0 is not even finalized yet. The worrying thing is that, because Profile 2.0 is not finalized and new things can still be added to it, the PS3 is just a proprietary connector away from being ever able to achieve Profile 2.0 compatibility. For example, if the BDA decides WirelessHD has to be a mandatory part of 2.0, then the PS3, which I have recommended to everybody as the safest bet for Profile 2.0, will never get certified. Let’s hope the BDA come to their sense and allow the PS3 to be 2.0 compatible.

Not much gaming news this week. EA predicts the PS3 will be the top selling player in 2008, while Activision predicts the Xbox 360. Microsoft says they “own” GTA IV due to the exclusive content. And other such PR nonsense, which I won’t even dignify with links (you can search Google News if you’re really desperate). There is one piece of interesting news, reporting that game arcades are suffering because people can now play the same type of games at home on the Wii. An unintended victim of the console wars, no doubt.

That’s it for this week, same time, same channel, next week (I think I’ve used this joke before).

Amazon: Paramount HD DVD Sale

Friday, February 8th, 2008

Update: This sale has been merged with the existing 50% off sale that was going on on Amazon before, but I’ll leave the list here for easy reference.

Normally I would list the Blu-ray and HD DVD deals on this page, but this deal appears to be not listed anywhere on Amazon and without the special page that Amazon usually creates for this kind of sale (yet). So the best way is to list them here (I’ve bolded the items which I think are particularly good value):

Aeon Flux – $14.99
A Mighty Heart – $19.99
Anchorman – The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Unrated) – $14.99
Arctic Tale – $19.99
Black Rain (Special Collector’s Edition) – $14.99
Black Snake Moan – $19.99
Blades of Glory – $19.99
Coming to America – $14.99
Disturbia – $19.99
Dreamgirls (Two-Disc Showstopper Edition) – $19.99
Face Off – $18.49
Failure to Launch – $14.99
Flags of Our Fathers (Two-Disc Special Edition) – $19.99
Four Brothers – $14.99
Freedom Writers – $19.99
Hot Rod – $19.99
Hustle and Flow – $14.99
Lara Croft – Tomb Raider – $14.99
Mission Impossible (Special Collector’s Edition) – $14.99
Mission Impossible II (Special Collectors Edition) – $14.99
Mission Impossible III (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition) – $19.99
Mission Impossible – Ultimate Missions Collection (Mission Impossible / Mission Impossible II / Mission Impossible III) – $49.99
Nacho Libre – $19.99
Next – $19.99
Norbit – $19.99
Old School (Unrated) – $14.99
Payback – Straight Up – The Director’s Cut – $14.99
Reds (25th Anniversary Edition) – $18.49
Sahara – $14.99
Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow – $14.99
Sleepy Hollow – $14.99
Shooter – $19.99
Stardust – $19.99
Star Trek: The Original Series – The Complete First Season – $97.49
The Heartbreak Kid – $19.99
The Italian Job – $14.99
The Manchurian Candidate – $14.99
The Untouchables (Special Collector’s Edition) – $14.99
The Warriors (The Ultimate Director’s Cut) – $14.99
Top Gun – $14.99
Trading Places (Special Collector’s Edition) – $14.99
Transformers (Two-Disc Special Edition) – $19.99
U2 – Rattle & Hum – $14.99
We Were Soldiers – $14.99
World Trade Center (Two-Disc Special Collector’s Edition) – $19.99
Zodiac (Two-Disc Director’s Cut) – $19.99

Enjoy!

Weekly News Roundup (3 February 2008)

Sunday, February 3rd, 2008

Sometimes I wonder if anybody is actually reading this, and that if I should bother continue writing this roundup. But I think I will continue, because I like routine and there’s nothing like a Sunday afternoon spent in front of your computer writing something nobody reads. No, really, it’s good.

In Europe, record labels are now blaming ISPs for music piracy. ISPs have been fearing something like this for a long time, to be blamed for inappropriate content that its users are obtaining online, be it copy protected content or child pornography. They know that if they are held responsible, they will have to start monitoring user traffic. The privacy issues apart, it’s a huge task and responsibility to be placed on a company that sometimes has less than 20 employees. And do we really want a private company to monitor everything we download and to tell us what is appropriate and what is not? The targeting of ISPs might be a change of direction of content owners, since a court has ruled that personal privacy is more important than upholding the rights of content owners. It seems like a very reasonable decision to me, but we now live in a time when reason has fallen victim to corporate greed. And to no surprise of anybody, The Pirate Bay has finally been charged with breaking copyright law. I have a feeling the guys over at TPB have been waiting for this and are prepared for the battle. It will be interesting to see what happens.

And while not strictly copyright related, the beta version of Qtrax was finally launched. Qtrax promises access to millions of songs from record labels free to download in P2P form, with the playback/download application being advertising supported. I for one don’t think this will work, since Internet advertising is not what it used to be, and with a few content owners coming out to say they don’t know what’s going onand that they have had no dealings with Qtrax, things are not looking too bright.

HD DVD is still fighting the good (?) fight, and will spend millions on a 30 second Superbowl ad spot. I just hope they make it funny like most other Superbowl ads. Toshiba’s price cuts to HD DVD players seems to be having an effect, clawing back some of the market in player sales after being beaten senseless in the week following Warner’s Blu-ray exclusive decision (although news has now filtered out that the figures from that week represented a Blu-ray player give-away plus a plunge in HD DVD player sales, meaning total HD sales dropped after Warner’s announcement, which is not what Warner had hoped for in choosing to go with a single format). Here in Australia, the Toshiba HD-XE1 high end player is selling extremely well, not surprising for a $1,000+ player being sold for half of its value. Rumours suggest that HD DVD player sales out-did Blu-ray player sales by 2 to 1 in Australia this last week (led by the XE1), even with the PS3 is included. Going by some of the posts I’ve been reading on Australian HD forums and testimonials from people who have visited electronics stores to enquire about the XE1, that’s not totally surprising. The US is also seeing HD DVD player “clearance” sales, although as Circuit City points out, the “clearance” tag is just used for promotion, and they plan on continuing to carry HD DVD since sales has been quite good since the “clearance” started. Low prices sell stuff, it’s not rocket science. Although with Blu-ray in a strong position, will we start seeing the end of free movie redemption and movie discounts? I hope not. High definition movies still have a long way to go before consumers are convinced that it is needed to replace DVDs, and discounts will definitely help. And speaking of discounts, here in Australia, we can buy The Jack Ryan HD DVD Collection (four movies: The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games and The Sum of All Fears) for about $USD 35. This title is part of Paramount’s HD DVD line up for Q1 2008, and has a retail price of $USD 99 in the US. People in the US might want to buy from Australia, since HD DVD is region-free and any disc will work anywhere. This store in Australia ships to the US for those that are interested.

A couple of short items in terms of movement between HD camps, some Italian distributors have gone HD DVD exclusive; rumour suggest Imation might be scrapping HD DVD production through its TDK brand (even though TDK has never released HD DVD, and TDK company is a Blu-ray exclusive backer and became a major shareholder in Imation in a deal that allowed Imation to use the TDK brand name); ADV Films (anime) might be going Blu-ray exclusive too. Sonic also announced that they will stop supporting the HD DVD version of their Scenarist authoring tool. It’s a bit of a kick in the teeth for people who purchased the HD DVD version of their quite expensive software, even if a exchange program is going to be made available (I’m sure people who bought the HD DVD version had specific needs that won’t be addressed by the Blu-ray version, which they might already own anyway). Oh well, I’m sure other companies will fill the demand, if they haven’t done so already. Microsoft maybe?

And finally, in gaming, a firm release date has been released for GTA: IV in late April. Rockstar broke the silence on the release delay (it was supposed to be available back in October 2007) and as expected, it was the PS3 version that was holding things back, although only partly responsible. The exclusive downloadable content will still be available on the Xbox 360 only, but there will be more downloadable content that will be available on both consoles. I for one can’t wait, and hopefully my RRoD’d 360 will be fully functioning by then. There is also rumours floating around that a new PS3 will be available in the autumn, one that is slimmer and has 120 or 160 GB storage depending on where you found the rumour. Competition to a new quiter, cooler, 360 SKU to be released around the same time? And to follow up on the Mass Effect Fox News Sex Scandal (it sounds a lot more exciting than it actually is, kind of like everything being “reported” on Fox News), the Fox News contributor admits she was wrong and that she has now had a change of mind after actually seeing the game being played for the first time. Oh dear.

And so this concludes this week’s roundup. Hopefully I will have more updates on my 360 RRoD experience, perhaps an update to a very popular guide that will allow better video playback on a certain game console, and maybe I’ll write that blog on HD managed copy that I promised to write 2 weeks ago. Patience, my lovelies.