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Death of The Video Rental Store

1 Comment / Books, Music and Movies, Computers, Miscellaneous, Networking & Internet / By /

Death of Video Rental A few weeks ago, I was sitting at a traffic light by the Hollywood Video store near my home and glanced over at the empty parking lot. This was not an unusual sight because for years the parking lot at the Hollywood Video was always empty. But looking a bit closer, I realized the space was being gutted and prepped for an upcoming Advanced Auto Parts store. The Hollywood Video store was gone for good.

To be honest, I have not entered a video rental store in probably 10 years. But, I still felt a bit sad and nostalgic for all those Friday and Saturday nights back in the early 1990’s that I spent in the video store perusing the shelves for the newest flick with my boyfriend (who is now my wonderful husband). Rows and rows of videotapes, which eventually changed over to DVDs, were all lined up right at our fingertips. We really enjoyed going to the video store.

But then my husband and I stopped going to the video rental store. And it looks like everyone else stopped going too.
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Apple Releases new Mac mini

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Mac Mini Yesterday Apple announced a completely redesigned Mac mini which features up to 2x the graphics performance using the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor, a new HDMI port, new SD card slot and industry-leading energy efficiency in a unibody aluminum enclosure. The new Mac mini is priced at $699 and comes in two options including preinstalled with Mac OS X and iLife or with Apple’s server software – Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server.

What do the Geeks think? Basically the upgrade to the Mac mini is a miss. Apple has implemented an HDMI port and created a very energy efficient device perfect for the family room or living room using the TV as a display but neglected to include a Blu-ray drive opting instead for Apple’s standard Superdrive as Steve Jobs apparently still thinks Blu-Ray is a “bag of hurt”. Apple has skin in the HD movie and TV options with iTunes and apparently will continue to count on the digital media option rather than Blu-Ray. At least Jobs allowed HDMI on the Mac mini even with it’s “limited” resolution.

Warner Bros Program Offers Upgrades of DVDs to Blu-ray Discs

Audio/Video, Home Theater, News / By /

Yup, the title pretty much says it all. Ship them your old Warner Bros DVD movies and for a replacement fee (starting around $8 per disc), they will send you Blu-ray versions of those flicks.

I’m surprised at the low number of titles and you should consider first whether the upgrade price is worth it. You may not really get much additional value in the Blu-ray title.

You can find the service at the DVD2Blu website.

Review: Stargate 15th anniversary Blu-ray DVD

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It seems like the original Stargate movie was released more than 15 years, what with the 3 TV series, books and additional merchandising that have come since. However, it has been 15 years and to celebrate and commemorate it, Lionsgate has released a special Blu-ray version of the movie that includes over 4 additional hours of features. We had a chance to review the DVD recently.

Apart from the original theatrical release, the DVD also includes an extended director’s cut that adds just under 10 minutes of additional footage. Top fans will appreciate this cut. What was more important to me was that the movies were remastered in 1080p Hi-Def widescreen with 7.1 DTS audio. The picture was stunning.

Other features (or in some cases, named ‘featurettes’) included an interactive game, a gag reel, an audio commentary version of the movie narrated by the director/producer/writers Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, and 5 short pieces that like the “Making of Stargate” documentary and “Is there a Stargate?” which explored whether aliens have visited Earth.

I wouldn’t buy the DVD for the interactive game which I found to be way too slow, didn’t show the correct answers, and with very long gap between questions that you can’t skip past.

I also found the gag reel to be too esoteric for my taste and forgettable.

However, I very much liked the additional ‘featurettes’:

  • “Is There a Stargate” – although misnamed, this piece asked the question whether aliens have ever visited Earth. They could have gone the traditional route of debunking it, but instead decided on the more fun, interesting point of view, providing some of the evidence gathered by writer Erich von Daniken.
  • “Deciphering the Gate: Casting & Concepts”, “Opening the Gate: The Making of the Movie”, “Passing Through the Gate: The Legacy”, “The Making-of Stargate” – I really liked these featurettes. They were informative, gives fans insights into the history of the movie without running on too long.

Although I personally didn’t think the extended cut really added that much more to the movie, hardcore fans will probably appreciate it. All in all, for a reasonable price (under $20), you can now add the Stargate movie to your collection in all its remastered glory.

(Disclaimer: Gizmos for Geeks received a complimentary review copy of this product.)

GfG’s Article Recap for Week Ending May , 2009

Automotive, Gizmo of the Day, Networking & Internet, Software / By /

Another week – another recap; this week we looked at Cablevision’s new 100Mbps internet access plans for seriously fast downloads. Another technological breakthrough was General Electric’s 500Gb optical disc and China has developed a new competitor to Blu-Ray, although it will probably be primarily used within China.

Information Architects have released 2008’s Web Trend Map – pre-orders available now! We displayed the quite amazingly small wireless-N adapter.

The much awaited Tata Nano car surpassed a massive 200,000 pre-orders! And lastly, Vopium has released their free iPhone app.

China’s new optical video format – China Blue High Definition (CBHD)

Audio/Video, Home Theater / By /

cbhd-logoChina has developed its very own high-def optical video disc format – the China Blue High Definition (CBHD) and a couple of local vendors have just produced 1st gen players.

This is interesting. Why? If you’re thinking the format war was just finished, consider that CBHD players are up to 40% cheaper than Blu-Ray players, and that developed and made in China means they can push those prices way down. They also have a huge local market to sell to (possibly even mandated). Right now, the Chinese government is only supporting the format and funding some manufacturers, but not quite making it official.

Warner Brothers for example has already said it will release 100 titles in the CBHD format this year. Blu-Ray may well be facing a new format war.

via Gizmag

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