Recent Comments:
Poll: What's the biggest Blu-ray disc still due to arrive in 2009? {Engadget HD}
Nov 2nd 2009 8:11PM Downloading a bittorrent isn't free either. You're still paying for your internet access and you're paying for storage and you're paying in terms of the time it takes to download the file.
Studios have to charge something. Movies aren't made for free. It doesn't make any sense to expect them to be given away. I don't endorse bittorrent sharing in any way. The people who make the movies ought to be paid for their work.
But the retail prices are ridiculous and the executives and stars are way over-paid. That, in itself, isn't so bad. It's the way they flaunt it and rub it in everyone's faces. Get the salaries under control. Get the budgets under control. Charge a reasonable $8-$10 price and that DOES remove a lot of the incentive to steal movies. DVDs should be $3.99 and Blu-rays should be $7.99.
Are DVRs actually going to save the network TV model? {Engadget HD}
Nov 2nd 2009 8:04PM Hey...Heroes is pretty good this season :(
I just pretend that seasons 2 and 3 never existed. If we had jumped straight from season 1 (which most people liked) to this season 4, I don't think people would be hating on the show so much.
As for the DVR commercials thing - I tend to catch the last ad that's shown before the show starts up again after the commercial break so that I don't miss the beginning of the segment. Broadcasters should just charge a whole lot more for that position.
Poll: What's the biggest Blu-ray disc still due to arrive in 2009? {Engadget HD}
Nov 2nd 2009 1:19PM There's a really simple solution that can satisfy ALL parties involved: charge a reasonable price! For Blu-ray that would be $8-$10. If I could walk into any store and know that every Blu-ray movie on the shelf is going to be $8-$10, I would never rent/rip/return another Blu-ray - I'd just buy every Blu-ray that I want.
Simple reasoning. It costs me $7 to rent/rip/return every Blu-ray as it is. So sell Blu-rays at retail for $8-$10 and you've taken away all financial incentive for me to rip to iso.
Poll: What's the biggest Blu-ray disc still due to arrive in 2009? {Engadget HD}
Nov 2nd 2009 12:38AM The Up & Monsters Inc Combo is $14 after I rent both from zip.ca and put them on my hard drive (I'm basing the cost on 22 Blu-ray iso fitting on a 1TB hard drive that cost $100).
Poll: Where do you buy your Blu-ray discs now, if you buy them at all? {Engadget HD}
Oct 18th 2009 9:02PM I keep a list of Blu-ray titles that I genuinely want to own. I just keep an eye out. I'll keep them on my 'wish list' at Amazon and Best Buy and I'll do a quick check if I'm at Walmart or Costco, etc.
All the Blu-ray movies that I just want to see once or I'm not really sure if I want to own them - I just have those on my Netflix queue. I rip most of those to my HTPC. If I love the movie, I'll put it on my list to buy. If I like it, but don't love it, I'll leave it on my HTPC. And if I don't really care, I'll just leave it until I need some extra hard drive space and then I'll delete them.
Patriot's $130 Box Office 1080p media player streams on the cheap {Engadget HD}
Oct 18th 2009 9:52AM All of these nice media streamers - all I want is the ability to play back Blu-ray ISO files and either decode or bitstream out TrueHD and DTS-HD MA!
We can do pretty much everything else with these media streamers now, but in order to get full audio quality from Blu-ray rips, we still need a full-fledged HTPC at each screen!
Poll: What part of your home theater is getting upgraded this holiday season? {Engadget HD}
Oct 12th 2009 7:45PM 3D plasmas from Panasonic and compatible (shutter glasses) LCDs from Sony will JUST be coming out in 2010. 3D Blu-ray players might come out in 2010, but more likely, 2011. After that, it's going to be at least a couple of years before there is any sort of sizable library of 3D Blu-ray titles. And it will be a couple of years after THAT before we even hear a hint about broadcast 3D television shows.
Not only that, by the Blu-ray Group hasn't even come to an agreement on what 3D technology should be the standard. And there's no guarantee that what the Blu-ray Group chooses will also be chosen by television broadcasters. Panny and Sony are pushing hard for shutter glasses - and it will probably go that way. But it isn't for sure yet.
My point is that I don't expect there to be a good reason to buy a 3D display until about 5 years from now, 4 at the earliest. And the whole thing might collapse before then if 3D movies start making less money in the theatres and people don't adopt 3D at home.
So if you want a new display now, I'd say go ahead and get a nice, new display. Check back in 4 years to see where 3D is at. You'll probably be ready to buy a new display by then anyway ;)
Poll: What part of your home theater is getting upgraded this holiday season? {Engadget HD}
Oct 12th 2009 12:29PM It's such a shame that the old (though admittedly legitimate) fears about burn-in and 5 year lifespans of plasmas are still causing people to avoid plasmas today.
Strictly speaking, your plasma WILL still dim over time. But the time it takes to reach 50% brightness is now up around 100,000 hours, so it's not at all like the old days.
LCD displays can have their issues too, to be fair. Polarizers can go and the liquid crystals themselves can sometimes develop uneven "wear". One need only look at my old Sanyo LCD projector to witness what I'm talking about ;)
Poll: What part of your home theater is getting upgraded this holiday season? {Engadget HD}
Oct 12th 2009 2:23AM Dang - just checked and Emotiva is actually all sold out of their ERM-1 front speakers. They were an awesome deal while Emotiva was clearing them out. But they aren't making that model anymore, so the price for 5 speakers is a lot higher now.
So change my recommendation there a bit. I'll make it even easier and just suggest a 5.1 package - all from SVSound :)
Another awesome speaker option would be three Ascend Acoustics speakers across the front with the Emotiva ERD-1 surround speakers. They actually blend really well together tonally.
Poll: What part of your home theater is getting upgraded this holiday season? {Engadget HD}
Oct 11th 2009 9:55PM It's good (really good) that you want to hear lossless TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks. But to really get the benefit of lossless HD audio, you need a better sound system that what you'll get with a HTiB, I'm afraid.
I'd recommend an Emotiva speaker package with a SVS NSD subwoofer atop an Auralex GRAMMA with a Denon receiver or an Onkyo if you need a little bit lower price. If we're talking pure value and performance for the dollar, nothing beats what I've just recommended.
