Electric Shadow

THX Tune-up for iOS is free until next week

Grab this while it's free.

THX's new app costs $2 starting next week, and is made to turn your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch into a home theater calibration device.

What's the upside to this over the THX calibrator on various DVDs and Blu-rays? You can use the phone/tablet's camera to do color and tint calibration instead of shelling out for blue filter glasses (which aren't cheap or easy to come by).

You can calibrate video via AirPlay and an AppleTV, but to do sound you'll need Apple's iPhone/iPad to HDMI adapter: Lightning connector version, 30-pin version.

How to Watch Import Blu-rays

from ITV Studios's Blu-ray of Michael Powell's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Region B only)

Rian Johnson had a dilemma yesterday. The Hive Mind tried to help. I hope this solves it for him.

This guide is written from the English-speaking, US perspective (predominantly), but its contents are generally applicable regardless of which region-locking wall you're behind. Just about everyone in Europe can just swap the UK/EU references for US and vice versa.

Did you just hear about some amazing release of a movie that's not yet available in the States? Whether a BFI or Masters of Cinema disc from the UK, or a Ghibli Collection disc with English subtitles (Region B people, think Criterion), the solutions are generally the same.

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HD Guide: Now & Then 1 (Magnolia/Boogie)

I'll be running these Now & Then pieces as part of the HD Guide as I have the opportunity to show how disc packaging is both evolving and stepping backward in other respects when it comes to design.

The most notable design difference between the original DVD slipcase editions of Magnolia and Boogie Nights and this Tuesday's (19 Jan 2010) Blu-rays is artistry. The Blus include all of the same extras, but lack the old-school, "LP feel" of the DVDs. I don't miss the bulk, but the "wow" factor of before has been deleted. I can definitely support the HD upgrade in sound and video, however (both are glorious and color-rich, I might add).

The primary culprit is the nothing-special standard Blu-ray plastic cases.


The original Platinum Series case that was a major standout in its day. PT Anderson had a direct hand in designing these just as David Fincher did on the Seven one that reproduced the killer's journals.

The one missing feature that didn't make the shift to Blu-ray on Magnolia is the Gag Reel that was hidden in the color bars option.


The essay written out on the inner flaps of Boogie Nights' deluxe set is nowhere to be found on the Blu-ray. Otherwise, all of the on-disc features remain, not including easter eggs. I like having all the extras on one disc and in a smaller, thinner package, but I have to admit that I miss the printed material. At least put it on the disc in digital form, y'know? This is a trend seen also evident on the Clerks Blu-ray, which lacks the excellent booklet included with the Clerks X set.



The HD Guide is an ongoing series focusing on the evolving world of HD in the home: getting started, understanding the lingo, and appreciating the best (and worst) discs that are out there.
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HD Guide: TV in HD

Your local cable provider more than likely offers some selection of HD channels. If you use an access box instead of just plugging in direct from the wall, the key is to make sure you already have the HD-ready version of the cable box. Of course, you'll also need an HDMI cable. The thing that none of these providers want to own up to is the fact that most (if not all) of their content isn't true 1080p HD. 1080i (interlaced) is about as good as it gets, and even that isn't very likely. Watching these shows on Blu-ray gives you better picture quality than their original airing. My favorite offender for this is Hallmark Movie Channel HD. Most of their stuff looks more like a VHS-quality transfer that drops every third frame of video. The Best Networks The major broadcast networks do a pretty good job all-around these days, aside from the non-1080p picture. The really shaky ground is under the cable nets. Thankfully, some of them make you glad you have your upgraded monitor. HBO, Animal Planet, and TLC program the most consistent high-quality video programs and have made an effort to get older non-HD programs up to snuff. Building a TV Blu Library Planet Earth is the easiest recommendation to make to anyone who's recently plunked down for an HD system. It's hands-down the hardest set to hate that's currently out there. HBO series (Rome, Band of Brothers, and Generation Kill among others) are another safe bet, as are CBS/Paramount's marvelous Star Trek: The Original Series sets. The quality you'll see is far beyond what you saw broadcast originally or now. Provided BD-Live finds its way to a faster-loading future, the idea of downloadable featurettes and features could add a fair amount of incentive to buying these sets, but we'll have to see. Fans of Series Rejoice ABC at the least has enabled a Season View option on LOST and other shows that allows the user to auto-play every episode on a disc and pick up at the exact moment they left off (the player remembers for you). I can't tell you how many shows I picked up on DVD that I went a couple of weeks without watching and completely forgot which episode I left off on and ditched. More data area also theoretically means more episodes on each disc, so there'll be less disc-swapping. The jump to HD also means that DVD sets of existing shows will see their prices drop through the floor as Blu-ray versions become available. The HD Guide is an ongoing series focusing on the evolving world of HD in the home: getting started, understanding the lingo, and appreciating the best (and worst) discs that are out there.
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HD Guide: So You Want to Buy a Blu-ray Player

I found myself incorporating a great deal of what I'm going over in this installment in the Black Friday Buying Guide. I've reworked and consolidated the basics of picking a Blu-ray player here.

Profile 1.0 vs. 1.1 vs. 2.0: What That Means 1.0 & 1.1: Birds of a Feather A Profile 1.0 or 1.1 Blu-ray player may not play newer discs well or at all (in theory). They also do not support internet connection for firmware updates or BD-Live. To update the firmware, you generally have to download a file from the manufacturer's website, mount it as a CD image, and then burn that to disc. If all of that meant gibberish to you, then you are among the 90% of people on the planet that are disadvantaged by this "inconvenience". BD-Live pretty much blows at this point anyway, so you aren't missing much on that front. Across the board, it takes forever for them to open the tray after you push eject, and the load times are longer than any 2.0 player. 1.0 players do not support BonusView (though 1.1 players do), which includes all of the pop-up trivia tracks or enhanced commentary tracks. BonusView features can be found on a lot of discs, and the studios all use different names for it. Disney, for example, calls this Cinexplore. Warner Bros. uses BonusView for their Maximum Movie Mode found on Watchmen, 300, and Terminator Salvation, among others. 2.0: The Wave of the Future All Profile 2.0 players support internet connection in one way or another, whether over ethernet or WiFi. Any one of these players should, without fail or hesitation, play all the Blu-ray discs currently on the market. Not all 2.0 players are created alike. Newer ones tend to load and open the tray much faster. None of the older players support BD-Live, but these do. The only BD-Live feature I've thus far found even marginally useful to anyone is the IMDb Live Lookup on some Fox discs. The real reason to flock to 2.0 players is the newer, faster operating system for the player. Services, "Apps", and So On Now we're seeing newer Blu-ray players with built-in compatibility for services like Netflix Watch Instantly (the most popular), Pandora for free music streaming, YouTube, and Roxio CinemaNow. Honestly, if you already have a device that does things like Watch Instantly, then just get a good player that loads quickly and ignore the extra bells and whistles. WiFi versus Ethernet Not having Wifi built-in isn't a deal-breaker, but it makes things like firmware updates (which happen fairly often) a pain in the ass. On top of that, BD-Live is no big loss, but if you want to use new features like Netflix Watch Instantly or Pandora...get ready to run a cable or spend extra for a Wifi adapter of some kind ($75-95 depending on model and quality). Until prices come down a bit on the WiFi-enabled players with the extras (if you care about those) or not, it's actually cheaper to get one of the hard-wired ethernet players and one of these adapters. WiFi Adapters and Dongles If you have a Samsung player that's "WiFi ready", then you can go with the proprietary Samsung USB Wifi Adapter. Otherwise, you'll need the brand-agnostic Linksys Dual Band Wireless-N Adapter. Brand Loyalty I trust the following brands: LG, Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic. The more recent the model, the better. Amazon does a great job of listing the date of release on these. The HD Guide is an ongoing series focusing on the evolving world of HD in the home: getting started, understanding the lingo, and appreciating the best (and worst) discs that are out there.
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HD Guide: HBO on Blu-ray


TV shows in HD is a broader topic that I'll get to soon enough, but the recent arrival of the Blu-ray edition of Rome: The Complete Series pushed this notecard up in my priority stack. HBO has been doing something different on TV for a while now, and it's certainly paying off with the few Blu-ray releases they've put out there. They filmed Generation Kill and various other miniseries just as you would a movie in terms of scale, but with the depth afforded by a 6-hour-plus running time. When you transfer that proportion to HD, it's like you're watching something completely new. Please take for granted that the picture and audio are beyond compare on all of the following titles so that I don't have to invent new adjectives to describe them. All sets feature solid docs, behind-the-scenes and making-of pieces, as well as commentaries. John Adams notably has no yack track, but I don't really miss it.

The reason I feel so strongly that 1080p really changes the experience is that the Band of Brothers promo that auto-plays on the Adams set made me choke on my wine and nearly punt a dog. I barely missed Lucy (my Beagle) in my moment of surprise. She lay at my feet. I sat up to get the remote and all of a sudden, "Wham! Boom!" went the TV. "Glurg! Kick!" went I. "The? Fuck?" said Lucy's eyes. The first time I watched Band was on a 27" tube in college. At that point in the life of DVD, I was impressed that it was in original aspect ratio and came in a metal case. The idea of investing the 12 hours back in to it actually seems appealing now, but who knows when I'd have time to do that.

The first season of The Sopranos is on Blu as of just last week. Considering that I never watched the show, I could see digging right in to it right away. Yes, I realize that I'm probably the only person in the world who hasn't watched The Sopranos. I was in college during most of its run, and I didn't have a trust fund to buy me HBO like others did. I've had the "ending" spoiled for me already. I'm sure I'll love it if only due to my deep-seated affection for perpetuating ethnic stereotypes. Eyyy!!


The new generation of shows, like John Adams, Generation Kill and True Blood, have been shot with HD presentation in mind from the get-go. HBO is actually making the "BonusView" (pop-up trivia) option on these titles moderately interesting (glad someone is!). They're designing these to cater to the diehard fans of the particular program, which is why they work. They don't cast an impossibly unfocused True Blood's is all about gossip, backstories, and revealing info. Kill's has a military glossary, a chain of command chart, and mission maps. Adams' includes historical facts and biographies relevant to the real people and events going on in fictionalized form. Why isn't anyone else doing this as well as HBO on other TV or film releases? I guarantee that it's lack of effort or caring. Most studios are using the capabilities of the format on auto-pilot. I should mention that CBS/Paramount is the exception with their Star Trek: TOS sets.

I apologize for the terrible quality of this Google-Image-Searched shot. I will remedy this in a Screen Candy post tomorrow that features this and some other notable packaging of late.
I really can't explain why it's so satisfying to me that the case for the Rome full series Blu-ray set is shorter and thinner than the case for only my Season 1 DVDs. Even more disgustingly materialistic is the fact that I love the hard-bound leather book styling of the case. It goes so far as to include a bookmark ribbon. The BonusView for Rome features an extremely thorough guide prepared by the series' history consultant. All the other extras are the same as the DVD sets: 13 commentaries and a big pile of featurettes. The biggest deal, for me, was finally seeing my favorite modern (22 hour) Roman epic in HD for the first time. In the interest of not getting myself into trouble, I set a strict limit of 20 minutes to taste-test it. I first popped in the DVD (for a then/now comparison) and gave it a good 15 minutes. The moment I got really comfortable, I jumped right up. In went the Blu-ray. About an hour later, I realized I was running hopelessly late for the day. I hope rumors of a feature film prove to be true. Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson (Vorenus and Pullo) haven't gotten enough of a career bump out of this property just yet. Angels in America, From the Earth to the Moon, and Deadwood have all been mentioned for Blu-ray release, but without dates attached. I consider Angels one of my favorite films of 2003, and the other two are among my favorite shows HBO has ever done. As long as they get these out before Carnivale, I'll be fine. All this stuff comes in at better pricing than equivalent DVD sets did back when they were the hot new thing. I have, however, had it mentioned to me more than once by owners of existing HBO sets that they'd love to see something like Warner Bros.' DVD2Blu program in place to defray cost for loyal customers. Here's to that, but HBO is a separate home video outfit than WB, so no one should get their hopes up. I'll follow up with future installments as HBO broadens their offerings down the line. I'm currently toiling away on a multi-part set of Guide entries on Criterion's releases in a slightly different vein. The HD Guide is an ongoing series focusing on the evolving world of HD in the home: getting started, understanding the lingo, and appreciating the best (and worst) discs that are out there.
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HD Guide: Blu Criterion v1 (Black & White)

The thing that really sticks out looking at the titles Criterion has very carefully selected from their existing library and new releases is the broad range in content and era. The variety is wonderful and refreshing. Traditional studios are only just getting the slightest of a grip on how to program their catalog Blu-ray upgrades. There's a little of something for everyone
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HD Guide: Black Friday Deals and Don'ts

I will have to follow this up at some point with updated last-minute additions, since the retailers have wised up and left items off their printed ads that now always leak. I've gone through what is out there and have compiled some tips for you, the reader. I was going to do all of this for myself anyway, so I might as well spill for the greater good. I meant to post this yesterday, but enough changed since then that I've rewritten this about seven times. I'm specifically looking at TVs, Blu-ray players, and Blu-ray discs. I'm excluding crap that no one should bother with like Monsters vs. Aliens and, honestly, the mountains of DVDs that'll be $4 (The Dark Knight, Hellboy 2). Best Buy has the most of those in-store, but as far as I can tell, all of them have been matched by Amazon. Why buy The Dark Knight for $4 on DVD if you know you want to get it on Blu-ray soon (or for $10 tomorrow) anyway? The Rule of Thumb is: you really shouldn't have to leave your house to get the best deals. If you see something (TV/Blu player/Blu-ray disc) from a doorbuster ad missing from this entry, the reason is that it's a waste of your time or it's a movie I don't care for (or missed, I'm sure there'll be a few). Don't Do It As much as you may be tempted by the price tag, these aren't going to be worth it for various reasons. They could be an unreliable/badly-supported brand, the prior year (or year before last's) model, or just not worth your money. I spoke to a friend who is in the process of getting a third HDTV thanks to not following my Ten HD Commandments. It's my fault for not delivering them down from the mountain of experience in time to save him and his pocketbook. It's not too late for you. TVs Almost every TV that looks too good to be true is, with a notable trio of exceptions listed a bit further down. There are a ton of 720p TVs on the doorbuster ads. The stores and manufacturers are just trying to get rid of them. A TV is an investment, not something you want to cheap-out on. You don't need to spend $4000 to be happy, but you will not be happy with any of the $499-$599 junkers on those ads. Across the board, I recommend you avoid Westinghouse, Insignia (in-house BestBuy brand), Apex, AOC, ProScan, Sylvania, Element, Dynex, and Sanyo. The Sony sets are overpriced. Blu-rays $12.99 Target Exclusive Gone With the Wind Anniversary Blu-ray Unlike the Wizard of Oz Target Exclusive set (which I recommend further down), stay away from this one. Instead of being the same three-disc set included in the giant $60+ collector's box like Oz, this is only the Feature disc and no extras, aside from the commentary track. I'm more a fan of the making of GWTW than the movie itself, so it's the big box (reviewed soon) for me. $12.99 Ghostbusters (Amazon, Best Buy, you name it) I still haven't seen this transfer with my own eyes, but the consensus seems to be that the picture quality is terrible at first and gets better as it goes. $10.99 Casino Royale (Amazon) This isn't the Collector's Edition (currently $22.99) that has been found for as low as about $12 previously. This looks like a stock-clearing. $7.99 Stargate Extended Edition (Amazon) This one has already been double dipped on Blu-ray. The transfer on the $7.99 one is no good. The "Good One" is $17.99 from Amazon, and has garnered rave reviews from friends who are fans. $10 each Harry Potter 1 & 2 (Amazon) If you're really into these, there are new editions of Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets with a bunch of new stuff on them and in the box coming in just a couple weeks. If all you want is the movie, fine, but be warned of the coming double-dip. $10 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Amazon) This movie is not worth buying, even if you have small kids and are dying to find something else to stick in front of them. Your kid(s) will not watch it a second time. Simon Pegg helps, but there is exactly one sequence in the whole movie I was really impressed with that involved a lot of rain, a weasel, and a Baryonyx. The moral of the movie is: it is impossible to be happy outside of a domesticated family life full of merchandising--er, friends. Rent or Netflix it if you just have to see it. Players Not having Wifi built-in isn't a deal-breaker, but it makes things like firmware updates (which happen fairly often) a pain in the ass. On top of that, BD-Live is no big loss, but if you want to use new features like Netflix Watch Instantly or Pandora...get ready to run a cable or spend extra for a Wifi adapter of some kind ($75-95 depending on model and quality). $78 Magnavox NB500MG1F (Walmart) Do not, do not, do not buy this. This is going to get a bunch of Blu-ray players in people's homes, which is good for the format, but bad for the people getting this box that's little more than a DVD up-converter that happens to play (most) Blu-ray discs. A $78 Blu-ray player sounds like a great idea until you realize this player doesn't have two very important things: (1) Profile 2.0, which means some newer discs may not play properly or at all, and... (2) Internet connectivity of any kind, which means no easy means of updating the firmware $99 LG BD270 (Amazon) The same downsides as the Magnavox above (Profile 1.1, no ethernet or Wifi), but better performance. $148 Sony BDP-S369 (Walmart)/$149.99 Sony BDP-S360 (Best Buy/Target) These are functionally the same Blu-ray player at all three stores, but Walmart has their own model number variant. Profile 2.0 and ethernet aren't that big a deal compared to the value of a couple below. Available Online (Avoid the Stores) Amazon is matching all of Best Buy and Walmart's best-priced Blu-rays with few exceptions (listed just below). Avoid lines and sales tax if at all possible. Players The best way to go is to have a player that has Wifi already built-in (PS3 or otherwise), but there's nothing wrong with getting one of the more inexpensive ones with the features you want and add some sort of Wifi adapter like the Linksys Dual Band Wireless-N Adapter ($70.99 at Amazon). If you already have a device that does things like Netflix Watch Instantly, then just get a good player and ignore the extra bells and whistles. The Best Price with Built-in Wifi $199.95 Sony BDP-S560 (Amazon) Assuming you don't care about Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, or whatever on your player, but do want Wifi, this is the best price you'll find. It starts up faster and the tray opens quicker than older Sony Models. Best Balance and Bang-for-Buck $148 Samsung BD-P1590 (Walmart)/$149.99 Samsung BD-P1600 (Best Buy) Amazon has this for the same price, sans sales tax. Be aware that "Wifi ready" doesn't mean "Wifi built-in". These are functionally the same unit. They are much better than the Magnavox Box of 99 Problems above. They have Profile 2.0 and can have their firmware updated. They also have Pandora, Netflix Watch Instantly, and YouTube capability, but without a proprietary Samsung USB Wifi Adapter or the Linksys listed above, you'll have to hard-wire it into ethernet. $220 for the player and the adapter gives you the combination of Profile 2.0, Wifi, and the extra "apps". ANyone who wants a player and doesn't have some sort of Netflix WI box already should go this route. The Best TVs Panasonic, LG, Samsung, and Sharp are the most reasonably-priced for the quality, aside from the three listed below. At Amazon: $909.69 Panasonic VIERA G10 TC-P42G10 42-Inch 1080p Plasma ($290 off) $1135.85 Panasonic VIERA G10 TC-P46G10 46-Inch 1080p Plasma ($364 off) $1249.85 Panasonic VIERA G10 TC-P50G10 50-Inch 1080p Plasma ($350 off) Depending on the size you're hunting for, go with one of these. The 46" would be the sweet spot for me. These are THX-certified TVs that do better self-calibration than just about anything on the market. These are the only TVs listed by anyone that I'd consider to have my full, unbiased and unequaled endorsement. These three TVs are among the best value I've seen, and remember you don't have hundreds in sales tax ordering from Amazon and they ship for free. Blu-ray Discs Amazon Be ready to set some calendar alarms to get some of these time-sensitive deals. Amazon is shipping everything free, even items usually under the $25 free shipping threshold. Many of the below discs include Digital Copy as well (like the Batman titles). $6.99 Superman: The Movie This one is seven bucks until they run out in the still-ongoing Lightning Deal. It's $9.99 once they run out. $59.99 James Bond Blu-ray 10-pack (Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, The World is Enough, Die Another Day, Quantum of Solace) This is the best deal of the day, available from 4:45-8:00am PST on Friday until they run out (and they will). $6 per disc can't be beat, since this set is normally $159.99. $9.99 The Dark Knight This one is available at this price from 8am-12pm PST. It's $12.99 the rest of the weekend, same as Target's price. $14.99 Mad Men Season 1 This one is time-sensitive as well. Get it while it lasts 12pm-4pm PST tomorrow (Friday). $11.99 Coraline One of the top New Release disc transfers of the year combined with some of the most engaging extras in a year full of featurette fluff. $10 Braveheart $10 Gladiator Yes, there are issues with the Gladiator transfer (and none with Braveheart), but the $10 rebate included makes this a free-after-rebate title since I still own the DVD. I'm going to get both of these this way and avoid giving Walmart any of my money (or Best Buy $12.99 apiece). $10 Harry Potter 1-5 (each, Prisoner of Azkaban linked) $7.99 2001: A Space Odyssey $7.99 The Searchers $7.99 Ronin $7.99 The Terminator $7.99 The Departed $7.99 Goodfellas $7.99 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan $7.99 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home $7.99 Star Trek: First Contact $7.99 Silence of the Lambs $7.99 V for Vendetta $7.99 Dogma $7.99 Full Metal Jacket $7.99 Reservoir Dogs $7.99 Dark City: Director's Cut $7.99 Robocop $7.99 Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country $8.49 Bullitt $8.99 The Aviator $9.49 The Fountain $9.99 There Will Be Blood $9.99 Wedding Crashers $9.99 The Visitor $9.99 The Thing $10.49 The Mist 2-Disc Collector's Edition $11.49 Batman Begins $11.99 Lonesome Dove $11.99 The Monster Squad $11.99 Away We Go $12.99 The 400 Blows: Criterion Collection $12.99 300: The Complete Experience $14.99 Baraka One of the most stunning HD transfers on home video, according to many sources including Roger Ebert. $14.99 Becket $20.49 Mad Men Season 2 $22.99 John Adams (HBO) $40.99 Planet Earth: The Complete Series $9.99 Eastbound and Down Season 1 DVD This is the only DVD I'm listing because I enjoy this series so much. In-Store Only Best Buy All their in-store Blu-ray deals shown in the ad are now matched by Amazon. Target $12.99 The Wizard of Oz 3-disc Emerald Edition Blu-ray If you don't care about the pile of tchotchkes in the Limited Collector's Edition box, you can get just the movie, extras, and 6-hour documentary disc for much less. $12.99 Gremlins Blu-ray This is a retailer exclusive that you can't get anywhere else, and this is $10 off the lowest price I see on it regularly. Will it be available at some point at a lower price? Maybe so, but you can only buy it from Target for now. The Big Question Marks A bunch of retailers are purposely withholding every last doorbuster from their ads, listing/showing 15 out of "over 30" Blu-rays on sale. These will be all over the net the day of. Best Buy is the one of the big three (Walmart/Target/Best Buy) that has most notably expanded Blu-ray shelf space in advance of Friday, so they will probably have some desirable stuff that Amazon won't know about in advance. As with last year, Amazon will probably abruptly drop pricing on some items to match the brick & mortar outlets during the day, so bring a smartphone with you if you're going to stores.
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HD Guide: What's So Good About Blu-ray?

"DVD looks good enough for me" may come out of your mouth before you've actually seen the difference first-hand, but once you do, there's no going back. There are a bunch of advantages that aren't necessarily apparent at first.

Blu-ray is a giant leap forward in a few respects and an agreeable do-over on some of DVD's biggest failings. Reliable, full 1080p HD streaming is still a ways off because ISPs in the States just can't manage the bandwidth. Anyone with HD cable or satellite gone a solid week without image artifacts or a delayed signal? I didn't think so. Broadcast HD is 720p, 1080i at best. Discs are here to stay for some time yet. A League of Its Own Pretty Pictures, Splendid Sounds Anyone who tells you that up-converted DVD looks just about as good as a Blu-ray, like the Orlando Sentinel's Roger Moore, is out of their mind or has a vision impairment. Video and audio quality are the biggest improvements over DVD, and if a Blu-ray doesn't blow you away in these areas compared to its DVD counterpart, someone messed up big-time. In-store displays don't often do either picture or audio justice by being badly-configured or by virtue of not running over HDMI, so you can't necessarily trust them. Finer detail in crowd scenes, clothing patterns, items in the background, and just sharper focus in scenes involving fast motion, smoke, fire, and dust are among the various things that you really pick up on with HD picture. You see freckles on Dorothy Gale, individual leaves instead of a blur in Zemeckis' aerial shots in Forrest Gump, and if you think Pixar DVDs look great, get ready for a wake-up call. Lossless audio means you can expect that analog hiss to disappear in more and more catalog titles (though it's annoyingly still there in a few). If you have a nice surround setup, channels will be more vivid and crisp than before. Restoring Justice Warner Bros. recently, and very expensively, remastered The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind for DVD. WB then had to re-remaster both for Blu-ray because they restored to the resolution they needed for standard definition, with HD formats not even nascent yet. In order for all the studios to not embarrass themselves, they're all going back and re-cleaning and transferring catalog titles for HD. The smart studios are pouring a bunch of money into getting higher quality than they need now so that VOD and higher-resolution formats will be easier to transition to in the future. They know they can't pass on the cost to the consumer in an economy like the one we're steeped in, so premium picture quality is more affordable and stunning than it was just four years ago. More Satisfying Materialism Premium-Feel Packaging I like that the cases are shorter and slimmer for single discs, and that a 6-disc set no longer sits 6 inches wide on my shelf. A full season set of a TV show is slim, sleek, and feels densely-packed. The buttons that hold the disc in the case are uniform across different studio releases, and they hold the discs tightly in place. As a bonus, they aren't so strong that you risk breaking the damn disc in half when you want to take it out. The disc coating is thicker and more scratch-resistant, so buying secondhand won't be the potential horror show roll of the dice that it is with DVD. Pricing Prices have come plummeting down over the last year, and we're finally at the point that the market will adopt the format en masse (so the studios hope). The higher gigabyte quantity of data and better DRM assures studios that piracy will be harder, so they're making the discs affordable more quickly. I recently got The Wild Bunch, Being There, and The Searchers for under $9 apiece. Criterion Blu-rays are generally priced lower than their DVD counterparts. In fact, most of them are currently $19.99 on Amazon to match a Barnes & Noble sale, including the now out of print The Third Man (temporarily out of stock, but they say they're still getting them). Region Freedom Lots and lots of overseas discs are now all-region coded. Most of the titles hitting Japan and China non-locked, but some juicy UK/European ones are Region B-locked. I posted a piece back in July about the Region Coding landscape. It's still accurate, so give it a look if you're interested. I'm planning to interview a pal who's the most prolific importer I know for a future installment. He'll shed some light on best places to purchase and pricing. What's Not So Great Loading, Loading....Jesus H. Christ, Still Loading... Load times are much longer than DVD, even with the newest players. The 2-3 minute delay is something you get used to by popping the disc in, making popcorn, taking a shower, and waxing the car while waiting. This is by far the biggest annoyance of the format, but all hyperbole aside, I pass the time pouring a drink and it's like it never happened. It still bothers me regardless. Digital/Managed Copies In the arena of added cost, any title that includes a Digital Copy suitable for playing on portable devices has some additional cost built in to the sticker price. These Digital Copy codes usually expire, so at some point the discs they come with will get cheaper because the code's no good anymore. On top of that, you never know which players or operating systems these things work on. The Reno! 911 Season 6 set works only on a Windows computer and not really any portable devices, negating its usefulness. There's a new, recently-ratified Managed Copy standard that doesn't require connecting to iTunes or PlaysForSure or anything, but it isn't supported by any of the current players on the market. BD-Living Dead I really, really hate BD-Live. I would love for that to change over time, but that's where I'm at currently and for the foreseeable future. Regardless of which studio the disc came from or which disc you're using, BD-Live is slow, times out, or just doesn't work. The prerequisite for doing BD-Live is that your player is somehow connected to the internet. Most people don't have ethernet in their living room, and wireless-enabled players (that aren't a PS3) are only now hitting the market and aren't cheap. I guarantee that most of the bundled or price-slashed players that will be sold this holiday season will not have wifi capability. The biggest problem is that there's no visionary innovation behind BD-Live at all. Paramount is trying to do some downloadable featurette stuff with their Star Trek TOS sets, and they require the Blu-ray to be in the drive to play them. It incentivizes ownership, which is understandable, and it's nice that, theoretically, new extras won't require buying a new double dip every 18 months. The problem is, these 28 megabyte files take over five minutes to download, which is insane. Fox has started including Live Lookup on its most recent releases. It's an IMDb-connected feature that allows you to answer "what did I see that guy in" without grabbing a computer or phone to get online and look it up. As shrug-worthy as that sounds, it's one of the few well-designed, fast, and useful BD-Live features developed to this point. That is part of the problem: there's no killer app or anything approaching it. BD-Live is the most broken, worthless thing about Blu-ray, but honestly it has nothing to do with the primary function of your setup: playing movies. The HD Guide is an ongoing series focusing on the evolving world of HD in the home: getting started, understanding the lingo, and appreciating the best (and worst) discs that are out there.
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HD Guide: So You Want to Buy an HDTV

The beginning of the HD conversation is choosing the magic looking glass that will become the centerpiece of your new home cinema. My personal means of making recommendations in this department is in dispelling myths and focusing on the regular human budget.

If you are comfortable dropping $6k on a Pioneer Kuro plasma, you either know this stuff already or have an assistant to do these things for you and you don't need me. I think the majority of folks out there are looking for something affordable, but not cheap. I don't care about gaming, so the following focuses entirely on watching movies and TV shows. The Buying Commandments Here they are as handed down to me by The HD Godz (cousins of Jeff's Movie Godz): 1. Thou shalt not buy a store display model. 2. Likewise shalt thou not buy an open-box, returned, or "as-is" model. 3. Thou shalt never even consider an HDTV marked 720p or 1080i. 4. Thou shall do thine research on bundled Blu-ray players you see in ads. 5. Thou shalt not be swayed by bundle offers for inferior products. 6. Thou shall not be swayed by Dynamic Contrast Ratio or other Contrast Ratio specs. 7. Thou shalt require the use of the display TV's remote control to adjust settings. 8. Thou shalt require a store associate allow you to connect a Blu-ray player over HDMI to the TV you are considering. 9. Thou shall not be suckered into multiple TV deals (2 smaller for the price of one). 10. Thou shall invest the time and patience needed to make a good decision. Which to Choose? The Brand I personally went with a 47" LG Class LCD. The first major myth to shred (with some qualification) is about brand equating quality. The nuts and bolts and transistors in the majority of HDTVs on the market feature the same LCD panels made by the same physical manufacturers. The primary difference is in the name plastered on it and the menu layout. You don't have to pay for the Sony label or fight with your friends about the relative superiority of Sharp, Samsung, or Panasonic. I would, however, stay away from store-specific brands like Insignia (Best Buy) and other budget folks like Westinghouse, Polaroid, and Vizio. Vizio is really eager to position themselves as "just as good" as the top brands, but they aren't based on customer service and warranty support horror stories. In the interest of full disclosure, my wife works for Samsung in a department wholly unrelated to their TV division. 480/720/1080 and Screen Size The bigger one is not necessarily the best one. The top resolution on HDTVs is 1080p, which in basic terms means the display is 1080 pixels tall. Think of pixels as little squares stacked on top of one another. You can have a 1080p monitor that measures 30, 37, 40, or 65 inches. It doesn't matter because pixels are a relative form of measurement. A "pixel" is not exactly a certain number of centimenters, millimeters, or inches in size. The bigger the monitor, the bigger your pixels. It's for this reason that going with the biggest display you can afford isn't necessarily a good idea. Of course, the smaller you go, the less enjoyable it is. To get what I'd consider reasonable enjoyment out of Blu-ray and true HD content, I wouldn't go smaller than 37" or larger than about 51". Make sure you measure your viewing space before leaving the house and try to get the same distance away from the TV you're looking at in the store. Bigger than the 47" we have would be too big for how far away we can get from the thing. LCD versus LED versus Plasma LCDs are the most affordable monitors out there. Samsung's new LED line still uses LCD panels, but different backlighting. TVs referred to as "LCDs" are backlit by compact fluorescent bulbs. This is what most of the world and I can afford. The other two types are what you ask someone to "help you invest in" or think really hard before budgeting. The new "LED" models feature cleaner, cooler, brighter LED backlighting that uses less power and produces better overall picture quality and contrast. They cost more, but they really are gorgeous. Plasmas are the best overall when it comes to contrast and picture quality, but the price tag shoots up even more so than LEDs. Plasmas are not prone to burn-in the same way front projection sets were (and are) [edit: I corrected some erroneous info thanks to a tip from pal Luke Mullen]. These are the best of the best for contrast and color depth, and with that comes a higher price tag. The LED monitors are projected to eventually outdo the Plasmas in quality. And no, just because it's a Plasma doesn't make it okay to get one that's 720p (see Commandment 3). User Reviews Are Generally Worthless Most people out there who've bought an HDTV don't have any idea what they're talking about when it comes to what you want it for. Additionally, there's no way to know who any of these people are. Seek out enthusiast hotspots like the Home Theater Forum and reviewers with a solid track record. If they talk about contrast ratios and other meaningless crap that isn't actually quantifiable, ignore them. If they talk about relative contrast (better than most, not impressive, etc.) that's qualitative, then pay attention. The In-Store Demo Demo Over HDMI Plan to spend a solid afternoon playing around with TVs at a store. This isn't something you want to just roll the dice on. I've yet to find a store that has their demo sets plugged in over HDMI, which is how you'll connect your HD cable box (if you have one), Blu-ray player, and game systems. You aren't getting a real look at what the TV can do unless you've got a Blu-ray player connected over HDMI. Some stores like Best Buy have little showcase rooms that have demo players set up with correct cabling, but they're usually plugged into the super-expensive sets someone's sales manager would love for them to talk you into buying. Depending on the store you're going to, you may have to bring your own player and cable. If the store wants your business, they'll work something out. Buying a few Blu-rays that are well-reviewed and having them in-hand isn't a bad idea. Buy them from the store you're at (likely Best Buy based on limited options) if you want to show them you mean business. Pick some from different eras, like the 30's/40's, the 60's/70's, and an 80's-present one or two. You want to see how it handles different content. Presets for Different Content Don't expect 70-year-old movies to look great on the same settings as Public Enemies or Easy Rider. You want a TV that allows you to easily set a few presets and quickly swap between them if you plan on watching a wide variety of content. The Third Man will not look good with the high sharpness needed for watching Zodiac or another HD-shot feature. Contrast Ratio This specification honestly means nothing and is more a marketing tool than a technical specification. Your two human eyes are a better calibration tool for your perception of contrast than an arbitrary proportion that every manufacturer measures differently. You're looking for the darkest black and the depth in shades of grey you see. Turn down the Backlight and fiddle with the Contrast and Brightness settings. Mess with the Sharpness while you're at it. Don't Buy Right Away You should be tired after your "field trip" so go get something to eat, go home, and sleep on it. It's not going anywhere. One last thing...Don't Get Gouged on Cables HDMI cables are how you connect HD devices to one another. They should be cheap, or you're buying in the wrong place. They don't need to be platinum or premium gold-plated of some other bullshit like that. Time Warner Cable gave a couple 6-foot ones to me for $10 apiece, but you can get them for even less if you plan in advance. Monoprice.com has some for $8 (less for more). Check with your cable/satellite provider too, they'll be happy to sell you extra ones. The HD Guide is an ongoing series focusing on the evolving world of HD in the home: getting started, understanding the lingo, and appreciating the best (and worst) discs that are out there. On the schedule for tomorrow is a set of three installments: What's So Great About Bluray?, Choosing a Blu-ray Player, and TV in HD. Depending on how the day goes, I may squeeze in It's Not Blu-ray, It's HBO, but no promises.
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The Guide to the HD Galaxy


I've been diving into Blu-ray after Blu-ray over the last many months in order to launch this series. I've designed The HD Guide to initially best serve those who've recently done the HD upgrade and those who will be doing so during the 2009 holiday buying season. It will continue a couple of times a month after the holidays to chronicle the evolution and trends in Blu-ray and HD in the home. We'll start off with a lot of focus primarily on HD televisions and the Blu-ray format, which categorically dominate the discussion at this point. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the centerpiece of going HD: the TV.
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Blu Without Borders

Now that more people are jumping on the Blu-ray bandwagon, the question of how to play import discs has become a hot topic. With catalog titles and even select new releases popping up in Europe before the US, serious enthusiasts want to be able to stick a disc from anywhere in and just play.

Orange=A, Green=B, Purple=C. Image from Wikipedia.
A ton of discs, regardless of country, aren't locked by region in the first place. The problem is, it seems like all the ones collectors and cineastes want most from Region B are. Conversely, I don't think I've yet seen a single Blu-ray with region encoding from China or Hong Kong. I actually considered buying some HK discs like Red Cliff (Parts I & II) until I saw they were priced at nearly $40 each and found out Magnet/Magnolia would be releasing them domestically after the mashup/shavedown release they'll be putting in theaters later this year. I've seen both thanks to a friend who bought them, so it's not like I'm dying to see them. It's nice to know I have the option with Asian releases. Some of the European Blu-rays confirmed to be locked include the German Fight Club, French The Crow and Brotherhood of the Wolf, and the UK pressing of The Good, The Bad, The Weird. Most prominent to H-E is that Blu-ray.com's reviewer has confirmed that the recently-released UK Blu-ray of Che is in fact Region B-locked. I'm not the only one who's itching for a Region A pressing of Che. So how does one get around this roadblock? Software unlocks are a no-go, since the necessary firmware updates for Blu-ray players kill these or make the player completely inoperable afterward. DVD Beaver's Gary Tooze highly touts the hardware-modified Momitsu BDP-899 from HKFlix, including positive comments from users. There's a pretty thorough rundown in a post on the VideoHelp forums, but what started me out concerned was that the first guy on the above-linked page didn't test Blu-ray, just DVD. User posts on the DVD Talk forums suggest that as mostly-flawless as the Momitsu player is, it still isn't perfect. Multiple people cite issues with discs getting stuck in the drive. The workaround fix involves unplugging the player and plugging it back in, but that doesn't always work. So yes, one could get this $370 modified player, but you could also just buy a Region B player for over a hundred bucks less (~$250). I don't think it's unreasonable to be paranoid that firmware updates might still brick the thing, or worry that it could have issues with newer discs and features. I'm all for importing and finding ways around region exclusivity, but that's too big a gamble for my budget. If I could account for any Region C-only discs, the idea of the Momitsu would be more appealing, even in the face of varied reports of disc-trapping and freezes. My verdict on Region-locked import Blu-rays: either a) buy a Region B player or b) wait for prices to drop and reliability to be rock-solid on the region-free front.
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