Home Cinema News

Star Trek (****)

2009-11-23T13:12:00.000-08:00

Most people that I know that saw this in the theater said it was good, but then again they all loved spiderman, which I thought was ok, but not great. Last weekend I picked this up on Bluray , and headed down to the basement theater and gave it a go. The young actor all gave good performances, and the plot and writing was pretty good. They last few star trek movies had gotten a little to cheezy for my liking. I hope they keep this series going.

A definate rental, and probably even a buy recomendation.

Streaming movies from the PC to the PS3

2009-09-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

After years of ending up with empty DVD cases or DVDs rendered unusable from scratches, Ive decided to take my whole DVD collection digital. Well I guess digital isnt the correct word, since they are technically allready digital. But Im backing them all up onto a hard drive and streaming them to my pc when I want to watch them. The original disks will still sit up in the bookcase, but wont get all scratched up. In a sense they have now become the backup for my electronic copies. This is considered a grey legal area on whether you are allowed to do this, but since I own the originals and have them within 10 feet of the dvd player, I feel Im in the clear.

There are probably 10 different was to do this, but this is the way I am doing it.

This is a step by step tutorial if the conversion and the streaming.

What you will need

1. ripbot264 - also requires (ffdshow ,Avisynth ,ffdshow)
2. ps3 media server
3. A computer
4. A PS

A step by step will follow shortly....

Still watching movies

2009-09-17T07:01:00.000-07:00

Ive been watching a bunch of blurays in the basement theater, quite a mix of titles, and enjoying every minute of it. More to come.. on recent events like the back yard movies weve been showing.

Polk Audio RM75 Speakers

2009-04-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

For christmas, I bought or I should say I received a set of Polk Audio RM75 speakers. This set consist of 4 small surround speakers and a center channel. I also bought the 10" Polk audio sub to go with it. I have a non-dedicated home theater in the basement and was slightly worried about the room size, and If the speakers would fill the room. The room is about 40x15 with the theater to one end probably a space of 17x15, but open all the way. I hooked them up to my sony-720 reciever threw in the Blu-ray copy of Wall-E I recieved for chrismas also, and WOW was I blown away. The sound was awesome, everthing was crisp as could be, no muddled sound at all and the sub was shaking the house, with no distortion at all.
These are a definate buy.

21

2008-11-28T12:59:00.000-08:00

We watched 21 in the basement theater last week. It was ok, not great not terrible. It might have been better if I hadnt seen the one based on the same story on the history channel or discovery or one of those. I think I prefered the one on tv better. 2.5 out of 4. Worth a rental, but I wouldnt buy it.

Movie review - Forgetting Sarah Marshall

2008-10-20T06:12:00.001-07:00

I had high hopes for this movie since the other movies from the creators were pretty damn funny. I did find myself laughing out load a few times, but for the most part I kept waiting for it to get funny. It just seemed to drag between the few funny parts. 2.5 out of 5.

Finally getting super hero movies right.

2008-10-16T07:22:00.000-07:00

For the most part most of the super hero movies have been pretty disapointing to me. All my co-workers seems to like spiderman, but to me it was just ho-hum. They were just ok. Lately they seem to be doing things right, the last 2 batman movies are great as well as ironman, which I loved. Lets keep or fingers crossed that this is the new norm, and that the days of electra and daredevil are over.

The Cinemascope dilemma

2008-07-25T10:31:00.001-07:00

When I initially bought my projector and screen, I was under the impression that most movies that said widescreen were 16:9. So that is what I bought. An Elite Silver Frame. Its a great screen and I love it, but after hooking everything up, and enjoying numerious movies, Im starting to realize most of the newer movies are 2.35:1(Cinemascope). So after spending all that money, I end up with black bars still.

Before I go out and buy another screen, Ive been thinking about building my own with 1x4’s and some blackout cloth. I don’t have an dedicated home theater, and the 2.35:1 wont fit great where the other one was, but I really want to watch the movies in that larger format. What’s a guy to do?

Im back

2008-07-25T06:19:00.001-07:00

Well its been quite a while since Ive updated this blog. Work has been really busy and summer always seem to take me outside and away from the computer. Ive watch a few movies down in the theater, but have a stack I still need to get to. Ive also been pondering making a 2.35:1 DIY screen and playing around with that.

Movie Review: Charlie Wilson's War

2008-06-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

I havent had much luck with the movies I have choosen lately. Im a huge tom hanks fan, so I had high hopes for Charlie Wilson's war. It was an ok movie, just not great. It was one of those movies where you keep waiting for good part to happen and it never seems to get there. Tom hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman do a good job, and the dialouge is somewhat witty. Its worth a rental, but dont waste too much money on it. 2 out of 4 Stars.

Movie Review: The Golden Compass

2008-06-06T07:23:00.000-07:00

When I saw the previews for this in the theater, I thought it had a change to be good. From what I hear the books were really good.

The movie did pretty poorly at the box office, and I heard some people say it was because the movie was anti-christian. People need to get a life, its a movie. It did poorly because its a terrible movie. Im pretty easy to please when it comes to movies, but I just about turned this one off. They give hardly any back story, make everything too complicated, and its just really boring. Maybe I was spoiled by Chonicles of Narnia.

I would give it 0 out of 4 stars, but it did have a whiskey drinking polar bear in it. So 1 out of 4 stars.

Blockbuster adds in store kiosks

2008-05-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

Blockbuster will introduce new in-store kiosks that let customers download movies directly to media players. The only player that will work initally is the Archos players. They are looking to add more device partners.

I dont think having them in-store is a good idea, I mean whats the point, Im allready at the store Ill get the dvd and put it on there myself. Maybe at the mall, 7-11's or in airports would be a better idea.

Maybe its just me, but I dont get it.

Indy and I are back in action.

2008-05-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

I have been absent for a little while. I took a little vacation and then just got a little lazy, but Im back and so is Indy.

The wife and I took the kids to see the new indy flick this weekend. I thought it was great, it was fun, exciting , and a little bit over the top. Everything you would expect from a good indy flick, it was much better than the last one. The wife thought the inclusion on aliens was pretty lame, I thought they tied it all in nicely. I think Shia lebouf did a pretty good job, but I dont think he can or should be the new Indy.

All in all it was a good flick, and will definately get a play or two in the home theater.

Ironman vs. Speed Racer

2008-05-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

Ironman destroyed Speed racer at the box office this weekend 51 million to 18 million. I think it was really stupid for speed racer to be release the same week as ironman. I think a lot of people want to see both, but ironman is clearly the better of the two. In the long run speed racer should do fine, with rentals and the such. I can't wait to see them both.

Answers to Movie Screenshot Quiz #2

2008-05-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

1. Freaky Friday
2. Parenthood
3. Little Man
4. Lawrence of Arabia
5. Mighty Joe Young
6. Romancing the Stone / Jewel of the Nile
7. A Fish Called Wanda
8. Minority Report
9. The Perfect Storm
10. Stir Crazy

Chronicles of Narnia Theater Idea

2008-05-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

My kids are big fans of the movie chronicles of narnia. It is being released on Blu-ray on the 13th, and that got me thinking about an idea for a themed theater based on the movie.

My idea is to have the doors to the theater look like a wardrobe from the outside. Then just inside the door have branches coming out of the wall.
In the theather intead on colums you could make statues out of paper mache' or something like that to hide the speaker. Maybe a stuffed lion, and other trinkets from the movie.

Any thought or suggestions.

POTC Theaters

2008-05-05T06:06:00.000-07:00

Im a huge disney fan, and I have seen this theater on the avsforums, but I found a writeup done here.

http://gizmodo.com/374864/pirates-of-the-caribbean-themed-theater-set-sail-for-some-movie-booty

Cool stuff.

Court upholds Netflix "throttling" settlement

2008-05-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

A California appeals court has upheld a 2006 settlement of a consumer lawsuit against online movie rental company Netflix Inc over the objections of four Netflix subscribers who challenged the terms.

This doesnt really surprise me. If people didnt get 8 dvds every two days and rip them, the rest of us wouldnt end up screwed.

Am I being targeted

2008-05-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

After my post about going to the Bose factory outlet, I started receiving Bose ads in my email. The funny thing is that I didnt give them my email while I was there. It could be just odd timing, but its got me wondering...

Movie Screenshot Quiz #2

2008-04-28T05:37:00.000-07:00

This is episode #2 of my movie screenshot quiz. All screenshots were taken from
moviescreenshots.blogspot.com.

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Netflix to extend web to tv business

2008-04-23T06:47:00.001-07:00

Netflix on Monday said it expects to soon announce three partnerships, similar to its set-top box alliance with LG Electronics Inc., that will let subscribers watch films streamed directly from the Web to TVs.

"We have LG plus three additional partners actively working on integrating our technology into their products," Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said on a conference call with analysts.

"Three of the four partners are major companies, which each sell millions of devices per year and will enable the Netflix functionality in some of those devices likely in the fourth quarter of this year," he said.

"The fourth partner is a small company, which will likely launch sooner than Q4," he said.

NetFlix to charge more for blu-ray.

2008-04-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

"Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said on a conference call that because Blu-ray discs cost more to purchase, the company plans on charging a premium on accounts that rent Blu-ray movies."

They didnt mention how much the increase was going to be, but if its too much, they might push users back to Blockbuster.

With Buy one get one offers I keep running accross, I might just start to buy them instead.

A trip to the Bose factory outlet

2008-04-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

The family recently took a trip to an outlet mall, and as a little repreve from the clothes stores and shoe shopping, I stopped into the Bose Factory outlet store. Ive always been a fan on inconspicious speaker and after looking around the store
for I while stumble accross, or I should say was pushed towards the new cube speakers. They are like 2 inches wide and kick out a bunch of sound, but the system is like 3 grand. The sales guy asked me if I wanted to see out their 15 minute presentation. I figured it was another 15 minutes I wasnt going to be shoe shopping, so what the hell.
They had a whole theater set up in the store. It consisted of a 120" screen a couple of large left and right speakers a fairly large center speaker,
And so back speakers that I couldnt really see. I was surprised at the size of the speakers they had in the room. I thought they would be pushing the really tiny speakers. They started the presentation and left. It was pretty standard stuff, talking about audio and video, and about how much audio was just as important as the video. Then part way throught the presentation the guy comes in and pulls down the left, right and center speakers to reveal that they were fake, and the real speakers are the tiny cubes.

The sound was incredible, but since going I have done a lot more reasearch on other home theater forums and Bose gets less than stellar reviews
from most people there. There biggest complaint was that the bose system couldnt reproduce the lows very well.

Im not a huge audiophile, but it seems there is cheaper systems that will outperform the Bose system. I would really like to hear them side by side.

Product Review - Elite Silver Frame

2008-04-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

Manufacturer: Elite Screens
Model Number: SilverFrame100GH1
Size: 100" diagonal ( 87 x 49 inches )
Gain : 1.8
Purchase Price: $252.00
Purchase Location: www.visualApex.com
Product Url: http://www.visualapex.com/Projector-Screens/Projector_Screen_Details.asp?chPartNumber=SilverFrame100GH1

I did quite a bit research before puchasing my home theater screen. I had a few requirements it must meet, but what I really
wanted was screen that looked good, and wasnt very expensive. I looked at retractable screens as well as fixed frame screens,
in the end I went with the fixed frame. The retractable ones had me worried about waves or wrinkles in the screen.
Since I wasnt putting this screen in a dedicted home theater, I want it to look more like a tv, than a movie screen. The brushed
Aluminum frame gives it just that look. We had a bunch of people over for the superbowl, and it was the first time they were
seeing the setup, and quite a few people wanted to know how we got a tv that big. I had to put my hand in front of the projector
before they would believe me.

The 100" model comes in a matte white with a gain of 1.0 or a High gain Gray with a gain of 1.8. I wanted the higher gain for a
bright screen, but was worried about brightness falloff when viewing from the off center seating. I decided to go for it and I
havent been sorry. I can stand just to the side of the screen and still not see any brightness dropoff. The 1.8 gain with a 2000 lumen
projector gives a beautiful picture with no hotspoting.

When I the screen arrived I was really impressed with how it was packed. The sceen material comes rolled in a 4" wide piece of pvc pipe
and the frame peices were each wrapped in a foam material. Mine came in perfect condition. You have to put the frame together with
L-Brackets that slide right in the extruded aluminum frame. The corners were perfect, no gaps whatsoever. You stretch the fabric inside the
frame, which had me worried also, but it was really easy. I had the whole thing assembled in less than 25 minutes.

If your looking for a fairly low cost, high quality screen, then this is the one for you.

Home Theater teardown and rebuild

2008-04-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

Thought this was a cool idea. They took snapshots from the same location throughout the teardown and rebuild.

Top DVD Rentals for the week

2008-04-17T07:05:00.001-07:00

Rank	Prev Rank	Title	Days	This Week	Rental Gross
1.	New	There Will Be Blood	5	`$8.54M`	`$8.54M`
2.	1	Alvin and the Chipmunks	12	`$7.22M`	`$16M`
3.	New	Lions For Lambs	5	`$6.83M`	`$6.83M`
4.	New	The Water Horse - Legend of the Deep	5	`$6.69M`	`$6.69M`
5.	2	Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street	12	`$6.52M`	`$14.6M`
6.	3	I Am Legend	26	`$5.82M`	`$33.3M`
7.	New	Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story	5	`$5.7M`	`$5.7M`
8.	4	The Mist	19	`$5.38M`	`$20.2M`
9.	5	Enchanted	26	`$4.73M`	`$26.5M`
10.	6	No Country for Old Men	33	`$4.53M`	`$37M`

Funny Stuff

2008-04-16T12:43:00.002-07:00

Ironman Trailer turned into full length movie

Movie Screenshot Quiz Answers

2008-04-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

1. Syriana
2. Summer Rental
3. Starman
4. The Running Man
5. Peter Pan
6. Hollow Man 2
7. The Dirty Dozen
8. Dead Again
9. Blade Runner
10. The Breakfast Club

Movie Review --- I am Legend (***)

2008-04-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

I Am Legend is yet another remake of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name. Other ramakes include 1964's THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, and Charlton Heston in 1971's OMEGA MAN.
This is pretty much a Will Smith one man show, or a one man one dog show.
I had high hopes for this movie when I heard it was coming out. I am a big fan of movies where there is pretty much one actor doing the whole thing (like Tom Hanks in Castaway).
After seeing the previews I was worried they were going to turn this into a CGI Zombie flick. I was pleasantly surprised, the zombie weren't overdone at all.
Will Smith did a great job, and this movie was a great vehicle for his talents. It allowed him to show a full range of emotions, from joy, anger, lonliness to sorrow.
Im a real sucker for happy endings so I didnt care much for the ending in the theaters. The dvd has an alternate ending that I liked alot better. See it below

Movie Screenshot Quiz

2008-04-14T08:04:00.001-07:00

I had seen other blogs do something similar to this, but with movie quotes. How many of these movies can you identify from the screen shots.
All screen shots are from http://www.moviescreenshots.blogspot.com/.

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Movie Review --- AWAKE (* * *)

2008-04-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

Awake , written and directed by Joby Harold, tells the story of Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen), a young businessman involved in a secret love affair with his mother’s personal assistant, Sam Lockwood (Jessica Alba). Clay has a bad heart and is in need of a heart transplant, and he intends to have his friend Dr. Jack Harper (Terrance Howard) perform the surgery despite the four malpractice suits Harper is facing. Clay’s Mother played by Lena Olin wants the procedure done by a close friend of hers, who is one of the top doctors in the world. Clay and Sam reveal their engagement to his mother, a fight occurs, the couple rush to get married, and on that very same night, a donor is found. Clay is rushed to surgery, and on the operating table, he experiences anesthetic awareness.
While under anesthetic, but fully aware, he hears the doctors and nurses ploting his death, and can do nothing about it. There are few twists and turn that I won’t reveal, as it would ruin the movie
I’m not a big fan of Hayden Christensen, and this movie didn’t do much to sway me. He was just ok but didn’t come off as whiney as his roles in the star wars movies. Jessica Alba was also just ok in this movie, she wont be winning any awards for this role.
I give this movie a 3 out of 4 stars.
It a good rental.

Top DVD Rental for the week

2008-04-12T09:16:00.000-07:00


This Week	Last Week	Title	Days Released	Weekend Gross	Total Gross
1	new	Alvin and the Chipmunks	5	$8.7M	$8.7M
2	new	Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street	5	$8.1M	$8.1M
3	1	I Am Legend	19	$7.4M	$27.5M
4	2	The Mist	12	$6.6M	$14.8M
5	4	Enchanted	19	$6.3M	$21.8M
6	3	No Country for Old Men	26	$5.7M	$32.5M
7	6	Atonement	19	$4.9M	$18.2M
8	5	Bee Movie	26	$4.6M	$27.2M
9	7	Dan in Real Life	26	$4.3M	$25.3M
10	9	The Kite Runner	12	$4.1M	$9M

2008-04-11T06:42:00.000-07:00

Amazon Blu-Ray Deals

Amazon has a buy 2 get one free deal going to blu-ray titles.

Check them out here Amazon's Buy 2 get one free sale

Here is the list of the selected titles:

Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] (2007)
The Fifth Element (Remastered) [Blu-ray] (1997)
300 [Blu-ray] (2007)
Pan's Labyrinth [Blu-ray] (2006)
Troy - The Director's Cut [Blu-ray] (2004)
Black Hawk Down [Blu-ray] (2002)
The Departed [Blu-ray] (2006)
Run Lola Run [Blu-ray] (1999)
Unforgiven [Blu-ray] (1992)
Monty Python's Life Of Brian - The Immaculate Edition [Blu-ray] (1979)
Reservoir Dogs (15th Anniversary) [Blu-ray] (1992)
Big Fish [Blu-ray] (2004)
Blue Planet (IMAX) [Blu-ray] (1993)
House of Flying Daggers [Blu-ray] (2005)
The Fugitive [Blu-ray] (1993)
Curse of the Golden Flower [Blu-ray] (2007)
A Knight's Tale [Blu-ray] (2001)
Lord of War [Blu-ray] (2005)
First Blood [Blu-ray] (1982)
Weeds - The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] (2005)
Crash [Blu-ray] (2005)
Weeds - The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray] (2005)
Seven Years in Tibet [Blu-ray] (1997)
Into the Blue [Blu-ray] (2005)
Wild Things (Unrated Edition) [Blu-ray] (1998)
War [Blu-ray] (2007)
Crank [Blu-ray] (2006)
Ocean's Thirteen [Blu-ray] (2007)
Hollow Man (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray] (2000)
Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn [Blu-ray] (1987)
50 First Dates [Blu-ray] (2004)
Hitch [Blu-ray] (2005)
Dawn of the Dead [Blu-ray] (1979)
Halloween [Blu-ray] (1978)
Closer [Blu-ray] (2004)
Revenge (Unrated Director's Cut) [Blu-ray] (1990)
Rent [Blu-ray] (2005)
Resident Evil: Apocalypse [Blu-ray] (2004)
Beowulf & Grendel [Blu-ray] (2005)
Viva Las Vegas [Blu-ray] (1964)
The Tailor of Panama [Blu-ray] (2001)
Day of the Dead [Blu-ray] (1985)
Masters of Horror: Season 1, Vol. 1 [Blu-ray] (2005)
To Kill A King [Blu-ray] (2003)
The Cowboys [Blu-ray] (1972)
The Condemned [Blu-ray] (2007)
Masters of Horror: Season 1, Vol. 3 [Blu-ray] (2005)
Masters of Horror: Season 1, Vol. 2 [Blu-ray] (2005)
Masters of Horror - Season 1, Vol. 4 [Blu-ray] (2005)
Flatliners [Blu-ray] (1990)
Out for Justice [Blu-ray] (1991)
Jailhouse Rock [Blu-ray] (1957)
Nature's Colors [Blu-ray]
A View from Space With Heavenly Music [Blu-ray]
New Orleans Concert - The Music of America's Soul [Blu-ray] (2006)
Muriel Anderson - Guitarscape Planet [Blu-ray] (2006)
Dispatch: Zimbabwe - Live at Madison Square Garden [Blu-ray] (2008)
ATL [Blu-ray] (2006)

2008-04-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

Ive been interested in having my own home theater since I ran accross a link in an article I was reading about people having backyard theaters. After a few times of dropping $60 for our family of five to go to the movies, I knew there had to be a better way. I wanted a pretty big screen so I would feel like I was really at the movies. I started looking a 60-73 lcds, plasmas and dlps. With prices ranging from 3,000-4,000 dollar just for the tv I knew I need to go another way.

I remembered reading the artice on the backyard theaters, and decided to check to see if the price on projectors had come down at all from a few years ago. They had. I did a bunch of research online and bought my first projector and screen in janurary of this year. Im having so much fun with my home theater I thought I would start a blog and do movie reviews, product reviews, and how-to's pertaining to home theatre.

Stay tuned....