OK, Rambo 4 is only out in the US, so for the rest of us, here’s the trailer:
Tag Archive for 'dvd'
WGA strike set for Monday
Published by November 2nd, 2007 in Digital Technology and News bits. 1 CommentThe Writers Guild of America (WGA) is in all likelihood going on strike starting Monday. This from Inthenews
A federal mediator attended the eight-hour talks, with the writers’ union seeking extra revenue for the re-use of their work when reproduced on DVD, the internet and mobile phones.
But studios issued a statement confirming increased demands from the WGA had constituted a “complete roadblock to any further progress”.
Btw, the last WGA strike was in in 1988 and lasted 22 weeks. It cost Hollywood an estimated $500 million.
Blu-ray and HD DVD torrents
Published by February 20th, 2007 in Digital Technology, News bits and Video Production. 0 CommentsAccording to HD Beat, hackers have discovered the “processing key used to decrypt the DRM on all HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc films”.
What this means in layman terms is that pretty soon, your favorite torrent tracker will feature movies in all their HD glory, be them Blu-ray or HD DVD.
Blu-ray marches on
Published by February 9th, 2007 in Digital Technology, News bits and Video Production. 1 CommentEveryone (and their grandma) is predicting a demise for Blu-ray and hence Sony and even the Playstation 3. It’s been just over two months since Blu-ray’s premiere and these “format” wars are not decided in a day. If wars were decided in a day (or a month), Hitler would’ve taken both Russia and the UK (extrapolating his early successes).
HD DVD experienced a surge around Christmas when studios supporting it released more titles than the Blu-ray camp. The situation has changed a bit. While Universal is silent about upcoming HD DVD titles, the Blu-ray camp churns new titles.
Looking at the release lists, Blu-ray studios are going to release MORE movies in February than HD DVD released in 2006. I’m not eager to announce them winners just yet. These guys should’ve settled their difference a long time ago anyway. Sometimes it’s the consumer who’s the best judge of a format but the HD media doesn’t come particularly cheap as to allow open experimentation.
HD DVD marches on
Published by January 8th, 2007 in Digital Technology, News bits and Software. 0 CommentsOr is it? The North American HD DVD Promotional Group took advantage of CES to get out the following:
As of January 5th, the group estimates there were more than 175,000 HD DVD players sold in America, with an annualized attach rate of 28 movies per player. The group projects sales will reach 2.5 million players by the end of this year and more than $600 million worth of movie revenues. HD DVD buyers can look forward to more HDi enhanced titles, now featuring internet features that were demoed at the event, as well as more players hitting the market from manufacturers like Lite-On, Alco, Alpine, Meridian and Onkyo. Look for the trend of combo releases to continue, as the format’s backers see it as a viable way of introducing current DVD owners to the format and building a library prior to upgrading.
Numbers usually don’t lie. And the numbers here (at least in terms of players) are very much skewed in favor of the Blu-ray camp. The reason? One million Playstation 3 have been purchased and I bet this is just the beginning.
Blu-Ray premiere today
Published by December 5th, 2006 in Digital Technology, Film School and Video Production. 0 CommentsBlu-Ray is piggy-backing on Playstation 3 recent launch.
So far HD DVD leads the way with 130 titles released. Blu-ray is closely behind with 116. The titles to be released any moment are:
The Architect (Magnolia)
Bulletproof Monk (Fox)
A Christmas Story (Warner)
Flight of the Phoenix (Fox)
From Hell (Fox)
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Warner)
Rising Sun (Fox)
Rocky (Fox)
I’m a big SONY fan so I hope Blu-ray doesn’t turn out to be the new Beta Max.
The Devil’s Miner
Published by May 25th, 2006 in Film School, Storytelling and Video Production. 2 CommentsA friend of mine recommended The Devil’s Miner and I definitely plan to see it. It’s a documentary about Basilio Vargas, a Bolivian child miner. It’s like a cross between citizen journalism and gonzo journalism. Kief Davidson, director, says:
The challenge for THE DEVIL’S MINER was finding a young boy who could carry and narrate a feature-length film. We hired a former miner and local guide who introduced us to a dozen families. The Vargas family was the first on his list and we were immediately captivated with Basilio’s positive energy, intelligence and articulate speech.
From a filmmaker’s perspective, there were some important technical challenges like lighting and cameras. I’m still trying to figure out from the photo if they are using an HD cam or not. It looks like a Sony FX1 with some accessories :
In the claustrophobic tunnels, we shot with a small-format digital camera. Anything larger would have been impossible. The miners’ open-flame carbon lamps were used as the main source of lighting…
You can visit The Devil’s Miner official site where there’s a trailer and plenty of information about the documenary. You can also order the DVD.
HD-DVD vs Blu-ray (status report)
Published by October 19th, 2005 in Digital Technology, News bits and Video Production. 1 Comment
The next generation of HD formats has been split in two for years. There has been some famous switching of sides (Microsoft leaving Blu-ray and joining HD-DVD).
A bit of background: HD-DVD was developed by Toshiba and NEC; Blu-ray is SONY response to a common format. SONY has a proven track record in creating their own versions of just about everything: from Betamax (vs. VHS) to memory sticks (vs. Compact Flash).
The conflict will be resolved by consumers and right now the HD-DVD seems to be in a better position to win popular support. HD-DVD has the backing of Time Warner (that’s Warner Bros. and New Line), Paramount, and Universal. The studios have committed to releasing almost 100 titles on HD-DVD by the year’s end.
Blu-ray is backed by SONY and its two studios, Columbia Tri-Star and MGM. Microsoft pulled out of the Blu-ray camp when they said the XBOX 2 will NOT use Blu-ray. This was turned around when Disney said they’ll release titles on Blu-ray. Apple has also joined the Blu-ray camp recently and one major player, 20th Century Fox, still haven’t made up their minds.
Although tech specs have little to do with who wins the race, here they are: HD-DVD holds 30 GB, Blu-ray holds 50 GB. Another difference could be in the region encoding. There are rumors that the HD-DVD will not support region codes.
SONY seems a bit behind right now. At the same time, they’ve recently announced their TOTAL commitment to Blu-ray as their default high-definition format. MGM’s film library of over 6,000 titles will be made available in the new HD format. The question remains when. The HD-DVD camp will start releasing their titles for the Christmas season when you can already record your HD video to a Blu-Ray DVD!
Star Wars: Deleted Magic
Published by October 17th, 2005 in Digital Technology and Film School. 1 CommentI recently got the chance to view this DVD. Now, before you go looking for it in Blockbuster, this is not something you’ll find anywhere but on the Internet. Hit your favorite BitTorrent site and you should be able to find it pretty easily. Check out this lightweight BitTorrent client.
Additional information about the movie is available here - Deleted Magic. Here’s a short summary provided by Garrett Gilchrist, the guy behind this:
- Deleted Magic” is a feature-length documentary about the deleted scenes of the Star Wars trilogy, and about how the movies we know and love were made and edited together. It is taken from information, sources and home videos officially released by Lucasfilm.
- This project is not an official Lucasfilm project - it is an unofficial, not-for-profit research project, done in the spirit of fun by a Star Wars fan … hopefully it will be both informative and entertaining. It will be made available for free, in high quality, via the Internet.
- The idea is to combine all sorts of alternate, deleted and making-of footage into a full-length film that gives a better view of how the masterpiece we know as Star Wars was edited together.
- In addition to deleted scenes like the Biggs Darklighter material, you’ll get a sense of the “Lost Cut”s of the films … the longer edits that didn’t have finished voices or effects.
This DVD is an interesting see for Star Wards fans but it’s even more interesting to filmmakers who already have their footage in the can and are moving into post-production. If Lucas had the guts to cut Biggs Darklighter’s scenes, you should be able to trim your masterpiece here and there too!
New iPod plays everything BUT movies
Published by October 15th, 2005 in Digital Technology and Software. 1 Comment
Looking at the new iPod, I start wondering why Apple claims it plays everything… but movies. Apparently, Apple made Hollywood a proposal they couldn’t resist, yet somehow Hollywood did resist it. I wonder why.
For starters, let’s look at the tech specs: it sports a 2.5-inch LCD display (320 x 240 pixels) that supports 260,000 colors. That’s good enough for downloadable porn but I don’t think it cuts it for movies. It’s not widescreen (being 4:3 instead of 16:9) and there’s limit on the resolution of the movies that can be imported (480×480).
Just consider that Sidney Pollack brought a lawsuit against a Danish TV station for the use of its pan-and-scan (4:3) showing of his film “Three days of the Condor”. The court ruled that the pan-and-scan was a “mutilation” of his work and a violation of Pollacks ‘Driot Moral’, his legal right as an artist to maintain his reputation by protecting the integrity of his work.
As an even more extreme example, imagine you somehow get “Lawrence of Arabia” on your new iPod. How long would you wait until you see the black speck that Omar Sharif is in the famous scene? It takes a while to spot it even on the DVD edition.
Despite its shortcomings, the new iPod sets a trend that might eventually lead to an alternative means for distributing “pocket” movies. This could enable indie producers to distribute their movies cheaply and easily. Even now you can find plenty of sites that have torrents for iPod.
The Zen Vision from Creative Labs already sports a 640×480 LCD. I’m hopeful SONY will have the last word on this one. I love the LCD on my SONY VX2000, I’m sure I’ll be able to find Omar Sharif in under a minute if I manage to play it there.
Update: You can read my tips on producing video for iPod. A must-see for your video iPod is Steve Ballmer’s Developers video.
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