Clearing up Blu-ray

I recently bought into all the hype and purchased my first Blu-ray player and I have so far I have no complaints. The picture quality is so amazing you feel that you are part of what you are watching. This comes from a Blu-ray disc being true 1080p quality which dominates the HD streaming of Netflix. The sound quality from Blu-ray is also superb.

Before I purchased my player I did plenty of research on which player was the best. It is a good idea to stick with your major brand names, Samsung, Sony, LG or Panasonic. I have a 3D tv, but having to put on bulky glasses to watch a movie doesn't appeal to me so I saved some money by getting a standard Blu-ray player. If you choose to get a 3D Blu-ray player you will still be able to play regular 2D Blu-ray discs and DVDs. I narrowed my options down to one model from each of the four brands, the Samsung BDD5700ZA, Panasonic DMPBDT210, LG BD640 and the Sony NSZGT1. All of these models are $199 except for the Sony which is $399.

The Sony is double the price because it comes with Google TV which allows you to have access to the Google Chrome browser and a lot of applications through a wifi connection. A lot of these applications offered through this player and Google TV are the same as Apple TV which is only $99 so buying one of the other players and Apple TV you would save $100.

The Samsung, Panasonic, and LG are all internet ready and have wifi. This gives you access to applications such as Netflix which all of these players have. The LG player can also access Youtube which is nice to have on your TV. The Samsung has the most applications with Netflix, Youtube, Napster, Pandora, Facebook and the option to download more from the Samsung server. Besides the difference in applications these players are virtually the same all with Dolby Digital 5.1 output, the best for audio.

I ended up buying the Samsung because I own a 46 inch LED Samsung TV and I decided to stay with the brand. The Panasonic and LG would have worked just the same and I see the Sony to be somewhat of a rip off at $399 just for the addition of Google TV.

After you get a Blu-ray player you have to make sure to get some awesome movies on Blu-ray format. I highly recommend Planet Earth because the visuals are insane. Also check out The Dark Knight, the visuals are great and the sound quality is even better.

Is Prime Appealing Enough to Shutdown Netflix?

There are many Internet-based movie rental and TV series subscriptions available, which have become very popular in the last few years. Many people have noticed the closing of many movie rental stores, like Blockbuster. These closings are due to the more convenient way of receiving and watching movies or TV series; one of the most popular and well-known subscription services that has somewhat directly shut down movie rental stores is Netflix. Just as technology has changed so many things in the past decade, we are now seeing the effect that technology has on movie rentals.

Netflix allows subscribers to view movies and TV shows unlimitedly for $7.99 a month, or around $96 a year. People watch these rentals over the Internet on their TVs with a Play Station 3, Xbox, or Wii gaming system; viewers also have the option of streaming the rental on a computer. Another service that Netflix offers to subscribers is the unlimited rental DVDs that they mail to the subscriber for rental without due dates, and therefore no late fees; this service is $2 extra per month. Blu-ray is available on Netflix. In order to allow potential subscribers to try it before buying it, they allow a free 1-month subscription that entitles each Netflix service to be used.

Amazon has recently put out a product called Prime that allows unlimited, instant streaming of movies and TV shows. It is $79 a year. The videos are capable of being viewed on computers, TVs, Blu-ray players, and many other TVs that are able to connect to the Internet. HD is available for Prime. This membership has other benefits than just movies and TV shows for a cheap price per year; it entitles members to fast 2-day shipping on Amazon products. Prime, like Netflix, entitles potential members to a free 1-month trial.

There is not much of a difference between Netflix and Prime. Both services allow unlimited, instant streaming of movies and TV series, and both require Internet connectivity. The costs are slightly different, with Amazon’s Prime being $17 cheaper per year. It also gives members extra benefits, while Netflix services only include movies and TV series. Netflix has a wider library than Prime does, but both offer new releases, which is a common category of movie rentals. Neither service has commercials or ads in their videos, yet both services provide HD streaming.

An interesting topic is what will be the next big subscription service that beats out Netflix. Will it be Amazon’s Prime? There is much hype about Prime, but is there enough of a difference in it, including its extra benefits, to encourage people to subscribe to Prime instead of the so well known Netflix? And, is Prime appealing enough to draw Netflix subscribers away from Netflix and onto Prime?

Because there is such a small difference in Netflix and Prime, the best way to decide which subscription is right for each individual’s lifestyle is to try out the free trials on each of the services. Some households might not have the correct TV components to work with one service, and therefore the other service would be the right option for them. The movie and TV series may also be slightly different, therefore getting a feel for each of the libraries would be a great way to decide which service is a better personal fit.

Although Amazon’s Prime is not yet appealing enough to take over what Netflix has become, it has high potential to become the next “big thing.” Just as Netflix ended Blockbuster’s business, Prime may be the next Internet-based movie rental subscription that outruns the huge accomplishments of Netflix.

technology keeps coming and coming and coming...

During Christmas Break when I was at home, I really wanted to see The Lion King, but since we do not have that on DVD, I searched for an old VHS. We had kept a lot of old "tapes" partly in denial that VHS would ever be obsolete, and partly because of the nostalgia factor. I pushed the giant plastic contraption into the VCR (that I had to hunt down out of the attic), and waited for the clicking and humming and all the other sounds associated with a VCR preparing to show a movie. So as I used the "tracking" button for the first time since the late 90's, I started to think about my childhood compared to today’s children’s childhoods...

Do you remember growing up with VCRs and VHS tapes? I have many vivid memories of these large tapes - whether it was looking through the movie cabinet at all those big plastic cases to pick out a movie, dodging them flying through the air when my older brothers threw them at me, or having to rewind before returning to the video store when we rented.

Did you know that the average VHS tape weighs about 7.4 ounces?

However, we now know there are much better options for home entertainment, but in the late 1970's and early 1980's people were ecstatic to own a VCR player. People were actually given the choice of what they wanted to watch on television instead of just normal television programs. People were offered freedom to pick out a movie and bring it into their homes and watch it on their own television set.

After only about 15 years of rewinding the film, hauling around these heavy things, and daring not to flip open the lever and touch the tape inside the VHS tape, DVDs hit the market hard in March 1997. Thank goodness!

Weighing just .58 ounces, movies on a disc were brand new to America and were so convenient that we kissed the days of rewinding goodbye and were allowed to just click the menu button and select the scene of the movie that we wanted to watch. This was such a big improvement from fast forwarding through the whole movie to watch the last 15 minutes or having to rewind through the entire movie to start it over.

However, researchers worked very hard to improve DVDs since many people ended up scratching the discs and then they were unreadable. So, in November 2006, Blu-Ray came out weighing about .34 ounces.

Blu-Ray overcomes DVD readability issues by placing the movie data on top of a 1.1 mm thick polycarbonate layer, which protects the disc from fingerprints and scratches.

Now that we have moved past large VHSs and skipping DVDs, we are currently in the Blu-Ray era. Except if this movie technology follows the previous pattern, Blu-Ray too will be gone by 2015 or 2020. What do we have coming to us next? I for one am still watching DVDs and occasionally Blu-Rays, but I understand that DVDs are on their way out, but I will be sad when the day comes when Best Buy no longer has DVDs on their shelves. However, my children will probably never even know what a VHS is and maybe even a DVD. This concept is very bittersweet to me.